“Settle your quarrels, come together, understand the reality of our situation, understand that fascism is already here, that people are already dying who could be saved, that generations more will live poor butchered half-lives if you fail to act. Do what must be done, discover your humanity and your love in revolution.”
George Jackson
Mahmoud Khalil, Yunseo Chung, Rumeysa Ozturk, Kilmer Abrego Garcia. The list grows exponentially as the days go by. People kidnapped by plain clothes forces of the state, disappeared, deported — hundreds, maybe thousands more, whose names and stories we may never know.
What we do know is that no one deserves to be in those prisons in El Salvador, no one deserves to be deported. We want a world that is one way, but it is very quickly moving in the opposite direction. We must get organized to face the challenge of the world as it exists. We aren’t going to be safe by being quiet. Safety isn’t an option, if it ever was.
No one is coming to save us. Democrats and non-profits aren’t going to save us. Only working-class and oppressed people getting organized and shutting shit down, fighting for our collective defense, can stop the march of fascism.
At the height of winter, infrastructure collapse caused flooding in Southwest Detroit. In the Latinx heart of Detroit, 150+ homes were affected by the flood waters that immediately froze, while ICE continued to attack and kidnap our friends and neighbors. Folks were stuck in their homes in the freezing cold without running water or electricity. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and Council paraded around the barrio for press opportunities, claiming, “recovery and restoration” — what about the pools of water in the basements? The ruined cars and personal belongings?
The Asemble Popular/People’s Assembly mobilized immediately to address basic community needs — organizing food and hygiene supply distro and safe transportation to and from hotels — while maintaining the Migra Watch patrols to disrupt border patrol/ICE attempts to kidnap our neighbors and family members.
In every situation, the people have organized to respond to crises and meet the emergency needs of the people. The state isn’t coming to help us. They are doing the opposite. This continues to be clearer every day. The waves of extreme weather and fires that have intensified as the climate catastrophe deepens have exposed the true disrespect and disdain for everyday people by the rich and their politicians.
We must get organized — whether that be an affinity group, labor union, tenant organization, community defense block club, leftist organization — don’t give in to isolation and hiding. Safety isn’t an option for many already, and it won’t be for long for the rest of us. Don’t give in to fear-mongering. We need to speak out and protest in the streets as much as possible, but fascism won’t be defeated by permitted marches, fundraising rallies, clever signs and social media posts. We cannot get dragged back into the comforting illusions that liberalism has neutralized many of us with for decades.
The speed with which the expansion of authoritarianism and climate catastrophe is hurtling toward us requires a more substantial resistance movement. We need to study past and current movements that have resisted and defeated fascism and colonialism. We need to proliferate strikes, occupations of city streets and highways, housing takeovers and survival programs to make sure everyone has the food they need as the crisis deepens. We need community and neighborhood defense that can mobilize and stop attacks by ICE, police, and MAGA fascists.
Ultimately, we will need a revolutionary movement to destroy capitalism — liberalism is the road that got us here.
“They want you to be silent, to self-censor, to do less. You will not recover whatever ground you concede. The moment calls for caution, not hysteria; courage, not cowardice. If the objective is fear, be unafraid, dissent.”
Mohammed El-Kurd, Palestinian writer and poet
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