Be An InfoWar Guerilla

How We Stem the Flood of Lies

Donella Meadow, the influential systems thinker and ecologist, posted an essay years ago entitled “Leverage Points: Places To Intervene In A System” that I still find a profound guide to strategy. L starting with the most limited: changing amounts, for example, improving our educational system by putting more money into it. Most far-reaching was shifting paradigms: changing the very way we think about education.

Midway is the level of information. By influencing what information is present in a system, we can change what resources we allocate, what rules we make and what goals we work towards.

Information is the level we seem stuck on right now, the level that is fueling the rise of fascism. We're swimming in a sea of disinformation, bombarded with lies to the point where it's hard to know who or what to believe. That, of course. is part of the game plan of fascism: not just getting people to believe lies, but also getting us to mistrust truth. We are truly on the front lines of the Infowars, huddling in our shelters under the bombardment of falsehoods.

So how do we fight, when the liars and propagandists seem to have so much power? They own the bully pulpits, including the presidency itself, and the real pulpits of the of Christo-fascist megachurches. They own and control the very platforms upon which we connect, and control the algorithms that can amplify or suppress our voices. It’s as if it says if we are poor peasants facing a massive, well-trained army.

But we should not give up. So many times in history, poor peasants have indeed triumphed over the most powerful of armies, from the Goths to the Cuban Revolution to Vietnam. To win this war, we must become infowar guerrillas.

There are more of us than there are of them, and we have some powerful forces ranged on our side, like truth and reality. There are enough of us , even without funding from billionaires or bot farms of our own, we have the capability to flood the zone with real stories, actual facts, and calls to action.

In this kind of warfare, everyone can take part.How do we do this.? If you're a writer or an artis,t you can create posts, memes and the images. If you’re none of the above, even iif you’re confined to bed, or overwhelmed with caregiving or drowning with other responsibilities, you can amplify the posts of others. If you’re an organizer, you can mobilize your community around campaigns. If you have even a few friends, you can get them together to support campaigns. You don’t have to put yourself physically at risk, or hide in dank, underground bunkers. You can fight this battle from the comfort of your own home.

What are the stories we can tell? Here are a few ideas:

· Your personal story is always the most powerful. Are you a fired federal worker? A nurse who no longer will be able to provide care for your patients? A parent of a disabled child who will no longer receive services? A teacher worrying about loss of important funding for your school? A researcher whose vital experiments have been stopped? An immigrant scared to go out on the street? Whoever you are, however the Trump/Musk policies are impacting, tell the world. It can be an Instagram Story of Live post, a 90 second Tik Tok, a written post on Substack or a Letter to the Editor of your local paper, if you still have one. Use whatever platforms you’re comfortable with, and if you are fearful of revealing your identity, create a persona.

· Tell the stories of others. Is it your parent, your friend, your coworker who is suffering? With their permission, or with names changed to shield those who might be victimized, document what is happening to them.

· Document the actual impacts of trump's policies. Post egg prices or gas prices weekly as they go up, or pick a stock and document its fall as the result of Trump’s tariff threats. If you see an abuse or an arrest by ICE, or an incident of harassment against a targeted community, whip out your phone. Think how impactful the video was that Damella Frazier shot of George Floyd’s murder? Don’t have your phone? Write the story of what you saw, or tell it as a short post. You don't have to be a great filmmaker or journalist. We are all documentarians now.

· Tell stories of actions you've taken. Did you go to a protest? Snap a few pictures, get someone to film you there, and post about it. Did you boycott Target because they dropped their DEI policies? Write a letter to their management, and post about that. There are so many actions, large or small, that we all can take, we can use social media and our networks of friends and community to amplify their impact.

· Post about actions others can take. Do you know of an upcoming protest? Do you want a few people to meet you at the Tesla showroom on Friday afternoon with signs for a vigil? Do you have ideas for calls to make to your representatives or letters to write? People are hungry for something to do, and anything reasonable that you suggest will be a service to all those who need a place to channel some of their anxiety and anger.

· Share your visions, your creative work, your poetry, your art. Remind people of what we're fighting for! Did you hike to a beautiful waterfall? Show the picture and remind us all of how important it is to protect the natural world. Did you attend an inspirational Dia de los Muertos procession, or a Chinese New Year Parade? Remind people that a multicultural world is one in which all of our lives are full of more color, more vibrancy and more joy. Share pictures of your adorable grandchildren, and express how much you want them to grow up in a world that cherishes all children.

· And even if you are feeling completely uninspired and think you have nothing to say, you still have a vital role to play! Boost the posts of others, Like, restack, repost the offering of others. That's one of the key ways we can defeat the algorithms, spread the word, and flood the zone with reality and truth to counter the lies. Just make sure that you don't repost anything that you have not verified to be true. And by verified, I don't mean just finding a few other people on the web who say the same thing. I mean looking for original, credible sources that can independently corroborate a story.

· Broaden your learning. Read books, not just posts. Or listen to audiobooks if you lack time to sit and read. Take courses. There are a wealth of opportunities online, on every subject imaginable, if you don’t have time for an in-person class. One of the ways to counter the shallow tides of disinformation is to deepen your own knowledge and expand your education.

· Having said all that, here's one big caveat: don't spend all of your time on the Internet! Make yourself a schedule for your infowar work, limit it to a certain amount of time a day, and stick to it. Take up one one or two writers or topics to repost, so you don’t drown in the sea of opinions. Focus on one issue to make your own, so you don't scatter your energies when truthfully everything is under assault. Prioritize your real life, that is, face-to-face with family and friends doing real things in the physical, not just virtual world. Go to a live demonstration, deliver food to a hungry elder, gather a group to discuss the issues and craft responses, or simply cook dinner, plant a garden, walk the dog, or just sit outside and observe the natural world, even if that’s just what’s growing out of the cracks of the sidewalk. Do what you need to do to nourish your own body and spirit, for that, too, is an act of resistance.

If we tell our stories, if we document the moment and share our real experiences, if we support one another, we can counter the flood of lies with a thousand streams of truth. Each may seem small, a mere trickle, but together they can be strong enough to cleanse and renew the land.

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