Shutdown 315
What is the Shutdown 315 Movement?
Edit: Because of the number of negative and discouraging comments that are counterproductive to the message of this post, I have decided to remove select comments that discourage organization. I apologize in advance if your comment is removed inadvertently.
I removed 32 comments.
Is this bigger than just a single image? Any actual orgs or anything? Just the Newspunch guys and a few social media tags?
I doubt any of the conservatives will be participating.
It's not impossible. If you focused solely on economic concerns.
Listen to what? What are the demands?
Yeah, I mean look at what happened to Occupy Wall Street. You need clear concise demands, and shit that actually possible. And a general strike without major collaboration between unions and shite? Has there been any communication about this at all?
They have nothing to do with the image but Workers Strike Back is having a conference to organize into a body that can make demands and negotiate in a general strike situation. They're getting major Union leaders to attend (Amazon, UAW, etc) so the resulting org should actually have sway. But the conference is open to anyone and they're welcoming anyone to join them. Info here: https://www.workersstrikeback.org/events/feb-2025-organizing-conference
Here are the demands from the site as of when I accessed it:
Personally, I believe these are not specific enough. If I may be so bold, I'll rewrite them:
People can fix my grammar/typos. Yes, I know more specific demands are more difficult to acquire alignment on from broader audiences, but I think these would be palatable up most Americans.
However, I am realizing that my points above are too verbose for quick consumption. Via web media, maybe they could be hidden as expandable sections beneath the original bullet points
My friend, maybe edit the original post to include this? A lot of us remember how much support and visibility Occupy Wallstreet got and how ineffective it was due to lack of direction.
It's only my intuition, but I think it may be easier to get people onboard by listing demands/goals, even if they're only tentative.
With these kinds of things, we're asking people to do a lot of work. The lower we can make the initial barriers to entry, the more likely people are to consume enough info that they become more willing to put in effort. This means prioritizing headline information well, making graphics appealing, etc
All this said, I haven't organized this kind of stuff. I defer to those with demonstrable success in these things
Keep fighting the good fight <3
Might be better off signing up here. They're trying to get commitments for a general strike.
They document working on narrowing their demands more specifically once they hit certain goals.
That looks like a lot more practical approach.
I’ll Post It.
I signed up and asked about 20 people to sign it. ✊🏻
I like the fact that they have a trigger-point based on historical effectiveness. No offense to absolutely anyone that is willing to protest or resist in any way, but this organization is focused on a results-based strike, not merely "sending a message".
Terrible date. Make it a weekday.
We protested Wednesday, and people complained that it wasn’t a weekend. I’m beginning to think some people don’t think there’s ever a good time to protest.
If this is supposed to be a shutdown that gets attention then it needs to be on a day where it would be noticed. A significant percentage of people are already off work, at home, and not shopping on Saturday. It's silly to pick that date just because it's the Ides of March.
If this isn't going viral on mainstream social media, I fear there won't be much use to posting it here.
It's more use posting it here than not posting it here. People here can see it and share on traditional social media.
However the question is if there are any labor organizations officially participating in this. If not, this seems a bit weird. And what are the actual demands? Change to what? These are the bigger problems than the location of the post.
I suppose that's fair, there are just a lot of people here who are here because they quit traditional social media.
On Reddit.
I get the whole Ides of March thing but please pick a weekday for a general strike. This is essentially forcing low-wage workers whose positions are more precarious to stop working while white-collar workers basically do nothing.
"You can't pick a weekday, the poors can't risk missing a day off from their second job!"
Low-wage workers work on weekdays too. And they will often get fired for missing work for any reason, not just protesting.
Everyone bickering in this thread needs to just repost this image somewhere and shut up. That's how these things spread, via small communities. The only reason I saw it was this post, the only reason someone else might learn about it is my post. Unless you already have a better idea, and are organizing and trying to promote it, the least you can do is try and spread the word. The only way we win is together, so either bring a better solution to the table or get in line and help us fight.
Thank you.
A 10 day general strike would get their attention but I doubt US voters have the stomach for it.
Source: am US voter
Big reason they keep us so poor and vulnerable.
People quarantined for longer in the not so distant past. You have a month to get ready and don’t have to do shit when it’s time. Seems like a no brainer, even for those who don’t want to come out and protest.
I don’t disagree at all. I don’t live in the US but the ones I keep in touch with that do tell me their peers seem apathetic and unengaged. Which says a lot about how we got here.
People would have to be willing to pool their resources for that.
Can we stop making random calls like this on social media? We need actual organization and leadership to be directing this stuff.
