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This year has really affirmed for me that the surest predictor of whether you can rely on someone in movement isn't an Official Political Genre™, it's how they prioritize the project of liberation within their work.
Socialist, anarchist, whatever.
Are you here to break chains?
Socialist, anarchist, whatever.
Are you here to break chains?
I come out of labor, I'm a Democratic committee woman, I've spent a lot more time around socialists and liberal progressives than anarchists in my organizing career.
But the Trump years have *really* made me appreciate anarchists and their intentionality around liberation.
But the Trump years have *really* made me appreciate anarchists and their intentionality around liberation.
It's an intentionality folks closer to other orientations could really learn a lot from.
There's a really unfortunate tendency in socialist spaces to get in the mindset of, "chains aren't the problem, the problem is that workers don't run the chain factory and do the chaining"
There's a really unfortunate tendency in socialist spaces to get in the mindset of, "chains aren't the problem, the problem is that workers don't run the chain factory and do the chaining"
No, none of us are free until we all are free.
As long as we're good with the premise of chaining people, we're still trapped in a mindset of toxic domination and death politics that drives capitalism.
As long as we're good with the premise of chaining people, we're still trapped in a mindset of toxic domination and death politics that drives capitalism.
I've been thinking about this a lot since a recent exchange with @rechelon after they named the fact that the central problem with contemporary leftism is the centering of capitalism abolition rather than liberation.
My response was basically the "why not both" gif, and they pointed out that capitalism abolition is *part* of the project of liberation, vitally important but also only a piece of the bigger picture.
The toxicity of class reductionist dirtbags has really helped make that clear.
The toxicity of class reductionist dirtbags has really helped make that clear.
It ties into a problem I've named a number of times as an issue for the left, which is our tendency to name what's wrong but then police and mock folks who practice imagination and articulate an ambitious vision of a beautiful and just liberatory future.
That's one place the right excels and we fail miserably.
We all know exactly the vision MAGA articulates. You can almost taste and feel what a "Great America" means to Trump supporters, even if we hate it.
The left doesn't do that anymore, and we mock people who try.
We all know exactly the vision MAGA articulates. You can almost taste and feel what a "Great America" means to Trump supporters, even if we hate it.
The left doesn't do that anymore, and we mock people who try.
We're stuck in this academia-style mode where we're really good at naming problems and centering the problems instead of our values.
Like, critique is necessary, but it's a means to an end.
We've lost track of the necessity of naming that end, and what it looks like.
Like, critique is necessary, but it's a means to an end.
We've lost track of the necessity of naming that end, and what it looks like.
Marx's weakest theory point was always historical inevitability.
Historical inevitability has become this huge cop out to avoid the work of liberatory imagination.
There's this pop Marxist attitude of, Uncle Karl already did that work for us.
Historical inevitability has become this huge cop out to avoid the work of liberatory imagination.
There's this pop Marxist attitude of, Uncle Karl already did that work for us.
The fact is, there are almost zero serious Marxists who take his work as gospel.
Like, his own material dialectic theory acknowledges that culture evolves as society"s relationship with the material evolves.
Evolving theory is part of that evolving culture.
Like, his own material dialectic theory acknowledges that culture evolves as society"s relationship with the material evolves.
Evolving theory is part of that evolving culture.
We've evolved far beyond the time and conditions of Marx, our movements have evolved, and we need to evolve our theory and vision to incorporate what we've collectively learned, to incorporate truths that oppressed folks have forced into the sunlight in our liberation struggles.
A movement that centers theory instead of vision is like a literature syllabus comprised of all critique and no literature.
When we eliminate the light of vision and imaginative hope, the theory texts lose their sparkle.
When we eliminate the light of vision and imaginative hope, the theory texts lose their sparkle.
Everyone is so in the weeds about which chains matter most, which chains are linked to what, who should be doing the chaining.
It's a distraction.
When we focus on the ultimate goal-- joyful liberation-- we understand that *all* the chains are all impediments to our freedom.
It's a distraction.
When we focus on the ultimate goal-- joyful liberation-- we understand that *all* the chains are all impediments to our freedom.
Peace is more than the absence of war.
Liberation is more than the absence of chains.
The destruction of chains create the circumstances for liberation.
The state of liberation, though, is a state of manifested joy and shared dignity.
Liberation is more than the absence of chains.
The destruction of chains create the circumstances for liberation.
The state of liberation, though, is a state of manifested joy and shared dignity.
