Boycotts and Beyond: Organizing Institutional Power for Democracy

If you’re from Savannah, you might know W.W. Law. In the 1960s, Law organized one of the most effective boycott campaigns in the Civil Rights Movement. When segregated businesses in Savannah refused to serve Black customers, Law and leaders like Hosea Williams organized an economic boycott that brought those businesses to their knees.

Within months, Savannah became one of the first Southern cities to desegregate its public accommodations. Law and Williams and other Civil Rights leaders recognized — and proved! — that in America “the biggest ballot box is the cash register.” It worked not because it was individual spontaneous action but because it was collective organized action. The NAACP Youth Council didn’t just ask residents to avoid certain stores, they coordinated sit-ins and pickets, established alternative shopping networks, and pushed for legislative change.

One group joined with others and mobilized like-minded residents to leverage their collective power and make historic change. Their lesson is instructional for today.

Disney, Target, and Tesla

In September 2025, when ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel’s show after Trump’s FCC pressure, organized resistance won in five days. The Writers Guild, the Screen Actors Guild-AFTRA, the Producers Guild, the Directors Guild, and theatrical workers unions issued coordinated statements. Actors like Tatiana Maslany and Marisa Tomei publicly called for boycotts. Producer Damon Lindelof said he couldn’t “in good conscience” work for Disney unless they reversed course.

Collectivized action followed and sustained the victory: an estimated 1.7 million customers canceled Disney+ and Hulu subscriptions. Disney brought the show back.

After Target dismantled its DEI programs in January 2025 (before they were pressured at all), website traffic dropped 9% on the February 28 “economic blackout day.” Foot traffic fell 6.8% year-over-year during the 40-day Lent boycott, and Target’s stock price plummeted 24%. But it was organized collectives that largely drove individual decisions: Pastor Jamal Bryant’s TargetFast.org mobilized 100,000 people through church networks; LatinoFreeze.com organized Latino communities; Black Lives Matter Minnesota coordinated campaigns with specific demands. Even Target’s co-founder’s family spoke out publicly.

Elsewhere, nationwide organized Tesla boycotts erased over $500 billion in market value. Coordinated moments like 350+ protesters shutting down the Manhattan showroom made headlines and forced attention on Elon Musk’s devastating involvement with the Trump regime’s “DOGE” initiative.

Meanwhile, Costco — which doubled down on its DEI initiatives and sued the White House over tariffs — saw a 7% sales increase and a surge in goodwill and brand equity driven by advocacy organizations.

Organized pressure from institutions and coordinated groups amplifies individual actions.

Targeting the “Pillars of Support” Together

When we personally cancel Disney+ until First Amendment rights are preserved, it feels righteous. It feels like taking a stand. And it is!

But on its own, the impact might be minimal. The boycott worked to protect the Constitution because institutional pressure merged with a broadcast campaign that individuals could join to exert their collective power.

Indivisible’s 2026 strategy focuses on weakening authoritarian power by targeting “Pillars of Support” — the key institutions (business, labor, faith, civil service, education, military/police) that keep any political system standing. When pillars withdraw support, regimes destabilize.

This is why Indivisible is building what it calls Courage Collectives — groups of people organized around their specific identities and positions within these societal pillars. Teachers have different leverage than healthcare workers, and small-business owners can pressure other businesses in ways individual consumers cannot.

The question isn’t just “where should I shop?” but “how can I use my position within my institution to withdraw support from authoritarianism?”

Why Organized Collectives Work

You have leverage where you work. Educators organizing within their school district can influence procurement decisions, curriculum partnerships, and institutional contracts worth millions. Entertainment workers — as the Kimmel boycott proved — can refuse to work and threaten to take their business elsewhere.

You have insider knowledge. W.W. Law was a postal worker and NAACP organizer who understood Savannah’s power structure. Entertainment unions knew exactly what Disney cares about: talent, reputation, and their ability to produce content.

You have moral authority. When teachers organize as teachers to oppose book bans, they have credibility individual parents don’t. When doctors organize as doctors to oppose healthcare restrictions, they speak with medical expertise.

You have community for the long haul. Individual boycotts fade because they’re lonely and inconvenient. Collectives provide regular meetings, shared goals, mutual support, and accountability. The Savannah boycotts ultimately lasted over a year because of organized community support.

Each pillar has different leverage points:

• Labor Collectives can organize strikes, slowdowns, and collective bargaining demands.
• Education Collectives can resist book bans, affect curriculum partnerships, refuse to implement discriminatory policies or surveillance programs, protect students, encourage or pressure educational institutions.
• Healthcare Collectives can issue coordinated public health statements, challenge harmful policies, maintain medical privacy and protect patient rights, and use medical associations to file public position papers and amicus briefs.
• Civil Service Collectives can slow-walk unlawful orders, require controversial orders in writing to create a paper trail, and document actions for future whistleblowing/legal action.
• Business Collectives can refuse to serve enforcement agencies and shift supply chains to pressure capitulating businesses.
• Faith Collectives can provide physical sanctuary, organize mutual aid, use the pulpit to make moral statements, and use religious authority to speak to media and legislators.

Participants shouldstart with low-risk, high-impact actions (letters, public statements) and then escalate strategically as the collective builds confidence and support. Connect actions across pillars for maximum impact and build mutual aid systems to sustain your resistance.

What You Can Do

1. Identify your institutional position. Where do you work? What professional networks are you in? You have untapped power there.
2. Connect with others in your pillar. Find other Indivisible members who share your institutional position.
3. Start small and strategic. Sign a collective letter. Request a meeting with decision-makers. Coordinate a unified position on a specific policy.
4. Connect to the broader movement. Start your own Courage Collective and take action with others in your pillar. Learn more from Indivisible.

W.W. Law organized strategic collective action that hit economic and political pressure points simultaneously to bring down segregation in his city. Let’s make Savannah inhospitable to authoritarianism.

Contact Savannah Indivisible to join or help start a Courage Collective to start exercising your institutional power.