Ancestors

Toot

Written by Christine Johnson on 2025-01-14 at 22:33

Adding some thoughts and resources for the present moment in the U.S.:

1. Despair and cynicism are not useful. The easiest way to lose a battle is to give up/declare it's not worth fighting before it starts. Despair and cynicism are understandable, but not useful.

2. Listen to the folks from marginalized communities (esp POC) - they have been working against oppressive state power and hostile popular power for a very, very long time.

3. Be prepared for small-scale interventions that can help individuals and throw sand in the gears. Consider taking online Bystander Training from Right to Be, for example:

https://righttobe.org/upcoming-free-trainings

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Descendants

Written by Christine Johnson on 2025-01-14 at 22:49

4. Showing up makes a difference - at protests, local council meetings, town halls. Authoritarianism rests on isolation. Show up for community. Attend that exhibit for Black History Month. Go to a klezmer concert. Take a class about the Holocaust or women's studies. Patronize your local public library. Volunteer to teach literacy or English as a second language.

5. Humanity is beautiful and complex. Resist easy stereotypes and dig deeper. Whether it's reading books, watching documentaries, listening to folks in your neighborhood, learning keeps you curious, open, and more able to spot misinformation and manipulation.

6. One way humanity is complex is that people and governments really can do terrible things. Power, fear, and envy are all effective motivators, and humans are adept at building and maintaining systems that rationalize those motivations. Racism, misogyny, transphobia, antisemitism, and the rest (and their intersectional forms) are real. Complacency is dangerous.

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Written by Christine Johnson on 2025-01-14 at 23:07

In my Intro to Modern Europe class this semester, I'm stressing that crises become opportunities to implement already developed solutions (this is not a new thought, but it is particularly well illustrated in European history).

So the time to figure out what comes next is now. Politics and business as usual haven't worked, so how can we imagine a different world? There are lots of ideas out there, and new questions are being asked every day.

As an academic, I'm most familiar with such opportunities in university settings (one of the reasons those profiting most from the current system want to discredit and defund higher education), and I'll pass along information about events and discussions that might be of interest to broader audiences.

For example; https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_yon5fCqNSj-PfOobx0xpmw#/registration

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Written by Henrik Schönemann on 2025-01-14 at 23:13

@christinkallama "Despair and cynicism are understandable, but not useful."

💯 ✊

See also: https://fedihum.org/@lavaeolus/113828702610941882

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