AllCatsAreBae on Nostr: One of the incredible things about 2020 was that activists, long-standing organizers ...

One of the incredible things about 2020 was that activists, long-standing organizers and other "leaders", were, as is always the case in real revolutionary upheaval, trailing behind the uprising.

But there was also a distinct lack of imagination or capacity from those folks to pivot or make use of the rupture as it opened. I firmly believe we are headed toward another massive street level rupture, only because if we aren't we're in really deep fucking trouble so, while Im building mutual aid and planning as though we're not gonna hit the streets, I'm also trying to orient myself and my people strategically around taking advantage of another uprising, should it occur.

All of which is to say, I think that folks who have been in the struggle for a while need to get talking about how to move within the coming storms, because as we know these windows of possibility don't stay open very long.

It seems there are two major categories of activity we can imagine and plan for: one is things we can only do if there is a large crowd, the second are big things we can use the disruption of everyday repression to accomplish

For the former, we would try to imagine what could be done outside DC that could do real damage to the regime. I think targeting Teslas is a good example of this kind of thinking. If we had big crowds though, could we empty a jail? Shut down an immigration detention center? Historically taking out a jail, prison or dungeon has been one way to fundamentally destabilize a regime. To do so we'd have to have people beyond just organizers thinking about those places and their presence in our cities: I think one thing organizers could be doing therefore is drawing attention to them: it might be a good time for regular noise demos, for example.

Another thing big crowds could do would be take over and occupy abandoned commercial space, squatting spaces to make DIY hospitals, or housing for migrants and the unhoused. Here in Philly in 2020, a direct action and totally subrosa squatting movement that had already begun when the uprisings started was able to leverage them, via big public encampments, to take over a few dozen houses in Philly and put them into a land trust for formerly unhoused folks.

As for smaller crews, what are things that would build power? How about the locations of compounding pharmacies? Pharmacies were among the first places hit during the riots, but the focus was on sellable, illegal or expensive drugs. But if they were able to compound, they could have taken huge amounts of esters, chemical components that make up medicines, and create the basis for free pharmacies. How about solar panels, water filtration systems, other goods that increase autonomy and sustainability and survival? Or maybe there are particular enemies, fascists or bosses, who would be vulnerable in a moment like that?

Don't answer any of these questions online, lol, but I think they are questions we should be asking in our collectivss