Retirees and Students and Their Roles in the Coming General Strike

The Saners are proud to be partners of General Strike US. We are recruiting for and supporting GSUS.

You aren’t in the workforce and there’s a general strike planned. What can YOU do? What should you do?

I am not an organizer of the planned General Strike in the United States, and I don’t speak for the organizers. But I love what they are doing.

And before I say anything else, I’d like you to visit their website and sign a Strike Card. What’s going on here?

Well nearly 290,000 people have signed up to support or take part in a General Strike in the U.S. - to bring the country to a halt through a massive work stoppage. For comparison, Tesla has about 120,000 employees. Goldman Sachs has 46,500. ExxonMobil? About 62,000.

But the General Strike group is targeting 11 million committed supporters. This would be 3.5% of the nation’s population and a figure historically demonstrated to be enough for an effective movement to make significant change.

This would be enough to disempower evil corporations, governments and destructive actions by today’s “leaders” and “decision-makers.”

The 11 million would dwarf the 1.1 million Americans who work for the vulture corporation Amazon. Why live in a world where adults are required to pee in a bottle so they can make deliveries of mostly useless crap? Why live in a world where plutocrats who steal from you send you notices requiring you to justify YOUR job? When the people firing YOU can’t possibly justify their own stupidity, brutality, greed or cruelty?

This is why YOU need to sign a Strike Card right now.

I’ll wait. We’ll continue in a few minutes. Go to GeneralStrikeUS.com right this moment.

Did you do it? Feel better? You should. You are on the right side of history. You have taken the first step to end the reign of systems and leaders worldwide who are defiling your children’s planet, and wasting your life in useless servitude.

There is an alternative, much better way to live.

But What If You Aren’t In the Workforce? Or If You Work At Something “Good”?

While NOT going to work, especially if your employer is a giant corporation (or subsidiary, or supplier to one) or the current fascist government, is the focus of this action. (Or should we say INaction?)

But this effort will need a lot of support, too. So, even if you are retired or a student or working at a food bank (and if you are working at a food bank, bless you!), you can help!

First of all, signing the Strike Card raises the number of people committed to taking part in-OR SUPPORTING-the General Strike. You bring us closer to the 11 million mark.

But, beyond that, you can support the Strike in many ways. What follows are my ideas, not those of the General Strike group-they may have their own, better ones, or they may start promoting other ways to support the Strike even if you aren’t employed. You can check out discussion on their Discord.

Still, here’s some thoughts:

1. Promote the strike, and encourage others to sign up.
2. Help the strikers because the Empire WILL strike back, and some will lose jobs, homes. We can and must provide food, a roof over their heads, and other assistance for our fellow human beings. They are sticking out their necks for all of us.
3. Actively participate in the strike movement in other ways. If you are able to and so inclined, you may donate some money to a strike fund.
4. Organize locally, in your own community, especially setting up ways to become less dependent on the government and the corporations. Grow and share food. Find out who has medical skills, from CPR training to nurses. We need to be able to help each other against the aggressors.

Here’s a step that might be forgotten but can make a big difference: chat with and befriend enforcers. When Soviet tanks rolled into Prague in 1968, Czech students put flowers into the barrels of their guns and the turrets of the tanks. That didn’t repel the invaders.

But the Soviet troops were young people-like the Czech students-and really firing on other young people like themselves wasn’t their idea. The friendly greeting confused them, and weakened their loyalty to the Soviet regime. The Czechs organized a resistance, one harnessing nonviolent noncooperation and “people power.” By 1989, the Soviet puppet regime was gone.

We need to reclaim police, military people, ICE workers, National Guards, an other gun-toting official enforcers. They are, after all, our children, our parents, our sibling, our relatives, our friends, our spouses, our loved ones, or even just amiable acquaintances. We need to strengthen those ties now-so they won’t shoot at us later.

People Power Is the Point

Now, I’d like to say that most of the demands under consideration by General Strike US are excellent-they excite me. But I’m more excited by awakening the people to their power, and learning how to use that power.

Once we have some experience with nonviolent noncooperation (and a General Strike is just one tactic included in that category), we can lead and inspire the world. Tyrants not only in the United States, but everywhere will be in danger. They will be scared. Some will flee. And ultimately all can be defeated.

Most of all, civilization will be reoriented. World culture and values won’t allow for future tyrants to arise. Few would be willing to support them-much less shoot at their friends and neighbors and loved ones in support of tyranny.

Now, I believe that the General Strike has a significant chance of success. The organizers are smart and experienced, and, although the task is challenging, it is doable.

Ordinary people have been throwing out dictators, and ending civil wars and doing all sorts of seemingly impossible wonderful things in the 21st century. And yes, today evil is on the march.

But we are just warming up. We are getting started. WE do all the work and our obedience to political and corporate leaders and systems is critical to their “power” and survival. When we withdraw, they are done.

Remember: Putin, Trump, Bolsanaro, Orban, and the rest of the vile idiots are themselves weak. They bark orders and people-including us!-have been carrying them out. But really they are powerless, incompetent, impotent, short-sighted and in some cases senile old men.

Honestly, we can take them. Let’s do this!