Author: Slingshot robot #1

Contact us by April 17 if you want to draw art for the 2027 Slingshot Organizer — you do not have to live in California to draw. 50 artists from all over contribute to each edition. 

Please send additions and corrections for the Radical Contact List by May 22. We’re especially looking for contacts in under-represented areas, states and countries — anywhere in Hawaii, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Africa & the Middle East.

If you want to work on editing and adding to the Radical History dates, reach out between now and April 17. We want to add protests or notable events from 2025 / 2026, older stuff we’re missing, especially marginalized issues and movements, and we need help proofreading to try to locate and correct errors. 

If you are in the Bay Area, join Slingshot for the art party weekend to put the Organizer together by hand May 30/31 (24/7, baby!) at Long Haul 3124 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley. “It is like an art rave — but geeky and free.” Drop by for an hour or stay all day and all night. 

Selling the Organizer enables Slingshot to print and distribute this newspaper for free. If you know of a store in your area that could sell the 2027 Organizer, let us know. 

We ran out of copies of the big spiral 2026 Organizer but we still have copies of the pocket size and pocket-spiral size if you want some. 

PRODUCT RECALL: The week of April 24 in the big spiral 2026 Organizer says “May 24“ for some reason not “April 24”. You can fix it with a pen. We’re very sorry about the error. Please tell your friends. 

By El Llanto

In June of 2025 I participated in the 40 mile march to the state capital for immigrant rights called La Caminata. As a member of HPEACE (Health Professionals for Equality And Community Empowerment), I had the opportunity to be a part of the medic team comprised of physicians, nurses, and health professionals. We were a team of 30 medics providing care on foot and in support vehicles all along the way. The Sanctuary Coalition, Almas Libres, Jobs With Justice, SEIU, the Nurses Union, and CHIRLA organized to make this event possible. We provided foot care, distributed electrolytes, and monitored their health every step of the way. 

Up to this point in my life I had taken a 10 year hiatus from organizing. When I became a member of HPEACE, I found an organization of health professionals who believe in peace through health. We value showing up for the community that we serve. For me personally, my duty as a health professional doesn’t stop at the ‘EXIT.’ Being a street medic, being a healthcare worker, and the mutual aid that I have done my whole life is a byproduct of my worldview. I see it in the eyes of the people I organize with right now. 

I never stopped caring. As a youth organizer I protested the Iraq War. As an abolitionist I founded a Copwatch chapter in my town. I served Food Not Bombs. I organized for a Sanctuary City Ordinance in Santa Rosa and Petaluma. Then came the Occupy Movements. I was disillusioned by the lack of vision in the occupy movements I was a part of locally. I went to school and became a healthcare worker. I decided to learn as much as I can. 

My mother wanted to be a nurse. She taught me everything that I know. She couldn’t be nurse herself because she grew up in a tough environment, Guatemala, where a civil war shut down her high school repeatedly and disappeared her relatives — a civil war instigated by America that lasted 36 years. She saved her money from 14 to 16 years old when she finally made the decision to come to America. She became a healthcare worker. I am following in my mom’s footsteps, but it is my hope to go beyond. To achieve what my mom couldn’t afford to do: become a nurse. In my mind I am a nurse.

La Caminata moved me so much, I could not help but continue to organize for the Caminantes after the experience was over. A few months later, Almas Libres, the Sanctuary Coalition, and faith leaders — those same individuals who I showed up for at the Caminata — decided to go on a 7 day Huelga de Hambre, a hunger strike, demanding the County of Sonoma to stop collaborating with ICE. 

La Caminata has not stopped for me. We continue to organize in Sonoma County in the face of state repression fighting for a Sanctuary Ordinance. A coalition of street medics, safety team leaders, and organizers has formed out of this struggle. We continue to collaborate, to organize, and train together. A tapestry of resistance has formed.

The federal government’s crackdown on immigration has mobilized hundreds of people. From court accompaniment, to driving kids to school, to driving folks to appointments. We’re organizing on behalf of day laborers and community members. Many are becoming members of the North Bay Rapid Response as legal observers or dispatchers. We continue to fight for just immigration reform. ICE Out Now!

ICE is driven by nothing but money, bravado, and hubris. We are driven by love. 

Alex Pretti’s death hit me hard as a human, a healthcare worker, and a cyclist. I was already feeling the weight of the world as it is. I tried to organize a ride in his name and ended up being a co-organizer alongside Phil from the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition. I did a land acknowledgement at Howarth Park and then we blasted Bad Bunny all through Downtown Santa Rosa and I got the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition to say “chinga La Migra.” The next day Bad Bunny wins not just one Grammy, but three. 

