How to Reject Isolation and Fear
some simple actions to take as we organize and rebuild from the ashes of despair
It’s been so long since I’ve written you, so think of this as a literary wellness check. How are you?
I needed to reach out because many of you are hurting and full of dread due to the election outcome. I won’t pretend that I am not also gutted, stunned, saddened and angry.
I fear for the safety of immigrants, trans kids, anyone with a uterus, all of my trans, queer family and friends, educational institutions, and anyone with a heart.
I’m afraid to live in a hateful country that encourages corporate Oligarchs to rob working people and strip us of our livelihoods and where a majority of people prefer to bury their heads in the sand while the US continues to fund and enable genocide in the Middle East. I’m also disheartened by a Democratic party who has literally built the left on gains made during the civil rights movement, specifically built the liberal party on the backs of Black voters, working people, poor people, queer people, immigrants, and who have sold us down the river because they were more interested in courting the Cheney’s than crystalizing a message that truly slaps.
I’ve noticed post-election journalism has become our latest abusive stepdad, kicking us down while screaming that this is all our fault because we just didn’t listen.
Anyway, what I’m trying to say is it’s okay to feel anger and bitterness right now, but don’t fritter away your rage. Harness it. Grab that submissive client Trump voter and charge him double while you grind him into a fine spray—and organize.
The cult members of the MAGA Clownverse want us to feel paralyzed and powerless. So, let’s not wallow in a pit of despair. I think it’s time to roll up our sleeves and get to work, to accept where we are, wipe off the dust, protect our faces and revisit our agenda of organizing and rebuilding a left with a robust labor movement at its center because without a strong labor movement, we have no democracy.
As a sex worker for 30 years, I am accustomed to being targeted by misogyny and stigma, of being criminalized, robbed, exploited, and mocked, but as an activist, I have also experienced some remarkable wins. I was a member of ACTUP SF in the early ‘90’s and we made significant inroads and forced societal and medical changes in the LGTBQIA+ community. I was involved in the first stripper union in the US in 1996 and we won our union contract and ultimately became a union collective. Other monumental successes are still playing out on the picket line and in bargaining sessions around the country.
Let’s remember that to reject isolation and despair is a revolutionary act. To trust and embrace your most vulnerable friends is a revolutionary act. To rest is a revolutionary act. To tend to your wounds is a revolutionary act. Here are some simple actions you can take from your favorite hike, or from the car, or from your lunch break:
Ask your immigrant friends how you can help support them right now.
Ask your trans friends how you can support them right now. If they are making plans to flee, tell them there’s no shame in fleeing and ask them what they need to make those arrangements or do they just need to talk right now.
Let’s gather more and rebuild an actual left we can believe in.
Lastly, here are some things that have helped me climb out of the pit of despair over the last few days:
This Working Families Party town hall has been incredibly revitalizing. Turn it on when you’re getting ready, turn it on when you’re walking to the bus, on your commute. It’s Working Families Party, a bunch of left organizations with real action items.
If you haven’t seen Bernie Sanders speak about the election, his consistent message has been affirming:
In Timothy Synder’s 2017 book “On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century” Snyder offers an instructional list of what to avoid and what to do when a government becomes increasingly authoritarian, which is where we are now. It begins with #1 DO NOT OBEY IN ADVANCE.
Here is Timothy Snyder on MSNBC talking about how to get through this moment:
Also, Byeee Sephora. A spank in the pocketbook is one way to send a message:
Solidarity Forever,
Antonia