💾 Archived View for library.inu.red › file › crimethinc-eight-simple-steps-towards-revolution.gmi captured on 2023-01-29 at 08:29:09. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
➡️ Next capture (2024-06-20)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Title: Eight Simple Steps towards Revolution Author: CrimethInc. Date: February 9, 2012 Language: en Topics: revolution, how to, Occupy Source: Retrieved on 29th November 2020 from https://crimethinc.com/2012/02/09/eight-simple-steps-towards-revolution
People in North America are already under a spell: the spell of private
property, of the legitimacy of government, of hopelessness. None of
these are inherently real; they derive their reality from our collective
belief and activity. You have to be hypnotized indeed to believe that
property is more sacred than the needs of human beings—that the
decisions of the government are more legitimate than your own judgment.
To break this spell, cast another. When a few people invest themselves
entirely in another vision of reality, they open up space for others to
invest in it as well. It doesn’t have to be realistic at first—it just
has to spread until it creates the conditions of its possibility. The
original call to occupy Wall Street on September 17 was an example of
such a spell. What could take us further?
Facebook and Twitter notwithstanding, we’re more isolated today than
ever. There is a fundamental difference between merely circulating
information and making connections that enable people to act together.
In an era when social networks are effectively mapped and contained,
it’s subversive to make these connections beyond your usual social
milieu; some of your friends may not have much fight in them after all,
while others with goals complementary to yours might be very different
from you. You can’t expect other people to leave their comfort zones
unless you’re prepared to leave your own.
Preparing a revolution isn’t a matter of a radical minority building up
the skills and resources to change the world; when enough of us get
together, we have access to the knowledge and resources of our whole
society. It’s not our job to orchestrate every aspect of the struggle,
nor could we; we just have to create conduits through which subversive
practices and momentum can flow. Preparation could go on endlessly, as
the world goes on changing—circulation is what counts.
Until there’s something new happening, something that interrupts the
status quo, there’s no reason for anyone to pay attention. It’s not
enough to try to start a dialogue in a vacuum; for people to take the
dialogue seriously, there has to be something to talk about. Don’t just
chant that another world is possible; manifest it, so everyone who might
believe in it can. Don’t just talk about abolishing capitalism; pick a
pressure point, have a go at it, and see who joins in.
Nowadays most of us don’t know our own strength. We’re not used to
relying on our own capabilities; we assume we can always be defeated.
Most of the strength of those who hold power is founded on this
defeatism. But a little courage can be infectious, and once people get
used to wielding power together they won’t quickly give it up.
Over and over, our occupations and movements are undermined one
compromise at a time. Whenever we concede anything, we set a precedent
that will be repeated again and again, emboldening those for whom it is
more convenient for us to remain passive. If police don’t arrest us when
we stand up for ourselves, it isn’t because they support us, or because
we’re within our legal rights—it’s because we’ve mobilized enough social
power to make them back down. Timidity, placation, and obedience only
detract from this leverage.
Demands oriented towards those in power direct the focus away from what
we can do ourselves; joint action, on the other hand, empowers us and
creates a space where we can weave our differences into collective
strength. To put this in the language of the Occupy movement, why
address demands to the 1% at the top of the capitalist pyramid, who will
never share our priorities? Why not instead address proposals to the
rest of the 99%, whose combined power could render the authority of the
1% meaningless?
We’ve been taught by a thousand classes, newspapers, and job interviews
to present everything in the language and logic of our superiors. We
must finally learn to speak each other’s languages, to make proposals
that are relevant to our own needs rather than “realistic” in the
framework of our rulers. This means dispensing with every conception of
legitimacy we inherited from the prevailing order—not just the authority
of the politicians and the courts, but also academic prestige and
middle-class “common sense” and activist credentials—in favor of value
systems that legitimize our voices and our resistance on our own terms.
Often, to accomplish small concrete objectives, we have to set our sites
much higher. Conversely, it sometimes happens that we accomplish what we
set out to easily enough, but have no idea what to do with the new
opportunities that open up next. Every time we act, let’s act in a way
that points towards the world we want and equips us to go on moving
towards it. The most important thing is not whether we achieve our
immediate goals, but how each engagement positions us for the next
round.
Think big and you just might get your wish