Going Local Journal
Documenting our efforts on Whidbey
As the coup unfolds at breakneck speed, on Whidbey Island, Washington, we’re asking how we can ravel our community as the other Washington unravels the services and support we rely on.
Big thinkers help us understand what’s taking place, but, when asked what to do, they often say, “work locally.” With no explanation.
But how, really?
I thought you might value dispatches about our work here on Whidbey Island as it unfolds. Nothing fancy. And I hope you will comment with what you are doing.
Relocalization has been my jam for 15 years, ever since I read Richard Heinberg’s The Party’s Over. Back then the sword of Damocles was Peak Oil, the limited supply of the life blood of our consumer way of life. Then fracking took the pressure off.
Back then, we here used the Transition Town model for organizing. Here’s a video from about 2010 about our work.
SOS Whidbey (Solidarity over Supremacy) formed as a 3%er group took over the local Deer Lagoon Grange as their clubhouse. Here’s a post from back then. They didn’t stop that process, but the group came alive again soon after the Inauguration.
One of their key organizers offered this list:
Check out our newly relaunched website — https://www.soswhidbey.org/
Sign up for their Updates
10 ways to be prepared and grounded now that Trump has won — really great overview with lots of great links. I’ve revisited this again and again.
Read What can I do to fight this coup? for starting points on how to orient and help resist the administrative coup
Become a dues-paying member!
Watch any/all of their Mass Calls for grounding, inspiration, and education. Mass Call #9 aired on Nov 7 where they, along with Indivisible, MoveOn, and about 200 other organizations launched the We Are Worth Fighting For work. Most mass calls last an hour but this one was 4 hours and I watched every minute of it live!
We’re using the Working Families Party framework for community meetings that have filled the Fellowship Hall at the local church.
Under Build Alternatives, next week is our first Solidarity Brown Bag Community Meeting. Here’s the flyer:
We’re an island with a bridge to the north (overdue for maintenance) and a ferry to the south to connect us to the mainland. Whatever our politics, we know we live on a rock together. How will we take care here as the plug is pulled over there? And how can we act in concert to resist, defend, protect and build alternatives?
What’s happening in your neck of the woods?
Whidbey Island. A most cherished place to me. oh I miss being near its proximity.
In my neck of the woods, Canada, we are just trying to survive a threat we never saw coming. Being stabbed in the back by your
"friend" is an unpleasant surprise to say the least. We will not travel to the United States, we will buy only Canadian made or non-US made products, and unfortunately the US has become the opposite of our ally.