“The only thing more powerful than hate is love,” Bad Bunny said in front of the Academy, for the whole world to hear. 

We gotta celebrate the wins, but remember all we have lost to state repression. That is what we are up against. The structures of power are preying on children and exploiting all who we love. We have to continue to protect each other. Remember we are caretakers, not takers. That is what sets us apart from the structures of power that must come down. The Republicans are the raw face of Imperialism. The Democrats are the bourgeoisie. There is no “deep state.” This is a class war. We must burn fascism to the ground.

Uzumati

Excerpts from “What the Flock is that?” zine

Flock Safety is a company that traffics in surveillance technology, infrastructure, and data. Their main operations involve installing automated license plate readers (ALPRs) along roadways at major intersections in order to collect images and data about passing cars.

Flock’s technology is a new kind of mass-surveillance infrastructure: their product is searchable data logs about our movements. This constant monitoring can deter people from exercising their freedoms, like attending protests or engaging in other forms of free expression.

Flock uses artificial intelligence to manage, sort, and search data, and sell access to the data to police departments on a subscription basis. They started out selling their cameras to homeowners’ associations, and later expanded to selling them to police departments. Flock claims to be successfully surveilling 70% of the U.S. population. As of 2025, Flock claims to operate in over 5,000 communities across 49 U.S. States, and perform over 20 billion scans of vehicles every month.

Flock’s cameras have a distinct look, and once you know what to look for, you’ll start seeing them everywhere. The cameras are all black with a black solar panel. They’re mounted on either a stoplight, streetlight, or a standalone black metal pole. The cameras take photos of every car that passes, recording the license plate number, time, date, and location.

Flock’s cameras aren’t just license plate reader cameras — they use Al to create a “unique vehicle fingerprint” based on scratches, dents, aftermarket add-ons, bumper stickers, and many other metrics. When you drive past one of these cameras, Flock takes in all this data to track your movements in the database, which is stored for 30-90 days.

The Flock network is widely available and susceptible to misuse. It is accessible to subscribing police departments across the country, major government agencies such as the ATF, DHS, FBI and ICE, private entities such as homeowners’ associations, and the Home Depot Corporation. The databases are also accessible to anyone with whom a user unlawfully shares their login credentials with, which is documented as happening.

Flock has positioned themselves in communities so quickly because they solicit subscriptions from police departments directly. Most departments add Flock services to their budgets without stopping to ask the community if they want those services, or making any effort to prove a need for them. Flock tells small-town police that their services will rapidly solve crime, and even stop crime before it happens. There is no data to support this claim.

Mass surveillance of vehicles through the Flock network circumvents traditional warrant processes: police can look up all movements of any license plate at will, at an unprecedented scale, with no oversight on probable cause. There is little to no oversight on how police search Flock’s database.

Flock’s strategy is currently working so well for them because people are kept in the dark about what is going on. But many communities across the country have fought Flock and won simply by raising awareness and starting a public conversation. Austin TX, Denver CO, Eugene OR, Oak Park and Evanston IL, and Sedona AZ have all cancelled their contracts with Flock after community campaigns. With a little bit of work, you could achieve the same in your city or county. 

Safety isn’t found in surveillance. Meet your neighbors, watch their cats while they’re away, and ask for that cup of sugar. We can keep each other safe!

RESOURCES

• “How to Pump the Brakes on Your Police Department’s Use of Flock’s Mass Surveillance License Plate Readers” from ACLU. aclu.org

• “Street Level Surveillance” at the Electronic Frontier Foundation:

sls.eff.org/technologies/automated-license-plate-readers-alprs

• The Deflock Project: deflock.org has basic info and an ALPR map showing many documented ALPRs across the U.S. and elsewhere in the world.

By Anonymous and Decay

Panic and paranoia are counterproductive — stop wondering what will happen, or why nothing’s happening. If we’re going to survive the ongoing collapse of capital and empire, we need to be able to identify our goals and work to catalyze the conditions they require. Now is the time to stand up for ourselves and our communities, not kneel before we’re commanded to do so. If you don’t know where to start, here’s a rough guide to community organizing, rapid response networks, and emergency planning.

