Los Angeles Resistance & Civic Action Toolkit

🗳️

Defend Democracy via Civic Engagement

Support local progressive candidates: L.A. elections often fly under the radar—yet city council, school board, and sheriff races have direct power over policy and policing.
Join local chapters of civic groups:
- Indivisible Los Angeles
- Democratic Socialists of America – LA chapter
- LA Forward – great for grassroots activism and housing justice
Volunteer with election integrity groups like Protect the Results and Common Cause California

📢

Participate in regular rallies (anti-fascism, reproductive rights, anti-police brutality) organized through:
- ANSWER Coalition LA
- Black Lives Matter – LA
- Ground Game LA – highly effective local organizing
Show up at L.A. City Council meetings, especially when they try to silence dissent (e.g., during protests over police budgets)
Organize flash protests using Signal groups, encrypted communication, or apps like Action Network

🏘️

Join or start a Mutual Aid group:
- Los Angeles Mutual Aid Network
- Koreatown for All
Build resilience through:
- Free food programs, rent support, or community healthcare pop-ups
- "Know Your Rights" and civil disobedience workshops

🧠

Start a "Democracy Defense Night" at your home, café, or local library. Show films like:
- The Social Dilemma, The Fog of War, Winter on Fire, or The U.S. and the Holocaust (Ken Burns)
Host teach-ins at:
- Skid Row History Museum
- Local parks or Rec Centers in Echo Park, Boyle Heights, Inglewood
Collaborate with professors from UCLA, USC, or Cal State LA to hold public talks on authoritarianism and civil resistance

💼

Boycott local businesses that support anti-democratic or bigoted politicians
Divest from major banks (e.g. Wells Fargo, Chase) and use:
- Self-Help Credit Union
- Local LA-based credit unions
Support unionized and worker-owned cooperatives:
- REI Union SoCal
- CicLAvia events often showcase worker-powered brands

🎤

Use music, art, murals, street performance to mock and critique authoritarianism (humor and satire are powerful)
Work with organizations like:
- JusticeLA (abolitionist movement)
- Artivist Entertainment
Submit work to L.A. cultural hubs:
- The Hammer Museum, LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions), and Leimert Park Art Walk

🔒

Join or support:
- Stop LAPD Spying Coalition
- Electronic Frontier Foundation for digital security tips
Use encrypted tools: Signal, ProtonMail, Mastodon instances with anti-fascist communities
Document abuses by LAPD or DHS in protests (film responsibly, don't post faces of protestors without consent)