Ariana Jacob

The '3.5% rule': How a small minority can change the world Nonviolent protests are twice as likely to succeed as armed conflicts – and those engaging a threshold of 3.5% of the population have never failed to bring about change.

There is research that shows how wherever 3.5% of the population rose up to counter their government they accomplished political transformation: www.bbc.com/future/artic...

It is true that the history of general strikes shows us they always involve some suffering and loss, sometimes a lot. I agree that we have to be prepared for that pain and aim for the change we can accomplish together in the long run

We can definitely work on building financial support systems for striking people. And if we can pull off a serious general strike we would have the economic leverage to force corporations and government to bend to our demands, including protecting people from evictions and cuts to insurance.

Ido/Lisa Radon and I were talking appreciatively about your art writing and exhibition making practices a few days ago

😱

At one point I thought that higher education being targeted like this would finally get us all to see ourselves and each other as laborers under common struggles, rather than like, desperately doubling down on artificial divisions and protecting one’s own rank and privilege. Lol

WU-TANG FOREVER 👐🏽

Not really an overstatement to say that the test of a free society is whether or not comedians can make fun of the country's leader on TV without repurcussions.

We have to stop this in its tracks.

🤨

Understanding a General Strike What a real general strike includes: A true general strike is not just everyone walking off their job one day. It’s: • Work stoppages across multiple industries • Consumer boycotts of non-essential spending • Mass refusal to participate in capitalism as usual • Mutual aid networks to keep people fed, housed, and supported • Rolling strikes or sector-specific walkouts • Public disruption (marches, occupations, etc.) It’s a coordinated, prolonged refusal to keep society running for the benefit of the ruling class. You don’t need every worker to strike at once, that’s a myth. You need strategic disruption and sustained refusal across enough pressure points to hurt profits and control. To think a general strike is only people walking off the job for a day, getting punished, and going back to work defeated is not just wrong, it’s a caricature. Spreading that version discourages people, spreads fear, and stalls momentum. Whether they mean to or not, it ends up reinforcing the idea that nothing can change.

Why did you pick the one thing that obviously doesn’t apply to you. Do what you can, is the point. Watch someone’s pet while they protest even. It’s a community pulling together to support each other through this, that’s all.

In Philadelphia, sanitation workers make $39,000 to $42,000 a year ($18 to $20 an hour).

The living wage for a Philadelphia family with one child is approximately double that amount.

They’d need to make nearly $39 an hour to maintain a normal standard of living.

#strike #unions #union […]

Congress, Now More Than Ever, Our Nation Needs Your Cowardice Published: June 20, 2025 Who will stand up for our democracy? This question, fraught in even the most peaceful times, has only grown more pressing as our country approaches its 250th anniversary. Each passing day brings growing assaults on essential liberties like freedom of speech and due process. Meanwhile, our delicately assembled legal system faces a constant barrage of threats. Even as this issue reaches publication, the U.S. military has been deployed against peaceful protestors. We teeter on the brink of collapse into an authoritarian state. That is why, today, The Onion calls upon our lawmakers to sit back and do absolutely nothing. Members of Congress—now, more than ever, our nation desperately needs your cowardice.

The Onion has sent the following letter to all 535 members of Congress. This special edition will be in their physical mailboxes as they return from recess tomorrow.

We hope it inspires them to continue to cower as our essential liberties are systematically dismantled.

theonion.com/letter-to-co...

Tell Governor Kotek and the Legislature: Hands off Preschool for All! There is an existential threat to Preschool for All developing in Salem, and unless we can rally enough community outrage and response, the program could be effectively killed as soon as this week. ...

URGENT: Governor Kotek seems to be trying to kill the preschool for all program in the Portland Metro area, and make it impossible to ever enact progressive taxation policies at the regional or local level. Please write and tell her NO! actionnetwork.org/letters/tell...

I am a big believer of discourse—we must be prepared to defend our ideas and arguments—that’s how they become stronger.

I am not a believer of debating with fascists. You don’t debate with fascists. I don’t have time or the bandwidth to waste my energy debating with someone who doesn’t care.

Promotional image from the National Education Association urging viewers to vote against Trump's budget plan, stating it harms students and working families. The background features an array of dollar bills.

🚨The Senate is considering a budget bill that would devastate public education—cutting Medicaid, school meals, and funding through a national voucher scheme. Tell your senator to vote NO. Our students and educators deserve better.

✍🏻Take action NOW: buff.ly/qI5QUwK

Actually Oregon is way behind the national average on funding for higher education. We don't need to put ourselves against other essential education sectors, to fight for more funding, adequate funding, for education from cradle to career

No wrong notes: A conversation with Luke Wyland • Oregon ArtsWatch The pianist and composer discusses electronic music, his work with AU and Methods Body, the perils of licensing, and why he believes “we will be gathering for live music forever.”

The pianist and composer discusses electronic music, his work with AU and Methods Body, the perils of licensing, and why he believes “we will be gathering for live music forever.”

Thank you for fighting for all of us!

Why don't any of the countries that are openly denouncing Israel's genocide protect this boat, or better yet send aid boats themselves?

That is so wrong!

So true and so depressing

Whoa! New polling shows that a majority of voters in EVERY SINGLE CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT oppose cuts to Medicaid.

Members of Congress should take note.

☎️ Flood the Capitol switchboard to voice your opposition to the bill from hell. 202-224-3121.

Defend Medicaid!
Defeat Cancer!

Why Protests Should Be Promises Modern movements that aim to advance racial equity should withhold and promise, rather than perform, writes Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò

"...for protests to succeed, they must be backed by movements with the ability to promise to withhold—labor, debt payments, rent payments, or consumer support—and to follow through if demands aren’t met."

Glad to have gotten the opportunity to push this line in Time

time.com/collections/...

🚨 BREAKING: A judge has freed Mohsen Mahdawi, the Columbia student who was detained for using his right to free speech.

This is a massive victory for the First Amendment and against Trump’s authoritarian immigration policies.

If the Republicans get their way, there will be no subsidized student loans and no income based repayment plans. Only rich kids will be able to go to college.

For those who don't know, there is a battle over whether or not the Portland Police Association (PPA) will be allowed to join the Northwest Oregon Labor Council, the large regional labor coalition. They were invited summarily by a leader and are being supported by unions who pay for votes. 🧵

New study reveals wealth inequality was never inevitable A recent study published in the journal PNAS is overturning traditional wisdom regarding the origins and inevitability of wealth inequality

A massive study of 50,000 households over 1,000 archaeological sites provides ample evidence that inequality is not a "natural" outgrowth of sophistication. Instead, it is a political choice. Which means, kids, that we don't have to choose it.
archaeologymag.com/2025/04/stud...

Businesses have to intentionally sign up to be on the PublicSquare site and have to sign a statement committing to the maga values of the site. So yes they chose to be there.

This is the business in Portland that makes me sad to know I will never go to again: Pelmeni dumpling food cart at Hawthorne Asylum pod.