Save Canada, Venezuela, Greenland

Buy Canadian — Made in Canada — Resist Oligarchy
(Share: goodwork.ca/elbowsup)

Aggressive, climate-denying billionaires continue to threaten Canada and the world. Trade wars. Ignorance and greed. Climate denial.

While around the world, analysts lament the decline of democracy in the USA. Power corrupts.

If corporate 'social' media is your source of information — cleverly manipulated by those same billionaires — maybe you're feeling even more confused. 

What can you do?

1. Buy Canadian, as much as possible.
   1. Buy direct from Canadian companies — Many small businesses sell online through their own websites. As much as possible, avoid both amazon.com and amazon.ca. Spend some time rediscovering your local stores. (If possible, on foot or by bike!)
   2. Shop at local markets — Farmers' markets and craft fairs are great places to find Canadian-made food, clothing, and crafts. Get to know your local farmers and buy directly from them. This season, consider a Community Supported Agriculture/ food-box.
   3. Check labels — Look for "Made in Canada" or "Product of Canada" on packaging. Some products are only packaged in Canada, but made elsewhere.
   4. Use online directories — Sites like Made in CA and Made in Canada Directory, list Canadian businesses and products. (Info/2)
   5. Reduce, reuse, repair, repurpose, re-prioritize, buy used.

2. Grow local food. We need to be resilient in every way we can. Grow food — FoodWork.ca/Grows | How to get started
3. Don't pay the oligarchs/ billionaires. Boycott Tesla, X, Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, Amazon, and other corporate social media. There are many alternatives! When we stop sending them our money, our content, our clicks... they collapse.
4. Support public, science-based education. Oligarchs thrive on those who are easily fooled by memes, sound bites, fallacies, rhetoric and outright lies.
5. Get involved like never before. You can get involved through nonprofits, the media, educational institutions, and/or political parties. Don't say, “I'm not political”. If you do that, you're just handing over your own power to the bullies who will wield it against all of us.
   • Join Canadian organizations. Council of Canadians | Canadian Civil Liberties Association | Democracy Watch | Evidence for Democracy | Dogwood BC | Samara Centre | Apathy is Boring | Fair Vote Canada | Canadian Journalists for Free Expression | Centre for the Study of Democracy and Diversity | Acorn Canada
6. Choose Canadian media, over billionaire so-called 'social' media. CBC, Canadian newspapers and news sites. Climate, environmental & alternative media: Canada's National Observer, The Energy Mix, The Narwhal, Watershed Sentinel, The Walrus, Natural Life, Rabble, Briarpatch, Macleans, Peace Magazine and more. And of course your favourite environmental non-profit. (And don't get upset when they ask you to subscribe. Do you work for free?) Also international sources such as The Guardian, PBS and Al Jazeera.

7. Avoid billionaire 'social' media. It's alluring but deceptive. Instead, choose e-mail, websites, face-to-face, phone calls, active living, community organizing. If you must use social media, try Bluesky.
8. Online choices. Power corrupts. When we choose big, for-profit corporations, we compromise sustainability, privacy, democracy. Choose DuckDuckGo instead of Google or Bing. Wikipedia instead of Britannica. Android instead of iPhone. Firefox instead of Chrome or Edge. Libre Office instead of Microsoft 365. Fedora instead of Windows. Post your most valuable and original content on your own websites, rather than corporate social media.

Work for a healthy and sustainable world!

Hiring for staff, volunteers, board members? Why let such important content float around social media, vulnerable to the billionaire's algorithms and filtering? Post your jobs, volunteer positions and action opportunities on GoodWork.ca/Now as well as your own website and email list.

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*Oligarchy

“Oligarchy is a form of government in which power rests with a small number of people. These people may or may not be distinguished by one or several characteristics, such as nobility, fame, wealth, education, or corporate, religious, political, or military control.” – Wikipedia (article)

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“First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist

Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist

Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist

Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew

Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me

- German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller, 1946 #elbowsup

 

 

 

 

Take action!  Out of love, not fear or hate. Source: 1 Million Women, AU