It's been a grim week and I see a lot of us struggling. Thank you for the reminder that we do the right thing because it is right and not because we know we will succeed.
Another great essay. I haven't been on the line so to speak as long as you. coming up on 10 years now. It's hard to have gone through 2020 and see this backlash undo so much of what was won. It's hard to have been at the encampments, including UCLA while it was attacked, and see the genocide continue, the unis still do business with Israel, and our attackers walk free.
Your example of Ireland is one I think about a lot and have cited as well. Have you heard the song "Go Home British Soldiers"?
"For 800 years, we fought you without fear, and we'll fight you for 800 more."
Like the Irish the Palestinians will not go away, and they will not stop struggling for their homeland. Solidarity, and the clear vision of a world changes that we may never see ourselves, must be the thing in the forefront of our minds. We can't give up when it's depressing, just imagine the future and keep going. They will not quit so we won't.
Think of all the institutions and nations that seemed so strong at one point. Think how pervasive chattel slavery was. Think how locked in the governments of Apartheid South Africa and Rhodesia seemed. Imagine how total the Third Reich's victory looked in 1940. They are gone now, brought down by the work, struggle, tears, toil, and blood of millions.
You mentioned Goldman. "To the daring belongs the future." Even if we won't see it, Moses was after all not permitted to enter the Promised Land, he knew it was there though.
Thank you for these thoughts. I feel like things have never been as bad as they are now. Yes, there were very dark times, the fascism of the Nazi dictatorship in Europe, but now it's everywhere. Yet at the beginning of the 2000s, things seemed so hopeful; there were movements everywhere against the exploitation of resources. Occupy was huge, followed by protests against these G8 and G7 meetings, where they discussed how they could better divide and oppress the world for their own profit. And now? Yes, there is nothing without the opposite; that should give us courage. But I also repeatedly experience exclusion, attacks, slander, and the reproduction of old behaviors, especially from people who want to make this world a better place, who call themselves anarchists, and they think that's perfectly fine. Well, I should add that I live in Germany. It has always been a very toxic place. What frustrates me so much is that the same mistakes keep happening, that it seems like the same things are being repeated over and over again. Really, for me, progress in the fight for better worlds looks different. I also experience that people tend to work on existing conditions, especially those responsible for them, instead of focusing on building their own resources and communities for something completely new and learning what this completely different might look like. That's education. We've been so thoroughly permeated by this patriarchal, capitalist system for generations, socialized into it, that we can't really imagine what an anarchist organized world might look like. Many people think it's something similar to what we have now, only without the state and its mechanisms of oppression. But that's not it. But yes, we should be hopeful and not giving up, what else.
I can't believe this post about our failures was so inspiring! There is something powerful about the fact that we will fight even though we know it's a losing battle. "We’ll run up that hill (and make a deal with god?). We’ll fight when we’re outnumbered. Failure does not stop us." And the quote at the end about how anarchism is slow and has to be chosen has really regrounded me in my own vision. Thank you for putting this together!
It's been a grim week and I see a lot of us struggling. Thank you for the reminder that we do the right thing because it is right and not because we know we will succeed.
Bonus points from the Rainy Terf Island jury for the Kate Bush reference.
Another great essay. I haven't been on the line so to speak as long as you. coming up on 10 years now. It's hard to have gone through 2020 and see this backlash undo so much of what was won. It's hard to have been at the encampments, including UCLA while it was attacked, and see the genocide continue, the unis still do business with Israel, and our attackers walk free.
https://bettergracesandliberations.substack.com/p/i-was-attacked-by-zionists-at-the
Your example of Ireland is one I think about a lot and have cited as well. Have you heard the song "Go Home British Soldiers"?
"For 800 years, we fought you without fear, and we'll fight you for 800 more."
Like the Irish the Palestinians will not go away, and they will not stop struggling for their homeland. Solidarity, and the clear vision of a world changes that we may never see ourselves, must be the thing in the forefront of our minds. We can't give up when it's depressing, just imagine the future and keep going. They will not quit so we won't.
Think of all the institutions and nations that seemed so strong at one point. Think how pervasive chattel slavery was. Think how locked in the governments of Apartheid South Africa and Rhodesia seemed. Imagine how total the Third Reich's victory looked in 1940. They are gone now, brought down by the work, struggle, tears, toil, and blood of millions.
You mentioned Goldman. "To the daring belongs the future." Even if we won't see it, Moses was after all not permitted to enter the Promised Land, he knew it was there though.
(Sorry to plug, but help a struggling writer out and subscribe y'all. https://bettergracesandliberations.substack.com/)
Btw, Margaret, when are you doing a book of essays? You have a great newsletter and the world needs more based Anarchist books.
Thank you for these thoughts. I feel like things have never been as bad as they are now. Yes, there were very dark times, the fascism of the Nazi dictatorship in Europe, but now it's everywhere. Yet at the beginning of the 2000s, things seemed so hopeful; there were movements everywhere against the exploitation of resources. Occupy was huge, followed by protests against these G8 and G7 meetings, where they discussed how they could better divide and oppress the world for their own profit. And now? Yes, there is nothing without the opposite; that should give us courage. But I also repeatedly experience exclusion, attacks, slander, and the reproduction of old behaviors, especially from people who want to make this world a better place, who call themselves anarchists, and they think that's perfectly fine. Well, I should add that I live in Germany. It has always been a very toxic place. What frustrates me so much is that the same mistakes keep happening, that it seems like the same things are being repeated over and over again. Really, for me, progress in the fight for better worlds looks different. I also experience that people tend to work on existing conditions, especially those responsible for them, instead of focusing on building their own resources and communities for something completely new and learning what this completely different might look like. That's education. We've been so thoroughly permeated by this patriarchal, capitalist system for generations, socialized into it, that we can't really imagine what an anarchist organized world might look like. Many people think it's something similar to what we have now, only without the state and its mechanisms of oppression. But that's not it. But yes, we should be hopeful and not giving up, what else.
I can't believe this post about our failures was so inspiring! There is something powerful about the fact that we will fight even though we know it's a losing battle. "We’ll run up that hill (and make a deal with god?). We’ll fight when we’re outnumbered. Failure does not stop us." And the quote at the end about how anarchism is slow and has to be chosen has really regrounded me in my own vision. Thank you for putting this together!
Thanks for the realistic inspiration! It’s rare, in my experience, and much appreciated.
https://preview.redd.it/the-club-is-bumping-v0-lvv2y91bcove1.jpeg?auto=webp&s=f77a8061ab7e77411caa5222c885c9490b9e5224