by Ellen Coffey
IEB Member Power Building Team, Immigration Team
Do you wake up each morning and cautiously check your news feed — worried about what outrageous and unlawful actions the Regime committed while you were sleeping? Of course you do. It’s a deliberate result of the Regime’s strategy; they want to keep people overwhelmed and unbalanced with a continuous onslaught of intrusions into our democracy. This is one of the ways they assert their power and hope to avoid successful counterattacks.
Do you lie awake at night fearing for what life will be like if and when our democracy crumbles? Again, this is deliberate. Fear is another agent of the Regime. Fear paralyzes people and keeps them passive with their heads down.
It is the job of resisters to not succumb to these feelings and to not give the Regime a power they do not have. Each action we take, no matter how small, makes a difference. And when actions are done by large enough groups of people, the Regime reacts with fear and begins to retreat — as we just saw in Minnesota. That’s why Indivisible National sees a national tapestry of actions building to mass actions like No Kings 3 on March 28th and a possible national May Day strike.
But what about at the individual level? Do you have difficulty staying focused and clear on what role you might play to offer resistance? It is easy to wonder what — if anything — one person can do in the face of the multiple ways the Regime is working to undo democracy.
If so, here’s my suggestion:
For years, as a therapist, teacher and organizer, I kept a weekly calendar and diary. It helped me manage my otherwise overly busy schedule. These days — retired and free to choose where, when and what I will do — I have often felt overwhelmed by the many political actions and choices at hand. At some point, I realized that I could apply the same organizational techniques I used before my retirement — to take charge of my new work as an activist. So I developed a Weekly Political Diary.
Here are the questions I ask and the steps I take in putting together the diary each week:
- WHO to read/watch this week to keep informed? My current favorites include Indivisible’s What’s the Plan, Popular Information, Politico, Medias Touch, Writers for Democratic Action, Heather Cox Richardson, Robert Reich, and Timothy Snyder. Depending one what is dominating the news in a given week, I may focus more on certain ones — or seek to add new names to the list.
- WHAT are the pressing political priorities/actions for this week? What actions should I take? These include meetings, trainings, writing, protests and anything else I can think of. I determine my weekly list with guidance from sites such as: Indivisible National, IEB, Joe Katz of Rogan’s List, and Jess Craven at Chop Wood, Carry Water.
- WHEN exactly will I do these actions? Here is where I make a schedule and put it in my calendar — integrating political work with the other parts of my life (family, friends and self-care). I share my calendar with like-minded friends and family — and encourage them to do the same.
All of this gets recorded in my Diary. At the end of the week, I take a moment to pause and reflect — and look back at what I accomplished.
P.S. Of course, things don’t always go according to plan. At any moment, an unexpected event or action from the Regime may pop up — requiring an almost immediate response. As Leah Greenberg says, it can begin to feel like playing “Whack a Mole.” No sooner have we whacked down the latest Regime assault than another one pops up somewhere else. We can only do the best we can. Hopefully, with the aid of techniques like maintaining a diary, our best will be more than good enough.
