Actions for the week of March 3
We aren't counting the days. Sure we aren’t. (41 days since the inauguration.)
Editor’s Note:
Here is a sampling of this week’s Calls to Make, Meetings to put on your calendar, and Actions you can take to change the direction of our country. More opportunities to get involved happen all the time — and we post them on our calendar. Stay current!
Calls To Make
By Tom Benthin
You Can Start Now: Resistance, Refusal, & Ridicule
A way forward from Anat Shenker-Osorio
Anat Shenker-Osorio is the leading progressive messaging expert. While most of her work focuses on the messages politicians and activists can use to win elections or mount campaigns, in a recent interview with Anand Giridharadas of The.Ink, Anat talked about what each of us can do now to fight back - and, by setting an example, move our representatives as well. I think of these as steps we can take to hold on to our democracy town by town and county by county: go small, go local, be bold. From the interview, here are some of her key recommendations:
Pick a thing that you care about and can be motivated to stay the course with
For some folks, that’s going to be education. For some folks, that’s going to be immigrant rights. […] There are so many things happening at once that we can all become like cats with a laser pointer and make ourselves nuts.
So you pick the thing. You go as local as possible about that thing. And so if it is education…then you decide with yourself and a handful of your friends, you have a potluck beforehand, you do you. Do something fun and entertaining and get together beforehand. You look up… when the next school board meeting is in your local community. And you go there and you make statements about ensuring that all children have the freedom to learn the truth of our past, and that all children have the freedom to belong and be who they are within their schools. And you oppose any kind of effort to implement the draconian fascist agenda in your own community.
Wear your beliefs
Get yourself a “Fabulously Fighting Fascism” t-shirt [for example]. One of the things that is most important to the right and to any authoritarian force is to suck our joy, is to suck our uniqueness, is to suck out our being. I say all the time, put up a billboard in the middle of nowhere that shows people across the gender spectrum just having themselves the best possible time, and say “Fabulously fighting fascism.”
You will get so much local media and local attention, even if it’s in the middle of nowhere because it is a saucy message. Show, not tell, that you do not agree with this, that you refuse it.
So I think the name of the game is really resistance, refusal, and ridicule.
Join a union [if you can]; support union efforts
That is a place where deep and authentic organizing actually happens and needs to happen much, much more expansively. One of the most important keys to fighting autocracy is a strong, integrated, active, in-your-face labor community.
Critically, these actions show rather than tell. Showing creates “social proof” - a sign to others that a stance or action is supported by other people like them and an encouragement to join the cause. Simple as these actions may be, they are fundamental and powerful. You can get started today!
We Need YOU to Take Action
5 minutes, 3 calls, 5 days a week
HIGHEST PRIORITY: CALL YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS: USE YOUR DEBT-CEILING LEVERAGE
Congress must raise the debt ceiling by March 14th or the nation will go into default. Republicans will almost certainly need Democratic votes to raise the ceiling. Democrats MUST demand that Trump & Musk respect the power of Congress to pass budgets and allocate funds. Trump & Musk must stop their illegal dismantling of the federal government.
(To learn more about the debt ceiling, read about it here).
Please call your members of Congress and say:
I’m calling to ask the senator/congressman to make sure that EVERY SINGLE DEMOCRAT will refuse to vote for the debt ceiling increase until Trump/Musk respect Congress’s right to pass budgets and stop breaking the federal government.
CALL YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS: OBSTRUCT EVERYTHING
Both the Senate and the House run on many fairly complicated rules. In an emergency, those rules can be used to slow or stop an opposition party by a minority. We watched Mitch McConnell do that for years, while Democrats tried to turn Republicans around by playing nice. It didn’t work. We need all Democrats to play “procedural hardball”. A few have begun. We need it from everybody.
(To learn more about what Senate Democrats must do, read about our asks to them here).
Please call your members of Congress and say:
I’m calling to ask the senator/congressman to delay and deny Trump’s agenda in Congress by playing procedural hardball. Trump and Musk are illegally dismantling our federal government. I’m asking you to fight for us. Oppose, oppose, oppose.
