Martin Luther King during a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights struggle is reported to have remarked, “There go my people, let me catch up with them.” King’s recognition of the gap between how Civil Rights organizations were conducting themselves and broad masses’ militancy and willingness to raise the stakes reminds me of the situation confronting the democratic and people’s movement today. Two major protests, January 18th and President’s Day 50501, arose largely spontaneously, without the overt participation of traditional allies in the labor and people’s movement. A third, the Feb. 28th Economic Blackout, will occur on Friday.

Will you support the people’s boycott? Take the pledge here to let us know.

Friday’s boycott hopes to use powerful economic pressure to protest big corporations’ renouncing major DEI initiatives after Trump’s election. It’s an appropriate response to the racist capitulation of corporate America to the MAGA right. Hit them where it hurts: in the pocket book. As we say back home, “Money talks, bullshit walks.” While the Civil Rights movement has correctly spoken of the need to begin boycotts, little has materialized in terms of plans and actions. The people, however, clearly want to act and they want to act now, not later.

“There go our class and people! Let’s catch up with them.” Calls for the Economic Blackout have exploded on social media from faith based groups, local movements and the everyday rank and file. So far, they’ve been joined by some progressive members of Congress and others. Meanwhile, the National Action Network’s Al Sharpton is planning something for April, saying, “We appreciate the spirit of the various efforts, but the only one that I and NAN have authorized will be announced at our national convention this April.” Rev Sharpton has been leading “buy-cotts” at Costco and other corporations that have not retreated from DEI.

Meanwhile, there’s been a not-so-quiet grassroots uprising directed at Democratic and Republican members of Congress and other elected officials. Led by Working Families Party, Indivisible, MoveOn, Congress has been flooded by a deluge of phone calls and petitions demanding an end to Trump and Elon Musk’s gutting of the federal workforce and their unilateral breaking of laws and governing customs. Unions are stepping up all over the country to defend their members, and finally some members of Congress are finding their voice. GOP representatives at town halls in their districts last week were met with voter fury, particularly at MAGA plans to drastically cut Medicaid in order to fund proposed tax breaks for the rich.

Trump and MAGA, however, have been pretending not to hear or heed public outrage at their dictatorial actions. At least, they were until the town halls. They’ve even been ignoring some of the court rulings halting their spending freezes and cuts. A legal battle royal is pending as major hopes have been placed in actions by the courts to slow down or halt the MAGA blitzkrieg. There’s no guarantee, however, that the MAGA fascists will heed courts, including the Supreme Court rulings, setting the stage for a Constitutional crisis.

Know this: court action alone will guarantee nothing. It never has, and it never will. Today, with MAGA controlling all three branches of government, combined with Democratic Party disarray, there is no check and no balance. The only power that’s capable of stopping the GOP juggernaut is the power of the people — the working class in particular. There is no power greater on earth or in heaven.

That’s why I’m supporting the Feb. 28th Economic Blackout. The only thing the ruling class understands is power, relationships of power. And our power is expressed in our ability to impact the economic and political flow of goods and services. There are many ways of doing so: strikes, sit-ins, occupations, boycotts, media campaigns, and petitions. Don’t buy into the foolishness now circulating that they don’t work. Such sentiments are designed to disarm us, no matter who they come from — including the likes of Robert Reich and James Carville, both of whom favor pulling back and allowing MAGA to implode. Don’t they realize that when it takes place, the implosion will be on us? No, they don’t. They’re too ensconced in their respective bourgois bubbles.

Protest matters. Protest works. And the greater the pressure, the more people that are involved, the greater the impact. Keep the pressure on! No. Turn it up!! All out for Friday’s boycott!!

Will you support the people’s boycott? Take the pledge here to let us know!

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