COMMUNITY ORGANIZING

(adapted from A Civilian’s Guide to Direct Action — CrimethInc)

First of all… Brainstorming: Choose a project (ex. providing groceries to those who cannot leave their homes) and devise a plan. Establish the goals, scope, and timeline of your project. 

Structure: Start small. Work tightly with those you know and bring in other individuals and groups thoughtfully. Make sure power and responsibilities are distributed evenly within your group to avoid burnout.

Groundwork: Study the existing infrastructure, gather supplies and equipment, scout the location(s), and begin to divide up roles (ex. food procurement, drivers, community outreach) according to the scale of your project and group.

During and after actions: Stay alert; keep each other informed of upcoming threats, individual capacity, unexpected issues, etc; and debrief. Regroup regularly to discuss what went well and what didn’t. 

Remember that community itself is a natural human behavior and exists all around you already. This includes preexisting friend networks, neighborhood watch groups, coworkers, etc — don’t reinvent the wheel, focus on refining and reinforcing it. Be prepared for things to fizzle out occasionally.

Further detailed reading: “How to Start a Successful Group Guide” by Neighborhood Anarchist Collective.

RAPID RESPONSE NETWORKS

Rapid response is a model primarily used by disaster relief organizations to address natural disasters, medical emergencies, and mass casualty events. It relies on preparation and collaboration across highly localized groups to effectively assess and respond to threats. The goal is to document, neutralize, and begin recovery efforts as quickly as possible following an event.

Combining this model with traditional cop watch patrols designed to monitor and track police activities gave rise to anti-ICE rapid response networks across America. These groups typically communicate via end-to-end encrypted messaging platforms, such as Signal, and work within and across cities. Specific patrol groups may arise as needed in the form of temporary offshoots (ex. establishing an escort/observation group for specific schools or streets for a set period of time during ICE operations nearby).

Successful rapid response networks will regularly host or facilitate security trainings, legal support sessions, and mutual aid distribution for affected community members. If your area has an established rapid response network, such as ACILEP in Northern California or Monarca in Minnesota, be sure to communicate verified reports from within your group for broader engagement and information building. Many large groups will keep a running list of known ICE vehicles present in their areas and will follow up with victims and their families to provide additional support. When reporting potential ICE sightings, the following format (SALUTE) is recommended. 

Size (ex. 5 enforcement officers)

Activity (ex. stopping random people and 

demanding IDs)

Location/direction (ex. heading west from 

393 Blossom Hill Rd, San Jose CA)

Uniforms (ex. dark blue vests that read 

“POLICE” across the back)

Time (ex. 12:45PM February 11th)

Equipment and weapons (ex. they have 

helmets, vests, and batons)

Be careful to verify, document, and clearly communicate these details to avoid false reporting or misdirection of resources.

Once you have a community group, consider whether ICE is or may become a threat in your area and act preventatively. Set up the infrastructure to track them within your community spaces as early as possible.

Community members at high risk include undocumented people, lawful permanent residents, refugees with criminal convictions (regardless of whether they served time), Spanish speakers, people of color, activists, and anyone even marginally in their way.

Identifying ICE activity:

Warning signs include increased police presence, roadblocks or checkpoints, previous raids in the area, and unfamiliar vehicles idling near work zones, schools, and Latinx community centers. ICE typically carries out their operations early in the morning, although they can be active at any time — day or night.

Local Law Enforcement vs ICE agents:

In California, police and sheriff badges are typically star-shaped with six or seven points. Across the U.S., star and shield-shaped badges are both common for law enforcement. ICE typically uses oval or shield-shaped badges with eagle crests.

Unmarked police vehicles may have additional equipment distinguishing them from normal cars, including lights hidden on side mirrors, top of the front window, or behind the grill; push bars on the bumper; dark-tinted windows; partition bars; heavy-duty radio equipment; laptops or multiple screens in the center console; and (in California) CA exempt licenses. Look for unusually clean cars and a lack of personalization.

Undercover police vehicles can be any make and model but may share some characteristics with the above list.

Known unmarked ICE vehicles may include the above traits and will typically be U.S.-made vehicles with ultra-dark tinted windows and regular license plates (or dealership placards). However, they operate more like undercover police vehicles and may be any make or model.

ICE agents will usually be in groups of two or more, avoid showing ID or badges when asked, cover their faces, and dress in semi-casual or tactical gear (t-shirt or polo shirts. tactical vests, utility belts, heavy boots, cargo pants, etc).

