In the last two weeks, we’ve covered a lot: what authoritarian regimes are, the tactics they use to grab power, and how they depend on certain pillars to hold them up. Pillars we are all part of. 

Last week, we began exploring the three categories of nonviolent action that can help weaken those pillars and create the future we truly want to see. As a reminder, the categories are: Protest and Persuasion, Building Alternatives, and Noncooperation. 

(Catch up on parts one and two of this series.)

This week will be a little shorter and more actionable. Let’s talk about noncooperation and some specific ways it can show up. 

First, why noncooperation?

Authoritarian leaders need our cooperation to stay in power. As more and more people start refusing to cooperate with unlawful or immoral orders, the pillars holding the system up will begin to crumble. 

Most noncooperation starts with an individual or a small group of people. Here are some specific and more general examples of what it can look like in action:

• A teacher refusing to remove an ‘All Welcome’ sign from her class. 
• A lawyer speaking out against other firms capitulating
• Individuals organizing ICE patrols in their neighborhoods
• A national guard member questioning their deployment to DC reaching out
• Patrons asking local businesses to display anti-ICE signage in their windows
• Participating in collective actions like the Tesla takedown or Target boycott
• Alumni pressuring universities not to cave to administration demands
• Students applying pressure to their institutions
• Asking local law enforcement not to cooperate with ICE
• Removing pension/retirement funds from companies profiting off of ICE
• General strikes and walkouts

Individuals, groups, pillars, and entire societies can all engage in organized noncooperation. Collective action grows from individual actions, such as when the community rallies around the teacher. 

It’s especially powerful when the pillars themselves get involved and loyalties begin to shift. As a reminder, the pillars are: business, labor, faith, education, civil service, military, and police.

These are a few examples, but there are many more ways to gum up the works of autocracy. There are small and large actions available to each of us if we know where to look. 

Check out the Choose Democracy project or the One Million Rising training by Indivisible to learn more and start brainstorming.

In the last post, we talked about what an authoritarian government is and how it grabs power. We also touched on the pillars supporting the regime and how we’re all members of one or more. 

As a reminder, some common pillars are:

• Business
• Labor
• Faith
• Education
• Civil Service
• Military/Police

This week, let’s talk about how we start to put pressure on those pillars, and why it’s necessary.

Since this isn’t the first time an authoritarian government has tried to seize power from the people, we know the tactics they tend to use. Thanks to researchers and historians, we also know what has worked to stop them.

What has worked to overthrow authoritarian regimes is when many people from diverse backgrounds come together and take real action. 

Then they keep taking action. They find ways to keep up the momentum, to stay resilient. They bring others into the fight and together find new ways to refuse to comply. That’s what has worked.

According to the Choose Democracy project:

“We will succeed because millions of people do a couple of things well, not because one person does a million things.”

This means it’s not about one protest, one week, or one action. There is no one right way out.

It’s about taking consistent, nonviolent action in places where those actions have real influence—our homes, communities, friend groups, workplaces, faith institutions, and schools. 

It’s maintaining our resilience in the face of a regime that wants us afraid to act. It’s encouraging those carrying out orders for the administration to remember that their loyalty should lie with the country and the constitution, not a wannabe king.

But what actions should we be taking? What can we actually do?

More than you might think. We’ll get into some specifics next week. For now, know that there are three main categories of nonviolent action we need to consider:

1. Protest and Persuasion

These actions help us overcome fear, build solidarity with others, and signal that ‘this is not normal’.

This can look like: Marches, rallies, & demonstrations; displaying symbols, signs, buttons, stickers, or educating your neighbors.

2. Building Alternatives 

These actions meet our social, economic, or political needs, demonstrate alternative systems, show community care, and help sustain the other noncooperation tactics.

This can look like: Mutual or community aid, strike funds, food co-ops, and underground clinics for communities under attack.

3. Noncooperation 

This is intentional, strategic stubbornness. Actively disrupting the status quo, refusing to do what is expected of us, withdrawing our support and cooperation, and encouraging others to do the same.

This can look like: Workers refusing to carry out illegal orders, economic boycotts, and strikes.

Autocrats need our cooperation to stay in power long-term. As more and more of us refuse to comply, the pillars will eventually crumble.

We’ll talk more about noncooperation next week, including some practical examples. 

In the meantime, take some time to brainstorm. What pillars are you connected to? Where do you have real influence?

To defend democracy, we first need to understand the threat it’s facing. 

Right now, that threat is the rise of authoritarianism in the United States and globally.

But what IS authoritarianism? How does an authoritarian takeover happen? And most importantly, what can we as citizens do to defend our nation against it?

In the next few emails, we hope to start a conversation around those questions we can continue in person at our weekly protests and around our own kitchen tables, too.

This week, let’s start by getting on the same page about what an Authoritarian government is.

Authoritarianism is a non-democratic system of government.

It’s about fear-based divide and rule, and the government doing whatever it can to stay in power. 

In authoritarian regimes, power is concentrated in the hands of an individual or a small group of “elites”. 

Those powerful few make decisions that affect the masses (us) without regard for what we want or need. 

So, how do authoritarians end up in power?

Democracy dies at the ballot box, not by violent coup.

Modern wannabe kings chip away at legal constraints, skirt the law, and weaken other branches of government from the inside out.

For a current example, see the blatant bureaucratic takeover of congressional seats playing out in Texas right now, not by outside forces, but by elected Republicans.

There are a handful of tactics authoritarian governments typically use to grab power. They:

• Spread disinformation, sowing doubt and confusion
• Attack or scapegoat vulnerable communities
• Quash dissent by directing investigations of critics and the press 
• Give license to lawbreaking and stoke violence (J6 pardons, anyone?)
• Weaken checks and balances, using courts and regulations to retaliate
• Deploy the military domestically / Employ Federal law enforcement overreach 
• Corrupt elections and/or create mistrust in the election process

All of these tactics are currently on display in America in some form. 

There’s reason for hope, though… they can’t do it alone.

The regime relies on ‘Pillars of Support’ to enforce, legitimize, and implement its plans. 

‘Pillars’ like: businesses, workers, consumers, educators, military and police, civil service employees, and faith communities. 

These pillars are made of individuals, and each of us is a member of one or more. 

In other words, we have more influence than we think, especially in our local communities. 

More on that next time.