An affinity group is a small group of people who come together to prepare for and take direct action. They make decisions together, and support each other during and after action. Sometimes these groups are formed just for one action, but often they are ongoing groups that organise and take part in actions over a number of years.

Affinity groups are often organised along the principles of non-hierarchy and autonomy. This means that decisions are made directly within the group by all its members, and responsibility and power is shared so that everyone has an equal voice.

Affinity group guide: https://www.seedsforchange.org.uk/affinitygroups

What can I do? Choose Democracy Resource: https://choosedemocracy.us/what-can-i-do/

Daniel Hunter's Analysis on Staying Grounded: https://wagingnonviolence.org/2024/11/10-things-to-do-if-trump-wins/?utm_source=Climate+Advocacy+Lab+Members&utm_campaign=8cf646d623-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_01_22_04_22&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-8cf646d623-547145900

Democracy is a verb: Interview series: https://wagingnonviolence.org/2024/07/democracy-is-a-verb/#interviews

Wisdom from the Fight for Democracy in Serbia. https://wagingnonviolence.org/2024/05/overcoming-despair-apathy-win-democracy-otpor-serbia-ivan-marovic/

Donate to Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund::www.pcrf.net

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The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

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An affinity group is a small group of people who come together to prepare for and take direct action. They make decisions together, and support each other during and after action. Sometimes these groups are formed just for one action, but often they are ongoing groups that organise and take part in actions over a number of years.

Affinity groups are often organised along the principles of non-hierarchy and autonomy. This means that decisions are made directly within the group by all its members, and responsibility and power is shared so that everyone has an equal voice.

Affinity group guide: https://www.seedsforchange.org.uk/affinitygroups

What can I do? Choose Democracy Resource: https://choosedemocracy.us/what-can-i-do/

Daniel Hunter's Analysis on Staying Grounded: https://wagingnonviolence.org/2024/11/10-things-to-do-if-trump-wins/?utm_source=Climate+Advocacy+Lab+Members&utm_campaign=8cf646d623-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_01_22_04_22&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-8cf646d623-547145900

Democracy is a verb: Interview series: https://wagingnonviolence.org/2024/07/democracy-is-a-verb/#interviews

Wisdom from the Fight for Democracy in Serbia. https://wagingnonviolence.org/2024/05/overcoming-despair-apathy-win-democracy-otpor-serbia-ivan-marovic/

Donate to Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund::www.pcrf.net

Donate to Mutual Aid Funds: https://www.folxhealth.com/library/mutual-aid-funds

GET AN OCCASIONAL PERSONAL EMAIL FROM ME: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.com

TUNE IN ON INSTAGRAM FOR COOL CONTENT: www.instagram.com/mydbpodcast

OR BE A REAL GEM + TUNE IN ON PATREON: www.patreon.com/MYDBpodcast

OR WATCH ON YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/juliemerica 

The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

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The HOPE-PV guide offers us some tactics in safely + effectively pushing back against perpetrators of political violence.

1. Combat the cover-up with the Reveal – Expose the injustice.
2. Combat devaluation + Redeem – Validate the target.
3. Combat reinterpretation + Reframe – Interpret the event as an injustice.
4. Combat official channels + Redirect – Mobilize support and avoid official channels.
5. Combat intimidation or rewards + Resist – Resist intimidation and bribes.

RESOURCES:

The Free HOPE-PV Guide to ending Political Violence: https://www.endpoliticalviolence.org/guide

What can I do? Choose Democracy Resource: https://choosedemocracy.us/what-can-i-do/

Daniel Hunter's Analysis on Staying Grounded: https://wagingnonviolence.org/2024/11/10-things-to-do-if-trump-wins/?utm_source=Climate+Advocacy+Lab+Members&utm_campaign=8cf646d623-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_01_22_04_22&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-8cf646d623-547145900

Democracy is a verb: Interview series: https://wagingnonviolence.org/2024/07/democracy-is-a-verb/#interviews

Wisdom from the Fight for Democracy in Serbia. https://wagingnonviolence.org/2024/05/overcoming-despair-apathy-win-democracy-otpor-serbia-ivan-marovic/

Donate to Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund::www.pcrf.net

Donate to Mutual Aid Funds: https://www.folxhealth.com/library/mutual-aid-funds

GET AN OCCASIONAL PERSONAL EMAIL FROM ME: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.com

TUNE IN ON INSTAGRAM FOR COOL CONTENT: www.instagram.com/mydbpodcast

OR BE A REAL GEM + TUNE IN ON PATREON: www.patreon.com/MYDBpodcast

OR WATCH ON YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/juliemerica 

The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/make-your-damn-bed.