When you receive a potential ICE alert, respond if you are nearby or have immediate access to transportation to the location, and verify whether or not ICE is present. If they are, begin filling the following roles (listed in order of importance)

–Cameraperson 1: Films ICE and 

gathers information about the victim

–Note-taker: Captures handwritten notes 

(including the victim’s full name and date of 

birth, as well as their immigration 

identification number if applicable)

–Cameraperson 2: Films cameraperson 1

–Dispatcher Liaison: Maintains 

communication with RR hotline or group 

chat, ensures that all documentation/ 

photos/videos are sent to coordinator(s)

–Community liaison: Explains the roles

that volunteer responders play to

community members, gather information

from surrounding people

–ICE liaison: Attempts to obtain identifying 

information from ICE, deescalate the 

situation, and move ICE away from 

observers 1-3

Listen and limit communication to “I cannot 

speak on anyone’s behalf.” Do not post videos of ICE raids where victims are visible or identifiable on social media without obtaining explicit consent from the individual affected or their families. Be ready for ICE to quickly escalate to violence or turn on observers.

EMERGENCY PLANNING

Under the current fascist regime, building community is only part of the survival strategy. Preparedness is critical on both an individual and collective level, and what follows are some steps to consider as threats escalate. Pick and choose what works for you and your risk level. 

General Emergency and Communication Plan

In the event of an emergency (you are abducted or detained by ICE, experience a medical emergency, cannot return home, etc), ensure that you have a trusted contact who has access to your full legal name, birth date, and address. Communicate your medical, childcare, pet care, and other relevant needs. Depending on risk level, consider providing legal releases (power of attorney, medical, estate) and if desired, financial account and information on how to access your living space.

For immigrants, have accessible copies of passport, ID, immigration documents, and proof of residence. Establish protocols for yourself and family or friends about who to contact and what to do in the event of emergency, raid, subpoena, etc. This may include financial account access, transportation plans and emergency relocation, or developing safe words and coded phrases to counter AI deepfakes, covertly signal alarm, and verify authenticity.

Encourage memorizing important phone numbers and practicing emergency plans within your community groups. You may want to discuss and rehearse scenarios like raids, service confiscation, questioning by law enforcement, and loss of communication devices.

Particularly important with rapid response groups and broader activist networks is communication discipline. Do not openly speculate about cases or share sensitive information online or via phone. Law enforcement targets “weak links.” Even end-to-end encrypted platforms are only as secure as the individuals using them.

Legal Plan

Conduct a legal-risk audit to identify who is most at risk or vulnerable to charges (particularly false charges). This may include reviewing property, devices (computers, phones, etc), records, emails, and accounts (social media, financial, etc) to assess what a preliminary investigation may uncover. Initiate and maintain contact with movement-experienced attorneys.

If necessary, plan ahead and secure legal documents you’d want to have prepared in case of an emergency. This may include one or multiple of the following:

Durable Power of Attorney (POA)

This allows you to name someone as your

“agent” to handle your finances and legal

matters if you’re detained, abroad, or

incapacitated. This arrangement stays in 

effect even if you’re incapacitated (for 

example, hospitalized or in custody). Agent 

can sign documents on your behalf, pay 

your lawyer, collect paychecks, maintain 

your home, etc. Prevents frozen accounts 

and unpaid bills.

HIPAA or Medical Privacy Release

Authorizes medical providers to share

health information with specific people such

as your lawyer, family, or trusted friends. If

you’re detained or unconscious, it may be

difficult to find out your condition without

this release.

Advance Health Care Directive / Living Will

Instructs doctors about your wishes

regarding life-sustaining treatment if you

become terminally ill or permanently

unconscious. It reduces the emotional

burden on loved ones and ensures that

your healthcare preferences (not hospital

policy) guide all medical decisions.

Government Agency Release

Allows a trusted person, usually your

attorney or advocate, to communicate with

agencies such as ICE, DHS, DOJ,

jails/prisons, the VA, or Medicaid on your

behalf. This lets your representative request

records, file appeals, or update information­

— avoiding delays if you’re detained or

unavailable. Especially important for

immigrants, people on public benefits, etc.

Surveillance Plan

Surveillance isn’t just live video: it’s built on layers of data aggregation. Data brokers collect lists of locations, behaviors, demographics, device IDs, purchase histories, etc. These datasets are sold to law enforcement, private actors, or intelligence agencies. To be as safe as possible, assume all public and digital activity is monitored to some degree. 

