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Troublemakers

Website:

www.troublemakerscommunity.org/

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Troublemakers is a Seattle-based radical-left direct-action group that organizes and conducts protests on behalf of environmentalist and anti-capitalist causes. Founded in the fall of 2023, it attracted attention in early 2025 for its participation in the #TeslaTakedown protest movement against Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).1

Background

Troublemakers was founded in the fall of 2023,2 and is based in Seattle, Washington.3 It opposes what it calls “racial capitalism” and “neocolonialism,” through which it believes the United States is destroying the planet.4

The group’s website lists four goals:4

  1. Stable Ecosystems. Troublemakers believes that natural resource extraction must be dramatically scaled back and that the “vast majority” of carbon emissions must be eliminated within ten years.4
  2. Economic Justice. Troublemakers believes in the redistribution of economic benefits from those who have allegedly profited from what it calls “resource-extraction capitalism” to those who have not.4
  3. Reparations and Racial Justice. Troublemakers believes that “countries that have built their wealth by polluting, colonizing, and enslaving” must pay reparations to those who have supposedly been exploited.4
  4. An End To Militarism. Troublemakers is opposed to both military aggression as well as to what it calls “a disproportionate defensive response to aggression,” and it accuses the United States military of causing significant environmental harm.4

Activities

Troublemakers engages in protests and direct actions on behalf of environmental and anti-capitalist causes. Those who join Troublemakers are asked to participate in at least one direct action per year.5 It claims to only employ nonviolent methods.4 Troublemakers also hosts trainings and social gatherings for its members. It has no staff or physical office.6

Amazon Demonstrations

In March 2024, Troublemakers demonstrators blocked the entrances to Amazon‘s headquarters in downtown Seattle as part of a protest against the company’s plans to connect some of its data centers in the Pacific Northwest to a planned natural gas pipeline extension.7 In July of that year, Troublemakers conducted another direct action protest against Amazon alongside the activist group Stand.earth. Demonstrators briefly shut down 6th Avenue in downtown Seattle and painted environmentalist slogans on the street, before being dispersed by police.8 Other Troublemakers actions have targeted logging and shipping.9 10

#TeslaTakedown

In 2025, Troublemakers joined the #TeslaTakedown protest movement against Tesla chief executive officer Elon Musk and his association with the second Trump administration‘s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). A post on the group’s website declared that Musk had undertaken an “unhinged crime spree against the American people.” Troublemakers has organized and conducted protests at Tesla showrooms in the Seattle area, and warned that their actions would “continue – and escalate – as long as the lawlessness continues.” 1 Claiming that “hurting Tesla is stopping Musk,” and that “stopping Musk will help save lives and our democracy,” the #TeslaTakedown movement encourages people to protest at Tesla showrooms and to sell their Tesla vehicles and their stock in the company.11

An announcement posted on Troublemakers’ website for March 29, 2025 claimed that protesters would be present “at all eight Tesla showrooms across the Puget Sound,” and described Musk as “a tornado destroying our services, research, oversight, and democracy” who was “propping up authoritarianism.” A separate announcement for a scheduled protest at the Henry M. Jackson Federal Building in Seattle entitled “Federal Building Fridays” urged Americans not to “compromise with fascists” and to “stop the Elon Musk coup.”12

Troublemakers co-founder Valerie Costa wrote an op-ed for The Guardian in which she admitted that the group helps organize anti-Tesla protests, but denied encouraging vandalism or any other crimes. She also accused Musk and President Donald Trump of having engaged in criminal activity.13 As of mid-March 2025, Costa claimed that approximately 300 new members had joined Troublemakers since it began participating in the #TeslaTakedown movement.14

Finances

Troublemakers accepts donations through the Action Network fundraising platform, which it says are used for social gatherings, training, administrative costs, and “material needed to support our community taking action.” As of March 2025, an active fundraiser on behalf of the group had received 41 contributions with a goal of 50,2 and one of its co-founders claimed that Troublemakers had approximately $3,500 total.14

References

  1. “#TeslaTakedown.” Troublemakers. February 13, 2025. Available at: https://www.troublemakerscommunity.org/actions/teslatakedown
  2. “Donate to Support Good Trouble!” Action Network. Accessed March 31, 2023. Available at: https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/donate-troublemakers
  3. Troublemakers official website. Accessed March 31, 2025. Available at: https://www.troublemakerscommunity.org/
  4. “About.” Troublemakers. Accessed March 31, 2025. Available at: https://www.troublemakerscommunity.org/about
  5. “Join the Troublemakers.” Troublemakers. Accessed March 31, 2025. Available at: https://www.troublemakerscommunity.org/join-us
  6. “Our Only Year-End Fundraising Ask.” Troublemakers. December 19, 2024. Available at: https://www.troublemakerscommunity.org/actions/donate2024
  7. “Amazon: A Commitment to GTN XPress is a Commitment to Climate Catastrophe.” Troublemakers. March 27, 2024. Available at: https://www.troublemakerscommunity.org/actions/amazon-a-commitment-to-gtn-xpress-is-a-commitment-to-climate-catastrophe
  8. “Amazon Prime Day Action.” Troublemakers. July 19, 2024. Available at: https://www.troublemakerscommunity.org/actions/amazonprimeday2024
  9. “Kayaktivism.” Troublemakers. February 18, 2024. Available at: https://www.troublemakerscommunity.org/actions/kayaktivism
  10. “Mature Humans Stand Up for Mature Forests Again!” Troublemakers. August 26, 2024. Available at: https://www.troublemakerscommunity.org/actions/mature-humans-stand-up-for-mature-forests-again
  11. #TeslaTakedown Official Website. Accessed March 31, 2025. Available at: https://www.teslatakedown.com/
  12. “Events” Troublemakers. March 28, 2025 (accessed via WayBack Machine. Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20250328143737/https://www.troublemakerscommunity.org/events
  13. Valerie Costa. “Elon Musk Targeted Me Over Tesla Protests. That Proves Our Movement is Working.” The Guardian. March 13, 2025. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/13/elon-musk-tesla-takedown-protest
  14. Kai Uyehara. “Seattle Activist Attacked by Elon Musk Vows to Push Back.” The Seattle Times. March 21, 2025. Available at: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/seattle-activist-attacked-by-elon-musk-vows-to-push-back/
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