There’s a clear next step that has been gaining traction - a one day General Strike on May 1st. This obviously is not going to topple authoritarianism, but it is an important step in getting Americans used to flexing their labor withdrawal muscle.

Led by labor groups like May Day Strong and Power in Numbers and backed by large coalitions like No Kings (50501, Indivisible, Women’s March, Greenpeace, Jewish Peace, Move On and more), there is potential for this to reverberate and gain media attention. The message needs to be clear: the American people are willing to make sacrifices for the greater good of humanity.

Check out this map for a local event near you, or create your own on Mobilize. Sign up with May Day Strong to learn more about organizing, or join your local DSA, 50501 or Indivisible chapter.

The proposed budget for 2027 includes substantial funding for the Department of Justice training of city and state law enforcement to implement NSPM-7, the "Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence" memo issued in September 2025 that targets broadly left-wing ideologies as signs of potential domestic terrorism. 

Below is a script you can copy and adapt to read to your own city council meetings.

Hello, my name is [Name], and I’m here to ask this Council to take seriously the civil liberties implications of NSPM-7, a federal national security directive that appears to expand domestic counterterrorism frameworks in ways that could target lawful political dissent by people who hold traditionally left wing views.

I'm bringing it to your attention because I recently learned they are planning to operationalize it locally — through law enforcement partnerships, intelligence-sharing networks, fusion centers, and Joint Terrorism Task Forces, including the training of local and state law enforcement on the directive.

If federal agencies are encouraging local police to view broad political beliefs — including: anti-capitalism, antifascism, anti-war protesting, or criticism of state violence — as indicators of extremism, then we are looking at a serious threat to the First Amendment rights of people in this city.

That should concern everyone, regardless of political affiliation.

Criticizing government policy is not terrorism.

Protesting injustice is not extremism.

Wanting human dignity, economic fairness, or an end to authoritarianism is not a public safety threat.

And yet we are seeing a political climate in which dissent — particularly from the "left"-leaning ideologies — is increasingly framed as dangerous, while actual patterns of political violence in this country have long shown right wing extremism to be the dominant source of fatal domestic violence historically. This was documented in a study by the Department of Justice in 2024, a joint DHS-FBI study in 2023, and a number of other DOJ and FBI testimonies.

Federal threat assessments have long identified racially and ethnically motivated violent extremism as the biggest domestic terrorism threat, and hate-motivated violence has disproportionately impacted Muslim, Jewish, LGBTQ and racial minority communities.

So I am asking this Council to do three things:

• First, publicly affirm that lawful protest, organizing, political speech, and criticism of government are protected activities in this city.
  
• Second, require transparency from local law enforcement about any participation in NSPM-7-related trainings, intelligence-sharing, surveillance programs, fusion center coordination, or FBI/JTTF cooperation connected to political monitoring.
  
• Third, explore policies that prohibit city resources from being used to assist in the surveillance, targeting, or criminalization of constitutionally protected political activity.
  

If this directive is allowed to quietly filter downward into local institutions, the damage will not begin with “terrorists.” It will begin with ordinary people who are speaking out, organizing, dissenting, and often times actually trying to protect the constitution and democracy. 

That is exactly when local government is supposed to draw a line.

Thank you.

Learn more:

• NSPM-7 Memo text
• ACLU Analysis of NSPM-7
  

I came upon a video of a Corona City Council meeting where a resident with an IT and cloud infrastructure background commented on Flock cameras. It was very insightful so I transcribed it, did some fact checking, and adapted it so that people can take the script for any city they live in. (For reference, the original transcript is here, and original video is here.)

Hi. My name is {Name}, and I'm a resident of {City}.

I’m here to speak about Flock Safety cameras and the broader implications for privacy and public oversight.

Flock advertises these as simple license plate readers. But in practice, they function as a much broader data collection and surveillance system — capturing detailed images of vehicles and their surroundings, along with time and location data, and then storing that information in a searchable database hosted on corporate cloud infrastructure.

While local agencies technically control their data, the system is designed for sharing across jurisdictions. That means data collected here can be accessed by other agencies, sometimes far beyond the local level, raising real privacy concerns.

There have already been documented cases in other cities where federal agencies accessed local camera data without clear public awareness. That raises serious questions about transparency and oversight.

It's also important to note that Flock Safety is backed by none other than Peter Thiel, founder of Palantir, the data fusion platform utilized across federal agencies including ICE. He is billionaire famous for stating he does not believe in democracy or that women should have ever gotten the right to vote.

But this isn’t just about one company or one person. It’s about patterns in the kind of infrastructure we are building and who is allowed to control them. When mass data on ordinary residents is collected and stored in systems like this, it creates a permanent record of people’s movements — regardless of whether they are suspected of any wrongdoing. That has real implications for civil liberties and privacy violations. 

So the questions we should be asking:

• Who has access to this data?
• How is it being used?
• And what safeguards are in place to prevent misuse?

Given this information, I am asking the City Council

• Conduct a full audit of how Flock data is being accessed and shared
• Disclose any agreements with outside agencies
• And reconsider whether this system aligns with our community’s values and expectations around privacy, and consider taking a vote to cancel the Flock safety contract.

Lastly, I want to emphasize this is not about being anti-security or anti-police. Public safety obviously matters. But mass surveillance of entire populations by companies with stated political agendas is a different question.

Thank you. 

Get ready for a series of national general strikes. The first one will be on Friday, May 1st, International Workers Day.

• It’s being led by a coalition of serious labor groups — May Day Strong, Power in Numbers, Sunrise Movement, Women's March
• There’s training leading up to it—facilitated by Strike Ready Corps and Grassroots Democracy
• Backed by larger organizations like Indivisible and The 50501 Movement this year, which means this could gather a critical mass.
• It’s part of a larger strategy. Another one on Labor Day, in prep for the likely need for mass mobilization in November.

Sign up for their Welcome & Training Prep: https://grassroots-democracy-initiative.solidarity.tech/welcome-to-strike-ready-corps

Roadmap Dates: https://grassroots-democracy-initiative.solidarity.tech/road-map-to-may-day

How We Build a General Strike: 

This video is 90 minutes. If you can check out at least the first 30-40 minutes to hear talks from:

• South Korean labor leader, Wol-San Liem, speaking about South Korea’s experience holding a general strike in response to their president declaring martial law
• Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson also talks about general strike and collective action.
• Daniel Hunter, Freedom Trainers - about the ingredients required for general strike, importance building the kindling wood so that when a catalytic event happens you can strike the match.
  
• Aru Shiney-Ajay, Sunrise Movement
• Tamika Middleton, Women’s March
• Neidi Dominguez, Power in Numbers
  

Independence from the Big Tech companies who have aligned themselves with authoritarianism is a key step in saving our democracy. Below is an easy reference guide for big tech to avoid and alternatives. 

More information:

• PDF file to print copies: visit the Defund the Broligarchy blog post
  
• Check out the Digital Exodus Guidebook for even more details.