IMV July Meeting on Monday: Join Us!

Once again, if you've been paying attention to the news, you might have had a rough week, and might even be succumbing to news-related despair syndrome. 

We have an antidote for that.
And here it is:

July 2024 IMV Meeting
Monday, July 15th, 6:30-8:30 pm
Schuyler Commons, 1776 Independence Square, Utica
Sign Up: https://mobilize.us/s/YjWkgt

We are going to reconnect and together, create the energy we need for the next few months of political activism.  

Currently the GO (Grassroots Organized) Resistance political activism calendar is light on events and actions.  Well, that ends soon.  But we need y'all's help to build that out. 

• We want to know your preferences about postcard parties, canvasses, and regular Freedom Friday Honk 'n Wave rallies (remember our weekly #OneTermTenney protests?) And there's more:

• We're going to provide the handouts to everyone who wants to participate in Neighbor2Neighbor, Indivisible's proven method for talking to 10 of your neighbors about the importance of voting in this upcoming election. And pick a date for a post N2N ice cream party!

• We're going to share some effective messaging videos and give an update on our popular slate cards that will be our voter education tools at the doors in the next few months. 

In short, please be sure to join us for this important IMV meeting. Bring a friend or two!  We value you and your participation as we organize ourselves for the most important election of our lives.  

Thanks to everyone who showed up for the Democratic HQ canvassing training with Jon Lipe on Tuesday. It was a success, with 20 attendees. Don't worry if you missed it; we will continue to train canvassers and will prepare everyone for how to talk to voters through our slate card and our Project 2025 educational piece.  

We look forward to seeing you on Monday!  If you can, let us know you're coming: https://mobilize.us/s/YjWkgt
 

James Meyers for State Senate Meet & Greet

Please join Bill Thickstun, Caroline Reale, Kathy Collett, Jen DeWeerth, and Mona Perrotti for a Meet and Greet fundraiser for James Meyers in Clinton on Tuesday, July 30th, 6-8 pm.  There will be drink and food, and a chance for you to meet James (running for the 53rd State Senate seat) --or bring your friends so they can meet him!  

Register for the James Meyers Meet & Greet HERE.

Your ticket purchase will be matched by as much as 12x and will maximize your impact to help James build even more momentum to win this November.  So whether you can attend the event, or you just want to make a contribution that is matched by as much as 12X by the state campaign fund, please click this link and contribute. Thank you--and see you on July 30th!
 

Good Advice from Robert Reich 

 Recently our Oneida County Democratic Women's Club friends shared some good tips from Robert Reich's Substack. In IMV we all know that the solution to rising fascism is... progressive political activism.  The antidote to MAGA is US.  The way to make sure that Project 2025 remains a conservative fantasy and not the end of our participatory and expanding democracy is for us to reach voters with the truth and convince them to vote.  Reich's points are in line with our movement and our political activism community.  We know you know these points in your core, but they are good reminders that you can cut and paste and share by email with even your more hesitant, undecided family members and friends!

Here are 11 suggestions for what you can do in the 118 days before Election Day:

1) Try not to allow issues such as whether Biden should resign, or his degree of responsibility for Gaza, to get in the way of your determination not to let Trump back into the White House. Regardless of our differences over these issues, they pale compared to the threat Trump poses.

2) For the same reason, please don’t decide to leave the top of the ticket blank or to vote for a third party or not to vote at all. All make it easier for Trump to win. Instead, make sure you and everyone you know and trust is registered to vote, and votes for Joe Biden or whomever is the Democratic candidate for president.

3) Don’t become so upset with politics that you drop out, stop reading the news, or give up on activism. The stakes are just too high. Even if you cannot take much time out of your normal life, you need to help organize, mobilize, and energize others.

4) Focus your time and energies on convincing people who still have open minds, to oppose Trump. Mobilize those who don’t normally vote, to vote. Organize get-out-the-vote efforts in your community. Get young people involved.

5) Counter lies with truth. When you hear someone repeating a Trump Republican lie, correct it. (Harder than it sounds?  Use the resources of the Indivisible Truth Brigade!)

6) Do not tolerate bigotry and hate. Call it out. Stand up to it. Denounce it. Demand that others denounce it, too.

7) Do not resort to violence, name-calling, bullying, or any of the other tactics that Trump followers may be using.

8) Be compassionate toward hardcore followers of Trump, but be firm in your opposition. Understand why someone may decide to support Trump, but don’t waste time and energy trying to convert them.

9) Don’t waste your time and energy commiserating with people who already agree with you, or criticizing Democrats for failing to communicate more effectively. None of this will get you anything except an upset stomach.

10) Demonstrate, but don’t confuse demonstrating with political action. You may find it gratifying to stand on a corner in Berkeley with a sign asking drivers to “honk if you hate fascism” that elicit lots of honks, but it’s as politically effectual as taking a warm shower.

11) Finally, don’t let any sensationalized news of the day divert your eyes from the goal: protecting American democracy during one of the greatest stress tests it has had to endure, fueled by one of the worst demagogues in American history.

One Last Reminder To Join IMV on Monday

July 2024 IMV Meeting
Monday, July 15th, 6:30-8:30 pm
Schuyler Commons, 1776 Independence Square, Utica
Sign Up: https://mobilize.us/s/YjWkgt

Because democracy is not a spectator sport.
 
You can follow us on Instagram's Threads.net/@indivisiblemohawkvalley, on X (Twitter) using @indivisiblemv, and, of course, on our Facebook page and IMV Activism Group.