Saving Our Elections
Congressional Republicans are poised to introduce the SAVE Act, which is designed to make elections unwinnable for Democrats by stripping millions of people - predominantly the elderly, the poor, Black and Brown, and especially women - of their right to vote. If they are successful, elections may no longer provide a route back to democracy. It is essential that every congressional Democrat oppose the SAVE Act vehemently.
Using the MAGA myth of “voter fraud”, the SAVE Act would create barriers to registration that could keep millions of Americans from being able to register to vote - including an estimated 21 million who would not be able to access the documents required by the bill to prove their identity. Among these would be women who changed their name when they wed, since the law would require their current name to match that on their birth certificate.
When you make your daily calls to your three members of Congress, please be sure to ask them to oppose the SAVE Act.
CALL YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS: OPPOSE THE SAVE ACT
The SAVE Act pretends to be a solution to the non-existent problem of “voter fraud”. Instead, it is a MAGA bill to keep Democrats from being able to vote by making it difficult or impossible for voters to register. We need every single Democrat to oppose it.
(To learn more about the SAVE Act, read about it here).
Please call your members of Congress and say:
I’m calling to ask the senator/congressmember to oppose the SAVE Act, which is designed to keep Democrats from being able to vote.
Tell our reps to reject overturning the basis for the EPA's climate work!
BACKGROUND: The Trump Administration is poised to rewrite the EPA’s finding that determined planet-warming greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare. The 2009 finding under the Clean Air Act is the legal underpinning of a host of climate regulations for motor vehicles, power plants and other pollution sources. If this finding is pulled, everything the EPS does on climate goes away. Unfortunately that is precisely what this administration wants.
Please call your Senators/Congress members and say:
Rewriting the EPA’s 2009 finding on the dangers of climate change will grind progress to a halt. That may be what this administration wants, but it's not what the future demands. Take any and all measures to stop them from eliminating this finding, including boycotting any bill or action the Trump administration tries to put forward. Play by Trump’s rules --- fight!!
Senator Alex Padilla
DC phone: 202-224-3553
SF phone: 415-981-9369
Senator Adam Schiff
DC phone: 202-224-3841
Congressmember Jared Huffman
Phone: (San Rafael) 415-258-9657
or
Congressmember Mike Thompson
Phone: (Santa Rosa) 707-542-7182
Our calendar is updated regularly. Here’s a sampling of meetings and actions for the next few days. Check our calendar regularly to stay current!
MEETINGS
Protecting Democracy from Authoritarian Threat
Wed, Mar 5, 2025 4:00pm - 5:00pm | US/Pacific
Meet Tim Snyder, author of On Tyranny +
Deana El-Mallawany of Protect Democracy
Our democracy is facing an unprecedented authoritarian threat for which most of our citizens + institutions are unprepared. Scholar, author + commentator Tim Snyder is uniquely qualified to help us understand the nature of this threat + the role ordinary citizens can play in countering it.
He will be joined by Deana Kim El-Mallawany, Counsel + a Director at Protect Democracy. Protect Democracy is a cross-ideological nonprofit group dedicated to defeating the authoritarian threat, defending the rule of law, protecting elections + public discourse + shaping the democracy of tomorrow.
REGISTER for this free event
Brainstorming Get Together/Activist Support Group
Wed, March 12, 2025 10:30am - 12:00pm
FIRST TIME ATTENDEES, PLEASE ARRIVE AT 10; MEETING STARTS AT 10:30
Location: RSVP for location
Come to one or all of these meetings to gather with a community of progressive folks active in grassroots actions.
Each of us has something to contribute to this existential responsibility that rests on all of us.
We will be there and hope you will be too!
Do More - Take Action
Marches / Protests / Rallies
Make certain you are prepared for whatever could happen when you are where others could confront you. Read Indivisible National’s advice, here: https://indivisible.org/resource/safety-security-and-digital-preparedness-second-trump-administration
The People's Movement: San Francisco
Tue, Mar 4, 2025 12:00pm | US/Pacific
Location: SF Civic Center Area
We’ll gather at SF City Hall at 12noon to peacefully demonstrate our opposition to the Musk/Trump regime.
Location Details
SF Civic Center Area
San Francisco CA 94102 US
Protest Musk - Visibility Event
Sat, Mar 8, 2025 11:00am - 1:00pm | US/Pacific
You are invited to join a sign-waving event this weekend.
