How to Resist Strategically on 14 June — Short 'Strategy Only' Version

Refuse the theatre. Step back from the frame. Move with purpose.

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Dear friends

Firstly, two apologies: I said that I’d send this out tomorrow, but figured it was better that those who needed it get it today. Sorry for inundating your mailbox.

And there’s something I should have said more clearly in my last posts. I didn’t write these (and all my other Vantage Point posts) just to inform you. I wrote them to equip you, so that whatever strategies we build are rooted in clear-eyed thinking, not fear. Because good strategy only works when we understand what we’re really dealing with, and trust that we still have room to move. And we do still have room to move.

This is the rhythm I aim to work in: when I uncover what’s unfolding, I’ll sit with it, and then come back with the outline of a plan.

I don’t profess to have all the answers, but I have a few to get us started. Together, we can build from there. And because I’m not living through this from inside the US, I don’t get as battle-weary. I can step back and think, even when the noise gets loud. That distance doesn’t mean detachment. It just means I can do my part from here — and I hope it helps lighten the load for those of you who are in the thick of it.

So, to protest:

We talk about taking to the streets in protest as if it’s timeless. But mass mobilisation as a widespread tactic of resistance really only came into its own in the 20th century, with the rise of modern communications, civil society infrastructure, and relative legal protections.

That window is closing. And we need to adjust.

In times and places where mass protest has not been possible — whether under colonial rule, military dictatorship, or racial apartheid — people still resisted. They disrupted systems quietly. They protected each other. They withdrew cooperation. They spoke in codes. They organised in kitchens. They made it impossible for power to function smoothly — but without putting themselves directly in its path.

That’s the kind of thinking we need now. Not just outrage, but adaptation. Not just presence, but precision.

It’s time to get strategic again. To remember that resistance isn’t just about how many show up — it’s about how well we move, and what we refuse to make easy.

Let’s get straight to it, shall we?

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If you’re considering protesting on 14 June, here’s what I would offer — not as encouragement or deterrence, but as a set of clear-headed assessments to help you choose your position wisely, and survive it intact.

1. Understand How Visibility Becomes Vulnerability

In most democratic protest traditions, visibility is power. The more people in the street, the more undeniable the message. But under authoritarian conditions — especially under National Special Security Event (NSSE) conditions — visibility can rapidly turn into vulnerability.

Your face, your phone, your presence may be enough to get flagged. That flag might not lead to arrest on the day. It might show up weeks later: at a visa appointment, at the border, during a job application background check, or in the slow erosion of your digital access.

The risk isn’t just the march. It’s the metadata.

3. Know the Risks of a Controlled Environment

The 14 June protest doesn’t exist in a neutral space. It’s adjacent to a tightly secured, militarised state event.

Protest actions on this day may not be treated as civic speech, but as attempted disruption of a federal celebration.

If protest is treated as a challenge to federal authority in a high-security zone, the response may be disproportionate, but legally framed as justified.

That includes:

• Mass pre-emptive detentions

• Facial recognition and phone tracking for follow-up arrests

• Asset seizures, travel restrictions, or university/visa penalties

These are not hypothetical. These are documented outcomes in similar protest environments globally — and in select cases within the US already.

3. Make a Risk Matrix

Wanting to stand up matters deeply. But conscience should be accompanied by strategy.

First, ask yourself: “Am I willing and prepared to be surveilled, flagged, or charged?” If you answer no, consider alternative action.

Next ask:

• Am I responsible for others who could be harmed by my absence or arrest?

• Am I already on any kind of government watchlist (activist, immigrant, organiser)?

• Am I in a profession or institution (e.g. teaching, medicine, immigration status, public service) where protest-related visibility could be used against me?

If you answer yes to any of these, that doesn’t mean don’t protest. It means you may need to choose a different kind of role, or a different action altogether.

5. If You Go, Prepare to Enter a Hostile Zone

That means:

• Leave your phone and all other bluetooth devices at home. (Bluetooth devices like headphones and fitness trackers can also be picked-up by surviellance infrastructure.) Use a burner with no links to your real identity.

• Don’t bring ID unless legally required in your state, and understand that doing so may speed up identification later.

• Don’t drive your own car, or wear traceable clothing.

• Have a legal support number memorised, not just saved.

• Don’t assume others will know where you are or what’s happened if you’re detained.

• Don’t expect a fair hearing if things go wrong.