Research whether or not your area has automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) cameras or contracts with ALPR companies like FLOCK, PlateRanger, Rhombus, etc. These can track your travel via car or other means and build a profile of your vehicle. Other camera systems like Ring doorbells are both widespread in residential areas and vulnerable to attack and access by enforcement agencies.

Be aware that as Al models for creating deepfakes improve, they become harder to detect. Deepfake videos, audio, and manipulated images can depict people saying or doing things they never did. These facial recognition and Al pipelines are now woven into mass surveillance systems. 

You cannot fully escape surveillance in America or most other countries with well-funded military and spy systems. Just be aware of what surveillance apparatuses exist in your area and do your due diligence to minimize exposure where possible.

Digital Security Plan

Good digital hygiene can involve regularly clearing out your email, regularly factory resetting your phone, and deleting inactive groups and chat histories. Try to use zero-knowledge backup services.

Consider purchasing services to delete your data from data brokers. California residents can use the state’s DROP program at privacy.ca.gov/drop to legally require data brokers to delete their data for free. These services are not comprehensive, but if you remove some data, algorithms have fewer points to triangulate your identity or movements.

If you plan on using a service like DROP, do not delete your device’s MAID (mobile advertising ID) as you will need it to fully delete the profile of information that advertising agencies have collected on you. A deleted MAID renders the profile inaccessible to you and deletion services, but data brokers can still access the information and potentially connect it to you.

Encrypt all devices and enable two-factor authentication, never use biometrics (facial or fingerprint scanners), and inventory which of your devices and cloud accounts contain sensitive information. Consider storing sensitive files somewhere safe, particularly with an attorney. Be aware of tracking tools (transit cards, RFID, license plates, apps, phones, internet) and clean your data from social media, online dating, other apps with location sharing (Uber/Lyft, Food Ordering, payment apps like Zelle and Venmo) carefully: Remember that deleting doesn’t erase.

Consider taking and/or providing digital security trainings, and set data retention and destruction policies within your group (Electronic Frontier Foundation has guides).

Paper, Records, Ephemera Plan

If raids or searches are a high concern for you, consider taking inventory of all physical records and locking up sensitive files, lists, correspondence, photos, and associated activity. Keep backups or duplicates with your trusted contact or attorney. Prepare your space so nothing can be misused as “evidence.” Think about what is in the space that would be misconstrued in court to keep you in pre-trial detention or add charges or enhancements, for example:

Books, zines, and reading materials =

“radical and dangerous and extreme views.”

Stickers, buttons, patches = “group

affiliation” “danger to law enforcement.”

Posters, art, and flags = “calls to violence”

“threats to the government”

Social media and Signal chats =

“coordination”.

Raid Plan

Train to stay calm, refuse consent, ask for a warrant, and call counsel. Post the script/plan, emergency contacts and instructions at entrances to relevant community spaces.

Detention Plan

Keep the following written down and shared with your trusted contact:

-Attorney’s name and number

-Emergency contact info for anyone else

(kids’ school, work, animal care, etc.)

-Dependents, caregiving, or animal duties

-Medical needs and allergies, glasses, etc

-Where you keep IDs, keys, prescriptions 

(in labeled bottles, as required by jails), and

relevant legal documents

Post-Raid / Post-Detention Plan

Contact lawyer and emergency contact person immediately. Document everything:

-When and how agents arrived (time,

agency, vehicles)

-Number of officers, badge numbers, and

identifying details

-Questions asked and items seized

-Witness names and contact info

-Take photos of damage once safe

-Request all paperwork from agency

Avoid using devices once they’ve been seized or tampered with by enforcement agencies.

Transportation / Reunification Plan

Designate who manages vehicles and transportation in emergencies and arrange rides for vulnerable people. Discuss schedules and who will be available for different days or times.

BE READY, NOT SCARED

Frame preparation as proactive care, not panic. Say something like “I’ve been worried that activists are being targeted. We’re safe right now, but I want us to have a plan in case one of us is detained or questioned so no one panics.” You understand yourself and your community better than anyone else (including the feds), and it is up to your group to decide what level of risk is accurate.

Small autonomous groups have been able to land some massive blows against the state throughout history, and the more of us there are the harder it becomes to track and target each of us individually. Safety lies in solidarity.

Don’t forget to create art, arrange potlucks, and check in on your neighbors. Beyond all the security trainings and preparation, joy and connection is what will keep us going when the raids reach our doorsteps. Love you all! 

