Our "show of strength" and willpower is not buying something on amazon for 1 day? And it's easily confirmed online, that its a 1 day stunt?
It wreaks of "I'm doing my part", or the countless internet outcries against something that goes away the next day. People will just spike buy the days before or after.
At a minimum it should be a plan for a week or two or four, where all you buy is the essentials (ie. food from the grocery or local farms ideally, pay your rent).
cancel your subscriptions
don't eat out
buy only local food as much as possible
don't buy shit, use what you've got, freecycle, etc.
plant a victory garden
That said, what we've got is in motion, so join others doing the minimum on the 28th, and then just keep on.
I think to really have impact though, a national strike is necessary, but difficult with folks living paycheck to paycheck. When advertiser expenses consistently result in 0 value clicks, when businesses have to shutter their doors, when food is going bad on the shelves because folks are willing to grow their own or buy local.
people will buy anyway, subconsciously balancing out their purchases over time, imo. making an effort to buy things that actually last and repairing and reusing will make more of a difference
have to crawl before you can walk. it's going to take all kinds of actions and events to make a noticeable difference and one size does not fit all problems/communities
The billionaire class probably have enough resources to starve us all out of a general strike. The system ticks on in the meantime... Landlords expect rent, banks expect mortgage payments, interest accrues, etc.
I sincerely hope I am wrong, but I don't think there's a way to swat the system in the nose and in bring it around to working for regular people.
To cripple capitalism in the way that people seem to envision would require mass worker revolt; seizing assets and land, securing access to basic needs, military and communications operations. However, a prolonged revolt will only create a power vacuum, so it would also require a plan to implement reforms in a coordinated, cooperative, and sustainable manner.
My grocery day is saturday and the 28th is a Friday so easy? I don't understand how a single day is meant to accomplish anything, most people don't buy something every single day.
I do grocery shopping almost every day since I live a block from a store. I just get food for the day. So skipping one day is like they won't get what, $10-20 from me? I don't see how that will make any kind of impact either unfortunately. Really needs to be longer than a day. I'll still do it because one day isn't going to affect me at all so might as well, maybe I'm wrong and something will come of it
Not spending on one day sends a message and that is the point, not to hurt them. You wanna hurt them? Don't spend for a week. If covid shutdowns taught us anything its that disrupting capitalism for a week absolutely hurts them.
Also share the message that the point is to punish the retailer. Don't double up on purchases before or after the boycott day. Doubling up will cancel out the boycott day.
I don't think it's sad; some people really do need help understanding this. Protesting an oligarchy is new for most of us. You've just provided helpful information to people who can participate in this, especially those who can ONLY participate in this for one reason or another
i'll do you one better: everyone find at least one thing to either stop buying forever or aquire from a better source, make the strike permanent and sustainable.
Rather not buying anything for a day, how about only buy from independent shops or buy second hand, failing that just not buying from big tech and businesses? Yes, it’s harder, but no one said that this should be easy…