Those words were in one of the last writings of labor organizer Joe Hill before his execution in 1915, and have been adapted for use by many activist movements ever since. I know people are still coming to grips with what happened in the most recent election, but when they finally process things, it’s time to do what Hill said. Don’t mourn the end of American democracy, but get organized to fight for it.

I’ve come across quite a few “how to cope” articles, like this one from Allie Volpe at Vox:

How To Get Through This: Coping strategies for the next few days — and the next four years.

Once you’ve moved into the “Acceptance” phase, it’s time to plan for after the inauguration. The best thing to do is to get together with like-minded people, and plan / scheme / organize. You can do a lot of scheduling on social media, but nothing beats in-person activism. People have been telling us for years that we’ve been losing all our real-world social connections – and that’s only been made worse by COVID. So get up off your butt, find a place where you can hang out, and see your allies in the flesh. The ties you form will be a heck of a lot stronger for that.

Daniel Hunter, the founder of Choose Democracy, has made a career out of advising activist groups. As such, he’s studied a LOT of resistance movements, and has good thoughts on what works and what doesn’t (hint: complaining on social media doesn’t work).

10 ways to be prepared and grounded now that Trump has won

Organizing doesn’t necessarily mean taking the fight to the streets. Ned Resnikoff suggests that the Dems can regroup and rebuild their coalition by borrowing a tactic from the Black Panthers, and just do community outreach things – while indirectly spreading the faith.

The Party Should Throw Them a Party

If you don’t know enough people, or don’t have the time to be a serious activist, there’s got to be a local group that can use another part-time volunteer. If you don’t have the time for that, you can always send money to organizations fighting the good fight.

As noted above, it doesn’t always take a lot of organizing to Resist. It’s mostly a matter of being ready to strike a blow when an opportunity presents itself. Even passively resisting by refusing to comply – or even delaying your compliance – is part of the fight.

“The essential [thing] was not to give in. When you resisted, you were already a victor. You had already won.”
Madeleine Riffaud (1924-2024), French Resistance fighter and writer