99% of people will never even know this is a thing. It's going to have more negative impact on low wage earners who show up than anything else.
Maybe you should join the organization and let them know.
Shout out to
Take charge then.
Every journey begins with the first step, put your shoes on.
So my family already lives in poverty. My wife can't work but we get no replacement for the loss over her paycheck even though she is in fact disabled. We have one wage and it isn't all that and I'm working 40 and actually committing like 70 due to a long commute. We are making barely enough to eat, pay bills, pay rent. If I stop going to work for 30 days I'm going to be in danger of eviction process starting. In 90 I will be in danger of being actually out in the street. My health is poorish. Her's is much worse. If we had to go live with the hobos her health and our marriage would absolutely go to shit sleeping on cardboard. Our life would probably never recover. It would make more sense for me to just commit suicide one of the normal ways.
I don't say this because I think my life is so much harder than a lot of folks. Half the country is 90 days from tragedy. How can you actually expect people to actually do this? If your answer is a stupid quip like "put your shoes on" then you can expect you and the few hundred other folks who actually go through with this to just be fired out of hand whilst all the rest of us keep going to work so we don't starve or have to sleep on cardboard.
This kind of organization doesn’t really work, you cant just set a day without a strong organized backing
My first impulse on reading this stuff is "Who are you guys? I've never even heard of you before?"
Like, I definitely get the Think Big impulse but... this is reprint of a rallying cry from a lightly distributed Canadian Newspaper. Is this even directed at Americans? Idfk.
I might at least take this more seriously if I'd heard about it through my local DSA chapter rather than as a random graphic on the back corner of a small social media forum.
You can always contact the organizers and constructively offer help, I’m sure they would welcome it.
I mean, it's a Saturday. I'll already be doing nothing.
Also known as a general strike. All the best for you!
March 15th is a Saturday. Most things are already closed on Saturday.
"Most things."
Really just 9-5 offices, schools, and places they support. And that's a benefit because the corporate folks will be able to join as well. People will be able to bring the kids. College students won't miss class.
Basically you're taking away the "oh I have to work" excuse from folks who want to get involved. And if folks like that start to join, this thing is going to get big.
Bring the kids to what? Be involved in what? I think the point is to stay home and not travel or spend money or work.
White collar places are. This is asking mostly blue collar workers to make a sacrifice.
So? Gotta start somewhere. Blue collar are the guys that are gonna take the first hits, after all.
Man it's going to be great when all 50 of us get fired from our jobs.
Wake me up when normies are on board. I'm not fucking up my life for nothing.
And then nothing ever changed
The end
You're 100% right about this. March 15th is a Saturday. The majority of people working on Saturday are those who can't afford to miss a shift, let alone lose their jobs, and those are the ones who would have to sacrifice to make something like this meaningful.
What do the rest of us have to do? Stay at home on a Saturday? You mean the thing we do anyways because we"re all to fucking poor to do anything else? Yea, that'll sure show those elites!
Good luck, he would probably win another election today. Cant save a democracy where the electorate is stupid.
We should probably try though, because of the implications.
How do you think fascism arose in Germany? Was it a complex process set forth by the treaty of Versailles, embarrassment after WWI, rapid technological advancement by Germany, instability from the great depression, instability in the Weimar republic, etc...
Or do you really think fascism just comes out of the aether when somehow millions of voters become "stupid" all of a sudden?
Ya know eveytime I see these I wonder, "how did the Arabs do it?" They actually did something in Egypt. We can't even agree to take the same day off.
materialist differences
Significant organizational differences, as well. Egypt has a much more nationalized economy. Also, a lot of these movements are managed at the grassroots level through networks of mosques.
Americans - particularly the terminally online liberals - hate religious organizations. They're mostly corporate hacks or gig workers. And they think half the people in their social media channel are either cops or tankies or cops posing as tankies.
How do you organize on those grounds?
In any state which undertook a major change in the people in power people had to do more than take a day off to achieve it. If you can't get people to agree to the correct pointless gesture its possible you need a different strategy. We don't need a day off we need a year of 50% reduction in economic activity of all sorts. We need to see a bunch of rich people with their fortunes going in the wrong direction.
I fear by mid March we'll already be screwed.
ITT: Losers whine about why they don't want to get off their ass to improve their lives.
We're all losing our jobs and becoming homeless if this shit continues
Quite frankly, I won't try because it won't get widespread enough outside select Internet communities. Unless unions get on board, which they won't, it's not going to have the momentum to get an actual effect, as much as I would love to try.
well, call the unions
Just a ray of sunshine 🌞
Hitting capitalists in the wallet is the only way to get them to change course.
