“What can I do to defend democracy in America?” is a question many of us never imagined we would need to ask. Now that our democracy is under threat by rising authoritarian rule, Ali Velshi warns us to accept that courts, politicians, and institutions cannot save democracy on their own. Our guardrails have always relied on goodwill, decency, and the honor system. In their absence, the people must act to resist.
Real political change has always come from the bottom, not the top. It comes from ordinary people resisting in ways both big and small, as we saw in the Civil Rights Movement. All rulers, even authoritarians, rely on the cooperation of their people, whether through consent, fear, or apathy. When people refuse to cooperate, authoritarian systems collapse.
Velshi recommends the 2017 book On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder for examples of how civil disobedience, satire, and even trolling by everyday people like you challenge oppressive systems.
Here are some strategies for civil resistance:
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- System overload (Call those snitch hotlines. Have fun with it).
- Noncompliance with illegitimate laws
- political noncooperation
- economic noncooperation
- non-violent interjection
- humor or creative resistance
Hold the line, maintain your support systems, and resist fascism. You can preserve democracy.
LISTEN: VELSHI ON RESISTING FOR THE AVERAGE CITIZEN
WATCH: VELSHI EXPLAINS HOW TO RESIST AUTHORITARIAN RULE
MORE FROM MSNBC’S ALI VELSHI
