I find that being an anarchist and a communist can be really tough sometimes. I live in what many call the "deep south" or the "bible belt" of the United States. Down here, political organizing on the left is either non-existent or just straight up difficult and ostracizing. I mean, I'm sure that isn't exclusive to the southern USA but I think it has its own brand of difficulty here.
I'll even talk to someone I know pretty well who very obviously either leans left or liberal is really vague ways and when I describe socialist and anarchist ideas (watered down explanations) that are, theoretically, pretty in line with their general attitude and immediate they start acting like you're weird and are just humoring your conversation, not really listening. Conservatives down here are the dominant rather than recessive so they are kind of a fact of life. Countless times I've argued, and now I consider it a bit of a pass-time to argue with conservatives about libertarianism.
It gets so tiresome. You guys know the drill, probably. I turn inward and focus on my own life and just surviving. As much as I would love to start up a libertarian socialist collective and raise heck in my city its just not worth it, and by that I mean Its too difficult to find the time in between being a wage slave and dealing with the consequences therein. My wife really really worries about my use of things like libcom.org and rightfully so. In fact, so much so that if I tell her i'm wasting time on this website she gets LIVID, as well as when I have suggested to her that we start participating politically. All for very good reason. We have a ton of our own personal problems. Habits, relationship issues, trauma, the whole spectrum. When I think about it for too long I cant help but remember that drug addiction and drug culture are allowed to infect the lower class and are not dealt with properly due to capitalism and conservative/liberal policy. Dealing with being a poor person SUCKS and with mental illness run rampant, how could it not? Oh yeah, and then there's healthcare...................................................................................................................................-crickets-
If the revolution could happen tomorrow and we formed a horizontal, egalitarian, worker's "utopia" where I could finally fix my undiagnosed mental illnesses and my wife could get the medication and the therapy she needs to feel better and functional, I could deal with addiction with real help from professionals, I could have more time to be at home with my lovely, amazing wife and deal with the years of suffering we've had together.
How many of you go through these same things? How many of you so desperately need things to change in our society but are simply too beaten down? How many keep their desire for revolution completely within themselves because everything else is simply more immediately important, or because of persecution?
Comrades, I want things to change and I want to be on the front lines arm in arm with my wife and my comrades fighting for a better future...but I'm too tired for a revolution today.
Just a little tidbit.
Just a little tidbit.
I'm not active in anything
I'm not active in anything myself, but that's owing more to having nothing accessible to get involved in. A level of discretion I imagine would be wise, like don't announce to your entire workplace your politics. Other than that I don't think there are any rules to follow; your situation is unique and if you think you should hide your views from certain people then that's for you to decide. I think I get where you're coming from though. The US south is not where you want to be if you're a communist. I wouldn't pin your hopes on a coming revolution, which doesn't mean you can't still do useful forms of organizing and win concessions.
I live under a military junta
I live under a military junta but it is also a country with deeply entrenched popular support for religion and royalty, not particularly receptive to communist ideas
Activity for me means only the internet and avoiding the domestic political scene. It means keeping my head below the parapet.
off topic and im completely
off topic and im completely bullshitting and spitballing but I have to say, I have two likely visions of the future. nationalism, along with capitalism in the newly almost-fully-automated workplace, will evolve worldwide as it is doing now. The left wing, with the vast expansion of the DSA to encompass many leftist tendencies here in the USA, will grow as well but not enough to combat the situation. in America we will be crushed by the opposition, robots dressed like neckbeard redditers will take all of our jobs and there will be a state of "Fully Automated Polygonal Super-Luxury Nationalist Social Capitalism" My other vision of the future is that we (USA) just becomes a social democracy akin to Norway in like 30-40 years, then someone detonates a nuke and we screw over the rest of the world.
Quote: in America we will be
That's hilarious, but frightening.
wow. dang. cant say ive got
wow. dang. cant say ive got it that bad. I mean, I babble to some people every now and again about my political views but its just so foreign to them that they kind of just do that thing where they nod and say, "yeah I understand" then go quiet because ive wierded them out. easier to play it off like im a "weirdo" and convince them not to take me seriously.
personally, I'm just holding
personally, I'm just holding out for a new season of X-Files
Quote: How many of you keep
Only advice is to not approach and conceptualize your anarchism / communism as a belief system, 'badge to wear' or 'good word to spread'. Instead, always try to relate to working-class people from your shared class perspective and you'll find a lot more understanding.
I'm in the rural Rocky Mountains and face similar conditions. I talk with people to the right of me at work all the time, and we come to alot of shared conclusions about the administration and our rights and needs as workers. If someone were to earnestly ask me my political ID, I'd explain it to them. Thing is, getting people down with the Circle-A is the lowest priority - much more important to cultivate shared class understanding about bosses and landlords. So, in this light, being an anarchist / communist isn't really that important. However, being someone willing to talk about your class's conditions / existence is, and there are probably plenty of folks in the South who have beef with their boss, landlord or city council?
Right?
/edit
Hey, I just wanted to also add that I'm sympathetic to you and the fams situation down there and wish you the best. Don't stress about being some uber intense militant or whatever, you gotta live too. 'Revolutionary Self Sacrifice' is shitty lifestylest garbage and folks who over-preach it are probably cops :D
Ha this thread is right the
Ha this thread is right the fuck on time. I'm sorry to hear what you're going through. Up here in the north (Minnesota) things aren't necessarily easier. Sure we're in the land of liberals and radicals but the struggle is intense enough that there are plenty of political and impersonal conflicts to keep us hella busy- so much so that a ton of us are looking for that distraction/double-life that is dating. Dating within the union/movement/scene has created *some* predictable problems. Last week lol I was kickin it with my latest distraction that I'm trying to get with......but I made the mistake of bringing him to the local wobbly spot. It was less than an hour of us talking before 2 union friends walked in and we all started talking about all the things. I couldn't stop myself from thinking of Seinfeld's George Costanza when he was panicking about his "worlds colliding" lol. I need to keep a separate world for my sanity. Good luck with everything
Revolutionary self-sacrifice
Revolutionary self-sacrifice is a crock and completely unsustainable. None of us recommend it