"When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have to speak up. You have to do something" –John Lewis
With the holiday season approaching, let’s make our dollars count.
We have power as consumers and we can leverage that power to protect our democracy and send a powerful message to companies: When you support Trump, we don’t support you.
Join the We Ain’t Buying It campaign and take action over Thanksgiving to pressure companies to stop colluding with the Trump administration and enabling their authoritarian overreach.
Tues Dec 2 @ 6-8 PM | Matilija Auditorium, 703 El Paseo Road, Ojai
Arrive at 5:30 PM for appetizers. Childcare available.
Co-sponsors: Ojai Rising, Nordhoff Parent Association, VC Defensa
—Rosa Parks
For our purposes, a “capitulator” is a business or institution that, when faced with unreasonable or even unlawful demands from the Trump Administration, chooses to accede to the demands rather than stand on principle and fight for what is right. Why do these entities capitulate? Invariably the leaders of these businesses and institutions explain that the Trump demands constitute an “existential threat” and that the risk presented by resisting is simply too great and far outweighs any reputational harm or other cost of simply “rolling over.” We don’t envy the dilemma facing these leaders – Trump has placed them in a very difficult position. Our goal, however, is to make them see that there will also be a cost if they capitulate.
The “hold your ground” group communicates with businesses, institutions and other public facing entities targeted by Trump to encourage them to hold their ground and to discourage capitulation and compromise. We will continue to build resources available on our website, including names and contact information of capitulators (and potential capitulators), and a portfolio of model letters that can be used for every scenario, including entities that have capitulated, those that have thus far held their ground, for companies that rely on legal services from capitulating law firms, for State Bar organizations overseeing law firms that have capitulated, etc.
Please see Hold Your Ground page with more details of current Actions
1. Take vacation or sick days from work, work from home, or if you have to go to work then walk/bike/rideshare to prevent buying gas
2. Reduce electricity input. Unplug all outlets except mandatory needs (e.g. fridge/stove). Do not turn on Christmas lights or outdoor decor. Turn off the television, computer and other electronics and instead read a book, puzzle or board game, craft holiday cards and home made gifts, draw & paint, take a walk, honey to do lists, clean and organize, etc.
3. Reduce utility usage. Take no or less showers. Do no or less laundry. Only run full dishwashers & air dry. Make it a point to use less water and turn off any non-emergency outdoor water sources. Turn thermostats off if warm days and down at night and put on a sweater.
4. Plan neighborhood or community potlucks instead of large family Thanksgivings, or make it a family potluck, or plan to serve less food in general. Order local farm turkeys and farmers market veggies. Skip the food buying and cooking and order ahead from only non-MAGA small, local ma & pa restaurants. Create neighborhood groups to share tools, holiday decor, bake ware, pantry needs.
5. Stop or severely reduce purchasing during protest. DO NOT BUY from AMAZON, box stores, chain retailers, chain restaurants. DO NOT participate in Black Friday or Cyber Monday. The exception of ONLY non-MAGA small local businesses (local food trucks, local handmade craft markets, farmers markets, smalll local farms/wines/breweries, small/local grocery & coops, ma & pa businesses ONLY!) Shop small and local business before and after protest to prevent spending spikes in economy, or only shop small and local if absolute necessities are needed during protest.
6. Relax with a stay-cation. Only mandatory travel. Get out of the house on foot or bike when possible.
7. Spread word of the protest and how people can participate in any and every way possible! And please add ideas on ways to participate!
Pressure is mounting on U.S. universities to capitulate. Yesterday, Cornell gave in and signed a “CONTRACT” with the Trump administration, agreeing to pay $30 million and fund $30 million in farm research. As time continues to burn off the clock with the UCLA negotiations, coupled with the terrible fiscal situation at UC, the risk for signed agreements that capitulate to the Trump administration increases.
The Council of University of California Faculty Associations (CUCFA) has a link you can use to send personalized emails to President Millikin’s office and to the Regents with a brief 2-3 sentence reason why Newsom and UC Regents should not capitulate. It will take less than 2 minutes to copy this link into your browser and fill out the letter. You can also forward this link to one or two of your friends and ask them to send their brief thoughts to UCOP and to the UC Regents to stand firm.
https://cucfa.solidarity.tech/tell-ucop-and-the-regents-not-to-negotiate