the spiders 🌘🌟🌌

okay so as someone who does some labor organizing w/ iww (mostly helping put together education programs & im an external organizer on a campaign, among other things)

i am extremely annoyed & dissapointed with the Youtube Walkout campaign now that i've looked into it more

1) (this is the big one--) it seems like its extremely decentralized and doesnt have any leadership or structure. this is a MASSIVE flaw. you absolutely positively CANNOT do any sort of labor organizing without SOME sort of central democratic structure. it will not work if you don't have an organizing committee or *something*

2) as a consequence of point #1 this campaign has failed to get even leftist youtubers, who'd be most sympathetic to it, such as donoteat01, philosophytube, hbomberguy, means tv, etc on board

3) as a consequence of point #1, there has been very little information put out about this campaign; googling "youtube walkout" turns up nothing. googling "youtube walkout boycott" also turns up nothing. you have to google "youtube walkout boycott coppa" and scroll halfway down the search results before you even start to get information aboutit

4) this is just not how boycotts, walkouts, & strikes are done in serious labor organizing; you don't do a boycott or walkout unless you have actual leverage, and, as a consequence of points #1 & #2, this campaign does not have leverage

this has been so poorly executed from start to finish, with the fundamental flaw being the youtubers who have put this together either don't have enough awareness of how labor organizing works to establish a central democratic structure for this to take place...

or they refused to do so due to the incorrect myth that "structureless is better" which has sadly infected a significant ammount of leftwing organizing in the u.s.

all other shortcomings of this attempt at a boycott stem from that fundamental flaw of lacking structure

& so even though i appreciate the idea, it will not even put a dent in youtube, because, if i'm being frank, it's not a seriously organized boycott in any meaningful way

if you want to boycott youtube still, go ahead. i just hope that the folks who organized this learn from its failures and establish something a little more serious and a little more like a true union so that in the future they can have a real impact & leverage

Dec 11, 2019 at 7:51pmWeb
Show threadthe spiders 🌘🌟🌌Dec 11, 2019
anyways join your local iww chapter & sign up for an iww organizer training 101 class near you
Show threadbloom.sys, forklift certifiedDec 11, 2019
@spiders is this okay to boost?
Show threadthe spiders 🌘🌟🌌Dec 11, 2019
@maples please gods boost haha
Show threadDella the S o f t Inflatable DragonDec 11, 2019
@spiders They shoulda unionized together first and then formed a way for leverage, Google has tight controls over their means so yeah. But we just need to be more careful with spontaneous energy for 'revolution' and understand democracy institutions that have centralization are not the same thing as a centralized power structure. I'm just expressing how I agree and hope that when people see criticism, they work to improve and not use it to get discouraged or lash out against it.
Show threadthe spiders 🌘🌟🌌Dec 11, 2019
@DellaDragoness yesyes!
Show threadavocado goblinDec 11, 2019
@DellaDragoness @spiders centralisation leads to creeping centralisation of power6
Show threadthe spiders 🌘🌟🌌Dec 11, 2019

@a_breakin_glass @DellaDragoness having some form of centralization is the *only* way union organizing is done in real life

there has never been a union without structure

Show threadthe spiders 🌘🌟🌌Dec 11, 2019
@a_breakin_glass @DellaDragoness also without some sort of democratically run central voice for your movement (a blog, a website, a twitter account, SOMETHING) you're gonna have basically no luck effectively communicating your goals, strategy, or even just information about what you're trying to accomplish
Show threadavocado goblinDec 11, 2019

@spiders @DellaDragoness I doubt a centrally run voice is good for much of anything but for marginalising perspectives and presenting false unity

like, what if the central committee of this hypothetical youtube boycott group votes not to address the concerns of disabled people at all, which wouldn't surprise me?

Show threadavocado goblinDec 11, 2019
@spiders @DellaDragoness and of course, I doubt the central committee would take kindly to any alternative perspectives being presented, after all they're undermining the central democratic official news source, not to mention undermining theoretical unity
Show threadthe spiders 🌘🌟🌌Dec 11, 2019

@a_breakin_glass @DellaDragoness you're

a) putting words into my mouth (i never used the phrase "central committee" or implied any kind of democratic centralism)

and

b) showing that you haven't really had much experience with real-world labor organizing, because thats just not how real world union organizing happens, or how it ends up

and so i probably don't really want to continue this conversation

Show threadavocado goblinDec 11, 2019

@spiders @DellaDragoness

given the fact that you're proposing some undefined kind of centralised organization, unions tend to have 'central committees' of some sort, the fact that the central 'democratic' control of media might take the form an elected defacto central committee, etc I didn't feel it inappropriate to use that specific term