Doesn’t matter what our ‘demands’ are or what they need to ‘listen to’ and we don’t need a perfectly written manifesto to protest these fucks destroying lives and our country’s support systems.
Don’t fall for the whiners saying it won’t do anything. If the wheels stop turning, even for a couple days, it will hurt the things they care about (money) and send a powerful message.
I will re-iterate for anyone that has the misfortune of reading through the dialogue below: Do not let anyone talk you into apathy. All they have to do is sit and type about how everything is a waste of time. Ask yourself why they would bother to do that? Why are they so afraid of people trying to make things better without having a perfect plan (when there's no such thing)? The answer is pretty obvious when you think about it for a minute.
Give 'em hell.
Thank you, you should be top comment had to scroll way to far to find someone with real grit.
Seriously, I'm so sick of this "let's all just give up" attitude that people post whenever anyone brings up resistance of any kind to the US 'government' shenanigans. Some of it is from propaganda mills and trolls, some of it is just people who want to do absolutely nothing and then later say how they were right all along. It's lazy, self-defeating, and actively harmful.
If they want to give up, then the first thing they should give up is posting their drivel. They can go sit on the couch and watch Fox while reciting their favorite slurs to themselves.
Well, that's a Saturday so I won't be doing anything anyway.
What are they protesting? Its completely vague about why.
While the full list of demands is still being added to, discussed, edited and submitted to a legal expert, some of our basic demands are as follows:
Protection and permanent guarantee of civil rights for all
Total government reform
Publicly funded health care
Adequate and accessible disability support and services
A permanent solution to Homelessness, hunger and the housing crisis
Respect and support for tribal Sovereignty and involvement with indigenous leadership for environmental action
Enhanced enforcement of constitutional rights
More power to american voters
I hope they get their full demands sorted out. A protest without immediate actionable legal demands is pretty doomed from the start. Especially one that encourages it's protestors to give something up. Unless we can have a moment where we can see a politician sign something into law the end of the protest will be vague and mired in "negotiations" until people have had enough and decide they need to start making money again without anything of consequence being accomplished.
If you have a business account on these apps, consider moving that to another platform like Bluesky, which is becoming very popular.
"Shun the corporations (except this one)." 🙄
I think it's pretty interesting actually.
The top critic I'd point to, it's that for something so huge like that, it's needed a food chain which connects rural to urban areas established. That's the first thing.
After that other things can be looked up, like electricity, water supply, etc etc
Then a rupture with capitalist system can be created, but it needs to be understood that "nonviolent direct action" isn't an option! At the first trial on labor strikes, capitalists will crush it with all their forces and repression skill
How about you shut this shit down right fucking now. I don’t think we all want to suffer for another six weeks. Hell I don’t even think you’ve got another six weeks.
Speaking as an outsider here but Jesus America, enough is enough already. The best time to act was three months ago, the second best time is now.
Why would they not be able to ignore this? They're already beating their own country's economy with a stick. Something I think a lot of foreigners don't understand is that the US Federal Government doesn't own the US Industry, they police it.
Whats going to happen? They're going to lose like 0.25% tax revenue for the year and run out of funding for all the programs they run? OHWAIT, they're already not funding those programs.
You have a better plan?
I am late to this thread, and intrigued and on board with Shutdown 315.
Mostly, though, I want to say THANK YOU to @TokenBoomer for the removals on this page. When someone's trying to organize something, people popping in to say it's futile and pointless are simply assholes, and assholes are counterproductive for organizing.
I regret doing it. It goes against my ethos of allowing open discussions. Thanks for understanding why it was necessary.
On a Saturday? Really going to slow those wheels.
A single day? And a weekend at that? Did Trump pick the date? Lol
That's not gonna do shit.
Then help them organize better.
I just wanna jump in and say good job with "Yes and." It's inclusive to make sure we're all on the same side and doing everything we can to impact, even if we disagree on how. You're awesome.
I live abroad, and my resident country's currency is weak compared to the dollar right now... but screw it. Where can I throw money that's trustworthy?
I wish you best of luck to fight against your authoritarian and early-fascist regime.
Nevertheless it's also possible to let the US burn down and join the united states of Europe. We need more (left) minded people as well before it's too late like in the US.
Banning Science and specific topics in education...that's how it began here in Germany
One day isn't enough, we need to make this a month long shutdown. These military and prison industry profiteers will use militarized violence to stop such a monumental effort and this will dissolve the facade of our liberal democracy for the class dictatorship it truly is which is the wake up cup of espresso this fucking country needs asap.
