z 17.17 Organizing - ReadySetGooo/Sustainable-Development-Goals GitHub Wiki

Encourage and promote effective public, public-private and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships

United States

Resources

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

  1. THE U.S. GOVERNMENT CAN USE SURVEILANCE TECHNOLOGY TO MONITOR YOU WITHOUT A WARRANT. Technology is advanced, it is more likely everyone is being watched at the same time with the use of AI than an individual watching, so don't think you are safe if you are not an activist.
  2. IT IS NOT SAFE TO ENGAGE IN PEACEFUL PROTEST/CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE DUE TO THE MILITARIZATION OF POLICE. This is a violation of your first amendment right, and the government does not care.
  3. MOST PEOPLE ARE UNPREPARED FOR THE LAWS THAT HAVE BEEN PASSED AND WILL BE PASSED. Just because it seems safe doesn't mean it is.
  • Getting started in activism or leftist politics can be really dangerous, especially when you don't have experience. Here's what you need to know to stay safe when you are first starting out. This list is over-protective to keep your safe while you are still learning. PLEASE NOTE: This was written by someone in a blue state. Idk if this list is protective enough for someone who is not in a blue state.
  1. NEVER talk about leftist politics to your family, partner, friends, people at school or work, or online even anonymously, or anyone. Talking about it is a lot more dangerous if you are a minor. Social exile, rumor spreading, or violence is serious and most likely to come from people you would NEVER expect. Do not trust ANYONE. People who believe that others would never break their trust are at much higher risk of getting hurt.
  2. When doing or saying anything about leftist politics in any context, including when you are around other leftists, only focus on "positive" things. Positive things are solutions that have already successfully been done before, solutions that don't involve language that refers to specific demographics of people (ex. disability accommodations help everyone, but suggesting the accommodation is for disabled people would not be "positive") peaceful reform within the system. "Negative" things include protest, rebelling,"revolutionary" things, exposes, news, sad historical events, using leftist political language, expressing empathy(just stay quiet) and focusing on or even mentioning/acknowledging problems. To define problems- children's movies are too "graphic" when it comes to problems, which is why children's movies and books are being banned. If other people are talking about the things I described above freely, stay quiet. Leftist spaces are easily infiltrated and monitored, you don't know who is listening. Also, there are many times people speak freely because they don't care that there will be consequences- you might feel this way too, and if you do thats valid, however you do need to have a solid understanding of what the consequences are first. If another "leftist" berates you for not speaking up, understand that they will not be there to support you if you experience violence as a result of speaking up. If you are called out (if necessary,feel free to send them a link to this page) and you feel like the person who does it is respectful and cares about people's safety, then ask them for advice on how to speak up safely, and do not trust the information they give you unless it is specific and detailed, and after that wait to speak up until you have also done the step below:
  3. If that sounds like a lot, it is! Don't worry, this is only for getting started- eventually you'll learn what is okay and what's not, and you'll be able to relax and speak a lot more freely once you learn how and where it is safe to do so. To find out how to do this safely, make sure you ask for advice from multiple activists who have many years of experience, and ask at least two who lived or worked in communities with similar demographics as yours.

Mistakes I would have made as a young person after reading this:

  1. Didn't think I needed to do this, because I wasn't a "real" activist/advocate/leftist and didn't understand that, if you're at the point of sharing stuff with others, you're no longer "just exploring beliefs"
  2. Told my friends and family anyway, because I wouldn't think they'd actually turn on me.
  3. Told my friends and family thinking they were safe to talk to because of performative stances, not realizing that they were lying about what they believed.
  4. Followed these rules, felt safe, stopped using the rules WITHOUT doing the safety steps, then experienced harm.
  5. Talked about or agreed with things that are not safe to talk about or agree to out of peer pressure and fear I wouldn't find another group. I, personally, would have found another group, although it would have taken time, especially due to feeling unreasonably depressed or rejected (it's ok, you'll find new people). Solve this by creating lists of groups and alternatives you'd like to join. See the bottom of the homepage for how I made this site.
  6. I would have gotten bad advice from multiple activists outside my demographic (ex. I would have listened to black activists who grew up in blue cities, instead of white or hispanic activists who grew up in an area such as mine. Out of ignorance, I would not have realized my neighborhood was not a city and was not blue (and I'd read this thinking, of course this is a blue city! Without recognizing that the majority of conservative people in my area complaining about being a "minority" in a "blue city" were not, in fact, a minority in a blue city.) I would have shared this site with a black activist from a blue city, and they would have said that the person who wrote this site was paranoid and that it wouldn't happen to me and that I was safe because my area and the people I was around weren't proudly red and "could be changed") If I found an activist who shared my demographics, out of efforts to reduce personal triggers or not scare the shit out of me, they would have said things like, "it's bad" instead of "you might experience torture, false imprisonment, sexual violence, or homelessness" and because of that, I would have not taken safety precautions as seriously.
  7. I would have read this, gotten severe anxiety, and been way too afraid of bad things happening, without realizing the ways bad things were already happening, which would have kept me in a bad situation and made it difficult to get out.(Aka, do the safety measures and don't stress about anything else. The purpose of anxiety is to prevent bad things from happening to you. If you do the safety measures, that's prevention, and anything beyond that is bad anxiety that will hurt you because you'll isolate yourself from social justice communities that can help keep you safe.)

Action Tasks

Informational Resources

Beginner Info for Activists:

Mutual Aid

Critisism and Improving Improving the world