More comprehensive readings include “The Black Flag Catalyst Revolt Guide,” as well as “A Practical Guide to Anarchist Organisation” by Andrew Flood.

by Fig

A loving push to reconsider any fidelity to the political-economic-social entity called “America” in these revolutionary times

What is “America” anyway? That’s a question each of us should contend with, now more than ever. Our words carry worlds.

A concept like “America,” while ambiguous and fluid, carries specific histories, ideologies, and norms. Put simply, it has baggage. More precisely, it has an inherent and structuring logic that benefits a colonial elite at the expense of the rest of us. It is time for us to face it: the project of “America” has never been for your benefit – no matter what they’ve told/sold us, or what we might have hoped. 

America’s M.O. is enslavement, is land theft, is exploitation. The story of America is the story of imperialism – it is the choking and plunder of the land, not only Turtle Island but every part of the Earth it can get its grubby abuser hands on. 

The recent escalation of brutality and white supremacy is just that: an escalation. America has always been brutal, and the system it imposes through its ill-gotten authority has always served to bolster white supremacy and capitalist wealth-hoarding. So, when we see the American project faltering, intensifying, spreading itself too thin, lying to our faces, we should push harder against it, not cling to its illusions.

You, my dear comrade – living, breathing, loving you – are not what I mean by ‘America.’ America is not the people; America is the guise of the peoples’ antagonist. All that is good about this place currently called the U.S.A. is in spite of the American project, not because of it. From its beginning, the authority of “America” on this landscape and over our lives has been bitterly contested. The pockets of safety we’ve been able to carve for ourselves in all our wild, multicultural, queer, feminist, and neurodiverse splendor are the result of (unceasing) militant movements against the machinations of “America.” Such movements for autonomy, sovereignty, and liberation have offered visions of a world beyond the hierarchical capitalist system upheld by America – and yet, America seeks to absorb these histories into its own image while leaving the root structure intact. This muddies our struggle: suddenly we are not seeking liberation, but recognition; we are not seeking the end to war, but a seat at the table of war-making.

This will not suffice. As Michi Saagiig Nishaabeg writer and scholar Leanne Betasamosake Simpson articulates in her book ‘A Short History of the Blockade’, an adamant “no” is a way to make space for a generative and powerful “yes” – when we reject the premise of America, we no longer have to operate by its (inconsistent and unfair) rules of how to ‘make change’, we can reclaim our power to build a better world On Our Own Authority.

Artists, poets, care workers, gardeners, craftspeople, educators – anyone working towards collective flourishing is doing so because they believe in it, because their humanness demands it, but we are choked by America. “You don’t deserve to be compensated, fed, or sheltered; nor do you get to have health care or affordable higher education; instead you may go into debt,” says America. America wants to see you worked to death (or to take up a career in tech…). America wishes you would just fall in line, give up on that Red / Black / Immigrant / Worker Power shit, so it wouldn’t have to send its thugs out to brutalize you. Who am I kidding, America loves to brutalize you. It makes it feel big and tough. Daddy issues probably.

Well fuck that. We will make our own safety through solidarity. We will feed each other with the food we grow, decorate each other’s homes with the art we make, take care of each other’s kids and teach them to play the banjo. We do not need America. Now is the time for LAND BACK – let’s not forget: America is a settler-colonial invasion (in the present tense!). Let’s get clear about what side we are on. The time has come to un-identify with “America” and re-associate with each other, the land we live on, Indigenous sovereignty, and movements for liberation globally. 

America wants to see the living Earth reduced to rubble for the economic benefit of a few sociopathic heirs. America can’t see the sacredness of the rivers, can’t comprehend the wisdom of old growth forests, and doesn’t understand that you can’t drink oil. The land is not America either. The land resists America. The land wants to support you, share with you, luxuriate under the sun in collective abundance. America won’t let it. 

If you still believe we can reason with America, reform it, well, I encourage you to try – genuinely. I think participating in political organizing is the quickest way to realize that the American systems of governance some call “democratic” are set up to distract, delay, and ultimately quash any effort to re-distribute power and wealth. It’s exhausting and disheartening. Yet, you may meet some comrades and collaborators in the process, you might develop your theory of change, you might start to build networks of solidarity, you might, then, for example, be able to rebuild each other’s homes in the aftermath of a supercharged storm, in spite of America. You may realize that you don’t need America after all. 

