Refuse.
Dawdle.
Delay.
Sabotage it.
(Fuck it up so that it will have to be redone when they find it’s inadequate and doesn’t work. Try to make it harder to fix than it would have been to do in the first place — even better, not worth trying to fix.)
If you work with a database and are asked to alter the table structure to comply in advance for citizenship or gender categorizations it's really important to NOT do it.
"The governor is concerned about all this stuff they want us to update our record keeping so we store both gender AND biological sex."
"We need fields to store the country of origin of people's parents."
If you don't have the power to rebuff this yourself, ask for help. At minimum ask for help online anonymously.
Depending on your job you probably have in the past made compromises. Maybe to keep your job. Maybe to survive. This is a bright line. If you are asked to be the one to update the table don't let it be your fingers typing those changes.
If you can't just say "No I won't do that." Stall, run away, feign incompetence. Just don't let it happen.
I suspect this might be where the rubber hits the road first for us around here.
Nothing has changed. You do not have to do it. It is not even ordained.
I know someone who rebuffed such a request. Boss was apologetic "it's what the higher ups want, oh *I* think it's a lot of nonsense, but I don't want us to be out of step ... blah blah"
It was proposed to them in sheepish way. They said it would be a lot of work, not add anything of value, and most important they would not do it. It didn't come up again.
Fascism can be the work of zealots, but there are also many sheepish middle management helping hands who "don't even believe in this really"
With the sheepish ones just letting them know you won't do it, (that it crosses the bright line) can make them back off some of the time.
This can be very scary and if you are thinking "but I could be fired" I understand that. Ask for help. Talk about it outside of work or with people you trust. Don't go looking for an excuse to comply and not feel bad about it. If you do you should feel bad.
Find a way to NOT do it instead.
I'm honestly just psyching myself up for if I need to do this kind of thing again. I might.
It's the whole "we're just doing it to go along with what's happening now" ethos that I think might hold the most little victories for us.
So many terrible things happen because of people just going along with a bunch of little bad things that come together into a much more ugly and unstoppable bad thing.
That goose meme
"what kind of 'step' do you 'not want to be out of'?"
"What Kind Of Step!!"
Insist on doing everything through "channels." Never permit short-cuts to be taken in order to expedite decisions.
Make "speeches," Talk as frequently as possible and at great length. Illustrate your points by long anecdotes and accounts of personal experiences. Never hesitate to make a few appropriate "patriotic" comments.
When possible, refer all matters to committees, for "further study and consideration." Attempt to make the committees as large as possible - never less than five.
Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible.
Haggle over precise wordings of communications, minutes, resolutions.
web.archive.org/web/2020022517…
The CIA removed their WWII workplace sabotage manual from their website but you can still find it on archive dot org
Patrick McLaughlin
in reply to Patrick McLaughlin • • •What I’m saying is that malicious (non-)compliance can be very effective.
Best if we can draw and hold the bright lines (Do Not Comply in Advance!). But if you must, do it very, very, very badly. And slowly. In ways that jam the machine.