Performative Conduct for Precarious Times

<p dir="ltr">In this chapter, we seek to explore tactics that are currently being envisioned by the pluralistic voices of the Left in the era of an authoritarian, nativist, de-regulated vision of the US nation-state. Our case studies include collectively authored texts such as A Practical Guide for Resisting the Trump Agenda by Indivisible and Debt Resistors Operations Manual by Strike Debt. We also take stock of the client-based tools generated by Safety Pin Box, an enterprise by Black liberationists Marissa Johnson and Leslie Mac. Together, these movements and enterprises signal a proliferation of ‘how to’ manuals encouraging the People to push back against the distribution of inequality that defines the present. These nuts-and-bolt texts mark a return to the genre of the advice manual, now adapted to user-driven platforms such as Google docs, YouTube, blogs, wikis and photo-sharing sites. These advocacy tactics are visible, real-time acts that, through public assembly and performative conduct, become an instrument for Leftist resistance.</p>