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Today we're talking about how to combat the common tactics that perpetrators of political violence rely on from the HOPE guide (linked below):

1. Combat the cover-up with the Reveal – Expose the injustice.
2. Combat devaluation + Redeem – Validate the target.
3. Combat reinterpretation + Reframe – Interpret the event as an injustice.
4. Combat official channels + Redirect – Mobilize support and avoid official channels.
5. Combat intimidation or rewards + Resist – Resist intimidation and bribes.

RESOURCES:

The Free HOPE-PV Guide to ending Political Violence: https://www.endpoliticalviolence.org/guide

What can I do? Choose Democracy Resource: https://choosedemocracy.us/what-can-i-do/

Daniel Hunter's Analysis on Staying Grounded: https://wagingnonviolence.org/2024/11/10-things-to-do-if-trump-wins/?utm_source=Climate+Advocacy+Lab+Members&utm_campaign=8cf646d623-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_01_22_04_22&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-8cf646d623-547145900

Democracy is a verb: Interview series: https://wagingnonviolence.org/2024/07/democracy-is-a-verb/#interviews

Wisdom from the Fight for Democracy in Serbia. https://wagingnonviolence.org/2024/05/overcoming-despair-apathy-win-democracy-otpor-serbia-ivan-marovic/

Donate to Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund::www.pcrf.net

Donate to Mutual Aid Funds: https://www.folxhealth.com/library/mutual-aid-funds

GET AN OCCASIONAL PERSONAL EMAIL FROM ME: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.com

TUNE IN ON INSTAGRAM FOR COOL CONTENT: www.instagram.com/mydbpodcast

OR BE A REAL GEM + TUNE IN ON PATREON: www.patreon.com/MYDBpodcast

OR WATCH ON YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/juliemerica 

The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/make-your-damn-bed.

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The ideal of democracy is that it can contain ALL of our diversity and differences and channel into safe, institutionally protected representation without the use of threat and violence. Democracy depends on societal trust, free + fair elections, widespread participation, free + fair media, due process, etc. Democracy can be undermined by people using threat/violence so we must make the cost of political violence too high to enact. We must take offensive and defensive strategies when addressing political violence. Tomorrow, I'll share some of those historically effective strategies.

RESOURCES:

The Free HOPE-PV Guide to ending Political Violence: https://www.endpoliticalviolence.org/guide

What can I do? Choose Democracy Resource: https://choosedemocracy.us/what-can-i-do/

Daniel Hunter's Analysis on Staying Grounded: https://wagingnonviolence.org/2024/11/10-things-to-do-if-trump-wins/?utm_source=Climate+Advocacy+Lab+Members&utm_campaign=8cf646d623-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_01_22_04_22&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-8cf646d623-547145900

Democracy is a verb: Interview series: https://wagingnonviolence.org/2024/07/democracy-is-a-verb/#interviews

Wisdom from the Fight for Democracy in Serbia. https://wagingnonviolence.org/2024/05/overcoming-despair-apathy-win-democracy-otpor-serbia-ivan-marovic/

Donate to Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund::www.pcrf.net

Donate to Mutual Aid Funds: https://www.folxhealth.com/library/mutual-aid-funds

GET AN OCCASIONAL PERSONAL EMAIL FROM ME: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.com

TUNE IN ON INSTAGRAM FOR COOL CONTENT: www.instagram.com/mydbpodcast

OR BE A REAL GEM + TUNE IN ON PATREON: www.patreon.com/MYDBpodcast

OR WATCH ON YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/juliemerica 

The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/make-your-damn-bed.

