Critical IMV Meeting Wednesday 9/17
Big IMV Meeting on September 17th!
We are back in action with a big IMV meeting to organize resistance to Trump's authoritarian agenda and the MAGA assault on health care, civil rights and the economy. Please register so we can prepare. We will cover some updates on what's happening in Washington and locally at the start, and then get to work in groups on rally planning, electoral actions (think postcard parties, phonebanks, and registering voters), building pro-democracy collective action, and more.
Register HERE for the September IMV Meeting: https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible/event/832498/
Our planning group has read your comments from last spring's meetings and spent weeks creating a meeting for maximum participation and impact. You will not spend 90 more productive and impactful minutes in citizenship and political action any where or any time than you will during this meeting.
In this moment, we need all hands on deck. Every level of commitment is welcome. Every skill is valued. Please invite your friends and family. We are bulding a BIG coalition to defend against an advanced authoritarian slide before it is too late. Trump and his billionaire cronies and congressional Republican enablers must be stopped, and it's going to take ALL of us, in every city, town, and county and congressional district in America to do it. In the Mohawk Valley, we plan to do our part. Join us.
No Kings Mass Mobilization Oct. 18th
April 5th Hands Off: 2-3 Million
June 14th No Kings: 5-6 Million
October 18th: No Kings II: We are aiming for 11-12 Million
That hits the 3.5% actively involved in resistance. Studying 100 years of pro-democracy movements that resisted authortiarian grabs/dictator wannabes there is not a single case where the authortiarian succeeded in consolidating power when at least 3.5% of the population was actively in the streets protesting peacefully.
Why? Because peaceful protest of enough of the population means that they gain even wider support through their personal networks, and that support is a significant and adequate challenge to the pillars propping up the anti-democratic regime. So getting 11-12 million to show up on October 18th is not the end of this fight, but it means that we are fully in this fight, and have reached the mass mobilization necessary to undertake collective actions that could slow and stop this decent into authoritarian rule (think work slow downs and general strikes, non-cooperation with key economic and civic activities, etc.)
Please check the map in the days ahead. Our three Indivisible Mohawk Valley rallies will appear there soon. For now, save the date and make your plans.
Utica: 10 Broad Street, 12-1:30 pm
Rome: Fort Stanwix National Monument, 12-1:30 pm
Herkimer: Bassett Convenient Care Center, 4:30-6:00 pm
Climate Crisis Working Group
Take Action: One Minute Email for the Environment
Right now, public hearings are underway for the recently released New York State Energy Plan. The plan shows NY missing key climate law mandates, and includes false energy solutions like nuclear and the repowering of toxic, aging gas power plants. Click here to send a prewritten letter to NYSERDA today and tell Governor Hochul’s state agency that we demand an energy plan for people and planet—not corporate polluters. If you prefer to submit your own letter, follow the directions in the link.
Take Action: Three Minutes to Call Governor Hochul to Stop Fracked Gas Pipelines in NY
Trump is trying to force more fracked gas pipelines through NY, claiming he struck a deal with Governor Hochul to approve them, including the Williams NESE pipeline. A decision by the Governor may be imminent. Please call Governor Hochul at 877-559-7809 and tell her to stand up to Trump and block the Williams NSE pipeline project off the coast of NY. Tell her to say no to the project because it is an expensive and risky project that would drive up energy bills, contaminate our water, threaten beaches and worsen climate change. You can leave a message.
Please Join IMV Members on September 21st in Albany for the SUN DAY Event
If you are interested in car pooling please contact Maggie Reilly at margaret_reilly@mac.com. SunDay is a day of action sponsored by a coalition of groups, including Third Act and 350.org, celebrating the unstoppable rise of clean energy and the movement to leave fossil fuels behind. We’ll come together to showcase the power of the sun and wind, the energy sources that can power our world without pollution. Sign up here.
Your Renewable Energy Projects and Federal Incentives
If you or anyone you know is interested in an electrification project such as solar installation, heat pumps, induction stove, energy efficient improvements such as insulation or window/door replacement, etc., the Federal Incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) are in effect until December 31, 2025. You can contact Maggie Reilly: margaret_reilly@mac.com or go to NYSERDA or Rewiring America for more information. It is NOT too late. Renewables are becoming cheaper and are a cleaner way to power your home!! Let’s do this now!!
Rallies Coming Up
There's a rally today at the Village Green in Clinton at 4-5 pm. Join in to protest the Trump-MAGA agenda. Bring signs against gun violence, health care cuts and fossil fuels. Bring signs in support of health care, SNAP, Medicaid, immigrants, due process, and the rule of law.
