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As much as I have emotionally been bitter and in team “I told you so,” around fascism and rising right wing violence. I know it’s not helpful.
A lot of folks didn’t listen to what many of us said about rising danger in these times. Called us alarmist, ignored repeated calls and emails. Sometimes it was arrogance, sometimes it was lack of political education, but sometimes it was fear, trauma, and being overwhelmed.
We need more discussions on the intersection of trauma, fear, memory, and strategy. How people can disengage because they can’t hold how terrifying these times are. And how in repressive times our trauma responses can lead us away from each other, and collaborative strategy.
Even something like fight or flight responses. Folks with fight responses and flight responses can come into unnecessary conflict around strategy because of how being activated is impacting us.
But I want to emphasize that the solution is collective care combined with organizing strategy based in a thoughtful analysis of the conditions. We are safer when more of us are involved, and when our people are aligned and active.
I’m spending a lot of time thinking about how do we take care of ourselves and organize to save our lives. How do we move urgently when needed? And rest as well. How do we create movements that don’t leave people like me behind, because I have a fight response.
There are therapists and scholars who know far more on this than I do. I know what I have learned from years of organizing around violence with survivors, and from doing a decade of rapid response. We need better solutions so that the right doesn’t continue to “surprise” us.
