Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., at a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights struggle, is reported to have remarked, “There go my people, let me catch up with them.” King’s recognition of the gap between how Civil Rights organizations were conducting themselves and broad masses’ militancy and willingness to raise the stakes reminds me of the situation confronting the democratic and people’s movements today.
Two major protests—January 18th and President’s Day 50501—arose largely spontaneously without the overt participation of traditional allies in the labor and people’s movements. A third, the February 28th Economic Blackout, will occur this Friday.
Friday’s boycott hopes to use powerful economic pressure to protest major corporations renouncing their DEI—Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion—initiatives after Trump’s election. It’s an appropriate response to the racist capitulation of corporate America to the MAGA right. Hit them where it hurts: in the pocket book. As we say back home, “Money talks, bullshit walks.”
While the Civil Rights movement has correctly spoken of the need to begin boycotts, little has materialized in terms of plans and actions. The people, however, clearly want to act, and they want to act now, not later.
“There go our class and people! Let’s catch up with them.”
Calls for the Economic Blackout have exploded on social media from faith-based groups, local movements, and the everyday rank-and-file. So far, they’ve been joined by some progressive members of Congress and other movement figures.
Meanwhile, the National Action Network’s Al Sharpton is planning something for April, saying “We appreciate the spirit of the various efforts, but the only one that I and NAN have authorized will be announced at our national convention this April.” Rev. Sharpton has been leading “buy-cotts” at Costco and other corporations, urging shoppers to patronize companies like these that have not retreated from DEI.
Meanwhile, there’s been a not-so-quiet grassroots uprising directed at Democratic and Republican members of Congress and other elected officials. Led by the Working Families Party, Indivisible, MoveOn, and others, the effort has flooded Congress with a deluge of phone calls and petitions demanding an end to Trump and Elon Musk’s gutting of the federal workforce and unilateral breaking of laws and governing customs.
Unions are stepping up all over the country to defend their members, and finally some lawmakers in Congress are finding their voice. GOP representatives at town halls in their districts last week were met with voter fury, particularly at MAGA plans to drastically cut Medicaid in order to fund proposed tax breaks for the rich.
Trump and MAGA, however, have been pretending not to hear the public outrage at their dictatorial actions—at least they were until the town halls. They’ve even been ignoring some of the court rulings halting their spending freezes and cuts. A legal battle royale is pending as major hopes have been placed in the prospect that the courts will slow down or halt the MAGA blitzkrieg.
There’s no guarantee, however, that the MAGA fascists will heed the courts, including the Supreme Court, setting the stage for a constitutional crisis.
Know this: Court action alone will guarantee nothing. It never has, and it never will. Today, with MAGA controlling all three branches of government, combined with Democratic Party disarray, there is no check and no balance. The only power that’s capable of stopping the GOP juggernaut is the power of the people, the working class in particular. There is no power greater on Earth or in heaven.
That’s why I’m supporting the February 28th Economic Blackout. The only thing the ruling class understands is power, relationships of power. And our power is expressed in our ability to impact the economic and political flow of goods and services. There are many ways of doing so: strikes, sit-ins, occupations, boycotts, media campaigns, and petitions.
Don’t buy into the foolishness now circulating that they don’t work and are designed to disarm, no matter who they come from, including the likes of Robert Reich and James Carville—both of whom favor pulling back and allowing MAGA to implode. Don’t they realize that when it takes place the implosion will be on us? No, they don’t. They’re too ensconced in their respective bubbles.
Protest matters. Protest works. And the greater the pressure, the more people that are involved, the greater the impact. Keep the pressure on! No, turn it up! All out for Friday’s boycott!
As with all op-eds published by People’s World, the views reflected here are those of the author.
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