Welcome to Dispatch #33! We’re back from our break and not a moment too soon. The world around us is getting crazier and more unstable with each passing week thanks to the efforts of the rulings classes of the world, but resistance is also growing globally. In this issue we want to recommend a great book that explores lessons from Black resistance to white supremacy, the role of popular media in social change, the CIA trick being used with the Epstein scandal, and more!
We’re excited to be back - let’s get into it!
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Easy Actions to Take
QuitGPT has launched a global campaign to boycott the use of ChatGPT for their support of the Trump regime, ICE operations, and psychological harm.
Why: Israel has finally acknowledged the death toll of the Gaza genocide as 70,000 (though many experts argue it’s potentially much higher), but the BBC has still framed this number as “Hamas” reported by a “Hamas-run health ministry” which casts doubt on the legitimacy of the number despite Israel and the UN acknowledging it as accurate. Organized by Accountable Media
⏱~3min | (US Only) Sign the petition to block the sale of EA to Saudi Arabia
Why: EA’s $55 billion private equity buyout will hand over Saudi investors massive control over gaming. By taking on $20 billion in debt, new investor pressure will accelerate the worst anti-consumer practices, intensifying aggressive microtransactions, mass layoffs, and studio closures. But this deal cannot go forward without US government approval and, with enough public scrutiny and pressure, regulators can block it. Organized by Player’s Alliance
Why: Cuba is home to over 11 million people who are facing a growing humanitarian crisis due to a brutal blockade against the island country World Central Kitchen is a nonprofit that has responded to similar humanitarian crises throughout the world, and have assisted Cuba after hurricanes. Sign this petition to demand that they step in once again. Organized by Code Pink
⏱~3min | (UK Only) Email your MP to urge them to allow Gaza students who hold offers from UK universities into the country in 2026
Why: Gaza students hold UK offers but have no way of getting here. The British government facilitated their evacuation from Israel's genocide in 2025 as an exemption from their strict rules, which prevented any visa applications from Gaza from being processed. But this exemption only existed for 2025. We urge them to reopen the borders for the 2026 intake as well. Organized by Newscord
Little (Movement) Wins
We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance
Activist History
When we want to find lessons about how to resist today, one of the best sources is the generations of Black resistance to white supremacy. Often this resistance is reduced to a simple, and male-centric, binary: the nonviolence of Martin Luther King Jr, and the “by any means necessary” of Malcolm X - but reality is much more complex. In the book, “We Refuse,” historian Kellie Carter Jackson urges us to move past this false choice, offering an unflinching examination of the breadth of Black responses to white oppression, particularly those pioneered by Black women.
Black violence is often dismissed as an illegitimate form of resistance, but Jackson points out that this in itself is a manifestation of white supremacy that distracts from the relentless violence of structural racism. However, force - from work stoppages to armed revolt - has been instrumental in securing freedom since the days of the American and Haitian Revolution. But force is only one tool, and Carter Jackson examines other ways of resistance that have been just as vital. In this book she explores:
- Revolution; in which she tells the story of Solitude, a legendary Black female revolutionary who led armed resistance against slavery on the French colony of Guadeloupe.
- Protection; where she explores resistance to the Fugitive Slave Law in the early 1800s and the lengths Black women would go to fight off slave catchers and protect runaway slaves.
- Force; which describes the constant violence Black people faced by white mobs which had to be resisted with force, and highlights the stories of Black women who met violence with forceful responses and won.
- Flight; in which Jackson explores the liberation that can come from choosing to leave one’s oppressive conditions, the problematic American Colonization Society, and the story of Bessie Coleman - a woman who became one of the first Black pilots in the world.
- Joy; where Jackson argues powerfully that Black joy is one of the most “potent tools of revolutionary work toward liberation. Black joy is the ultimate expression of Black humanity.”
We Refuse offers a fundamental corrective to the historical record, a love letter to Black resilience, and a path toward liberation, containing vital lessons we can all apply to our lives today.
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Limited Hangout
The Conscious Citizens Dictionary
A limited hangout or “partial hangout” is a tactic used in media relations, perception management, politics, and information management, originating from the espionage trade.
According to Victor Marchetti, a former special assistant to the deputy director of the CIA, a limited hangout is "spy jargon for a favorite and frequently used gimmick of the clandestine professionals. When their veil of secrecy is shredded and they can no longer rely on a phony cover story to misinform the public, they resort to admitting—sometimes even volunteering—some of the truth while still managing to withhold the key and damaging facts in the case. The public, however, is usually so intrigued by the new information that it never thinks to pursue the matter further.”
