Descriptions of all four roles from Indivisible

Protect People: We are going to need to advocate to protect people directly targeted by these policies who are at the spear-tip of these policies. Trans people. Folks choosing abortions. Immigrants and beyond. This may look like pushing your state or local government to adopt protective policies, or – if your local government is hostile – organizing to stop them from taking additional harmful action. It includes open and underground organizing for health care, safety in schools, safe homes. Wherever we are, we need to use the tools at our disposal.

Defend Democracy, Civic Institutions, and Electoral Competition: We will also need to focus on defending civic institutions. We know Trump will go after our civic institutions, from attacking the civil service and weaponizing government agencies to do his bidding to undermining the ability to hold competitive elections. We’ll need to model a culture of dissent and support for those resisting and trying to uphold their missions on the inside of government. We’ll need to organize to mount overwhelming public pushback on efforts to undermine the key constitutional and legal rules that uphold our democracy. And we’ll need to push actors with power in American society – from our own state governments to corporations to faith communities – to hold those red lines. A note on elections – it likely feels premature to talk about future elections at this moment, when we’re all exhausted and disheartened from the last campaign. And you may hear Trump and the MAGA movement try to squash hope that future elections will matter. That’s part of the fascist playbook, too. That’s why it’s important to be clear: we will have elections in the future, and – if we protect our institutions and build our own power – we can and will win them. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Disrupt and Disobey: This goes beyond protesting for better policies into the territory of people intervening to stop bad policies or showing resistance. Some of that will be fierce and in your face, but others will be quiet strikes and work slowdowns. In other authoritarian regimes, there are two ways to remove dictators: vote them out, or mass nonviolent noncooperation by the people to force them. This wing is the part that would help design that second strategy.

Build Alternatives: We have to build our own political power to insist on something better. This means organizing locally to transform power in your own community. It means fighting for better policies, wherever you are. It means investing in new leaders who can go on offense against MAGA. We can’t just be reacting. Some of us are going to have to focus on a new path forward.

These roles are not set in stone or all-encompassing. They speak to different tactics that might be taken at different times in our resistance.