The American Decay (Riot)

2008 Q1 Results

2008 starts off with minor controversy. A tornado outbreak starts and stop in four days, killing just as many people and injuring dozens others. President bush leaves in the middle of it to tour the Middle East. A week after getting back Bush announces an economic stimulus package. Proposing $700 an individual, and $1500 per couple. The stock market plunges three days later. The CBS News writers strike ends with a tentative deal.

February goes just as well, atrocities committed by military personnel happen in Iraq and Japan, the Super Tuesday tornado outbreak kills 59, and the Stock market plunges 4%. A mass shooting happens in Illinois, and the Writers Guild of America ends their strike with a tentative agreement.

March is quiet. John McCain secures the Republican presidential nomination. A bomb explodes outside an unoccupied military recruitment office in Times Square hurting no one. The Federal Reserve cuts rates by 75 points down to 2.25%.

People are getting worried, but hey, how bad can it get?


Industrial Workers of the World

The wobblies look around at the state of the country, and realize they need much more cash than they have at hand if they want to form that One Big Union. They institute dues, small ones, but without delinquency some members have to leave or become at arm's length so as to manage their personal finances. This barely impacted their efforts though with this quarter being very effective.

Social media accounts: 80
The wobblies went on a digital spree of setting up accounts of every social media site they could find, and with the fresh influx of dues money, were able to pay someone to maintain them. While they all shared the same news, members of the IWW made sure to also check out the profiles and engage in the comments and replies of the posts the IWW accounts would make. Spreading awareness of the group through the digital realm.

(3% permanent recruitment bonus, 8% incidental recruitment bonus)

Support trucker strikes: (103/500)
As diesel prices start to rise across the nation, truckers start getting nervous, and the IWW notices. While talk of a strike is scoffed at due to the byzantine and anti-labor structure of the trucking industry, sending feelers out to rest stops across the country and talking to drivers about organizing for future action takes root in their minds, and truckers start to talk about ways to protest higher fuel prices and low pay. One group of owner-operators even pull over off the side of an interstate to make a protest, extending for miles along a busy section of interstate down in Georgia. While not doing much to be disruptive, it does get media attention.

Setup ideas committee for deciding actions to respond to the subprime mortgage crisis: 69
The subprime mortgage crisis has hit the american middle class light a freight train. The IWW sees this as an opportunity to try and make a small comeback, and to help those affected. A committee of volunteers is set up to come up with ideas. The committee sets to work coming up with ideas for ways to help those in immediate need from the crisis, most not immediately useful until funds crop up to implement them.

(+10 to actions related to housing)



Internationalist Workers' Group

The IWG, looking at the task ahead of them, and reaches for a place to sit. Seeing they have enough cash and noticing the rent market is forcing rents to go up, they make the choice to buy themselves a small office. Squeezed between Lake Mendota and Lake Monona, they are only a few streets away from the state Capitol. Hungry for the vision that one day the workers will seize it for their own.



The Lime Wirers

Setup a band: 67
Stolen Powr, the S being a serpent with an apple in its jaws, and the O as a lotus flower, starts to play Gigs around southern California. They shock crowds in dive bars across the area by… actually being good? Their lyrics hit home to the downtrodden, and the tech savvy in the community love the puns and references. To those outside those demographics the bassline is absolutely killer and the drummer is insane. Every show they go to they pass out a stack of freshly burned CD's of their songs and they always run out before they leave. Not good enough to attract attention from talent seekers, but enough to keep scheduling gigs to make a little extra cash.

(10% bonus to Funds, 6.7% recruitment bonus next turn)


American Avant-Garde Literature Society

The AALS looked around, saw the world lacking, and decided to add something new to it. They began throwing half parties half meetings at members homes throughout the midwest. Sometimes devolving into protests about some issue or another, there was always an energy in the air whenever the AALS got together to discuss issues and come up with solutions. Not all of them made sense, or went in what some members thought were the right direction, but they kept the group moving forward. Faster and faster into the future that only the energy of the optimistic youth could bring as the world slowly started to crack and creak at the seams.



Federation of Libertarian Municipality

Connect with the homeless populations in NYC: 46
The FLM starts their journey looking for people who already know how to squat and live in the cracks of society. Connecting with the homeless is slow going at first, with most people not wanting to bother with college kids asking weird questions about politics they understand, but eventually the FLM manages to convince people they aren't cops, and people warm up to sharing their experiences and methods for how to find places to squat in, holes in the city to live in, and spaces to be safe in from police sweeps. Most of the methods are useful in urban environments, but some can be shared with the comrades up in Vermont, and some people even offer to join the FLM.

(+5 to actions related to organizing urban environments, 4.6% recruitment bonus next turn)


Cyborg Party

The Cyborg Party realized that they needed places for discussions, but were too dispersed to hold them in one area. After a few weeks of grumbling on forums and in coffee shops, an idea was formed. Maker spaces all through the west coast would be used to set up meetings. Not only did this give them organizational spaces with access to tools to try out futuristic ideas, it also allowed them to connect with other visionaries and technological tinkerers like them. Before long a common question in west coast maker spaces is "Are you a Cyborg?"



