This is my first time reading (listening to) this classic and BOY HOWDY does it offer some gems. This is all within like a 5 page spread...

On the production of passivity in oppressed groups as a barrier to revolution:

[In the banking model of education] The teacher's task is to organize a process which already occurs spontaneously, to "fill" the students by making deposits of information which he or she considers to constitute true knowledge. And since people "receive" the world as passive entities, education should make them more passive still, and adapt them to the world. The educated individual is the adapted person, because she or he is better "fit" for the world. Translated into practice, this concept is well suited to the purposes of the oppressors, whose tranquility rests on how well people fit the world the oppressors have created, and how little they question it.

On the support of dominating leaders (*cough* Trump) by oppressed classes:

But the inability to act which causes people's anguish also causes them to reject their impotence, by attempting to restore their capacity to act. But can they, and how? One way is to submit to and identify with a person or group having power. By this symbolic participation in another person's life, men have the illusion of acting, when in reality they only submit to and become a part of those who act. Populist manifestations perhaps best exemplify this type of behavior by the oppressed, who, by identifying with charismatic leaders, come to feel that they themselves are active and effective. The rebellion they express as they emerge in the historical process is motivated by that desire to act effectively. The dominant elites consider the remedy to be more domination and repression, carried out in the name of freedom, order, and social peace (that is, the peace of the elites). Thus they can condemn—logically, from their point of view—the violence of a strike by workers, and can call upon the state in the same breath to use violence in putting down the strike.

On the need to engage authentically and horizontally in our movements rather than engage in top-down political education or sloganeering:

After all the rage, all the fire, all the calling out, all the anger directed outward at Trump, at Congress, at mayors, at courts, at Russia, at China, at empires sleepwalking through violence, there’s a quieter question that eventually refuses to shut the fuck up. It’s the question that creeps in when the posts are written, when the adrenaline fades, when the screen goes dark. What the fuck am I…

Every three minutes, India loses a life to suicide. Behind this staggering statistic lies a heartbreaking reality – a child, a parent, a friend who felt unheard, unseen, and unsupported in their darkest moment. With 468 lives lost every day and 1.71 lakh lives gone annually, India has tragically earned the title of the world's suicide capital. Yet within this crisis lies an opportunity for transformative change through a groundbreaking petition that could reshape the future of mental health in India.

To join this life-saving movement and add your signature to mandate mental health education in schools, click here. This isn't just another petition – it's a clarion call for systemic change that could prevent countless tragedies and build a more emotionally intelligent nation.

The Silent Pandemic Destroying Lives

India faces what can only be described as a silent pandemic. While physical health emergencies receive immediate attention and resources, mental health issues continue to ravage lives, families, and futures in the shadows of stigma and neglect. The numbers paint a devastating picture: of the 150 million Indians needing mental health care, only 30 million receive it. The remaining 120 million fight their battles alone, in silence, often with tragic consequences.

This petition, backed by Middlemen.asia and WeDidIt Foundation, represents a revolutionary approach to addressing this crisis at its roots. Rather than merely treating the symptoms after they become severe, the movement advocates for mandatory mental health education from the first standard in all Indian schools. The logic is both simple and profound – early intervention is key to preventing mental health crises before they escalate into life-threatening situations.

The World Health Organization has recognized India's age-adjusted suicide rate as the highest globally at 21.1 per 100,000 population. These aren't just statistics; each number represents a family torn apart, dreams unfulfilled, and potential lost forever. The economic impact is equally staggering, with mental health issues projected to cost the Indian economy USD 1.03 trillion by 2030 due to lost productivity.

The petition seeks to gather one million signatures before filing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court of India, making this one of the most ambitious grassroots movements for mental health reform in the country's history.

The Science Behind Early Intervention

The petition's focus on early childhood education is grounded in neuroscience and developmental psychology. A child's brain begins synaptic pruning at an early age, a critical phase where foundational life skills can be nurtured and developed. This neuroplasticity means that children are particularly receptive to learning emotional regulation, empathy, and coping mechanisms that will serve them throughout their lives.

Imagine an India where children grow up understanding their emotions and building resilience from their earliest school years. Picture families no longer suffering under the shadow of untreated mental illness, and a society where future crimes are prevented because mental health issues are addressed early. This isn't wishful thinking – it's the logical outcome of systematic mental health education.

