Resist...Quietly and Powerfully With your Dollars

# Withdrawing Consent: A Quiet, Powerful Way to Resist What’s Unfolding

There are moments in history when the most meaningful resistance is not loud.
Not performative.
Not reactive.
Not fueled by outrage alone.
But deliberate.
Strategic.
Steady.
We are living in such a moment.
Across the country, many of us are witnessing forms of government overreach that feel deeply out of alignment with human dignity, civil liberties, and basic compassion. In particular, the expanding presence and activity of immigration enforcement in our cities has left countless families living in fear, uncertainty, and destabilization.
For many, the question becomes:
What can I actually do?
Not in theory.
Not in hashtags.
Not in endless arguments online.
But in real, tangible ways that move power.

***

## The Power Most of Us Underestimate

We are trained to think of political power as something that lives only in elections, courts, or the halls of government.
But there is another form of power that operates quietly and relentlessly:
Economic consent.
Every dollar we spend is a small act of endorsement.
Every subscription we keep active is a tiny vote of confidence.
Every company we support is part of a system we are helping to sustain.
This is not about perfection.
It’s not about purity.
It’s not about moral superiority.
It’s about recognizing something simple and true:
Systems run on money.
And money flows where we send it.

## A Different Kind of Resistance

A growing grassroots movement is encouraging people to withdraw financial support from major corporations that provide infrastructure, technology, logistics, or services that enable large-scale immigration enforcement operations.
The idea is straightforward:
If institutions will not respond to public concern,
they may respond to market pressure.
Not through chaos.
Not through destruction.
But through strategic non-participation.
This approach, organized by Professor Scott Galloway is referred to as “Resist and Unsubscribe.” Resist and Unsubscribe
Its core premise:

> Peaceful, legal, voluntary economic withdrawal can be one of the most effective forms of civic leverage available to ordinary people.

Instead of shouting at power, we quietly stop feeding it. We withdraw our dollars and our attention from it.

***

## What This Looks Like in Practice

This does not mean attempting to upend your entire life overnight.
It means:

• Auditing your subscriptions
• Noticing where your money automatically flows
• Cancelling or pausing services you can live without
• Choosing alternatives when possible
• Being more intentional about where you spend

Some people are choosing to unsubscribe from large tech and media platforms.
Others are switching internet, phone, or delivery services.
Others are simply committing to fewer impulse purchases from massive corporate ecosystems.
Even small shifts, multiplied across millions of people, become significant.
Not because any single cancellation “topples” anything.
But because patterns change, and they show up rather quickly on the bottom line.
And markets pay attention to patterns.

***

## Why This Form of Resistance Matters

Traditional protest has value.
Public discourse has value.
Voting has value.
But many people feel a deep fatigue right now.
A sense that shouting into the void no longer moves the needle.
Economic withdrawal offers something different:

• It is quiet.
• It is personal.
• It is legal.
• It is safe.
• It is repeatable.
• It does not require permission.

You don’t need a crowd.
You don’t need a platform.
You don’t need approval.
You simply decide:
I will no longer financially support systems that violate my values.
That is sovereignty.

***

## This Is Not About Punishing Workers

A necessary nuance:
This is not about blaming employees who work at large corporations.
Most people are simply trying to survive inside systems they did not design.
This is about corporate leadership, lobbying power, and institutional decision-making.
It is about where pressure is structurally effective.
It is about shifting incentives at the level where policy alignment often occurs.

***

## A Gentle Reframe

Think of this less as a boycott…
…and more as a reallocation.
You are not “taking something away.”
You are redirecting your life force.
Your money is stored energy.
Your attention is energy.
Your participation is energy.
You get to choose where that energy is used and spent.

***

## What You Might Ask Yourself

You don’t need a perfect list.
You don’t need to do everything.
You might simply begin here:

• What subscriptions do I have out of habit?
• What corporations do I rely on that I could gradually reduce?
• Where could I shift toward smaller, more values-aligned alternatives?
• What would it feel like to bring my spending into deeper integrity with my conscience?

Let this be an exploration, not a punishment.

***

## The Deeper Layer

At its core, this moment is not only about immigration policy.
It is about something much larger:
Who decides what kind of society we live in?
What do we tolerate?
What do we normalize?
What do we quietly consent to?
And what are we no longer willing to fund?
Withdrawing financial support is not a gesture of hate.
It is an act of ethical boundary-setting.
It says:
I choose dignity.
I choose humanity.
I choose restraint over cruelty.
I choose systems that move us toward care, not fear.

***

## A Closing Invitation

You do not have to be loud to be powerful.
You do not have to be perfect to be effective.
You do not have to agree with everyone to stand in integrity.
You only have to decide:
Where will I place my energy?
And where will I no longer place it?
That choice, repeated quietly and collectively, becomes a force.
Not flashy.
Not dramatic.
But true to you. True to many, many people…
And that truth is what will ultimately reshape the world.
Here is the link: Resist and Unsubscribe
With Gratitude,
Malinda