One exercise I try and make myself do is to look around where I am and try to envision what that space would look like in a liberated world.
Not just "what's wrong"-- not just a utilitarian "what if low-rung Maslow basic needs were met," but, what if folks had time and resources to live with dignity AND manifest beauty & meaning & joy?
Because, that's what our vision should be. That's the star that should guide us.
Because, that's what our vision should be. That's the star that should guide us.
That's what liberation looks like.
Not just equity, but that sparkle of meaning and beauty and joy.
Removing the chains, ending capitalism, redistributing wealth gets us to a baseline of dignity.
Liberation goes further, though.
It's a state allowing mass self-actualization.
Not just equity, but that sparkle of meaning and beauty and joy.
Removing the chains, ending capitalism, redistributing wealth gets us to a baseline of dignity.
Liberation goes further, though.
It's a state allowing mass self-actualization.
Self-actualization gets a bum rap; pop psych has toxified and commodified the notion, often equating it with selfishness and capitalistic self-gratification.
What it *actually* means is a state where we're able to connect with our highest creative selves and create meaning.
What it *actually* means is a state where we're able to connect with our highest creative selves and create meaning.
It's not a state we can fully reach under capitalism.
Self-actualization requires community and belonging, and capitalism perpetually alienates us from community and belonging by commodifying relationship.
We can't be our best selves until we are free.
Self-actualization requires community and belonging, and capitalism perpetually alienates us from community and belonging by commodifying relationship.
We can't be our best selves until we are free.
The space luxury communism crowd pictures the end game as a free version of the starliner from WALL-E, a work-free compound of uniform consumption & leisure.
For all their talk about labor, they make it very clear they have nothing but distaste for the practice of work.
For all their talk about labor, they make it very clear they have nothing but distaste for the practice of work.
The thing is, work is how humans manifest meaning.
A vision of a future without work is a vision of a future without meaning.
Families require work.
Art requires work.
Relationships requires work.
Community requires work.
Without labor, we lose beauty, meaning, and joy.
A vision of a future without work is a vision of a future without meaning.
Families require work.
Art requires work.
Relationships requires work.
Community requires work.
Without labor, we lose beauty, meaning, and joy.
When I hear class reductionists say they want to abolish work, what I hear is that emotional labor of relationship and the labor of community and movement and family is labor that they do not engage in, labor that is invisible to them.
When I hear calls for work abolition, what I hear is folks blindered to their own privilege.
Who is going to play with the babies on the WALL-E starliner?
Who is going to sit with people grieving the loss of a loved one?
Who is going to teach the children?
Who is going to play with the babies on the WALL-E starliner?
Who is going to sit with people grieving the loss of a loved one?
Who is going to teach the children?
No, what work abolitionists want is to go permanently into the numbness of free consumption and emotional infancy.
Self-actualization is work.
It is the work of manifesting meaning, personal meaning but also community meaning.
Self-actualization is work.
It is the work of manifesting meaning, personal meaning but also community meaning.
Liberation is work, and the work never ends because liberation will never be finished.
Ending capitalism, breaking our chains, and creating economic equity doesn't complete the liberation project, it begins it.
Ending capitalism, breaking our chains, and creating economic equity doesn't complete the liberation project, it begins it.
Only when we break our chains collectively will we be able to begin the work of self-actualization and community actualization together.
The goal isn't uniformity, it's a uniform baseline that affords us not freedom FROM work, but freedom to do work that makes our hearts sing.
The goal isn't uniformity, it's a uniform baseline that affords us not freedom FROM work, but freedom to do work that makes our hearts sing.
That's the work of radical empathy, of deep thought, of beauty and joy, of creating health clinics but also creating art, of making room for play.
It's giving all humans the space and resources and dignity we need to manifest meaning.
It's giving all humans the space and resources and dignity we need to manifest meaning.
That vision of radical, creative freedom and individualization is actually a lot closer to Marx's vision than the gloomy state-sponsored, conformist "socialisms" that doctrinaire tankies love to stan.
Marx never pushed for work to be abolished.
He wanted work to be meaningful.
Marx never pushed for work to be abolished.
He wanted work to be meaningful.
Liberation is hard work.
It is meaningful work, it is beautiful work and should be joyful work.
It takes many forms, but it is always work.
It will always be work.
It is meaningful work, it is beautiful work and should be joyful work.
It takes many forms, but it is always work.
It will always be work.
We will always have more work to do on the project of liberation because liberation is not only a goal and a labor, but also a teacher.
