United States | News & Politics

I don't want to write a very long post, but I just wanted to remind everyone about this.

I recently learnt about protest on February 5th, and just wanted to spread this. The wiki page has a huge table of non-violent protests.

I know many people are disheartened, and in such circumstances, people often resort to violence (sometimes to send messages, sometimes in response to another violence, sometimes in catharsis).

I am from land of Gandhi, and a huge admirer of his work. Many people even in my country today feel Gandhi was useless or found him problematic for n number of reasons, some partially valid, many not, but this post is not about him. What I want to highlight is his idea of Satyagraha - it is essentially a exercise in (and for) truth. 2 famous non violent movements of his time being civil disobedience and non-cooperation. Names give the core ideas away - but essentially - break laws peacefully. To elaborate - 1 of them was against a salt tax law. They just made salt, and did not pay tax. It was both literal and symbolic, in the sense that they stopped paying taxes - and EIC were hit both financially and political power wise.

And these are not the only peacefully protests our land, one of the most recent ones was a farmers protest (for context, in India, majority people are still employed by farming), and roughly after a year of protest, they got there demands met.

I wanted to add a US specific example, and I can't think of anything better than Stop War protests regarding Vietnam War.

TL;DR - Peaceful protests work, you just have to be persistent

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.crimedad.work/post/271437

Is that so?

For those of us who prefer PDFs:

https://www.cia.gov/static/5c875f3ec660e092cf893f60b4a288df/SimpleSabotage.pdf

EDIT: a better copy from the good ol' internet archive

Service members should be thinking very hard about their role and rights at this moment.

The millions of people who came into the streets in 2020–which include many veterans, active-duty, Reservists, and Guard soldiers–were very fortunate that Trump had some wall of opposition against his demand to have the military open fire on the demonstrations. It seems hard to imagine such an incident, but should now feel very close and very real.

The millions who came out this past year to oppose Israel’s genocide (which, again, included many vets and service members) are attacked as domestic terrorists by the Trump Administration. Any mass protests, for that matter, which oppose the politics of this administration are looked at as a domestic threat. Whether or not you agree with a protests’ demands, they are protected under the US Constitution. Trump has a different view. Even during his campaign, he promised to “crush” protests against Israel’s war crimes that were peaceful and legal.

This time around he has stacked his cabinet with a bizarre cohort who have spent years auditioning for the roles by marketing themselves as diehard loyalists, from Tulsi Gabbard as head of all spy agencies to Kristi Noem as head of Homeland Security. Their top qualification, like Hegseth, is that they will never say no to Trump.

Carrying out his border operation without opposition is the first step down a dangerous path.

There is no telling where this could go. There is no telling how you in the military could be used. But you do have control over your own role.

Your command doesn’t advertise this, but you have a lot of rights. You have the right to speak out, even publicly, against actions you disagree with, as a US Navy Corpsman just did protesting Trump’s inauguration, announcing his plan to file as a Conscientious Objector along with many others who have done so publicly in the past year. You have the right to follow their lead, and file that packet as well.

At minimum, you have the right to question whether or not your use on the border or under the Insurrection Act could be considered illegal or immoral orders, and learn the ways you can protect yourself.

There are various free and confidential legal services at your disposal, to answer any questions, provide legal advice, and defend you if you choose to exercise those rights.

And as things head in a dark direction, how many exercise that right could make the difference.

If you are in the military and have questions about your options, contact us here for confidential advice and support.

You can also call the GI Rights Hotline 24/7 at 1-877-447-4487.

You can also get more information from to A Guide to Getting Out of the US Military Now on the Eyes Left Podcast.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump's pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, faced senators at his first confirmation hearing on Wednesday, before appearing before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on Thursday.

Kennedy's hearing was contentious, with Democrats pressing him on inflammatory and inaccurate statements he has made in the past on vaccines, COVID-19 and other topics. There was some hope that he might attract some Democratic support, but there was little indication that will be the case. RFK Jr. had tense exchanges with several Democrats on the panel.

The hearing before the Senate Finance Committee began at 10 a.m. ET and ended about 3.5 hours later. Here are some of the key moments from the hearing.

UN agencies have begun cutting back their global aid operations following the 90-day suspension of all foreign assistance ordered by the Trump administration.

Filippo Grandi, the head of the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, responsible for providing life-saving assistance to the 122 million people forcibly displaced from their homes across 136 countries, sent out an overnight email to employees ordering an immediate clampdown on expenditure, including a 90-day delay in ordering new supplies except for emergencies, a hiring and contract freeze, and a halt to all international air travel, as the agency tries to adapt to the US funding freeze.

The new US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, claimed that the US freeze would not affect life-saving aid defined as “core medicine, medical services, food, shelter, subsistence assistance and supplies”, and that it was focused on aid programmes involving abortion, family planning or “gender ideology”. However, the initial impact of the freeze immediately cut humanitarian assistance across the board and around the world.

President Donald Trump's administration is offering federal workers the chance to take a "deferred resignation," which would mean they agree now to resign but get paid through September.

A senior administration official told NBC News that they expect 5%-10% of the federal workforce to quit, which, they estimate, could lead to around $100 billion in savings.

All full-time federal employees are eligible, except for members of the military, employees of the U.S. Postal Service, positions related to immigration enforcement and national security and other jobs excluded by agencies.

The offer went out to the federal workforce through a new system the Trump administration set up that gives officials the ability to email all federal employees at once.

The email included a draft resignation letter for them to review. If a person wishes to resign, they will be able to reply with the word "resign."

The resignation period will begin Tuesday and go through Feb. 6.

Archive link