Getting mad about politics doesn’t do anything. Liking something on Tik Tok doesn’t do anything and neither does getting into a keyboard warrior argument on Facebook or doomscrolling on Instagram. What does change things is meeting people in person, connecting with real world organizations seeking to accomplish real world goals and getting a chance to vent with other like-minded people. That is exactly what events like the resource really held by Ann Arbor Indivisible in front of the Ann Arbor Federal Building on May 1 accomplish, and they are going to continue.
Cathy Willey, of Pittsfield Township, said that events like this are “extremely useful. One of my biggest obstacles to getting more involves is I don’t know where the groups are. I found Indivisible’s Facebook page, but that isn’t super helpful, and I don’t like using Facebook to begin with. So having people all in one place, in person, is very useful to me. I’ve got a pocketful of literature here so I’m glad to hear from the organizations. And they’re all on a spectrum where anyone could find something that they’re comfortable with, from a fairly normative liberal side, all the way to what seems to some fairly radical groups, based on the speakers.
Speakers from various organizations showed up for speeches like at normal rallies. Rep. Debbie Dingell (Democrat – Michigan) was there, along with democratic socialist mayoral candidate Yousef Rabhi, to the student groups. Dingell,like the rest of the speakers, emphasized the history of the labor movement in the organizing of democratic norms and workplace protections, and denounced the Trump administration for dismantling them.
The main event was the tables that lined Liberty Street rather than the speakers. They get manned by the volunteers and organizers of civic groups. On May 1 this included Maize and Blue Courage, Ann Arbor Indivisible, Michigan Student Action, the Huron Valley Democratic Socialists of America, the senatorial campaign for Abdul El-Sayed and MiCare.
When you go to one of these tables, you can establish a relationship with people. You can also get information on what they are actually doing and standing for, how you can donate your time or money, and who to follow to stay in the loop.
“I wish the Republicans would develop a spine and start doing their jobs. They’re basically doing absolutely everything except cow-towing to Trump. They’re supposed to be a co-equal branch of the government and they’re not acting like one,” Erica Dutton, of Ann Arbor, said. “And I wish the Democrats would speak more clearly about the policies they want to change. Stop talking about Trump and tell me the positive policies that will help people [be] better off.”
You can start doing that on the grassroots level at these resource rallies. One idea that is being considered is a national strike—a move that is common in some democracies but is unusual in the United States. Ann Arbor Indivisible did a version of that on May 1.
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“The intent here isn’t to do a full-blown national strike day, this is what they called a structure test,” Camron Wright, a fairly new organizer for Ann Arbor Indivisible, explains. “Measuring it is going to be a bit of a challenge, and I have to imagine that national Indivisible has some sort of metric that they’re looking at. From our point of view, we’re going to put out a questionnaire and see how they feel about how way the winds are blowing. A lot of it is future looking, seeing how people feel about taking a similar sort of activity.”
It would be molded on something like the Montgomery Bus Boycott. After Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in the 1960s, the Black community in Montgomery boycotted the bus system for over a year. This caused revenue to drop so much that the racist segregationist policy that got Parks arrested had to be repealed.
This would be a protest where everyone participating would agree to not go to work, not go to school and not spend a single cent on anything at all day. This would be a massive half in the economy that would be un-ignorable by Wall Street. But it is hard to do in any sort of national level. It’s so rare in the US that its hard to even find academics who can speak at length on it. Ann Arbor Indivisible knows that they are a long way off from trying a national strike, but it is an idea they’re working on.
The idea is that an authoritarian movement can only succeed if enough of the wealthy see that there is money to be made from supporting it. If that authoritarian movement suddenly starts producing diminishing returns, if the possibility of facing consequences for supporting it in the future start looking realistic, or worse, if they stop making money, it is much less likely that big business will continue to support the authoritarian movement.
The resource rally ran from noon to 2pm to not overlap with Ypsilanti Indivisible’s protest, which started when they ended. They are also going to keep protesting at least until the election.
“They’re destroying collective bargaining. They hurting everybody, but I talk to the federal government employees all the time—veterans hospitals, TSA—they’re trying to destroy unions, and everybody’s right to collective bargaining, let alone what they’re doing to organized labor. I’ve been meeting with all of the presidents of labor, and making a labor agenda in Congress. The Pro Act is the number one priority. When I’m talking to people, I say that it didn’t get passed during Obama, it didn’t get passed during Biden; we need to demand to Republicans and Democrats to get it passed,” Dingell said.
The phrase “elections have consequences” was said a lot. When asked what America is learning from the consequences of the 2024 election, Dingell said “I think that not everybody understand that the price of gasoline, grocery prices .. there’s a direct correlation between the increased costs and what happened” in 2024.
And there will be consequences after the 2026 election. What those consequences will be for America, and for your community, will depend on how much you get involved in the organizing before and after the Midterms. Resource rallies like this one make it easier for you to influence what those consequences will be.
Drew Saunders is a freelance business and environmental journalist who grew up just outside of Ann Arbor. He covers local business developments, embraces his foodie side with reviews restaurants, obsesses over Michigan's environmental state, loves movies, and feels spoiled by the music he gets to review for Ann Arbor!