Join friends, neighbors, and those who share your values on the sidewalk outside the Tesla showroom in Santa Rosa. 3286 Airway Drive, Santa Rosa, CA, 95403.
Bring signs to wave! Please stay on the sidewalk and do not block entrances.
This is a visibility event as part of national days of action to protest Musk and Tesla.
Volunteer-organized for Indivisible; not organized by Indivisible Sonoma County
International Women's Day - Unite & Resist in Santa Rosa
📢 Protest/Rally
Sat, Mar 8, 2025 11:00am - 1:30pm | US/Pacific
On International Women’s Day, we’re taking to the streets to fight back against the fascist takeover. Join us to defend our rights, our bodies, and our future.
No permission needed—just show up and bring others.
https://action.womensmarch.com/events/international-women-s-day-unite-resist-in-santa-rosa
Volunteer-organized; not organized by Indivisible Sonoma County
International Women's Day - Unite & Resist in Sebastopol
Sat, Mar 8, 2025 12:00pm - 1:00pm | US/Pacific
Four Corners (Main at Bodega Ave.)
📢 Protest Vigil in Solidarity with the Women's March
On International Women’s Day, we’re taking to the streets to fight back against the fascist takeover. Join us to defend our rights, our bodies, and our future. No permission needed—just show up and bring others.
This is a one-hour vigil, not a march. Please make a sign with BIG letters. We will be peaceful and respectful of others. We can stand on the four corners--chants and songs are welcome.
More info: https://action.womensmarch.com/events/international-women-s-day-unite-resist-in-sebastopol
Calls, Postcards, Texts, Training
Josh Weil for Congress Phone Calls
Through Mar 28, 2025
Calling on all Floridians and Americans beyond who want to elect a single parent with two boys, and a public school teacher who will restore balance to Washington, fight for common sense solutions, and serve YOU - we need your HELP!
More details and for signup options (various date/time shifts; all times Eastern!)
https://www.mobilize.us/mobilize/event/753903/
Call Red District Representatives with Sonoma Democrats
Multiple days 9:00am - 3:00pm
Here is your opportunity to make a difference in this most important time.
Phone bank to contact the top 10 Congressional Representatives in RED SWING DISTRICTS that were elected by the slimmest of margins. These 10 Republican Congressional Representatives in swing districts won their seat by less than 3.5% with some less than 1%. Let's call them to let them know that their "constituents" are NOT HAPPY with them or the administration, and that they are in danger of losing their seat in 2026.
Your call could possibly make a difference in how they vote on a specific issue.
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/CallstoSwingDistrictsFeb2025/49189199#
Gay Valimont for Congress Phone Calls
Multiple days, 4:00pm - 6:00pm |
Join Team Valimont for a Weekly Phone Bank on Tuesdays!
Details and signup form:
mobilize.us/s/Z3akrT (4 pm PT / 6 pm ET)
Balance in the WI Supreme Court is up for Grabs
Tue, Mar 4, 2025 3:00pm - 5:00pm | US/Pacific
Join the Bay Area Coalition as we call with the Wisconsin Dems and Center for Common Ground to make calls to voters in Wisconsin!
We will call to connect with Wisconsin voters and get out the vote for the Spring Elections. The goal is to highlight the importance of Electing Susan Crawford to the Supreme Court and other democratic candidates up and down the ballot.
RSVP today and invite a friend to join us!
https://www.mobilize.us/swingleft/event/754108
National Guided Phonebank for Wisconsin
Wed, Mar 5, 2025 3:00pm - 5:00pm
What’s the Plan? A Weekly Discussion with Indivisible’s Co-Founders
Thu, Mar 6, 2025 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Phone Banking for WI State Supreme Court
Thu, Mar 6, 2025 3:00pm - 5:00pm @ Democratic Party Headquarters
What if in every local place the whole group of fascists go, grocery stores, parks, etc. the local people did what the people in Vermont did, and the Dems did in the House. Make signs for them to see whatever they do, we're watching them, and know they are a bunch of spineless cowards. Since their Congressmen aren't holding town halls since they are scared of hearing the truth.
We should thank Bill McKibben for his video, and the young skier who was an example for young people her age to do.
This has to get through to them, because they know people will not vote for them for going along with the craziness they have approved of.