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Things got a lot better for me when I learned that almost everything I thought was shit about the world was because of one thing (capitalism), and that there are in fact many other options to choose from
For the first almost 20 years of my life all I heard was that everything was shit, that "humans" were the problem, & for a while I believed it. Even in my undergrad in Environmental Studies, we learned over & over again that capitalism was shit, but never what could replace it.
It's such a state of existential depression knowing the root of almost all our problems are systems that can be named: capitalism, colonialism, white supremacy, etc., but never being taught all the beautiful alternatives brilliant people have conceived of over 100s of years.
The most important leap I ever made as a person and as an organizer was learning that there are whole ass ideologies like Indigenous anarchism and anti-colonial communism, and there are whole ass communities already working to make those things happen.
Until I found those communities, I had so much anger at the systems oppressing me and others, and nowhere to direct it. Until I joined other folks who not only recognized the sources of our oppression, but are determined to fight for tangibly better circumstances, I was lost.
In school I learned all about capitalism, colonialism, white supremacy, imperialism, systematic environmental destruction, the prison industrial complex. But not once was I effectively taught about alternative ideologies or tangible ways people have been organizing to change them
My mental health was destroyed in my undergrad. Every lecture was a dismal view of the world on repeat, a constant barrage of hopelessness day after day, a thorough understanding of how fucked things are but never how to make non-superficial change.
4ish years ago, everything changed for me. I got involved with labour organizing and subsequently direct action. I met people who were anarchists and communists, people visualizing a radically better system, and people who were in the streets changing lives.
Before then I knew every fucking in and out of why things were so shit with journal articles to back it up, but I had no idea what to do. I was literally told on repeat that nothing I could do really mattered. When I met other organizers, everything changed for me.
I now had a channel for this anger, this burning need for justice for marginalized peoples and for the earth. And that anger is still there and it's what drives me, but love drives me now too. It sounds cheesy, but its actually true, and it's really important.
I still have immense anger at these systems and their perpetrators, but I also have love for my fellow marginalized people, my fellow organizers, a motivation to radically care for all these people and communities, and actual directions to channel all of my enormous energy.
It's important to face down nazis in the street, but its also important to gather funds for groceries for families in your community, or to make sure folks have safe housing, or to show out for folks who need help without calling the c*ps, or make soup for a comrade in distress.
Each and every one of those things is a radical act of love, and that's something every single person can decide to do that makes a real fucking difference. And when all of us get together and fight against the systems creating those conditions, things really do fucking change.
Capitalism teaches us its "dog eat dog", "survival of the fittest", individualistic bullshit. Thats a way it protects its self. Radical community care, love, and support, under whatever anti-colonial anti-capitalist label, is always a direct challenge to capitalism.
Anyways, to make a long thread short: the systems in place right now are shit, but things haven't always been shit. Millions of people are working against them right this very moment, & every single person has a role to play in the liberation of us, our relatives, and the earth.
