Let This Radicalize You

p. 23: “If spitting horrifying facts at people changed minds and built movements, we would have overthrown the capitalist system long ago, because the facts have always been on our side. TO move past the expectation that facts alone will transform people's politics, we have to sit with our discomfort that oftentimes people know. When it comes to many of the issues around which we're organizing, most people are aware of the problem, even if they are not acquainted with all the horrid particulars. In fact, some might be quite familiar with the problem and still choose not to act.”

look into: The Psychology of Pandemics (Taylor)

p. 28: “Leveraging fear gets great results for people who want to bring out the worst in others, but it garners lesser returns for those who want to bring out the best.”

p. 31: “Powerful actors must keep us convinced that it's the people around us — everyday folks whose struggles overlap with our own — who pose the greatest threat to our safety, well-being, and happiness. It is the grandest illusion ever created: in a world where corporations and governments are poised to annihilate most life on Earth, we are made to believe that other disempowered people are the greatest danger we face.”

pp. 31–32: “The idea that disasters autogenerate panicked, aimlessly violent hordes of people who must be controlled with an iron fist is an authoritarian fever dream. While the powerful would have us believe that frightened people are always selfish and hypervigilant, cooperation and collaborative care are common human responses to disaster.”

• see also Behind the Bastards - "Elite Panic"

p. 32: “The state sees communal care as an ideological threat. This is why mutual aid movements are routinely targeted and undermined by the US government.”

p. 52: “Our goal should be interdependence: to be part of a community where rescue is viewed not as exceptional but as something that we owe each other.”

look into: The Next Apocalypse: The Art and Science of Survival“ (Begley) ==== Care Is Fundamental ==== * p. 59: “The state has the capacity to help us all survive — and even thrive — but in its current form, it is actively opposed to doing so. We must have the will to survive in collectivity, as people who are willing to seize, defy, and upend whatever they must for the sake of life, dignity, and decency — and for the sake of each other.” ===== Thoughts ===== Prior to its selection for the book club, I had seen this book advertised in the pages of In These Times. I must confess that I had a hard time getting myself to read this book. I knew it was a book I would want to read, a book I needed to read. I am ashamed to admit that despite no personal involvement in any activism or organizing, I am exhausted. I want to believe that a better future is in our grasp, but that belief is so, so hard to hold onto. In her introduction, Kaba openly acknowledges that we are unlikely to ever see that better future, and as much as I despise the adherents of “fuck you, got mine”, it's hard to convince myself that an active struggle is worth it. I want to be someone who, if I must go down, will do so fighting tooth and nail, but some days waking up in the morning is hard enough. Again, I have been in no way active in any efforts for change. The sum total of my involvement in any activism was a July 2020 march in Jackson, whereas Hayes and Kaba have been organizing for decades. Their exhaustion is earned; what right do I have? Certainly that was part of my difficulty in getting myself to open this book. Figuring out how to connect with activist communities is a daunting task on its own — it's a not-insignificant part of what drew me to the book club in the first place. Then there's the matter of contributing: with so few social wins in my own life, what could I possible have to add to a movement? Yes, I have skills, but I fail to see how they could be helpful in serving the local area.

politics, organizing, fbc