Keeping the darkness at bay
The small everyday acts of kindness, love and dissent
After Trump’s narrow victory November 5, I decided to read The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, by William Shirer. I focused on the first half of the book, as I was mostly interested in understanding how fascists gained power over an otherwise intelligent population. And I wanted to learn what ordinary people were doing as Hitler rose to power.
One of the things that stood out to me was the passivity of the vast majority of regular folks. How quiet they were as brown shirted thugs beat people in the streets. How so few spoke up as their Jewish neighbours disappeared. Shirer, who lived and worked in Germany during the 1930’s, noted how most people were not all that upset by their loss of freedom. They traded it easily for a strong leader who would save them from ‘foreigners’ and the promise of jobs. As Nazi’s dragged away Jews and political undesirables (socialists, communists, democrats, trade unionists) what excited them and captured their attention the most was the improving economy and job picture. In short, to put it into today’s parlance, they were more concerned with the price of eggs than democracy.
Many others didn’t necessarily agree with Nazi policies, but were too timid to speak up and chose to remain quiet. They thought, what difference would it make anyway what I do?
I decided I didn’t want to be like that, and started giving a lot of thought to what ordinary people can do to make a difference.
It’s important that we do not give in to despair and cynicism that says, it doesn’t matter what I do, so why bother. That’s exactly what authoritarians would love to see.
There’s a lot that ordinary people like us can do. Remember, you are not alone in this. There are millions of people who feel the same way, and are acting on it.
So here’s a list of some things that we can all do to stop Trump, Musk and their circle of maniacs who are setting out to destroy democracy for their own greed and self-aggrandizement:
1. Boycott Amazon, Facebook, Tesla and every company owned by Bezos, Zuckerberg and Musk. Don’t buy anything from these bozo’s. I mean it, seriously. They support Trump, who wants to be a dictator and rob you of your freedom. Stand up to them and give them the middle finger. You might be thinking that Bezos would never notice the difference if you stopped using Amazon, but believe me, as millions of us start boycotting him, he’s gonna notice. Together, we can all crash Amazon and Tesla. Here’s a list of all their companies and why they deserve to be boycotted: https://www.thomasnet.com/insights/jeff-bezos-companies/.
2. When it comes to buying books, there are many good alternatives. Kobo, Apple, Bookshop.org, and Smashwords are good places to start. Boycott Amazon. (Did I say that already?) Buy from your local bookstore. Check out #booksky on Bluesky.
3. Find alternatives to Amazon. I know how convenient Amazon is. I was a Prime subscriber for over ten years. But I cancelled it last month and now we look for alternatives. It’s easier than you may think. Use Amazon to research products you are looking for, find out the manufacturer, and then research on the internet alternative places to purchase. We started doing that a month ago, and it’s been kind of fun, actually, and not all that hard. Admittedly, I may have to wait a bit longer, but that’s a small hit to take for democracy, frankly. If our grandfathers can storm the beaches of Normandy in WW2 in the fight against fascism, I can manage a few shopping inconveniences. And it feels good to be a part of something bigger than myself.
4. Get informed. Read some good books. Tim Snyder’s On Tyranny is essential reading these days, and provides a lot of very practical tips. Anne Applebaum’s books on authoritarianism are also great places to start.
5. Follow contributors on Bluesky and Substack, and be a paid subscriber if you are able to. The Contrarian and Heather Cox Richardson provide very informative daily roundups of the day’s news. Kristin Du Mez has compiled a very helpful list here:
6. Call and email your representatives in local, provincial/state and federal government.
7. Speak up! Share with people the things they can do. Tell them about the boycotts. Encourage them to cancel travel plans to the US. Remind them to call and email government reps. Be informed so you can provide solid information and facts. But remember to do so kindly. I’m not suggesting getting into arguments with hardcore Trump supporters. Many of them won’t be convinced by any amount of fact, so there’s not much you can do for them. What I have in mind here are people who don’t like what’s happening either, but are still ambivalent or not sure what to do.
8. Do not be lukewarm. Martin Luther King said that he found the lukewarmness of his neutral friends more frustrating than the attacks of his enemies. Take a stand and speak out.
9. Donate to worthy causes. There are a lot of charities supporting Ukraine, and lots of charities that help the needy. Donate to your local food bank.
10. Boycott American made goods. If you are Canadian, European, Australian or otherwise live outside the USA, boycott American made goods. This can be a lot easier than you might think. Here in Canada the grassroots movement to boycott USA is spreading like wildfire, and lists can be found all over the internet providing alternatives to US products. Canadians are turning American made items upside down on store shelves. It’s actually getting fun. Admittedly, I’m writing from Canada and I don’t expect Americans to boycott ‘Made in America’. But Americans can boycott the big companies owned by billionaires who support Trump (see above), and buy from small local companies instead.
11. Boycott all travel to the USA. Thousands of Canadians and Europeans are doing that, and choosing to stay in Canada instead, or travel to other countries. This past January, instead of going south to the US, we went north to the Muskoka’s and took up snow shoeing.
12. Be kind to strangers. Don’t forget to smile. A lot of people are frightened and struggling with a sense of dread, and your kindness can help them feel better. Don’t let the monsters turn you into one.
13. Don’t be afraid. Trump and his monsters want to crush your soul. That’s what authoritarians delight in doing. Destroying and humiliating other people is their idea of fun because they’re juvenile bullies at heart. They thrive on the fearful silence of the terrorized. Don’t let them do that to you. Always stand up to bullies.
14. Stay sane. Take a break from the relentlessly bad news. It feels like we are living in one of those weird apocalyptic sci-fi movies, only it’s real. Like many people these days I struggle with a sense of dread. When it gets to be too much, I take a day off from the news and social media and just do fun things I like - cooking, reading, writing, hobbies. Here are some very helpful coping mechanisms that Robert Reich recently shared on his substack blog.
15. Do not obey the fascists or any of the immoral laws they may pass. Don’t let them bully or frighten you into obedience. Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given to them by their subjects.
16. Symbols matter. “Take responsibility for the face of the world. The symbols of today enable the reality of tomorrow. Notice the swastika and other signs of hate. Do not look away and do not get used to them. Remove them yourself and set an example for others to follow.” Tim Snyder, On Tyranny.
17. Stand out. “It can feel strange to do or say something different. But without that unease, there is no freedom. Remember Rosa Parks.” Set an example. “The moment you set an example, the spell of the status quo … is broken.” Quotation from On Tyranny.
18. Be ready for the unthinkable, and stay calm. History nerds often talk about what’s called a “Reichstag moment”. The Reichstag was the seat of the German government in the 1920’s and early 30’s. Someone set fire to it, and Hitler used that as his excuse to demand that parliament grant him full dictatorial powers. He claimed that sweeping dictatorial powers were needed to deal with the communist threat, who he claimed set the fire. The German parliament gave him what he wanted, and in the process voted themselves and democratic freedom out of existence. Trump will likely try the same thing. Something awful and unthinkable will happen, and Trump/Musk will use that as a pretext to impose martial law. They’ll demand sweeping dictatorial powers, an end to all democratic checks and balances, the end of freedom of expression, the outlawing of peaceful protests and public gatherings, an outlawing of opposing voices on TV and social media. Don’t fall for it. It’s the oldest trick in the fascist playbook.
“Some believe that it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. It is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love.”
~ J.R.R. Tolkien
The Hobbit, 1937