Show threadavocado goblinDec 11, 2019
@spiders @DellaDragoness secondly, why would what would hold for a union hold, except tenuously, for an online boycott that bears very little relation to 'real world' organising, which is likely to be far more fractious
Show threadshoot down the penguin 🏴🚩Dec 11, 2019
@a_breakin_glass @spiders @DellaDragoness You are discoursing with yourself here. There is no reason for an unified organisation to not include multiple ideological lines and perspectives. Historically, anarchist syndicates and federations did include individualist, communist and collectivist voices side by side. Not to say they were perfect or even good sometimes, but there is no reason to assume direct causation between a central organ and a central power. There isn't a correlation either, some power structures dont need a center to function.
Show threadavocado goblinDec 11, 2019
@spiders @DellaDragoness considering the fact that I have considerable doubts about the ability of unions to function as effective bodies of revolution or even dual power, that's leaving me nonplussed
Show threadthe spiders 🌘🌟🌌Dec 11, 2019
@a_breakin_glass @DellaDragoness unions for the most part cant act as revolutionary forces, thats true, but we should still support unions because they make workers lives considerably better
Show threadconvexDec 11, 2019
@spiders honestly this is probably why i didn't hear about the walkout before it even started. + i'm not gonna only do half of a boycott since i didn't know until like late yesterday, that just feels disingenuous. could have been executed way better with just the slightest bit of organization smh.
Show threadπŸ‘»β„’ Enthusiastic Goblin 🐊🌩️Dec 11, 2019
@spiders Honestly I haven't been participating in the "strike" (as I've seen some people call it around here???) precisely because of these issues, like. It just showed up, nobody seems to know much of anything about it, there are no aims or goals. It's just a great reason to shame people for a couple days.
Show threadFree LeftDec 11, 2019
@spiders boycotts are mostly useless in my opinion, cause it's not a permanent solution and they mostly target multi-billionaire companies, which won't affect them too much.
Show threadBaloo Uriza πŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆπŸ‡ΊπŸ‡ΈDec 11, 2019
@spiders I was thinking the same thing about this. "YouTube walkout? Who's organizing it and how's when it's over decided? Oh, nobody and whenever? This is a nothingburger."
Show threadπŸ‘»β„’ Enthusiastic Goblin 🐊🌩️Dec 11, 2019
@BalooUriza @spiders The one that got me was the UK doing their own different one because of the election lmao
Show threadHolly ArgentDec 11, 2019
@spiders to rephrase a tweet about voting - participating in actions is not getting married. no one has or is saying that the #youtubewalkout is "the one", perfect, will do all the things.
Participating in actions is public transport. If there isn't a bus going *directly* to where you are going you don't not travel, you get on the bus going in the right direction. The Youtube Walkout is the FIRST action of it's kind - so get on the bus.
Show threadHolly ArgentDec 11, 2019
@spiders it's valid to have criticisms and think things could have been done differently but rather than publicly attack the action *while it's happening*, get on the bus and talk to folks about how things could be done differently next time. This is the first action - the next one will be bigger and better but ONLY if those of us who can see that things are going in the right direction cooperate and work together to make it so. @javitrino
Show threadHolly ArgentDec 11, 2019
@spiders @javitrino and also it's important to note that hbomberguy and other bigger leftist Youtube folks *were* tagged in tweets and contacted. ThoughtSlime and Emerican Johnson & Luna Oi (noncompete) are participating.
Show threadHolly ArgentDec 11, 2019
it's also important to point out (as @Camazotz did recently) that supporting the #youtubewalkout as someone who doesn't make Youtube content is LITERALLY armchair activism. It's not that difficult to just not watch videos on the platform for a few days. Catch up on your reading, podcasts, movies - just support the action. ✊
Show threadΧ€Χ™Χ™Χ’Χ’ΧœΧ’Dec 11, 2019
@spiders I'm mostly just banging my head against the wall because the only place I can find any information AT ALL about the issues at stake are... YouTube videos.
Show threadΧ€Χ™Χ™Χ’Χ’ΧœΧ’Dec 11, 2019

@spiders If I actually want to understand what is going on with the picket line I have to... cross a picket line?!

That doesn't seem right...

Show threadBen ZaninDec 12, 2019
@spiders damn good write-up, thank you.