By Rebecca Solnit
They want you to feel powerless and to surrender and to let them trample everything and you are not going to let them. You are not giving up, and neither am I. The fact that we cannot save everything does not mean we cannot save anything and everything we can save is worth saving. You may need to grieve or scream or take time off, but you have a role no matter what, and right now good friends and good principles are worth gathering in. Remember what you love. Remember what loves you. Remember in this tide of hate what love is. The pain you feel is because of what you love.
The Wobblies used to say don't mourn, organize, but you can do both at once and you don't have to organize right away in this moment of furious mourning. You can be heartbroken or furious or both at once; you can scream in your car or on a cliff; you can also get up tomorrow and water the flowerpots and call someone who's upset and check your equipment for going onward. A lot of us are going to come under direct attack, and a lot of us are going to resist by building solidarity and sanctuary. Gather up your resources, the metaphysical ones that are heart and soul and care, as well as the practical ones.
People kept the faith in the dictatorships of South America in the 1970s and 1980s, in the East Bloc countries and the USSR, women are protesting right now in Iran and people there are writing poetry. There is no alternative to persevering, and that does not require you to feel good. You can keep walking whether it's sunny or raining. Take care of yourself and remember that taking care of something else is an important part of taking care of yourself, because you are interwoven with the ten trillion things in this single garment of destiny that has been stained and torn, but is still being woven and mended and washed.
Here is Rebecca Solnit election analysis in The Guardian November 7, 2024
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My notes on fighting fascists:
Keep hope alive with solidarity toward vulnerable people in the LGBTQ, women, Black and Brown sisters, Muslims are all going to be impacted by the fascists demand for fealty to the king's ring. And by King's ring I don't mean the carnival barker and convicted felon. I mean the ruling class here in America. The convicted felon and Kamala Harris are sock puppets for the 1% who rule us. And they have decided we are close enough to changing society toward Martin Luther King Jr's dream, toward a greener more just world, that they have taken the gloves off.
We can also take comfort in the fact that over 60,000,000 sisters and brothers voted with us across America the beautiful. And they did so despite the stupid Harris campaign move to the right trying to get Republican women to vote D. White women voted 52% for the serial rapist. And remember this fact: In 2020, 80,000,000 Americans who could vote did not. That a giant vote of No Confidence right there if you ask me, because it looks like about the same number didn't vote again.
(I'm not kidding myself into thinking that all the people who didn't vote are closet socialists or even liberal democrats. But are they right to feel like protesting their vote doesn't matter? Oh yes. )
So we see the wound clearly enough. I'm gut punched by the surprise and the way the white wingers have pulled working class people of color and women who they hate into their coalition.
So Solnit rings true today. But also so does sitting in silence and mutual aid beginning with yourself. I have followed this sister Tara Brach for a couple decades now, and I hope you take some time here to listen to her talk about a revolutionary approach to dealing with life's difficulties.
The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind, and it is mutual aid and kindness, even toward our fellow plants and animals, friends, family, people we don't know passing on the street, even our perceived enemies. The politics of capitalism will always lead you back to the false divisions between working people. We desperately need a new stewardship society that is tuned to restoring right relationships with our kindred plant and animal cousins, as well as a floor minimum income, housing, universal healthcare, and free education for everyone. And we need to tax billionaires until they are millionaires.
This parasitic aristocracy does nothing all day but move money around they stole from us in the working class who pay for their wars, pay our taxes, and contribute everything to the love economy that is mostly women raising our babies, taking care of families, grandparents, our stranded elders in nursing homes.
How much money has been stolen from the bottom 90%? Over 50 trillion dollars. Don't take it from me. Read Time Magazine and a billionaire named Nick Hanauer who has been pushing to tax wealth for years now.
Remember that training your mind in generosity toward others lets you receive abundance. Give someone less fortunate a gift today and see for yourself.
In the meantime, please watch Tara Brach walk through heart centered training and share with your friends and loved ones.
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