Basics for GSD*
Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
By a Nasty Woman
Good news: You are powerful.
Yes, you.
Sure, you might feel awful right now — most of us do. That's perfectly ok.
When you're ready to come out of whatever quiet, dark place you've been hiding — when you've started trying to figure out what small thing you can do today to change the course of the future, when you're ready to start helping yourself and the people around you who need it the most, this will be here.
It's a quick and easy guide to the basics of GSD, also known as Getting Shit Done. The GSD is arranged in order from basics (1) to bigger steps (2 and 3). Start wherever you want. Skip around. Skim. Highlight. Throw away. Share. Do whatever you want. This document is for you.
1. The Bare Minimum
Use Signal to communicate.
Download it here on your phone and on your desktop computer. Do not assume any conversations are private. Prioritize Signal and in-person communication over email, iMessage, SMS (“text”), Whatsapp, Telegram and especially Facebook. Uninstall Facebook messenger.
As far as privacy goes, here’s the ranking from best to worst: Signal (End-to-end encryption, which means the company running the app has no more ability to see the data in there than anyone else. In other words, there’s nothing to subpoena.) → Whatsapp, Telegram, iMessage → SMS, Slack, Facebook, Twitter DM (all of these last 4 are basically the equivalent of sending a postcard.) More info on online security here.
To create an online security plan tailored to your personal threat model, check out the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Surveillance Self-Defense (SSD) guide.
Call your representatives.
Look up your federal representatives: you have three, two US Senators, who represent the entire state, and a US Representative, who represents your specific district. You can look them up here and here with your zip code. Call your district office instead of the DC office. Do it during business hours. Some of them have multiple district offices. Call them all. Plan what you’ll say ahead and write it out if necessary: Do you want your congressperson to vote a specific way on a bill? Have the bill number and name ready. Do you need help with a casework issue? Be ready to fill out a casework form. Be nice: Hill staffers are people. They’re also here to serve you.
Donate.
Find an organization you’re comfortable with and passionate about. Set up a monthly or annual individual donation and encourage others to do the same or, even better, set up a pooled donation with coworkers (outside of work, obviously) or friends. Here are some good ones:
Domestic civil rights: Southern Poverty Law Center https://www.splcenter.org/, American Civil Liberties Union https://www.aclu.org/, Urban Justice Center https://www.urbanjustice.org/, Human Rights Campaign http://www.hrc.org/
Reproductive justice / women’s health: Planned Parenthood https://www.plannedparenthood.org/ , Guttmacher Institute https://www.guttmacher.org
International civil rights / refugees: International Rescue Committee https://www.rescue.org/, US Holocaust Memorial Museum https://www.ushmm.org/, Syria Civil Defense Fund (“White Helmets”) https://www.whitehelmets.org/en
Environment: National Resources Defense Council https://www.nrdc.org/, Earthjustice http://earthjustice.org
Privacy: Electronic Frontier Foundation https://www.eff.org/, AccessNow accessnow.org
2. Ready for more?
Get a group together and volunteer.
Donations aren’t just about money. You can also donate your time to one of the organizations above. Most of them have volunteer info pages set up precisely for this purpose. If you’re a member of a community group, fitness group, book club, synagogue, mosque, church, etc., get a group together and attend an info session for one of the groups that has an office that’s close to you. (Here’s one for the International Rescue Committee: https://www.rescue.org/volunteer#how-can-i-volunteer)
Think locally.
While it can be tempting to sign every petition that gets sent your way on social media, sometimes the best actions you can take are only a few minutes’ walk/bus ride/carpool away. Want to do something about the Dakota Access Pipeline? Reach out to friends and family and get in touch with someone who lives or works at Standing Rock. Sure, you could email or call the reservation, but they are likely overloaded with people like you calling right now. Better to get your hands dirty.
Attend a rally.
From the Women’s March on Washington/New York/London/Los Angeles (the list goes on…) to the upcoming People’s Climate March on 29 April 2017, there are dozens of demonstrations happening around the world. Most will have a local component. Use Facebook or word of mouth to find one near you. Be safe -- wear comfortable shoes and clothing (and plenty of layers, if it’s cold). Bring water and small snacks like protein bars or nuts, and depending on law enforcement presence and hostility, consider leaving your smartphone at home. Instead, bring along a more basic phone. Avoid bringing large bags or purses. Go with a group and keep track of one another. Afterwards, have a plan to decompress. Go to a quiet place and regroup. Talk, nap, eat, whatever. Just do it together.
3. Done all that?
Great. Now that you’re comfortable with the basics, you’re ready to move on.
Get on a planning committee.
Want to start your own march or demonstration? Help organize another one first. Get in touch with the people who are working on a rally, let them know you’ve done this before, and ask how you can help. You can do this initially via Facebook, but be sure to politely ask them to move the discussion over to Signal (or at least Whatsapp) after that by saying something like “I’d prefer to talk on the private messaging app Signal, if that’s ok with you.” They’ll likely be exuberant that they can finally get some things off of their shoulders.
Host a privacy workshop.
If you’re more than comfortable with all the privacy basics above, help others! Most people don’t know this stuff and it leaves them pretty vulnerable. So have some people over, eat some tasty snacks and drink some tasty beverages, and get protected! Plus, any excuse to surround yourself with friends right now is a good excuse.
Now go forth (and be nasty)!