#stopwars

The only thing I am thankful for today is that the Wampanoag and other indigenous American peoples survived the apocalypse and genocide and are still with us today. And I am struck by many people celebrating “Thanksgiving” as newer genocides continue across our planet. In Palestine, in South Sudan, in Tigray, in Congo, and others. If you’re not uncomfortable today, you're not listening.

Anti-colonial myth work is very important. We need to challenge our “this is just the way it is” assumptions. We need to interrogate mythologies because they are often created by colonialist, white supremacist, and capitalist ideas. These are the rotting and poisonous foundations to so much evil in the world. The people in power rely on these narratives to keep everyone else violently oppressed.

For the white people reading, you basically have 3 choices with all the harm being perpetuated in the world right now:

1. Actively support systems of oppression,

2. Remaining “neutral” (passively supporting the status quo, which is the system of oppression!) or

3. Actively oppose systems of oppression.

Whiteness is the only reason many even have a choice to be “neutral” – consider the privilege there. Neutrality is also equivalent to sticking your head in the sand. I see this happening a lot among folks who advocate for shutting off the news, disengaging, all in the name of “self-care” or remaining positive.

Part of the system of oppression is to push each individual so hard that they can’t help their community. Drain them of energy — physical, mental, and emotional — to the point that they need to disengage in order to survive. That disengagement then serves the status quo. If those individuals band together instead, forming mutually-supportive communities, they are much harder to control — and more capable of generating meaningful change.

As long as individuals are struggling to simply survive, though, we aren’t able to band together. And we aren’t able to use our rest to become strong — just to avoid dying. Are you perpetuating that cycle?

This is not to say that self-care isn’t important. But a lot of our Western ideas of “self-care” are fucked up and perpetuate systems of oppression by focusing on individual disengagement and distraction — again, reinforcing the status quo — rather than focusing on communities of support.

There is a way to do self-care that isn't fueling systems of oppression. We must try to move away from rugged individualism and the goal of productivity (or remaining “useful”) under capitalism.

Rest should be used so you can maintain the energy to keep fighting oppression. That should be our goal. And remaining neural or hiding from problems does not get us there. Also recognize that being able to rest at all is a serious privilege. But there is a fine line between revolutionary rest and toxic positivity, which fuels oppression myths.

I struggle with this myself: rest is often only for bare survival and society is actively dangerous to me (my physical safety comes from isolation, meaning no flow of community care). Rest becomes a purely physical need to not die “today.” I recognize that that is also by design, and that it is a self-perpetuating cycle. I cannot usually get beyond the first level of Maslow’s pyramid of needs.

People are celebrating a day that represents indigenous genocide. In the name of good food and family? In the name of a holiday rest and rejuvenation? With over 4500 children dead in Palestine? This day feels more appropriate as a day of mourning and reflection.

Berlin…⚠️