Economic Protests Are Working

And not just against cars trying to kill you.

Historically, protests by workers and consumers came rife with untold hardships. The labor movement's history is littered with bodies, beatings and violence: From the Molly McGuires to Joe Hill and so much more. Each victory, from collective bargaining, to overtime/weekends, to increased safety conditions were real material gains for working class people that came at a high price. As these struggles fade from living memory, we are tragically seeing too many of these hard fought victories being taken away now.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott put the people participating in grave danger. Every aspect of their lives and jobs, including the personal safety of themselves and their families, was in peril. People had to walk to and from work, shopping, religious services and everywhere else for more than a year, until the city transit department agreed to even the most basic practice of humanity: allowing people to sit wherever they wanted on the bus. 

People picking grapes combined a strike and a boycott.  The protest lasted five years. Despite, or perhaps because, they were barely surviving financially, laborers refused to work and sacrificed for change.  Through the boycott, and savvy story-telling, the plight of these workers was brought up at kitchen tables throughout the country. This action created the United Farm Workers Union and was so successful that predatory capitalists created new laws proscribing what labor unions can advocate in regard to consumer purchasing.

Since the backlash of capital, many protests over the years have lost their class grounding, and have become more about silly and ephemeral cultural virtue signaling than building power and changing systems. Instead of oppressed people fighting for safety and a living wage, these new protesters were some conservatives who had become outraged that a company promoted a trans person enjoying their beer.  Boycott, they screamed!  Of course, in lieu of walking miles each day, they simply switched to another brand. Some probably chose beer from the same company they were railing against.  Kid Rock, for example, dramatically shot bottles of Bud Light but then sold the same beer at his bar. Even putting aside the hateful impetus for these actions, the process itself if completely nonsensical: whether you are decapitating beer or burning jerseys of athletes who anger you, the purchase has already been made...This doesn't hurt the company.

On the other side of the cultural spectrum, social media created the fortnight effort- give or take a few days.  Some company was discovered doing egregious things and out went the message to boycott.  The speed of mobilization could often be incredible, but the problem was, not everyone, or even most people, used the product or service in question. And beyond that, there was no sustained infrastructure behind it these efforts, leading to a slow petering out of the boycott in question with little to show for the effort.

And then Tesla. Okay - this one was a slam dunk. The man who is still the face of the company became the most hated person in this country and reviled abroad.  Tesla’s technology continues to be surpassed by competitors, and there are just so many better electric vehicle options are available.  Musk's many failures just this year haunt his ongoing business problems.

Tesla and Musk are just one target of a growing number of sustained economic protests actually turning the screws on the boycotted company, not the people demanding change through economic protest. Target is another notable example. It has been said that this boycott started organically by women of color in response to the company tossing out DEI- a simple way to generate a wider array of qualified people. These women brought it to their churches, and then pastors were able to distill and widely disseminate the message. Or the idea came from the pulpits.  Whatever the origin story is, it is working.  Sales and profits are down.  It helps that all the merchandise can be found in many other places, so very little sacrifice is involved. 

The Target boycott embodies all the right strategic elements. It recognizes that nothing can be solved in one day: A 24-hour consumer blackout or even a few random days of boycotting won't affect any change. Especially against massive corporations with thousands of brands in their portfolio, like Nestle. The Target boycott also has staying power. too often action taken against companies like Amazon are announced with the end clearly marked. As in don't shop here this weekend/ or Black Friday.

To come up against corporate behemoths, economic actions must be sustainable, with as little pain, exposure or problems as possible on the people. Like shopping locally six days a week and no consumer spending on Tuesday.

The Trump regime, of course, wants everyone to believe that resistance is futile, but the last few weeks have in fact reemphasized the power of united economic power. When the FCC chair threatened Disney over late night host Jimmy Kimmel’s comments, Disney pulled him off the air, “indefinitely.” People mobilized, and Disney caved within a week.  They had lost a lot of money and the cancellation section of their website kept crashing.  Celebrities refused to work with the Mouse House.  Folks vented on social media.  Disney was mocked endlessly.  The actual cost is under dispute, but the decision came down to dollars, not ethics. So, Kimmel’s back on TV.

This is a stark reminder that we have collective power and financial heft.  We can affect change to make greedy companies hurt by using easy and elegant strategies.  Like buying  products sold at Target at a local store. Or by parsing through the many parts of a company from cruises to Hulu- and saying no. Executives at major corporations seem to be slow learners, seemingly not realizing that capitulating to Trump’s demands is only an invitation for further shake-downs. We need to recognize that Trump et. al. aren’t the only ones who can use this cowardly obsession with the short-term bottom-line to win concessions from corporations.

When we are organized, politically and economically, these titans also need to listen to us. It was true 100 years ago, 50 years ago, and it’s true today. So, join us each Tuesday in growing solidarity. It’s an easy, elegant, safe and sustainable to wield against all predatory capitalism.

Don't Shop on Tuesday. .#DSOT