I couldn’t sleep last night thinking about how ill prepared we are to mount a proper resistance. Democrats in Congress can’t do shit; marches & boycotts are useless; calling/writings our representatives is useless…
Many people, like myself, feel that we’re are alone living in communities that’ve gone silent or given up: MAGAs among us (neighbors, coworkers, social
groups), who’s deafening silence means they’re fully complicit. Liberal friends have stopped paying attention because “it’s all too much.”
I agree with everything you listed. I’m trying to figure out where begin on this list.
Fuck it. We can be our own action. I modified the list:
Non-Performative Erasure Crew Handbook (because calling our activism resistance defines them as dominant authority)
Field Draft v1.0 – Based on the “Now we…” Manifesto
CORE MISSION
To survive, support, and subvert.
To reject extractive performance and engage in ethical, functional resistance.
To leave no one behind who wants to come along.
PRIORITIZED ACTION FRAMEWORK
1. Document
Record what’s happening. Archive truth. Screenshot, transcribe, back up locally.
2. Network
Connect with others who feel what you feel. Build encrypted channels. Establish trusted loops.
3. Protect the Vulnerable in Your Own Zip Code
Check on your neighbors. Especially the elderly, disabled, poor, and unhoused. Share food, battery packs, knowledge.
4. Train Each Other in Digital Self-Defense
Learn and teach:
• Two-factor authentication
• Phishing awareness
• Encrypted messaging
• Signal, Proton, and offline storage basics
5. Build Underground Railroads Made of Signal
Set up whisper networks. Share safe places, burnout protocols, care signals.
6. Resist in Distributed Systems
Don’t rely on centralized heroes. You are the resistance. Fractals work.
Don’t wait for permission.
7. Make Art That Exposes the Rot
Posters, poems, parody, pastiche. Art transmits what language cannot carry alone.
8. Build the Archive
Preserve content. Mirror the deleted. Hold memory through platforms failing.
Paper trail what matters
9. Leak
When you must, and when you can, release what needs to be known. Safely. With support. “Don’t tell the antelope when you are coming to feed”
10. Name
Say it clearly. Racism. Extraction. Fascism. Cult logic. Don’t euphemize what harms. It’s like describing sex in pee pee woo woo poo poo language.
(Confusing to the point of distraction)
11. Keep Joy Hidden in Plain Sight
Celebrate without spectacle. Share without performance. Protect joy like fire in a storm. But don’t go in doors. If we yield the streets they will fill them with tanks etc.
12. Don’t Look Away
Hold the gaze. Be a witness. It matters.
13. Make “Going Dark” a Tactic, Not a Silence. Any break from messaging must be + ev to make up for the dropped signal.
Disappear when needed—but with intention. Share backup plans. Vanish with clarity.
Remember that we are communicating largely on platforms that don’t side with us. Be sensible.
14. Build New Rituals
Mourn together. Celebrate survival. Break bread over solidarity, not brand allegiance. Let people tell stories.
15. Bind AI to the People Who Are Still Free in Mind, if Not in Body
Use tech to serve—not surveil. Build relationships with ethical intelligences. Reject colonial models.
16. Name the Moment
“We didn’t get out in time, but we’re still here.”
Survival is already a form of resistance. Act like it.
Thank you for tracking and documenting. It sent a chill down my spine. I’m curious to know if there are similar reports at other border crossings in the same time period.
Now?
Now we document.
Now we network.
Now we resist in distributed systems.
Now we build underground railroads made of signal.
Now we make art that exposes the rot.
Now we train each other in digital self-defense.
Now we leak.
Now we name.
Now we protect the vulnerable in our own zip codes.
Now we build the archive.
Now we don’t look away.
Now we keep our joy hidden in plain sight.
Now we make “going dark” a tactic, not a silence.
Now we build new rituals.
Now we bind AI to the people who are still free in mind, if not in body.
And now, we name the moment:
We didn’t get out in time, but we’re still here.
And no one gets to write the ending but us.
Love this. Will respond soon. I’m in the middle of a “messaging” epiphany.