Research consistently shows that untreated mental illnesses are linked to 95% of crimes. By addressing mental health in childhood, India could simultaneously reduce crime rates while setting a global precedent for building a safer, happier nation. 

A Comprehensive Approach to Systemic Change

What makes this movement particularly powerful is its comprehensive approach to creating lasting change. The organizers haven't just created a petition; they've built an entire ecosystem of resources and support. Two specifically authored books support this cause: "Public Interest Litigation: Power, Purpose, and People's Rights" and "Misunderstood: A Guide to Mental Health."

The movement's backing by established organizations like Middlemen.asia and WeDidIt Foundation lends credibility and resources to the campaign. These organizations have proven track records in advocacy, legal aid, and systemic reforms, bringing professional expertise to complement grassroots enthusiasm.

The Economic Imperative for Change

Beyond the moral imperative to save lives, there's a compelling economic argument for mandatory mental health education. The National Mental Health Survey reveals that 80% of those needing mental health care remain untreated, battling in silence. This treatment gap represents not just human suffering but enormous economic losses.

Mental health issues don't just affect individuals; they impact entire families, communities, and the broader economy through reduced productivity, increased healthcare costs, and lost human potential. The projected trillion-dollar cost to India's economy by 2030 makes mental health education not just a compassionate choice but an economically sound investment in the nation's future.

Countries that have implemented comprehensive mental health education programs have seen significant returns on investment through reduced healthcare costs, improved productivity, and decreased social problems.

The Power of Collective Action

The petition's goal of gathering one million signatures before filing the PIL represents more than just a legal strategy – it's a powerful demonstration of democratic participation in social change. Each signature represents not just support for the cause but a personal commitment to breaking the silence around mental health.

Your signature isn't just ink on digital paper; it's a powerful declaration of solidarity with the millions of Indians struggling with mental health challenges.

The three-pronged approach of this movement is particularly strategic. First, it aims to strengthen the PIL by showing overwhelming public support, compelling the Supreme Court to act with urgency. Second, it raises awareness about mental health, breaking stigma and inspiring systemic change through public discourse. Third, it drives a larger movement that unites educators, advocates, and citizens to create a nation where mental health is prioritized for all.

Global Context and Local Impact

While this petition focuses specifically on India, it addresses a global challenge. Mental health crises affect young people worldwide, and India's approach could serve as a model for other nations grappling with similar issues. The World Health Organization has repeatedly emphasized the importance of mental health education and early intervention strategies. 

The petition's approach aligns with international best practices while addressing uniquely Indian challenges. The stigma surrounding mental health in Indian society, combined with limited access to professional mental health services, makes school-based education particularly crucial. By integrating mental health education into the formal curriculum, India could leapfrog traditional barriers and create a generation that views mental health as naturally as physical health.

What Success Would Look Like

The petition outlines clear, achievable goals that would transform India's approach to mental health. First, mandatory mental health education would equip every child with emotional intelligence and coping mechanisms from their earliest school years. This foundational knowledge would provide tools for navigating life's inevitable challenges and recognizing when professional help is needed.

Second, early intervention would address mental health issues before they escalate into crises. Rather than waiting for problems to become severe enough to require intensive treatment, this proactive approach would catch issues early when they're most treatable and before they significantly impact a person's life trajectory.

Third, the long-term goal is preventing future crises by reducing suicide rates, alleviating family suffering, and mitigating the enormous financial toll of untreated mental illness on individuals and society. 

The Role of Multiple Stakeholders

The petition strategically targets multiple government ministries, recognizing that mental health education intersects with various policy areas. The Ministry of Education, with its annual budget of ₹120,628 crore, would be central to implementing curriculum changes. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, with its ₹90,658 crore budget, would provide medical expertise and oversight.

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and the Ministry of Women and Child Development would contribute their expertise in social welfare and child protection. This multi-ministerial approach reflects the complex, intersectional nature of mental health issues and the need for coordinated government response.

The petition makes a compelling case that relatively modest investments in mental health education could yield enormous returns in terms of reduced healthcare costs, improved educational outcomes, and decreased social problems.

