On Hardships, Time, Truth and What To Do
Morning Comrades.
Blame it on the sunshine and weariness at this end but I am going to attempt to lead you into your well deserved weekend, that, technically should be at leats 3 days long, with some upbeat food for thought.
I don’t want to sugar coat anything, I know it’s tough out there, and has been for some time. With “everything” that is going on in our worlds, I wanted to offer a few words of “reassurance” I presume is the right word to use here. Carrying forward some of your ideas and responses from last week’s essay on our “masters” endgame and their all-encompassing death wish for us all has had me thinking about what we can do going forward. Whilst I will never tire from attempting to call out their corruption and crimes lets try something else for today.
My sons great-grandmother, albeit for other reasons, used to drop an old friesian saying on our regular Sunday coffee get-togethers that went ( paraphrased ) something along the lines of this: Where there is light, there must be shadow, where there is shadow there must be light. I won’t bore you with the intersectionality of physics and philosophy here but I have always enjoyed the times she said this because in my experience I have found it to be true. The reality of our existence sure is bleak but it will get better, not by sticking your head in the sand but by facing it, together. Togetherness being the absolute key here and we have to once and for all bury this cult of indoctrinated individualism to build a world we not only want to live in, but one we can pass on to our children. I firmly believe this to be possible, the how’s and why’s have been established and now is the time to make it so. Nihilism will get you nowhere, no matter how attractive the destructive nature of it can be at times, again, speaking from experience. In the time of shadows, you and your actions will have to be the light that drive out the forces that prey on our fears for their own, greedy, little minds.
I fully appreciate how the pressures of making a living in this world will drive anyone into seclusion but reaching out and “doing” is what is going to light this proverbial flame of betterment for all. Obviously, I write this as much for myself as for you, we all need that motivation and now is the time for it. In no shape or form do I want to tell anyone what to do here but be sure that doing “anything” beats doing “nothing” and I am more than certain that you all know what it is. There are two quotes, not from the academic world for a change, that I regularly turn to when the world seems to be particularly bleak.
There is an entire world for us to build that does not have to adhere to the insane current timeline. Reality is what we make it but it will not be made for us. Go and hang out with a friend, friends, family and get “doing”. I’ll be out there with you.
AVAILABLE TILL SUNDAY
This month’s mutual aid drop runs till the end of Sunday with all profits going directly to Planned Parenthood, for all the obvious reasons.
On that, here is a subtle reminder to jam out to this week’s playlist, music always helps and this weeks joints sure do the trick.
Resources
An urgent, freely downloadable ebook that asks: should we start blowing up pipelines, occupying coal mines, and destroying property to address global climate change?
Andreas Malm’s book How to Blow Up a Pipeline, with its call for the environmental movement to start sabotaging fossil fuel infrastructure to save our planet, has sparked a vibrant discussion on the left about “the green state,” direct action and violence, ecological Leninism, and existing pipeline struggles. It has also reignited longstanding fears of eco-sabotage on the right.
Collected here are a set of essays that grapple with the idea of direct action and eco-sabotage, survey climate activism around the world, and argue for the necessity of building a fighting global movement against capitalism and its fossil fuel regime.
Vijay Prashad’s 19th newsletter for the tricontinental echoes the same sentiment as my introduction today and I do think this is very much worth your time to read over the weekend.
That is is for this week comrades. As always, thank you for your time, attention and support. May your weekend give you rest, joy and inspiration. Until next week, I remain yours, without compromise,
V.