Cancel Black Friday? Why these groups are calling for a nationwide economic boycott.

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: USA Today

Nov. 11, 2025, 8:43 p.m. ET


A coalition of grassroots organizations is calling for a nationwide economic shutdown during the busy holiday shopping season, including Black Friday and Cyber Monday, to protest the Trump administration and economic inequality.

The groups — Blackout the System, The People’s Sick Day, American Opposition, the Money Out of Politics Movement, and The Progressive Network — urged Americans to stop all spending and refuse to go to work during the "Mass Blackout," which runs from Nov. 25 to Dec. 2.

Avoid travel and restaurants and cancel streaming and digital subscriptions, organizers said. "If you must spend: support small, local businesses only. Pay in cash." Small Business Saturday on Nov. 30 is exempted from the blackout. The groups in the coalition had all independently called for shopping boycotts but decided to join forces.

"We are living under a political system captured by special interests, where billionaires and corporations write the rules," Isaiah Rucker Jr., founder of Blackout the System, said in a statement. "Congress serves donors, not the American people, and democratic norms are being dismantled in front of our eyes, with corporate backing. This campaign is about showing them where the power truly lies, with the people."

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2025/11/11/black-friday-cyber-monday-donald-trump-boycotts/87221297007/

[rampartd]

1. count us in

we have to start peeling this onion , and krasnov's billionaire partners are a good place to start.

I would never advocate violence or vandalism, but the obliteration of a data center or crypto mine would not bother me much. They are as much symbols of oppression as the ice prisons.

[mdbl]

2. It should be easy to gain support for the boycott this time.

Not many can afford to buy crap this year anyway

[Hotler]

3. Again, do not underestimate the power and leverage of your consumer dollars.

Spending boycotts should have started months ago. The fascist withheld monies from the people, the people can withhold monies from them. Let the MAGA voters float the economy. Spending boycotts are a safe anonymous way to protest.

[2naSalit]

4. Every year I find...

That I am less interested in this financially unsound ritual, along with the killing of majestic trees for this abomination. It has nothing to do with the excuse used for this ritual season... only the bottom line.

Fuck the corporations and their ilk, I'm only buying groceries this whole season because I really don't need any of that crap.

I'm a repeat xmas boycotter, definitely behind this on a grand scale. It's one of the ways we can show them some pain.

[Turbineguy]

5. Cut off your nose

It would be better to get people to vote.

[Battle Blue]

6. LOL: refuse to go to work ... Nov. 25 to Dec. 2

Boycott Amazon, eBay, other billion dollar corps and not just briefly to merely shift your purchase dates.

But let's get real - boycotting your job to get fired is irresponsible. Cancel all your media and entertainment - good luck. Only pay in cash ...

The only Isaiah Rucker Jr I'm aware of, and the only one I can find online, is a Black motivational speaker whose website says he does "work with global giants like Home Depot, Lowe's, Tractor Supply, and Amazon"

Oops.

I smell an opportunist and not a serious effort for change. Prediction: failure. Maybe they'll prove me wrong, but silly stuff "stop all spending and refuse to go to work" for a week seems more embarrassing than empowering.

[Torchlight]

7. Sounds serious

Good luck

[maxsolomon]

8. I've celebrated Buy Nothing Day for decades.

So I'm already in.

[Happy Hoosier]

9. Won't happen.

Lots of us are trying to find some moments and places of joy in this dystopian hellscape. I'm not a Black Friday person... but I know peopl who are, and for some of them, it's actually something they look forward to. I mean, I don't really get it. I can't stand crowds and I detest combing through through crap for a deal. But some people love it.

[FakeNoose]

10. It's easy to boycott Black Friday, I've been doing it for years

If the weather is nice, go out for a drive or even a fall walk outdoors. It it's not nice, watch a movie or stay home and read a book. Mostly I just hang out with my friends on DU.

[BlueWavePsych]

11. Join the Mass Blackout!

https://www.themassblackout.com/

[FBaggins]

12. This doesn't make sense to me

If we assume that members of these groups would prefer that we spend only what is needed this holiday season, then the day when things go on such large sales would seem to be the worst day to hold a boycott.

Some of those prices are loss leaders. If you're going to shop at all... why not do it when it costs them money?

[BumRushDaShow]

13. It's basically an amplification of supporting local/small businesses vs the large ones, an annual request/push/demand

From the excerpts -

"If you must spend: support small, local businesses only.

[Torchlight]

14. Consumerism is the happy addiction we rest our fat assets on.

In the fiction we've written for this culture, desires become de-facto requirements and wants become needs. Interfere with an addict's fix, and the excuses come hard, fast, and stupid.

[Mr.Bee]

15. Boycott!

It's the only language the ruling class understands!