The national 8 day economic blackout campaign starts on November 25th: Some questions and critiques

There are several versions of visuals circulating on social media calling for an economic blackout from November 25th through December 2nd. While I understand the sentiment behind this call to target certain larger corporations during this economic blackout I think it is worth dissecting the intent such actions.

The memes are calling for no work, no projects, no spending, no events, no restaurants, and one version says to shop local non-Maga. Now, this coordinated effort is not calling for a general strike, which I’ll address later, but some of the messages are conflicting.

It says no spending, but it also says shop local non-maga. I get this sentiment, but are they calling on people to not spend money at all during this 8 day economic blackout or not? Again, I get the notion of not spending money at businesses that have connections to the Trump Administration, but this raises another issue. There are plenty of businesses, arguably most businesses, which exploit workers, have little concerns for environmental sustainability and are focused primarily on making profits, regardless of whether or not they are not supporters of the Trump Administration.

Take for example the heath care sector in the US, which most definitely centers making profits over the well being of the public. According to Open Secrets, the health sector has consistently supported by Republicans and Democrats with campaign contributions since 1990, but has favored Democrats since 2016.

If the economic blackout is just committed to getting rid of Trump, then are they saying that what happens under other administrations is ok, even good for workers, families and the environment? To suggest that only the Trump Administration is bad for workers, families and the environment is to ignore the overwhelming data and analysis that demonstrates that workers, families and the environment has suffered under other administrations.

Another question I have is if we are all being called to not work during this 8 day economic blackout, is this campaign considering that there are millions of workers that might lose their jobs if they don’t go to work during this time? There are millions of workers in the US, most of which work in the service industry who do not not a livable wage already and even if they didn’t lose their jobs by not going to work during this 8 day period, they will have even less money to survive on.

Looking at the website for this campaign, I could find no organizations listed as being part of the effort, but there is this description:

BLACKOUT THE SYSTEM is a national, non-partisan grassroots movement born from frustration, injustice, and the undeniable truth that the people hold the power – not corrupt governments, not billionaires, and not broken systems. 

However, on the main page of Blackout the System there are two additional flyers shown here above. One centers on the Hands Across America event that took place 40 years ago, which was nothing more than a feel good performative action that had no real power. The other flyer is from a separate group with their own website https://www.themassblackout.com/.

The Blackout the system doesn’t have groups or organizations listed, but The Mass Blackout website does. Most of the groups listed are the groups coordinating the 8 day economic blackout, with lots of different 50501 groups (which I have critiqued previously), some veterans groups and other progressive groups, most of which are singularly committed to getting rid of Trump. However, there are at least two groups listed that have a broader goal, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and The General Strike. Groups that are curiously not co-sponsors of partners in this effort are US Labor organizations. This seems strange to me, since this 8 day economic blackout, which is calling for people to not go to work and not spend money is not being endorsed by the AFL-CIO, the UAW, other national unions, as well as the thousands of local unions around the country.

Some of the memes say that this 8 day economic black out will be the largest economic blackout protest in US history. It is possible that this will be true, since we have no way of knowing how many people will participate, nor do we know the outcome or the impact of this action. We do know that there have been very effective local and national boycott and divestment campaigns. During the Civil Rights Movement, the Montgomery Bus Boycott was extremely effective, since the Black community won the demands they were calling for.

Another powerful example of an effective economic blackout campaign was the South African Anti-Apartheid campaign, which involved boycotts and divestment efforts. This campaign lasted for roughly 40 years, but it eventually worked to end the system of racial apartheid in South Africa. Grand Rapids groups participated in this campaign, which you can read about here.

One final example if the famous 1919 general strike that happened in Seattle. On the morning of February 6, 1919, Seattle, a city of 315,000 people, stopped working. 25,000 other union members had joined 35,000 shipyard workers already on strike, which is well documented on the Seattle General Strike Project website.

Created with GIMP

While I have lots of questions and criticisms of the 8 day economic blackout, I am not saying that people shouldn’t participate. However, we should be looking out for people who are already extremely vulnerable under the economic system of Capitalism, especially those with multiple jobs, immigrants and BIPOC communities, which regardless of who sits in the White House are being screwed under Capitalism. We also need to come to terms with the fact that most of the people who will be able to participate in the 8 day economic blackout are privileged. Until we can center those most impacted under Capitalism and make sure they are the ones leading boycotts, strikes and other forms of economic resistance, we should all apply a critical lens to campaigns that are led by those with privilege.