April 1st General Strike

General Discussion Politics
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There’s been some talk, on Twitter and some other circles I frequent, floating the idea of a widespread general strike for April 1st in support of Medicare for All. The contradictions at the heart of capitalism are in high relief right now, and if there ever was a time to organize a general strike, now seems to be the time.

Particularly relevant to this forum would be the potential/effects of a general strike within the video games industry. With that latest Kotaku piece on crunch at Naughty Dog making the round, the increased push for unionization in the industry in the last year, and the particular stress crunch puts oh developers’ physical health, it seems like devs would be poised to get effective results if there’s interest in organizing.

Amidst all the uncertainty and anxiety with the US government’s handling of the crisis lately, the idea of a general strike has me feeling hints of hope and excitement. It’s a short time to organize, but I and many others want to help it come together in our areas.

Curious if y’all have been thinking much about this/labor and wages in general, especially lately.

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Go for it comrades!

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I’d have loved this idea a few weeks ago, but the whole country is increasingly shut down already due to the virus. It’s hard to make such a huge impact and I don’t know if there’s the energy for this with people’s fears directed otherwise.

I don’t know how much of a job I’ll even have in two weeks anyway if my work decides non-essential personnel are too much of a risk.

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The upshot to this is it would be a brilliant time for the same folks participating in the general strike to organize mutual aid networks to provide collectively essential services to those in need. The “creative alternative institutions” part is crucial imo, and would just but another huge blow to the efficacy and speed of this country’s “aid” for the crisis.

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Those are my thoughts. Everything’s kinda fucked right now so a one day general strike, even a successful one, would likely have little impact.

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