The weekly protest in Rome on Saturdays continues to grow. Meet up is on Black River Blvd side of Ft. Stanwix. Every Saturday, 12-1:30 pm. More info here.
The IMV protest on Thursdays was at Oneida Square yesterday. Great event with lots of positive motorist response!
Next week, on Thursday, Sept. 18, we'll be in New Hartford on Commercial Drive. Park in the Sangertown Mall parking lots near Home Goods. We'll be directly across the street from Price Chopper/Market 32. Visibility with motorists who haven't seen us yet! More info here.
Get Your IMV Gear Here!
IMV member David Laguerre has set up a website to order IMV gear–like the hats you see many IMVers wearing. To shop for hats and t-shirts, canvas bags, and mugs in a variety of colors, all with the Indivisible Mohawk Valley logo, go to: IMVshopnow.com. We’ve heard from IMV members who have ordered that the t-shirts and hats are of good quality and value. Order now and be ready for the next rally or event!
Sum Up & Inspiration
Take a deep breath. It's been a difficult week.
Trump has used his office to threaten every single one of us who are not fully on his side and bending to his will. What can you do--besides showing up for our meeting on Wednesday and our rallies on Thursdays and Saturdays? Start talking to the people you know you have not talked to yet about politics. Tell them what you are seeing.
Tell them how concerned you are about inflation and stagflation as a result of Trump's stupid selfish imposition of huge new taxes on all of us (he calls them tariffs).
Tell them about how upset you are that health care has been slashed to the bone in the Republican budget bill. Millions are losing Medicaid and ACA, and rural hospitals and nursing homes are closing in our communities as a result.
Tell them you think it's wrong to racially profile people when they go to work or school or shop, to disappear people without due process, to make it so elections will no longer be free and fair in America.
Explain the anti-democratic steps Trump and the Republicans (and the SCOTUS majority) are taking. The framework below, based on work by Princeton professor Kim Lane Scheppele (that Stacey Abrams has been discussing in every interview she gives), outlines a process by which democracies can decline into autocracies. The framework identifies ten key steps from democracy to authoritarianism:
Winning an election and making it the last real one: This involves a leader winning an election and then taking actions that indicate no intention of leaving power.
Exceeding executive power: The leader uses executive orders or similar actions to claim authority beyond constitutional limits.
Weakening competing powers: The leader seeks to make the legislature compliant and undermine the independence and authority of the judiciary.
Gutting the government: Experts are removed, and institutions are dismantled, potentially eroding public trust in democratic systems.
Installing loyalists: Public service positions are filled with individuals who prioritize loyalty to the leader over adherence to the law.
Going after the media: Independent journalism is demonized, and a state-controlled narrative or propaganda is promoted.
Picking scapegoats: Marginalized groups are blamed for societal problems, distracting from the actions of the ruling regime.
Targeting civil society: Organizations that advocate for citizens' rights, such as educational institutions and community groups, are undermined.
Incentivizing private violence: Actions are taken to make citizens fearful of participating in civic life, potentially through the use of force or intimidation.
The endgame: No more votes: Citizens become too intimidated or discouraged to participate in elections, allowing the autocrat to remain in power without genuine opposition.
Yes, we are somewhere between 9 and 10. There is no time to lose. So what do we do?
Read the summary of Timothy Snyder's Twenty Lessons for Fighting Tyranny (2017).
The most important one is #1 "Do Not Obey in Advance." "Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do."
We can't give in to fear any more than Martin Luther King, Jr., John Lewis, or Diane Nash did in Nashville, Selma, or Mississippi. If we are afraid to stand up for our rights to peaceably assemble, to speak freely, and to organize opposition and vote, then we are simply obeying in advance. We must show up for each other and for those who are even more vulnerable and at risk.
Thank you for all you are doing. Keep doing it. We are not without power. There are many actions we can, big and small, in our own lives and in our own spheres of influence.
Join us on September 17th where we learn more about those options and work together to implement and spread them.
Democracy is not a spectator sport.
"No one let go of anyone's hand."
--pro-democracy activists in Bolsonaro's Brazil ***The Trump like former president was just convicted yesterday of plotting a coup!
Breathe. Then Push.
Website: indivisiblemv.org
Follow us on Bluesky: @Indivisiblemv.bsky.social, on Instagram's Threads.net/@indivisiblemohawkvalley, on X (Twitter) using @indivisiblemv and of course on our Facebook page and IMV Activism Group.