The more we liberate ourselves, the more we learn about what true liberation looks like.
We learn that there is more work to do.
The more we liberate ourselves, the more we learn about what true liberation looks like.
We learn that there is more work to do.
When we break chains, we earn more about those chains and what spurred us to create them.
We will learn more about how they chafed and what they were made of.
We learn more about what healing work we have to do, about how we need to grow.
We will learn more about how they chafed and what they were made of.
We learn more about what healing work we have to do, about how we need to grow.
Our liberatory movement ancestors and we as a contemporary liberatory movement have broken so, so many chains since Marx put pen to paper.
We have learned so, so much from those freedoms, from voices previously muffled, voices previously locked away in the prisons of oppression.
We have learned so, so much from those freedoms, from voices previously muffled, voices previously locked away in the prisons of oppression.
When I do my visioning exercise, looking around trying to imagine what a possible liberated future for my environment might look like, I try to lock that vision in my head.
I lock it in, and I ask myself, is the organizing work I do work that brings us closer to this vision.
I lock it in, and I ask myself, is the organizing work I do work that brings us closer to this vision.
The vision is my map, my imagination is my compass.
It helps lift me out of the grimness of our current state of injustice and refresh my conscience with a reminder of the joy that we could find on the other side of the chains.
It helps lift me out of the grimness of our current state of injustice and refresh my conscience with a reminder of the joy that we could find on the other side of the chains.
I try to find little ways to bring the sparkle of that vision into my life and the lives of my community and my loved ones and comrades, knowing those glimmers we create orient us towards not just the baseline of equity but the sustaining joy of liberatory vision.
More and more I look around and ask myself, who around me is orienting themselves towards that sparkle?
And I find that very reliably, it's people who have spotted that glow in the distance & put themselves to work chopping through our tangle of chains working towards its light.
And I find that very reliably, it's people who have spotted that glow in the distance & put themselves to work chopping through our tangle of chains working towards its light.
Some of them are socialists, some are anarchists, some are self-identified progressives, some have just stopped bothering with trying to find a label for themselves.
What they have in common is that they find joy and meaning in the work of breaking chains.
What they have in common is that they find joy and meaning in the work of breaking chains.
I've watched so, so many people burn out on organizing, people who denied themselves dreams of beauty or joy or loving community because it felt selfish.
Their movitation and energy started and ended in anger, and anger in isolation corrodes the machine it fuels.
Their movitation and energy started and ended in anger, and anger in isolation corrodes the machine it fuels.
Anger is a necessary part of the liberation process, but it is not a sustainable source of fuel.
St. Augustine said, "hope has two beautiful daughters, their names are anger and courage.”
Hope is the energy that sustains movement.
St. Augustine said, "hope has two beautiful daughters, their names are anger and courage.”
Hope is the energy that sustains movement.
Without hope to insulate us from anger's corrosion, we erode our moral compass. We lose our ability to detect true north, to perceive and center the glimmering light of collective liberation.
Without the solar paneling of hope, we lose our ability to turn that glimmering light of liberation into the fuels of anger and courage.
The engines of our liberatory will don't just corrode, they run dry.
The engines of our liberatory will don't just corrode, they run dry.
In my political practice, I look to work with comrades who center that liberatory light, perceive it through their faculty of hope, and use it to generate the fuel they need to power the work of chain-breaking.
When I look to see who is really committed to the work of breaking chains, who is doing it and doing it well, these are the people I find.
The folks without that light and hope thrash ineffectively and then give up, exhausted.
The folks without that light and hope thrash ineffectively and then give up, exhausted.
I know to avoid the people disgusted at the idea of doing work.
I know they are not committed to liberation or the breaking of chains, because both are projects, and projects require labor.
I know they are not committed to liberation or the breaking of chains, because both are projects, and projects require labor.
I know to avoid the doctrinal.
I know they are not committed to liberation, because the vision of liberation is ever-evolving, never complete.
To be satisfied with a doctrine, any doctrine, is to use the security of dogma to dodge the challenging lessons of liberatory progress.
I know they are not committed to liberation, because the vision of liberation is ever-evolving, never complete.
To be satisfied with a doctrine, any doctrine, is to use the security of dogma to dodge the challenging lessons of liberatory progress.
I know to avoid those who use the banner of expediency as an excuse to step on some in pursuit of a goal they consider progress.
I know that they reinforce more chains than they ever break.
I know that they reinforce more chains than they ever break.