• Read these posts, if you haven’t already:

Why You Shouldn't Bring Your Phone to a Protest in the US

How to Protest Safely in 'Trump's America' — Part 1

How to Protest Safely in 'Trump's America' — Part 2

This is not about scaring you. It’s about taking you seriously. You are valuable, and your dissent matters. So you need to plan not just to speak out, but to make it home, and speak again.

5. Consider Alternative, Decentralised Actions

If 14 June is indeed a trap — a stage set for crackdown and narrative spin — then the smartest protest may take place far from protest zones.

Instead, consider actions that:

• Can’t be easily cast as threats to the troops

• Aren’t geographically predictable

• Don’t feed into the government’s desired footage

Think instead of:

Coordinated banner drops across overpasses, on campuses, outside federal buildings or transport hubs. These can send a clear national message without walking into a heavily surveilled zone. They’re especially powerful if they take back the language that the administration will use to reframe patriotism, democracy, and service — not by rejecting those values, but by asserting what they actually mean.

Data strikes and digital withdrawal. Step off platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Threads and TikTok for 24–48 hours, and frame it as a refusal to feed surveillance capitalism on a day of military spectacle. Quiet — but with a measurable impact.

Switching off the coverage. I know your outrage will be building and shouting at the TV gives you an outlet, but this parade is designed to provoke. It’s meant to stir pride in some and fury in others — either way, you’re watching, and either way, Trump wins.

So switch it off. Turn your back. Let the ratings plummet.

Instead organise a get-together with people you trust — friends, family members neighbours — who don’t support what’s unfolding. Eat together. Talk. Reconnect. Remind yourselves of the country believe in.

That, too, is resistance. Because while Trump’s parading tanks down the streets of D.C., you’ll be reinforcing something far more powerful: community that doesn’t answer to him.

6. Boycott — A Quiet Form of Protest They Can’t Spin

Consider a coordinated weekend boycott of Trump’s biggest backers. If you’re not marching on 14 June (and even if you are) you can still make a visible, measurable impact. Just for the weekend, stop feeding the machine.

Trump isn’t standing alone. Behind him is a network of billionaires, corporations, and lobbyists who funded his return, normalise his agenda, and profit from its enforcement. So let them feel it — not through outrage, but through absence.

For 48 hours — Saturday and Sunday — you could pull your money, your clicks, and your data. Quietly, collectively, and with purpose.

Here’s where to start:

• Starlink, Tesla, X, Grok (Elon Musk)
  If you use Starlink, switch it off. Skip the Superchargers. Log off X. Avoid anything Grok-integrated for the weekend.

• Amazon, Whole Foods, Ring, Kindle, Audible (Jeff Bezos)
  No shopping. No streaming. Don’t even browse.

• Meta platforms — Facebook, Instagram, Threads, WhatsApp (Mark Zuckerberg)
  Go dark. No likes, no posts, no stories. Let the algorithm starve.

• Fox News, New York Post, Wall Street Journal (Rupert Murdoch)
  Don’t click. Don’t share. Don’t amplify.

• Home Depot (Bernard Marcus)
  Buy nothing there for 48 hours. Lowe’s and local shops exist.

• Chick-fil-A, Hobby Lobby
  Skip them. Eat and shop elsewhere.

• Oil and gas
  If you drive, limit unnecessary fuel use , and if you're planning banner drops or local action, make them walkable where possible.

This is not about permanent change — not yet. This is a focused, collective act of refusal. A signal to power that there is a cost when it backs authoritarian rule.

Don’t overthink it. Just choose two or three on this list and opt out for the weekend. That’s it.

And if you do it, let others know. Quietly, calmly, clearly. Not for applause. Not for argument. Just to show it can be done.

Tell a friend, slipping it into face-to-face conversation:
“I’m boycotting for 48 hours. Because democracy isn’t for sale.”

Let friends and family outwith the US know. Encourage them to join you.

That kind of calm, principled refusal spreads. It builds solidarity. And it reminds others — especially the ones watching in silence — that they’re not alone.

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This isn’t just about one day, or one protest. It’s about understanding the machinery behind what’s unfolding, and knowing how to move through it without being pulled under.

The six-stage playbook isn’t theory — it’s operational. And 14 June isn’t a spectacle —it’s a stress test. Of the right to protest. Of public perception. Of what this government can now get away with, and who it can silence in the process.

What you choose to do with this knowledge is yours. There’s no one right response. But whatever you decide, let it be an informed decision, and not one made in the dark.

We don’t get to choose the terrain. But we can learn to navigate it — eyes open, strategy intact, and no illusions about what we’re up against.

And that can change everything.

— Lori

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