Here’s our plan…(or at least the start of it)
We’ve been training, researching and organizing for months and now that election day is just around the corner our plans are starting to come together. During last night’s open organizing meeting we came to a consensus on our basic framework to defend democracy and make sure Trump leaves the White House.
We’re thinking of the first week following the election in three phases:
November 3rd, Election Night:
After You Vote Come to Black Lives Matter Plaza
We’re going to start this next phase of the election cycle in the streets. We’ll have GoGo bands, salsa dancers, artists, cultural workers, and much more. We’ll also be watching the election results coming in on big screens. Votes will still be coming in, so this will (probably) not be the time we need to create disruption to stop a coup - yet. But we’ll be in a good place to respond to whatever might happen. This has been a really long and dark era so we’re going to be together to process our feelings of hope, anger, fear and exhaustion as a community.
November 4th—7th:
Ready to Do Whatever it Takes!
In the days following the election we’ll continue to come out into the streets every day to respond to rapidly changing events. We may be waiting for votes to be counted or we may be responding to major attacks on democracy. Over the next few weeks we’ll use our Spokes Council process to plan actions that are flexible and can scale to respond to a lot of different scenarios.
November 8th—11th:
No More Business as Usual
The week after the election members of Congress (many of whom will have just been voted out of office) are coming back to DC to go back into session. If Trump is trying to launch a coup, that’s no time for business as usual. We’ll meet them at the train station or the airports or if they drive into town we can meet them at their homes. And if Trump has already conceded, then we can pivot and use these actions to demand COVID-19 relief and other essential legislation!
And that’s just the first week! How are we going to make all this happen…And how are we going to figure out what we do next??!!?!?
In ShutDownDC we organize through Affinity Groups, which are small(ish) groups that organize together to stay safe and effective in the streets. If you haven’t joined an affinity group yet, fill out this form and we’ll work to get you matched up with a group to join, or join us for an affinity group mixer on Friday, October 23 at 6pm. And if you have an affinity group or organization you plan on heading out to the streets with, fill out this form to make sure we know to coordinate with you!
At our next Organizing Meeting and Spokes Council on Thursday, October 23, we’re going to start locking in our plans for the days after the election, so start talking with your affinity groups and imagining what’s possible!
And to help get the ball rolling on action planning we’ve got two training events
coming up over the next week!
Tuesday, October 19th, longtime organizer and activist Lisa Fithian will be leading a virtual training on Escalating Resistance in Times of Crisis: Mass Rebellion. This training will be a great opportunity to develop ideas for action. Sign up here.
Then on Wednesday, we will be offering a virtual Scenario Planning Workshop to help affinity groups refine their plans AND to start coordinating with other affinity groups on bigger joint actions. Sign up here.
If you are a new AG that's never planned in action before, we'll help you through the process! If your AG has done this a million times, that's great too.
Something to keep in mind: As you're planning with your AG, don't forget to take appropriate precautions. Here is a two pager on security that we put together. Keep in mind that not everyone needs to know every detail of your plans. We don't! Feel free to only share what people outside your AG need to know, and keep the specific action details close to the vest.
We're less than three weeks out from the most consequential election of our lifetimes. Defending democracy will require all of us working together and planning bold, creative, impactful actions. We know this community can get it done.
If you have any questions, email info@shutdowndc.org.
