COURAGE

Why cant I be you

The first leap a person can take into the revolution is to see what the material conditions actually are. Building up an internal courage to stare squarely at the real. It becomes harder and harder to look away. One does not have to form coherent arguments, yet, but can start to make out the outlines of a different topography. It’s a radical act to dig into the whats, and whys. There is a real downside though. You cannot unsee anything. It is in these early moments as a budding revolutionary worker that you are vulnerable to the mysticism and false logic of race and nation, but you can see through it. Not be tempted by the easy and pat answers for your present state, in the smooth bullshit of the conspiracy peddlers. That way lies madness. Leaping past the distraction and focusing with intention is revolutionary.

As workers much of our lives are obscured. We pay rents but don’t see where our money goes. We toil at our jobs but never see how the profit made for our labor is spent. We get our utility bills with pages of inexplicable fees and charges. In housing or transportation perhaps we need a loan, yet the approval process is opaque and seemingly involves some arcane and mystical process. Secrets wrapped in mysteries, contained in riddles. None of it appears to make sense, let alone common sense. But as workers our lives are laid bare for every boss, landlord, banker, probation officer, cop, social service person to see. The secrets only run in one direction. And yet, the bosses encourage us to keep secrets from each other, which we often do. Our pay, our rent, our bills we often hold close as state secrets. The ruling class knows if it were to be widely shared their monopoly on the hidden goes away. This isn’t to say put your shit on the street, but is a call to ask why?

I met an old VietNam veteran at the bus stop. He hadn’t had a significant meal in days and had been without a stable house for decades. With arthritis wracked hands, and a shaky voice he told me about how there was no person to talk to to get his benefits or many doctor appointments, it was always a machine. “If I could just talk to someone, I could get what I need, but all I get is machines.” The wall of secrecy between him and what he needs is real. It is revolutionary to put cracks in the wall to let light in. The question that needs to be asked is who? Who is in charge of the machine that makes getting a meal hard for the veteran? Who is it that owns the mortgage, that denies the loan or medical care. Who is harmed? Who benefits?