I agree. Hopefully, this is only the beginning
I think someone set one of these up for Feb 28 already, might be better to join up rather than have a bunch of them?
Why not do both?
Because its stupid not join forces and form a union. Jesus its a big enough task to motivate thr sorry losers in the shithole country nevermind if you tell them they can come in two weeks if today doesnt suit.
I would expect that one bigger event would have more effect then several smaller ones
how about you stop posting about it with a PNG on a forum that gets like 20k visitors a month (high end) and go talk to your neighbors and coworkers about doing something more directly local?
Because I live in Trump County so all my neighbors suck. MAGA hats everywhere.
I still fight back by printing out anything I find on here that is critical of Trump and posting it by the mailboxes in the middle of the night when everyone is asleep, but they get ripped down the same morning, every single day.
It's depressing, and I'm afraid that if I keep doing it the neighborhood will eventually track me down and lynch me, but every day I post a new piece of propaganda. I'm fighting back the safest possible way I can.
Do what you gotta do. Ignore the people who don't think you're protesting "the right way". They almost certainly aren't doing shit themselves.
that really, truly sucks
honestly, if you sincerely believe that your physical safety is at risk if the people in your area knew your politics you need to GTFO, posthaste. If that's not an option for whatever reason, learn who's least likely to be hostile to your politics, the groups are probably going to be anemic but I know for a fact there's at least statewide Democratic Party organization. Not even necessarily repping for Democrats in particular there are probably other groups. In any case my point is that you may be alone, but you're less alone than you think you are
You can post while waiting in line or while multitasking, as many of us do. You can do both. Also, the irony of your comment.
I guarantee you there are local politicians in your area who absolutely suck shit, who have established enemies, who aren't as secure in their positions as they think they are
go learn who they are and make their lives hell.
Failure to be able to take basic constructive criticism is a huge red flag. Anybody trying to organize anything of this scale absolutely has to have a thick skin and be willing to take criticism, weed the bad criticism from the good, and make adjustments accordingly.
When you want to organize something of this size for "the people,". it's not your movement. It's the people's movement, and you've volunteered to work for them (which is extremely admirable). The people are going to have feedback on what shape they want their movement to take.
My feedback (again, since my original was deleted, and more verbose, since I'm on a roll)...
Any "movement" that tries to espouse a complete boycott of corporate America en masse, in favor of local mom and pop stores, and then in the same breath, recommends a specific corporate social media app while making no effort to even acknowledge the existence of (much less recommend) the fediverse (the social media equivalent of mom and pop stores), is failing a pretty basic test.
Really appreciate that. Thanks.
Yes the people who can’t even agree on what colour the sky is are gonna all agree to stop everything for a day
Oh, the conservatives won't take part.
We don't care what they do.
My fiancee works in elder care as a cook. If she stops working then vulnerable people go hungry. That goes triple for the medical staff.
So while I'm on board with the idea, everyone needs to remember that some people need to do their jobs no matter the situation, or else it's counterproductive to the cause, not to mention just wrong overall.
And it's that mentality that's used to take advantage of people who care. The care home / provider is responsible for the welfare of its patients, and, if she's e.g. ill, they still have to find someone to replace her.
They are a cook. They aren’t a fuckin’ heart surgeon. They can prepare meals the day prior. Or buy some fuckin’ frozen burritos.
You are the reason this will fail. You and your fiance.
"Here elder care staff who are probably over worked, the food is in the fridge for tomorrow. Heat it up yourselves or let the old people do it. Good luck!"
Read this fucking comment section. A bunch of losers who won't contribute a damn thing to making change happen.
Good grief.
A lot of losers in this thread think that literally anything mildly disruptive brings about change. That's not how it works. Change is from paperwork and ballots, not fire and empty shelves.
Fuck democracy. Let’s take this bitch by force.
— y’all
Troll comment, but I'll bite. It's a fun opportunity for inappropriate analogies!
Winning with just shy of 50% on the total vote does not grant you a mandate from heaven to assfuck the other 50%+ of constituents. Consent of the governed and all that.
The losers accept a certain degree of non-consensual edging for the sake of getting along. Not how they'd like things, but as long as the pants stay on they can put up with it until the next election. If you start acting like you won the entire continent and the asses of the peasantry belong to you, you're probably gonna learn why the previous administrations didn't push the system that far.
Ya really think that those corporate dick sucking Maga dumbfucks actually do anything? We are like 10 people in total just Circlejerking about a revolution, and half arent even in America. A strike will do nothing
Won’t matter :(