But where does this leave us? There are many possible paths forward. One framework that makes sense to me is the ‘divest/invest’ model advocated by abolitionists and other militant movements. It is rooted in the simple notion that we begin to ‘divest’ or stop investing the resources of our lives (time, energy, labor, money, even attention) in the structures of American power/the State, and begin to ‘invest’ these resources into our communities. In doing so, we diminish the (already illegitimate) authority of ‘America’ and build the capacity for taking care of each other and ourselves, developing our own power. We can’t just turn away from the reality of America (the bloated military makes sure of that); but once we figure out where we stand, we can work to diminish its power over us and in the world. This is a subtle but major shift for a lot of us: we need to stop settling for reforms that only serve to invest more resources in and rehabilitate the illusion of America. As we (hopefully) all learned from the George Floyd uprisings, when they say “police reform” and “body cams and sensitivity training” what they mean is “more money for the police.” This is obviously insufficient, when what we need is to abolish the police and prisons and re-allocate those resources to community-directed initiatives like free food programs, health clinics, non-carceral justice processes, and free education. 

The loss of the illusion of America can come with some hard feelings. Fear and uncertainty – grief, even. When you are conditioned your whole life to understand the world and your role in it through the prism of nation-states and the capitalist economy, your sense of yourself and the dreams you hold can become wrapped up in the project of America – even if it isn’t serving you, even if you are watching it destroy everything. It is a deeply emotional process to reconceptualize your internal world to oppose something that attempts to be so totalizing. I am with you in the uncertainty, but take heart that it is neither reckless nor idealistic to desire the end of America – it is tactical. We don’t need America, because we keep us safe. Don’t do PR for empire by clinging to its illusions out of fear. Many of you, I hope, have already begun the process of building a new world in the shell of the old – you have figured out that the ostensible “safety and order” imposed by America is not true safety for you and your community, and started to find ways to live otherwise. This is the path towards healing, liberation, and empowerment; one where we can relinquish the false security of America and build the rich and meaningful lives we deserve. 

I do not mean to sound flippant or facetious; this is a very dangerous time. The violence being unleashed is immense, and the stakes are quite literally the whole world. We are witnessing American-enabled genocide in Palestine, unabashed imperialist invasion in Venezuela and Cuba, I.C.E. kidnapping and murdering community members across Turtle Island, not to mention the ever-worsening ecological crisis and many other global injustices. But it would be a mistake to think this is an aberration, an anomaly – no, the veil is being lifted: this is America and it always has been. The path towards liberation is an abolitionist one, there is no reforming this. We can do better than America. We must. We just have to find the courage to try. 

A few books that have informed this article, for further reading: 

• “As Black As Resistance” by Zoe Samudzi and William C. Anderson 
• “Blood In My Eye” by George Jackson 
• “Red Skin, White Masks” by Glen Coulthard
• “Autonomy Is In Our Hearts” by Dylan Eldredge Fitzwater
• “Intimate Direct Democracy” by Modibo Kadalie 
• “The Undercommons: Fugitive Planning and Black Study” by Stefano Harney and Fred Moten 

By Average Joey

Things feel fucking hopeless. The wolves of fascism are no longer at the door — they are ravaging the house. And the house is on fire. The climate collapse is in full swing, secret police murder and abduct people in broad daylight, it is a matter of verifiable fact that our rulers are all sociopathic pedophiles, genocides have become integrated into our daily scroll, and the economic precarity of late-stage capitalism makes everyday life for working people untenable. The mundane brutality is unbearable.

Despair, grief, and rage are all rational reactions to these conditions. In this moment, the concept of hope feels naive, even cruel. When basic survival and psychological well-being are such a struggle, the idea of salvaging a future seems unthinkable. The distress we are all experiencing stunts our ability to care for ourselves, connect with our communities, and join up in action, but when distress is processed communally and channeled into collective action, it can deepen our resolve and ignite a sense of purpose.

The capacity to imagine a better world is a necessary step towards bringing it into being. This imagining requires a radical hope. Hope, in this context, is not simply optimism. Unthinking positivity denies the gravity of the moment and relies on individual behavioral solutions to global crises. Radical hope does not turn away from the truth, however bleak. Rather, hope calls us to unite around shared interests despite the challenges we face. “Hope,” Mariame Kaba tells us, “is a discipline.”

The horrors at hand are the direct consequence of a colonial capitalist global order whose violent structures and ideological foundations shape our reality. Any attempt to confront the current crises without dismantling capitalism as the predominant economic and social paradigm is to make meaningless reforms and marginal adjustments to a death machine. Radical hope guides us towards a world free from domination: one founded on interdependent relationships, meaningful connectivity, and authentic communities.