And finally, I know to avoid those who value keeping their label pure more than they value the breaking of chains.
I know to avoid those who would rather stand back as fascism take hold than taint their precious brand.
I know to avoid those who would rather stand back as fascism take hold than taint their precious brand.
More and more, I've learned to look for the people who have simply dedicated themselves to the work of breaking chains by the light of hope & vision.
More than labels, more than experience, more than credentials, that tells me that they're committed to the project of liberation.
More than labels, more than experience, more than credentials, that tells me that they're committed to the project of liberation.
So, thank you to all the beautiful people doing that work, thank you for the labor and for the joy and warmth your work and presence brings to movement space.
I'm privileged to have so many of you in my life, and you help re-center me on what matters.
I'm privileged to have so many of you in my life, and you help re-center me on what matters.
And for folks who have lost sight of that light, I hope this thread reads not as a condemnation but as an invitation to reorient.
There is room in liberatory movement for everyone with the humility to do the self-work of finding and centering the light.
There is room in liberatory movement for everyone with the humility to do the self-work of finding and centering the light.
My dearest hope for the left is that we find a way out of these grim fantasies of fauxcialisms of consumption and entitlement, and back to centering of liberation as an ever-evolving vision of a world where work exists as a means of manifesting hope, creativity, joy, and meaning.
We can learn a lot from socialists about what a baseline for that vision might look like.
We can learn a lot from anarchists about imagining liberatory joy & freedom.
We can learn a lot from progressive pragmatists about the work of practicing harm reduction around capitalism.
We can learn a lot from anarchists about imagining liberatory joy & freedom.
We can learn a lot from progressive pragmatists about the work of practicing harm reduction around capitalism.
You know the story of the blindfolded men arguing over the elephant?
One grabs the trunk and says, it's thin and flexible.
Another grabs the end of the tail and says, no, it's hairy.
The third grasps a leg and says, no, it's a tree trunk.
One grabs the trunk and says, it's thin and flexible.
Another grabs the end of the tail and says, no, it's hairy.
The third grasps a leg and says, no, it's a tree trunk.
The lessons each orientation centers each focus on one part of the elephant-sized project of liberation.
When we're in dialogue and community with each other, our understanding of the project becomes richer and deeper.
When we're in dialogue and community with each other, our understanding of the project becomes richer and deeper.
That's a process, too.
It's work that we will always be doing.
It's how we get to know the living creature that is liberation as we do the work of undoing the bondage meant to immobilize it.
It's work that we will always be doing.
It's how we get to know the living creature that is liberation as we do the work of undoing the bondage meant to immobilize it.
This is the project of liberation-centered chain-breaking.
It's where the people committed to the work find each other.
It is where liberatory community finds itself.
It involves tears and laughter and it is exhausting and beautiful and necessary.
It's where the people committed to the work find each other.
It is where liberatory community finds itself.
It involves tears and laughter and it is exhausting and beautiful and necessary.
When I look at the leftist space I'm in and imagine a liberated future, that's what it looks like.
There is still work and there are still tears, because without them life loses its meaning & its luster.
But also, there is love & light & growth & piles & piles of broken chains.
There is still work and there are still tears, because without them life loses its meaning & its luster.
But also, there is love & light & growth & piles & piles of broken chains.
That's the vision.
Because, liberation takes a lot of work, many forms.
It is an elephant made up of many parts.
But love, joy, growth, laughter, and most of all, hope?
Those are the glimmers so bright they pierce the blindfold.
They are the guiding lights of liberation.
Because, liberation takes a lot of work, many forms.
It is an elephant made up of many parts.
But love, joy, growth, laughter, and most of all, hope?
Those are the glimmers so bright they pierce the blindfold.
They are the guiding lights of liberation.
The more chains we shatter, the brighter they shine for us.
The work of liberation is hard, but those shimmers make it not just bearable but joyful.
When we congregate to do that work, it warms us and dispels the iron chill of the chains still binding us.
The work of liberation is hard, but those shimmers make it not just bearable but joyful.
When we congregate to do that work, it warms us and dispels the iron chill of the chains still binding us.
If we can find our way together towards that light, these rusting chains don't stand a chance.
That is the way out.
That is the way through.
That is the process of liberation, and also its ultimate fuel.
That is the work, and that work that is joyful and meaningful and good.
That is the way out.
That is the way through.
That is the process of liberation, and also its ultimate fuel.
That is the work, and that work that is joyful and meaningful and good.
(The end)