This technique was pioneered by the Richard Nixon administration in an attempt to cover-up the Watergate scandal - the White House would admit to some wrongdoing, but not all, in an attempt to protect the man at the top. The Clinton administration used it for the Lewinsky affair; Enron used it for its financial problems; the Catholic Church used it for its pedophilia problem; and today Trump uses it for the Epstein files. Often the cover-up becomes a bigger story than the crime itself, all while the scandals continue.
How to Transform Pop Culture into a Tool for Resistance
Connecting the Dots
One thing has been true for thousands of years: humans love to be entertained. In modern society, entertainment is all around us whether that’s the music we love, sports teams we root for, or movies & TV that we watch at the end of a long day, and together it creates the popular culture that we all participate in. But when it comes to changing society, what is the role of pop culture? Is it mostly a distraction, or could it actually be a useful tool for resistance?
It’s easy to write off pop culture as a distraction. We may have traded gladiators for sports teams, but the idea of “bread and circuses” still holds true in many ways - keep people entertained so they spend less time focused on the problems. Nowadays, there’s plenty of art and entertainment that have political themes in pop culture and are hugely popular like Star Wars’ “Andor” which depicts resistance to imperial forces, “One Piece” that explores the continual fight against inequality, “Squid Games” which discusses the intense pressures of capitalism, or (recently) Bad Bunny’s Superbowl performance which called attention to the inequities of US colonization in Puerto Rico. Despite the overt political themes, none of these seem to actually radicalize people in the way that’s needed to turn passive viewership into concrete action.
In many ways, this is by design. Mark Fischer writes in Capitalist Realism about capitalism’s way of commodifying the aesthetics of resistance and selling it back to us, creating the illusion of progress while nothing real gets achieved and reinforcing capitalism as the default mode of society. It’s true that no piece of art or media, no matter how political, will launch a revolution, but we would argue that that’s not what art is meant to do. The power of art is to be able to communicate messages that break through layers of propaganda and programming and make people feel something in a world that’s designed to make us numb. In politics, art doesn’t have to be limited to wheatpasted posters, zines, and campaign videos. We would argue that all art, even what we see in pop culture, can be tools to push forward our movements if we want it to be.
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Conscious Creatives: Vic Mensa
Vic Mensa is a Chicago-born, LA-based rapper and cultural worker bridging the gap between art, entrepreneurship, and social activism. He uses music to transform his experiences with grief, violence, policing, mental health, and personal identity into a tool for political intervention–encouraging both empathy and awareness–by finding common ground across societal struggles that affect us all.
Vic’s work doesn’t remain entertainment. A big through-line throughout his career has been tying his work to real-world actions. When he releases political songs, such as “Camp America”, he pairs it with on-the-ground partnerships, fundraising efforts, and public education opportunities to address different issues like migration, detention, and racial injustice. Beyond music, he started a foundation, SaveMoneySaveLife, that runs programs focused on health equity and youth empowerment, and he’s founded a socially-conscious cannabis company, 93 Boyz, which funnels profits into social equity initiatives that invest directly in communities most affected by the War on Drugs. He also collaborates with other well-known activists to arm communities with knowledge, combining cultural work and organizing skills to support coalition-building efforts. Vic Mensa is a great example of how popular artists and cultural workers can use their work to promote and further resistance, rather than distract from important issues.
📱 Follow Vic Mensa on Instagram | 📝 Read Vic's Substack
Check out more songs we like from Vic:
Resources & Tools
Here are some recent adds to the directory. Please share these links with anyone that might find them helpful:
- 📋 Cuba Support Masterlist | A collection of ways to support the people of Cuba as they face a humanitarian crisis created by US embargoes.
- 📓 How to Use Your Federal Taxes to Resist War | A 5-step guide written by the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee to help Americans decide if tax resistance is right for them and how to proceed if so.
- 📓 Whistleblowing Guide for Tech Workers | A collection of resources and guides for tech workers to safely and securely reveal compromising information in the public interest.
- 💝 Solidarity Economy US Map | New Economy Coalition's interactive map with 180+ members working to build a more just, mutually-beneficial, and democratic economy.
- 🔌 Open Alternatives | A massive directory of open-source (ie. free!) alternatives to popular software for nearly everything, from messaging & collaboration tools to business management & AI software.
➡️ Explore More on our Directory!
Know any resources that you think would be a great add to our directory? Share it with us! (We only see so much from our corner of the world)
If you're new here, don't forget to sign up to get full access to our directory and free newsletters sent to your inbox every other Sunday. Till next time, do your best and take it one day at a time. Care for yourself and the people around you. Believe that the world can be better than it is now. Never give up. And remember, you're not alone. We always have each other.
Onward to the World We Deserve,
Elisa & Ray
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