3 keys to building and breaking power (and the one language you NEED to be speaking)
Building community power and breaking corporate power are the only way we get out of the raging fire we’re currently caught in: the one where corporations are destroying our health, blaming us for it, and distracting us from even realizing it.
And as insurmountable as the challenge may seem – others have built and broken power before us. That gives us both hope and guidance for what we should do next.
I recently attended a Free DC orientation (Free DC is a campaign to preserve the right of the people of DC to govern themselves) and was really struck by three key concepts related to power building and breaking that they shared based on lessons learned from movements around the world that have taken on autocracy and won.
1. Do the things we know from prior movements are keys to winning
These key lessons from prior movements form Free DC’s strategy. While these are framed in the context of autocracy, I think these are also the keys to building community power in any context, and to breaking power among whoever has too much of it (whether that be autocratic governments or greedy corporations or as the case may be, both).
Note: The points and descriptions below are directly from Free DC’s orientation materials.
Do not obey in advance — Obeying in advance (or “anticipatory obedience”) makes oppression easy for authoritarians. Reject this loudly everywhere you notice it.
Prioritize joy — Every successful movement against autocracy has had song, food, dance, or faith at the center. These practices help move us through fear and sustain us over time.
Take up space — Authoritarians count on silence and compliance. Part of how we will succeed is to be physically vocal and visible in our communities in outspoken, joyful celebration of our people and culture.
Organize — Around the world, when efforts against authoritarian regimes have the sustained participation from 3.5% of the population, engaged in strategic noncooperation, those regimes typically fail.
Practice solidarity — Authoritarians will label some people or groups as “dangerous” and others as “safe,” and gradually move the bar so that more and more people are seen as “dangerous” and only those who agree with them are “safe.” Reject this effort and show your solidarity with targeted groups at every opportunity.
What you can do:
What groups and spaces are you currently in where you can apply these lessons? What groups and spaces could you join where these lessons are already being applied? Consider how you can put these lessons into practice in ways that build community power and break corporate power.
2. Do the only thing that will definitely work: hit them where it hurts by speaking in the language of $$$.
While rallies and other such activities are important ways of practicing solidarity, prioritizing joy, and taking up space, ultimately, we need strategic, collective, economic noncooperation if we hope to change things. Things like boycotts, a general strike, and tax refusal are the only things that will speak loud enough to prompt political and policy change - because they speak in the language of $$$ and that is the only language powerful political and economic actors will hear. It will take a sustained, concerted effort to build enough support for these types of actions.
What you can do:
Start talking to your family and friends about the need for this kind of resistance, and start thinking about what kind of economic non-cooperation you’d be willing to engage in. What kind of supports do we need to build up in our communities to make this kind of non-cooperation more feasible for us, our family and friends, and our communities writ large? What kind of stories do we need to share to build buy in for this kind of action? I’m looking into existing efforts to build support for things like a general strike, and hope to share more soon.
3. Remember that the triangle of power is upside down
We often think of power as a typical triangle, with power flowing from the tip of the triangle at the top down to everyone at the bottom, who form a stable foundation of support.
But the reality is that the triangle of power is upside down. Political and corporate power is this narrow point on which the triangle balances - isolated and fragile. This triangle is unstable, shaking, and feasible to topple. It’s held up by a variety of pillars, including government institutions (like Congress, the courts, and the military), corporations, the media, and so on. Our assignment: begin to weaken and remove those supporting pillars.
Building and breaking power is no small task. But if we’re both strategic and collective in the way we approach it, and begin by taking small steps in the right direction, I do think we can get there. And there tons of amazing community organizing groups - like Free DC, like Pittsburgh United - that we can join and look to for inspiration and guidance.
Let’s get going.