Taking Action Beyond Signatures

While signing the petition is the crucial first step, the movement encourages broader engagement. Sharing the petition widely amplifies its reach, potentially bringing it to the attention of individuals who might never otherwise encounter information about mental health advocacy. Social media sharing, word-of-mouth recommendations, and community discussions all contribute to building the momentum necessary for systemic change.

The movement also encourages people to engage with the educational resources – the books and materials that provide deeper understanding of both the legal mechanisms for change and the mental health issues themselves.

A Historic Opportunity for Transformation

This petition represents a historic opportunity to make mental health education a reality in India, ensuring that no child is left behind, no family is torn apart, and no life is lost to silence. It's not just about changing laws; it's about saving lives, healing families, and building a better future for India.

The movement positions India as a potential global leader in mental health advocacy, setting an example for other nations struggling with similar challenges. In a world where mental health issues among young people are increasing globally, India's comprehensive approach could serve as a model for evidence-based, systematic intervention.

The petition's creators understand that they're not just advocating for policy change – they're working to shift cultural attitudes, reduce stigma, and create a society where mental health is treated with the same seriousness and compassion as physical health. This cultural transformation, supported by systematic education, could prevent countless tragedies while creating a more emotionally intelligent, resilient society.

Every signature brings this vision closer to reality, turning what might seem like an impossible dream into an achievable goal through the power of collective action and democratic participation.

The Fitness of Resistance

Over the first half of 2025, the situation has worsened significantly. We’ve seen the capture of government by the most radical and fascistic elements of our political class. We’ve seen a tremendous erosion of civil liberties, and rights and resources for marginalized groups. We’ve watched as masked men abduct and deport our neighbors and loved ones for the crime of not being white.

And yet we’ve done next to nothing. For the vast majority of those on this continent, business continues as usual. Everyone who is paying even the slightest attention knows that the situation is dire. In reality we are stepping forward into a fascism more ugly and naked in its bloodthirsty intent than we’ve seen in many years. It is distressing, then, that there is a seeming collective paralysis among the so-called progressives and radicals, from liberal social democratic types all the way up to the socialists, communists, and even the anarchists. There has never been a more pressing time for direct action against the state and capital, and still we remain impotent, constantly on the back foot, and dangerously uncoordinated. We still debate the ethics of property damage, looting and rioting, we still think within the bounds of permits, compliance, and constraints.

Every single one of us has a little cop in our head. He’s been cultivated by years of reinforcement from the day you’ve been born, by every teacher, parent, cop and politician keeping you within the bounds of acceptability. you learn to follow the rules at the cost of personal and social fulfillment, bodily autonomy, and even life and limb. the system is a force of nature, it need not be considered or justified, merely obeyed. a culture of fear and obedience becomes the norm, allowing us to then shirk our collective responsibility to each other to resist.

This deference to authority is pervasive throughout society, and restrains us from liberating ourselves. it kneecaps our potential revolutionary movements, it constrains our imaginations, and it breeds despair and disengagement.

What, then, is the solution to this predicament?

This is where the concept of Anarchist Calisthenics, first coined by James C Scott in his book Two Cheers For Anarchism, becomes relevant.

Resistance is a lot like a muscle. It needs to frequently be exercised in order to build its strength and capacity. It can atrophy with disuse, and, like any fitness routine, it requires time and consistency to work your way up. Anarchist calisthenics then, is the practice of small everyday rule breaking, in order to build resilience and ability for larger acts of resistance.

It is popular to think of a revolution as one discrete event with great clashes and heroic acts of bravery. This ignores the fact that revolutionary transformation takes place first socially, as a culture of resistance becomes pervasive enough to foment wide spread insurrection. Revolution is not only in the big moments of rupture, but in the small cumulative individual acts of resistance that take place every day, and in the spread of this every day insurrectionary culture among our communities.

Revolution is to confer upon yourself the autonomy to judge for yourself whether a rule is justified, whether to abide by or to break it, and if so, how.

We can practice our small daily resistance in many different ways. Wander off the official path, hop over fences, and cross the road wherever suits you. Scrawl your tag where people will see it. Steal those supplies from your work and share them freely. Evade the fare, sneak in through the exit. Ask questions they discourage you from asking, and speak up against small injustices when you might have otherwise remained silent. Confront that creepy guy and make him leave. Steal that american flag and light it on fire. Take a five finger discount at the corporation’s expense. Do whatever you can get away with. In these small acts of resistance, you teach yourself how to be free, how to act in courage, despite being in fear, and you come one step closer to manifesting liberation here and now. Anarchy is not just our goal and our method of liberation, but it is also a life to be lived, and a mode of existence. do your anarchist calisthenics, train the militant inside your soul.