American Workers' Party

The American Workers' Party realizes they will need locations to set up at for further expansion and preparation. Renting out warehouses is within their budget, so they grab a few that they can afford. Though for their average meeting they set up various geographically dispersed "councils" to manage organization day-to-day in other areas. Even if for now most meetings are ideas for future action.



The Hero Legion

Every Superhero team needs their secret base! Where better to set one up than in a secret location! No need for paperwork or anything else easily traceable to their secret identities. An abandoned warehouse on the edge of town is… infiltrated and starts to turn into a secret lair. With workspace being made for work on the various -mobiles and gadgets that every superhero without powers will need.



The New October Movement

The NOM starts off their liberation war with the smallest of actions, breaking into unoccupied/foreclosed homes and setting up shop. While the legality of such an action is… dangerous, the capitalists stole these homes from working class people anyways. And some people using these homes even use to live in them.



Voluntary Human Defense & Survival Movement

Frank sees the writing on the walls with how small his organization is, and how important the task of responding to a collapse of the american economy is. He instates dues for members, with a sliding scale for income, so that he can set up some bigger projects to really help the most people. Though after some protests from the poorest members, and some rich members, he allows people to be delinquent and not be kicked out. It's more important to help each other than share each others paychecks. Though some members on the left of the organization petition for and get Frank to accept using non-monetary methods to pay dues. A few cans of beans here, a 100 rounds of 5.56 there, and everyone can share what they have as long as it's roughly what they would have paid in cash anyways. While the org can't use toilet paper to buy ammo on the open market, they can barter between members for it.


Bash Back!

Connect with queer spaces in Philadelphia: 61
Connections into queer spaces goes slowly. Most people are wary about "bashing back" and feel they are slowly being accepted into society. Then Lawrence "Larry" King, a 15 year old 8th grade student from California, is shot dead for the crime of being gay.

Queer Philadelphians and allies alike react with shock to the news, along with the rest of the country. Vigils and marches sprout up everywhere, and Condolences were given. Thoughts and prayers, this was a very sad event for us all.

Bash Back! on the other hand did not send thoughts and prayers but actions and actionable ideas. They organized marches and vigils in the Philadelphia area with community leaders. Giving safe spaces for members of the queer community to process, and giving speeches decrying that they are and always will be under attack as long as society stays heteronormative, forcing queer people to assimilate and keep quiet about their identity lest they be attacked. Their efforts were not the most effective as legislation was introduced in some states to include diversity education, causing some to gain hope in the system and back out of the radical action of BB! Overall people were receptive though.

(6.1% bonus to recruitment next turn)


Anonymous

Some members of Anonymous realize the security concerns of coordinating and organizing on public image-boards, and while they have had private spaces to organize in before, they've taken the opportunity to build one of their own to use. Using servers based out of countries outside of the Five Eyes, and mandating the use of a vpn to access it, members of the organization start to feel slightly safer in their digital organizing.

Execute Project Chanology on schedule: 70
Project Chanology goes off swimingly. With the release of a youtube video announcing the project, a coordinated cyberattack is launched against scientologist sites. One member manages to upload malware to scientologist servers that deletes the firmware, rendering most scientologist internet connected hardware as inert bricks, knocking them off the internet entirely. It takes scientology a few weeks to restore from some ancient backups on new hardware, and is promptly DDoSed. The response from Scientology is muted at first, though eventually leadership calls those that committed the attack "cyberterrorists committing religious hate crimes". Without a clear target for legal action though the church does its best to ignore the movement.

In-person protests happen alongside the downage, popping up at almost every Scientologist 'church'. The Guy Fawkes mask making its way into the headlines and feeds of millions of people as onlookers try to figure out who these mysterious people are that came out of nowhere, punched Scientologists digital face, and kept up the pressure for months with the message that "nobody is safe, we do not forgive, we do not forget." Riot police even arrested a handful of protesters at an event in Atlanta after the protest spilled out onto the street with the crowd growing too large.

(7.0% bonus to recruitment next turn)

Industrial Workers of the World

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Internationalist Workers' Group

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The Lime Wirers

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American Avant-Garde Literature Society

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Federation of Libertarian Municipality

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Cyborg Party

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American Workers' Party

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The Hero Legion

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The New October Movement

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Voluntary Human Defense & Survival Movement

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Bash Back!

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Anonymous

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Alright just opening up this vote. Note to self since I can't figure out how to set a vote timer, vote should end at 2pm on sunday July 2nd.

[] Industrial Workers of the World

[] Internationalist Workers' Group

[] The Lime Wirers

[] American Avant-Garde Literature Society

[] Federation of Libertarian Municipality

[] Cyborg Party

[] American Workers' Party

[] The New October Movement

[] Voluntary Human Defense & Survival Movement

[] Bash Back!

[] Anonymous