How best to contribute to anti-facist efforts as an engineer?

22 points by ckbishop 1 year ago | 14 comments

Good morning.

As an American burdened by an over-abundance of empathy, I find myself engulfed in a myriad of anxieties that I am having trouble dealing with. I have a layman's understanding of world history, and I can't stop thinking about one of the later scenes from Schindler's List, wherein the German citizens downwind of a concentration camp were forced to help clean-up rubble because they had committed the crime of indifference and inaction while adjacent to horrific crimes against humanity.

I feel a strong urge to turn my head for my own sanity, which of course is one of the desired outcomes of this 'flood the zone' strategy that these New Nazis have deployed. I will not turn my head.

The problem is that I have things to lose and I'm in a class that will mostly be unaffected by most of their actions, other than inflation and instability, so I'm kind of just constantly checking the news and hoping that those with more to lose actually do something to stop this madness. I have a feeling that many of us, as engineers or otherwise, are in the same boat.

So my question is, what can I do to be civilly disobedient and inflict harm on this insane movement without imperiling myself, or those that I love? I personally don't know where my line is for imperiling myself, or those that I love and I would rather not find out.

Is anyone else struggling with this?

rawgabbit 1 year ago |

There are differing opinions on this and there have been academic studies on what levers can an unpopular government keep themselves in power. From everything I have ever read and listened to, the most effective way for the average citizen to check government abuse is to engage in the mainstream media.

There is a reason why the US Constitution first amendment sought to protect the "free press". Support the free press, buy a subscription. Several subscriptions. Write letters to the editor. Share articles with your family and friends.

ckbishop 1 year ago | |

Yeah, I have already done some of this. I hadn't read Wired in years, but rewarded them with a subscription as soon as they revealed the identity of Elon's minions.

krapp 1 year ago |

The first thing you need to realize is that Hacker News is a pro-fascist stronghold and that it is at best unwise and at worst unsafe (and either way unproductive) to talk seriously about such things here.

You can find a lot of resources on Mastodon and Reddit, but be aware that every form of media is being astroturfed and propagandized (including HN.) Look for opportunities for activism within your own community, and network with people on the ground.

And accept that resistance may have consequences. You don't need to be a hero. Even something as simple as giving money to mutual aid groups is enough. Raise awareness on social media. Refuse to comply where you can afford to. Anything is better than nothing.

PaulHoule 1 year ago |

Calling yourself an anti-fascist is either (a) resigning to those people always driving the bus (why not call your movement after what you want as opposed to what you don't want?) or (b) thinking life is like V for Vendetta or Pink Floyd's The Wall. 20 years of people who could have been behind a movement for positive social change crying wolf is one reason why we are in this mess.

eesmith 1 year ago | |

What a broad brush to use about the antiwar movement, antisemitism, anti-narcotic and anti-drug campaigns, anti-suffragism, anti-statism, antismoking, antisalooners, Anti-Catholicism, antitrust laws, and of course antidisestablishmentarianism.

PaulHoule 1 year ago | | |

As well as many conservatives like Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle, and 'liberals' like FDR so-called because of an explicit rejection of socialism, not to mention the Republican who ran against him in 1940

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendell_Willkie

who pivoted from opposing the New Deal to being the US's diplomatic vanguard for WWII.

dttze 1 year ago | |

Yeah man, let me make my progressive social movement while under the rule of people who are happy to use violence and other nefarious means to suppress any sort of positive change that threatens their power. If only people had made movements against the Iraq war and bank bailouts in 08, things would be so much different now.

PaulHoule 1 year ago | | |

Same as its ever been.

Back in the 1960s you had Jewish people who learned something in general from how their own people were oppressed and went down to the US South and gave their lives for the civil rights movement.

The author doesn't want to face any consequences for his activism but this essay makes it clear you have to take your lumps

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Disobedience_(Thoreau)

A woman who rides horses at our barn used to run the soup kitchen in Ithaca but she got arrested and spent time in federal prison because she crashed the gate at a facility where they store nuclear weapons.

There's a big difference between that and the people who share hateful memes on social and think they are 'activists'.

readyplayernull 1 year ago |

First, all communications will be grokked by fgov AI, think Google Play Store false positive bans, but for people instead of apps. So stop grokkable communications.

Don't support fgov economy, produce yourself and your communities, use paramoney and barter. E-coins aren't paramoney, they are being extracted with fines.

Keep a low profile.

opendomain 1 year ago |

I just stumbled upon a whole group of people that may feel the same as you:

https://www.reddit.com/r/50501/

like_any_other 1 year ago |

It seems the fascist parties are mostly propelled by anti-immigration sentiment [1]. If you want to take the wind out of their sails, the best way would be by creating a liberal, progressive party, that however wants to decrease immigration [2]. This shouldn't take much work, as the left's position is already anti-immigration and anti-demographic-change when it comes to some other countries/territories, such as Kashmir [3].

[1] Though they don't always listen to their voters on that - e.g. after Brexit, the Tories greatly increased immigration to Britain.

[2] Such as used to be the position of Bernie Sanders: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/03/16/years-ber...

[3] Kashmir’s new status could bring demographic change, drawing comparisons to the West Bank - https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/08/08/kashmirs-new...