This is a call to confront your fear. Each act will make the next one easier. Each risk will make the next risk easier to confront. You will find your inner flame and fan it into a roaring fire.

“One day you will be called on to break a big law

in the name of justice and rationality. Everything will depend

on it. You have to be ready. How are you going to prepare for

that day when it really matters ? You have to stay ‘in shape’ so

that when the big day comes you will be ready. What you need

is ‘anarchist calisthenics.’ Every day or so break some trivial

law that makes no sense, even if it’s only jaywalking. Use your

own head to judge whether a law is just or reasonable. That

way, you’ll keep trim; and when the big day comes, you’ll be

ready.”

This moment with Squad 451 is such a great example of what allyship/co-conspiratorship looks like in a diverse movement. Because you see Messala say something silly that reveals the privilege he has compared to his District companions who lived in abject poverty, but he catches himself. And importantly, he doesn't need the District folks to explain his privilege to him. He realizes it, shuts his trap, doesn't get defensive, and hopefully learns something.

the “keep going” moment is trickier than the “get started” moment. We are even more tired than we were a few months ago. Now that we have other people’s actions to analyze, it’s easy to be seduced into the religion of reaction and pontification. The calculus hasn’t changed, though. If we are to survive this moment, we still have to focus on the same three tasks that revealed themselves in January:

Make life harder for this administration: protest, raise ruckuses, gum up the works, in a million different ways.

Keep our arms open and focused on outreach— we still don’t have the sustained numbers we need, and we should be grateful for all who choose to join us. 

[Image ID: A Threads post from everydayactivist.co. stating "We don't need a handful of perfect activists. We need millions of people doing what they can, where they can, with what they have." [/end ID]

I'm on a 20+ city book tour for my new novel PICKS AND SHOVELS. Catch me in CHICAGO with PETER SAGAL on Apr 2, and in BLOOMINGTON on Apr 4. More tour dates here.

It's hard to imagine today, but Barack Obama ran as a populist outsider, buoyed into office by a grassroots organizing campaign that used an incredibly innovative online organizing tool called MyBarackObama.com, which directly connected rank-and-file supporters so they could self-organize, creating an unstoppable force.

But as far as Obama was concerned, MyBarackObama.com was a campaigning tool, not a governing tool. The last thing Obama wanted was a clamorous electorate jostling his elbow while he made the grand bargains that defined his presidency: secret drone killings, immunity for telcos that profited from in illegal NSA spying, impunity for CIA torturers, bailing out bankers, complicity in the foreclosure epidemic, and, of course, unlimited free money for health insurance companies through the ACA.

Obama ran like a populist, but governed like Chuck Schumer. Meanwhile, the GOP of his day was dominated by its own "grassroots" groups, the Tea Party movement that was funded and organized by the Kochs but who quickly slipped the leash and became an ungovernable force that conquered the party. It turns out that the kind of people who get really involved in party activism are, well, passionate (a less charitable term might be cranks – and I say this as a certified, grade-A crank). They really believe in the principles that bring them into party activism, and the only people they hate more than the other party are their own sellout leaders (oh, hi, Senator Fetterman!).

For a leader whose theory of governance involves a lot of back-room favor-trading and Extremely Grown Up compromising, an activated, organized base represents a powerful obstacle. Obama's seeming genius was his ability to awaken a grassroots campaigning force that he could then hit pause on once he attained office, then re-activate on demand (Obama "revived" MyBarackObama.com for his second presidential campaign):

https://www.computerworld.com/article/1532634/barack-obama-s-big-data-won-the-us-election-2.html

But ultimately, I think we have to conclude that Obama's strategy was a losing one. By putting his own organization into an induced coma between elections, Obama lost an important source of discipline and feedback that would have told him when his compromises overstepped the tolerance of the electorate – and the fact that Obama didn't have an organized base meant that his Democratic Party rivals and his Republican opponents could force him into bad compromises, as with the ACA.