As the fallouts and crises of this collapsing empire worsen, it will be communities of people we are in physical relationships with — whose well-being we are invested in, and who are invested in our well-being — which will be the most important resources of all. You can take all the firearms classes you want, learn to garden to perfection, or have the sharpest articulation of theory — none of this will matter in isolation. Confronting the upheavals we face can only be done meaningfully through the processes of interdependence with trusted, embodied community.

Human nature is one of cooperation, and disaster brings this out in us. We may find in this great unraveling the kinds of acts of solidarity which are inherent in human communities under tragedy or crisis. Interdependent communal relationships in which one’s personal well-being is inextricably connected to the well-being of other members of the community is the basic social structure under which human beings have lived for nearly all of our species’ history — imperialist capitalist social relations are a mere blip on the timeline. A return to this collectivist nature may be revealed through the terrain of crises as we all turn towards each other in order to survive, meet our needs, and maintain dignity as the bottom drops out beneath us.

This will be far from romantic! Grief and loss and anguish and tragedy are sure to come, and we can’t downplay the resulting disorientation or assume it will automatically bring about more egalitarian social conditions. We cannot simply skip over the mourning and anger at the injustice and needless suffering surrounding us. But grief and joy, hope and rage are not opposite ends of a swinging pendulum; they are entangled sentiments which occur in relation to each other. If we can collectivize our grief, rather than suffering it individually, we might garner further resolve in our movements, and stronger connections with one another. Despair is individuating. Hope orients us towards the other.

The harsh reality is that we’ve already been defeated. The biosphere is degraded, the violence becomes ever more blatant, the fascists are empowered politically and culturally, and nobody is coming to save us. While we have historical reference points, this moment is in many ways unknowable and unprecedented. So, with that being the case — now what? Knowing we cannot “win,” what will we do?

How we answer these questions should not affect our willingness to, as best as we are able, embody our ethical principles, engage in collective struggle, and insist that the current social order is not inevitable. If we remain steadfast in these values, the sacrifices and dedication required to make revolutionary change are experienced not as a begrudging duty, but an irresistible desire. We fight for a radically different world because we cannot help it.

Hope is not a prediction, it is a vision. To hope is to be prepared for that which does not yet exist, to be willing to fight for it. Now is the time for this preparation.

What do you know how to do?

What are you good at?

What makes you feel alive and embodied?

How can you do those things in service of other people?

How can you use these skills to contribute to larger movements and to improve the lives of those around you?

When we’re feeling hopeless and powerless, these are good questions to return to.

Like it or not, dramatic shifts to the world as we know it well underway. We are facing the end of the world, in a sense, but this current global order should be ended! Our rage is justified, we are right to grieve — these are evidence that our hearts and minds still function. These emotions, though, cannot be detached from our desire and willingness to struggle for a better future. The contempt we feel for this world must come from a place of longing and love for the world that could be. Hope charges our disdain and anger with an imagining of something better and an insistence that we build it together. With these values as our guidepost, we take the crisis as it comes with a willingness to figure things out together, accepting failure with grace, and recognizing that the chaos of what is to come leaves no guarantees.

What is important is not anticipating exactly what will happen but retaining our humanity regardless of what happens. Living with radical hope, acting collectively and in service to the social good — even if it is futile — is far more likely to create a meaningful life full of loving relationships than being possessed by impotent rage or passive detachment. If fear and nihilism are our motivating forces, we become paralyzed and prone to alienation and distrust. Hope arms us with a closeness — a belief in each other and our collective power.

The future will not be fully utopian or dystopian — it will be neither heaven nor hell on earth. It will be an intermingling of grief and love, intimacy and tragedy, confusion and resolve. Regardless of what humanity faces, no matter what tragedies our communities are subjected to, if we confront them collectively, rather than in isolation, we experience them not as hellish agony but as opportunities for solidarity, social connection, and mutual care.

A faith in people (including yourself!) is required to embody radical hope; a trust in people’s ability to figure things out together if given the proper support and conditions, and a willingness to participate in that process collectively. Faith, in this context, requires sustained focus, critical thinking, and principled commitment. It recognizes that hope for a better world requires extending a helping hand rather than turning away in judgment.

We have to embrace messiness, failure, uncertainty, and contradiction. We have to believe that compassion and rage can coexist and empower each other. It is worth every bit of effort and energy we can afford to try and make our world as dignified, humane, and caring as we can.