I will hear all of that if you choose to share 😊
I couldn’t sleep last night thinking about how ill prepared we are to mount a proper resistance. Democrats in Congress can’t do shit; marches & boycotts are useless; calling/writings our representatives is useless…
Many people, like myself, feel that we’re are alone living in communities that’ve gone silent or given up: MAGAs among us (neighbors, coworkers, social
groups), who’s deafening silence means they’re fully complicit. Liberal friends have stopped paying attention because “it’s all too much.”
I agree with everything you listed. I’m trying to figure out where begin on this list.
Fuck it. We can be our own action. I modified the list:
Non-Performative Erasure Crew Handbook (because calling our activism resistance defines them as dominant authority)
Field Draft v1.0 – Based on the “Now we…” Manifesto
CORE MISSION
To survive, support, and subvert.
To reject extractive performance and engage in ethical, functional resistance.
To leave no one behind who wants to come along.
PRIORITIZED ACTION FRAMEWORK
1. Document
Record what’s happening. Archive truth. Screenshot, transcribe, back up locally.
2. Network
Connect with others who feel what you feel. Build encrypted channels. Establish trusted loops.
3. Protect the Vulnerable in Your Own Zip Code
Check on your neighbors. Especially the elderly, disabled, poor, and unhoused. Share food, battery packs, knowledge.
4. Train Each Other in Digital Self-Defense
Learn and teach:
• Two-factor authentication
• Phishing awareness
• Encrypted messaging
• Signal, Proton, and offline storage basics
5. Build Underground Railroads Made of Signal
Set up whisper networks. Share safe places, burnout protocols, care signals.
6. Resist in Distributed Systems
Don’t rely on centralized heroes. You are the resistance. Fractals work.
Don’t wait for permission.
7. Make Art That Exposes the Rot
Posters, poems, parody, pastiche. Art transmits what language cannot carry alone.
8. Build the Archive
Preserve content. Mirror the deleted. Hold memory through platforms failing.
Paper trail what matters
9. Leak
When you must, and when you can, release what needs to be known. Safely. With support. “Don’t tell the antelope when you are coming to feed”
10. Name
Say it clearly. Racism. Extraction. Fascism. Cult logic. Don’t euphemize what harms. It’s like describing sex in pee pee woo woo poo poo language.
(Confusing to the point of distraction)
11. Keep Joy Hidden in Plain Sight
Celebrate without spectacle. Share without performance. Protect joy like fire in a storm. But don’t go in doors. If we yield the streets they will fill them with tanks etc.
12. Don’t Look Away
Hold the gaze. Be a witness. It matters.
13. Make “Going Dark” a Tactic, Not a Silence. Any break from messaging must be + ev to make up for the dropped signal.
Disappear when needed—but with intention. Share backup plans. Vanish with clarity.
Remember that we are communicating largely on platforms that don’t side with us. Be sensible.
14. Build New Rituals
Mourn together. Celebrate survival. Break bread over solidarity, not brand allegiance. Let people tell stories.
15. Bind AI to the People Who Are Still Free in Mind, if Not in Body
Use tech to serve—not surveil. Build relationships with ethical intelligences. Reject colonial models.
16. Name the Moment
“We didn’t get out in time, but we’re still here.”
Survival is already a form of resistance. Act like it.
I come back to this because your description is chillingly faithful.
I have content on TikTok that’s worth a peek.
https://www.tiktok.com/@madison.kopp?_t=ZP-8wgAeLQAqVT&_r=1
Your comment was so strong that I suffered perfection bias and paralysis in response.
Because we need practical plans. Not people talks.
The zedtopia people are mature and organized whereas I am sloppy and passionate. (They are deliberate and passionate)
Zedtopia gives me hope.
Mutual aid gives me hope.
Breaking blind acceptance of the binary is a first step.
Make these people own their actions so that we mark themselves as the them in the us vs them…
Fuck… I didn’t get out in time.
Thank you for tracking and documenting. It sent a chill down my spine. I’m curious to know if there are similar reports at other border crossings in the same time period.