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Thinking of power as an upside-down triangle is a great way to remember where power lies. Everyday individuals hold the structures of power up with their daily labor within the system. This is why mass noncooperation movements are so successful in toppling powerful dictatorships. We have to take back our power by demanding the system work for US, rather than us for it. Handling fear isn't about suppression, it's about redirection. Fear can paralyze you into submission, or fuel your demands for justice.

RESOURCES:

What can I do? Choose Democracy Resource: https://choosedemocracy.us/what-can-i-do/

Daniel Hunter's Analysis on Staying Grounded: https://wagingnonviolence.org/2024/11/10-things-to-do-if-trump-wins/?utm_source=Climate+Advocacy+Lab+Members&utm_campaign=8cf646d623-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_01_22_04_22&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-8cf646d623-547145900

Democracy is a verb: Interview series: https://wagingnonviolence.org/2024/07/democracy-is-a-verb/#interviews

Wisdom from the Fight for Democracy in Serbia. https://wagingnonviolence.org/2024/05/overcoming-despair-apathy-win-democracy-otpor-serbia-ivan-marovic/

Donate to Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund::www.pcrf.net

Donate to Mutual Aid Funds: https://www.folxhealth.com/library/mutual-aid-funds

GET AN OCCASIONAL PERSONAL EMAIL FROM ME: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.com

TUNE IN ON INSTAGRAM FOR COOL CONTENT: www.instagram.com/mydbpodcast

OR BE A REAL GEM + TUNE IN ON PATREON: www.patreon.com/MYDBpodcast

OR WATCH ON YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/juliemerica 

The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/make-your-damn-bed.

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Things are chaotic (by design) so after we start to rebuild internal trust + social trust, we can start to address our own needs, and eventually our community's. Develop boundaries, coping skills, resilience strategies. Grieve, learn to accept reality + then address what is within your control. From there, you can pick a lane.

When we try to do too much, we get overwhelmed and don't accomplish half the stuff we could accomplish if we had just picked ONE thing to work on at a time.

HOW TO RESIST THE COUP?

1. Build Internal Trust
2. Build Social Trust
3. Grieve, Accept, Build Resilience
4. Identify your locus of control
5. Pick a lane:

a. Protect People

b. Defend Civic Institutions

c. Disrupt + Disobey

d. Build Alternatives

The sources:

What can I do to resist the coup? https://choosedemocracy.us/what-can-i-do/

Grounding yourself in a chaotic time: https://wagingnonviolence.org/2024/11/10-things-to-do-if-trump-wins/?utm_source=Climate+Advocacy+Lab+Members&utm_campaign=8cf646d623-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_01_22_04_22&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-8cf646d623-547145900

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE BOOK: https://www.ericachenoweth.com/research/wcrw

COMMUNITY PRACTICE: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sdKeqajKC5X7tyhowqRTYgMRHelIwo9T5cTzCT0i1b8/edit?tab=t.0

Donate to Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund::www.pcrf.net

Donate to Mutual Aid Funds: https://www.folxhealth.com/library/mutual-aid-funds

GET AN OCCASIONAL PERSONAL EMAIL FROM ME: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.com

TUNE IN ON INSTAGRAM FOR COOL CONTENT: www.instagram.com/mydbpodcast

OR BE A REAL GEM + TUNE IN ON PATREON: www.patreon.com/MYDBpodcast

OR WATCH ON YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/juliemerica 

The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/make-your-damn-bed.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Things are chaotic (by design) so after we start to rebuild internal trust + social trust, we can start to address our own needs, and eventually our community's. Develop boundaries, coping skills, resilience strategies. Grieve, learn to accept reality + then address what is within your control. From there, you can pick a lane.

When we try to do too much, we get overwhelmed and don't accomplish half the stuff we could accomplish if we had just picked ONE thing to work on at a time.

HOW TO RESIST THE COUP?

