Every Day Protest: Small Acts of Resistance
Not every action must be a bombastic stand in the streets.
Recently I was asked about active resistance.
Specifically, I was asked how people might go about extending their activities into small, daily actions that they can maintain even when they can’t take part in mass marches or big protest movements.
This is a fair question! Not everyone is able to attend big protests. For a disabled person like myself, public protests can be physically challenging to take part in, and in the current political climate some people might fear violence at the hands of the police or counter-protesters.
Some might simply be unable to attend protests because they can’t afford to take time off of work or away from other obligations when they occur.
That’s okay. I’m not about to shame somebody for any of these entirely valid concerns.
Fortunately for all of us, resistance doesn’t need to be bombastic. Not all protests need be loud and flashy in the streets—some can be done from the comfort of your own home, and they can look as simple as being choosy about your purchases.
There are many ways to engage in small acts of resistance. I’ll put a few ideas out today, and if you have ideas that I haven’t thought of, we can take the brainstorming to the comment section as well.
Resistance doesn’t need to come in the form of grand battles for liberty beneath waving flags. We’re not necessarily talking about a scene from Return of the King.
If you want to do that, have at; marches are certainly important. But the thing is, even a big public march is not enough on its own to drive a movement for change. There’s a lot that goes into revolution that doesn’t include literal boots on the ground pounding pavement.
In some ways, the every day acts of resistance are even more important and have an even larger impact!
Take for example what we here in Canada are doing. The Buy Canadian boycott is doing a staggering amount of damage to U.S. companies and their bottom lines, which creates intense pressure on the government.
We’re hitting them in their wallets, which turns them against Trump and puts more stress on his administration.
The concept of boycotting is somewhat misunderstood by a lot of people. You see people online posting videos of themselves lighting brand new shoes on fire or buying cases of Bud Light just to shoot them up with a gun—but that completely defeats the whole point of a boycott!
The point of a boycott is that you don’t buy the thing!
Boycotts are a form of protest wherein you intentionally avoid giving money to a person, company or organization that you don’t want to support. In our case, it’s American companies in general.
Unfortunately we can’t avoid all American products or services, but we can certainly prioritise and replace as many of our every day purchases as we can while minimizing our spending.
My household is buying primarily Canadian produce, boycotting all American travel, and being judicious about researching who owns the companies we do support and what their policies are.
Fun fact, by the way—did you know that Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Sundar Pichai were all at Trump’s inauguration? Those are the owners and CEOs of Tesla, Facebook, Amazon and Google.
Apple CEO Tim Cook and TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew were also in attendance.
Just an interesting fact about those companies and who they align with. Hint hint, nudge nudge.
If you want to join in on the boycott, then you can start by looking at the things you typically buy in a week, and doing a little research into the companies that produce them.
If you can find replacements for those goods that are produced in other countries, try switching to those brands and see if they work for you! Or, if you can do without them entirely, simply stop buying them.
Not every company can be effectively boycotted by all, and that does suck. But you’ll never catch me buying Apple products or buying my books off of Amazon.
We’ve discovered a few wonderful Canadian brands that we didn’t know about and that we’ve fallen in love with. Our lazy weekday meals now include a pre-made roast in gravy and a frozen vegetable medley from a local company. All Canadian, all easy, all delicious.
Worth every Loonie.
If you’re able to save a little money through boycotts, then you’ve got a little leverage you can use to do even more good.
See, those people marching in the street are putting their bodies and freedom on the line—especially right now, with the potential for a hard crackdown by the police fully expected. Trump was known for his anti-protest violence last time around, and this time is not expected to be much different.
How could money help these people? Well, if they do get arrested, they’re going to need lawyers. And that is where community legal funds come in.
Community legal funds are a form of mutual aid that I mentioned briefly in one of my older articles on the subject. They’re a great way for groups of people to band together and support each other in acts of resistance and civil disobedience.
The largest one that I know of within the U.S. is the Legal Services Corporation, which is an independent non-profit organization created by Congress. I have no idea what their status is during the Trump Presidency, nor what they’re going to look like moving forward, but they’re a good number to have.
If you’re worried that they can’t be trusted right now, don’t worry; they aren’t the only legal fund that exists. Pro-bono lawyers and defense funds exist in just about every State, and all it takes is a quick search to find them.
If you’ve got the extra cash, consider looking them up and finding out if your local legal aid groups take donations to provide low-income folks with representation.
Community bail funds, soup kitchens and other such charitable groups are also worth donating to. The more people are able to sustain themselves through the hard times ahead, the better your community can resist as a collective.
If you don’t have any cash to spare, don’t worry. I got you.
The next action you can take only costs you a little of your time.
Petitions. Letters. Op-eds. Social media posts. Newsletters.
The internet gives us thousands of ways that we can spread awareness and share our stories and ideas with one another.
Now, keyboard activism isn’t much good on its own—posting a black square during the BLM protests might have made you feel good, but it did precisely jack shit to help the people actively fighting for their rights.
But if you were to, say, highlight Black creators, bail funds and direct people to local protests they might not know about…that might actually be helpful.
Those are some indirect ways to drive support. But you could also direct your thoughts and words towards the people who have direct power to enact change.
Do you know who your elected representatives are? Do you know their phone numbers, or where their mailing and email addresses are?
Find out.
And when you’ve got them, reach out in whatever way makes you feel safest and give them a piece of your mind. Encourage them to do what’s right, and be sure to be as specific as you can—general platitudes are no good here, you want to highlight specific issues by name, and list the exact actions you want them to take.
Remind them that you are their constituent, they work for you, and you will be paying attention to their actions for the future.
See if there are petitions active and looking for signatures, and if there aren’t, then start one of your own and promote it online and to your friends and family. Ask them to share it as well.
Starting a petition is pretty simple. Here’s a short guide to writing and promoting petitions by the American Association of University Women.
You can even reach out to your local news sources and see if they’re willing to host op-ed pieces— like short written stories— on their sites and papers. Talk about the cause you’re passionate about and discuss the change you want to see.
Be loud. Give a fake name if you’d prefer. But be loud.
There are a lot of ways that individual people can have an impact and take part in resistance without marching in the street.
Big moves aren’t always necessary. If every citizen performs a few small acts, makes a few intentional, purposeful choices every day, that momentum builds.
One man with a pickaxe can’t take down a mountain, but a few hundred people can carve a tunnel through its base.
The most important thing to take away from this post is that you are not helpless. Every person has a voice, we all have the capacity to make choices, and we can all make a difference.
Sometimes, even something as small as speaking your mind and calling somebody out for making harmful statements or misinformation is enough. The greatest act of resistance is to simply refuse to let yourself be twisted into someone you don’t want to be.
You can’t do it all on your own. But if you choose one or two things that you can do, that you can keep doing consistently and keep up for a long time, you’re helping far more than you realize.
Everybody can help. Everybody can resist. Everybody can take part.
Solidarity wins.
Remember to share this post to your friends and family! Help get the word out and encourage others to take action.
This is needed now more than at any time I can remember.
Very good article. I think boycotting is the best thing you can do. The US government is currently owned and operated by billionaires who depend on us buying their products. Even if you cannot totally eliminate use of Amazon, you can cut way back. And no one needs a Tesla. If everyone cut back Amazon to 25% of previous level they will be screaming at Republicans. And no one can stop you from boycotting.