Direct Action for USAmericans

a digital zine

Are you sick of asking the government to stop its many, many acts of violence, and getting nothing in response? Me too. Here's a list of things we can do to help that don't depend on those lying bastards.

• Movements/Organizations
• BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions): According to their website, BDS is a movement that "works to end international support for Israel's oppression of Palestinians and pressure Israel to comply with international law." Their tactics are rooted in strategies used to pressure South Africa to end its apartheid policies.
• LandBack: LandBack is a broad movement with the goal of returning ownership of ancestral lands to indigenous people. (If you're a settler wondering how this affects you, please research what exactly LandBack is asking for; the enemy is the US government and the larger forces of settler-colonialism, not you specifically.) Here's a good starting point.
• Palestine Action: A UK-based campaign to shut down weapons dealer Elbit and their complicity in the genocide in Gaza. They have resources to help you get started with direct action. There is a US branch with localized resources.
• Food Not Bombs: This is exactly what it sounds like: "an all-volunteer movement that recovers food that would otherwise be discarded, and shares free vegan and vegetarian meals with the hungry in over 1,000 cities in 65 countries in protest to war, poverty, and destruction of the environment. We are not a charity but dedicated to taking nonviolent direct action." Great place to start.
• The General Strike: A movement looking to organize a general strike to protest for change. It is US-focused but I believe open to international participation. To join, fill out the strike card on their website if you are committed to going on strike when the time comes. Once they have enough people committed, the strike will start.

These movements are good places to start, but ultimately direct action relies on all of us organizing. There is no rulebook or organization we can sign up for, just a local community we have a responsibility to. I understand it's intimidating. Start small. Talk to your friends. Join the movements above. Use resources like these steps to setting up a Food Not Bombs, or more general resources like this zine collection and the Anarchist Library. Learn how to build a cell or affinity group. Learn about mutual aid. If your action is illegal, learn about security culture and be careful online; no matter what you're doing, learn how to stay safe around cops. Listen to people, especially those less advantaged than you. Help each other. Be kind.

If you're disabled- me too! That's one of the reasons I'm making this site. Get creative. Know your limits, share information, support protestors, remember that your existence is resistence.

The things wrong with the world are massive, and individually there's not much any of us can do. That's why organizing is important. Even if the problems your community fights are small- stopping companies from destroying local forests, supporting Native soverneighty, hindering weapons production, feeding the homeless- all those small acts matter. And if we all do it, those small acts will add up to something big.