1. Build Internal Trust
2. Build Social Trust
3. Grieve, Accept, Build Resilience
4. Identify your locus of control
5. Pick a lane

The sources:

What can I do to resist the coup? https://choosedemocracy.us/what-can-i-do/

Grounding yourself in a chaotic time: https://wagingnonviolence.org/2024/11/10-things-to-do-if-trump-wins/?utm_source=Climate+Advocacy+Lab+Members&utm_campaign=8cf646d623-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_01_22_04_22&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-8cf646d623-547145900

Donate to Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund::www.pcrf.net

Donate to Mutual Aid Funds: https://www.folxhealth.com/library/mutual-aid-funds

GET AN OCCASIONAL PERSONAL EMAIL FROM ME: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.com

TUNE IN ON INSTAGRAM FOR COOL CONTENT: www.instagram.com/mydbpodcast

OR BE A REAL GEM + TUNE IN ON PATREON: www.patreon.com/MYDBpodcast

OR WATCH ON YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/juliemerica 

The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/make-your-damn-bed.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Over the next few days we're gonna do a deep dive on the various ways, we as individuals, can actually resist this coup. Remember, it's easier to resist tyranny today, than it will be in a month. Today, we're starting with the internal work of learning to trust ourselves (and each other) with intention. Our distrust is manufactured, it's time to push back against that belief.

We've got more in common than we're led to believe.

"Authoritarian power is derived from fear of repression, isolation from each other and exhaustion at the utter chaos. We’re already feeling it. Thus, for us to be of any use in a [chaotic] world, we have to pay grave attention to our inner states, so we don’t perpetuate the autocrat’s goals of fear, isolation, exhaustion or constant disorientation." - Daniel Hunter

The sources:

What can I do to resist the coup? https://choosedemocracy.us/what-can-i-do/

Grounding yourself in a chaotic time: https://wagingnonviolence.org/2024/11/10-things-to-do-if-trump-wins/?utm_source=Climate+Advocacy+Lab+Members&utm_campaign=8cf646d623-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_01_22_04_22&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-8cf646d623-547145900

Donate to Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund::www.pcrf.net

Donate to Mutual Aid Funds: https://www.folxhealth.com/library/mutual-aid-funds

GET AN OCCASIONAL PERSONAL EMAIL FROM ME: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.com

TUNE IN ON INSTAGRAM FOR COOL CONTENT: www.instagram.com/mydbpodcast

OR BE A REAL GEM + TUNE IN ON PATREON: www.patreon.com/MYDBpodcast

OR WATCH ON YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/juliemerica 

The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/make-your-damn-bed.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Over the next few days we're gonna do a deep dive on the various ways, we as individuals, can actually resist this coup. Remember, it's easier to resist tyranny today, than it will be in a month. Today, we're starting with the internal work of learning to trust ourselves (and each other) with intention. Our distrust is manufactured, it's time to push back against that belief.

We've got more in common than we're led to believe.

"Authoritarian power is derived from fear of repression, isolation from each other and exhaustion at the utter chaos. We’re already feeling it. Thus, for us to be of any use in a [chaotic] world, we have to pay grave attention to our inner states, so we don’t perpetuate the autocrat’s goals of fear, isolation, exhaustion or constant disorientation." - Daniel Hunter

The sources:

What can I do to resist the coup? https://choosedemocracy.us/what-can-i-do/

Grounding yourself in a chaotic time: https://wagingnonviolence.org/2024/11/10-things-to-do-if-trump-wins/?utm_source=Climate+Advocacy+Lab+Members&utm_campaign=8cf646d623-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_01_22_04_22&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-8cf646d623-547145900

Donate to Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund::www.pcrf.net

Donate to Mutual Aid Funds: https://www.folxhealth.com/library/mutual-aid-funds

GET AN OCCASIONAL PERSONAL EMAIL FROM ME: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.com

TUNE IN ON INSTAGRAM FOR COOL CONTENT: www.instagram.com/mydbpodcast

OR BE A REAL GEM + TUNE IN ON PATREON: www.patreon.com/MYDBpodcast

OR WATCH ON YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/juliemerica 

The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/make-your-damn-bed.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.