other.li Forum

RE: https://dice.camp/@artemis/116394670326668688

Iran is currently cashing in on years of Iranian, Chinese, & Russian propaganda, aided by the fact that we've all been sitting & watching Israel commit a genocide in the public eye, aided by the US.

Here's the thing: the US really is an evil empire. Israel really is a genocidal settler-colonial state. And they act like it.

That provides such an opportunity for other bad actors in the world to capitalize on. Calling the US evil isn't the lie. The lie is when they say you can trust them.

Can we learn to take the leap of trusting each other to resolve problems when they arrive by collaborative, cooperative means?

Can we accept the fact that we can't actually create perfect systems that always operate flawlessly?

Can we acknowledge that community safety can't just be automated? That there will always be a need for accountability, flexibility, & creativity? That the work of caring for each other never ends?

Many of us are so used to thinking the only safety is in absolute rules & abstract decisions.

But how does that actually work out in the real world?

Does that always result in better outcomes for people? Does that always translate into justice or restoration?

Or is it just possible that we can explore alternatives to how we build safe communities that are not built on the assumption that circumstances & individuals don't matter?

Something we have to know is that the work is never going to be done. We will never have everything resolved for good. We have to actively create the worlds we want & the communities we need.

Problem-solving happens in community. We cannot solve all of our problems with rules & protocols. We cannot simply mechanically remove all harassment. We have to learn to react to things as members of a community, protecting & caring for each other.

The solutions aren't universal & top-down. They are solutions we arrive at together through effort, through listening to each other, through imagining better things.

We live in a world where some people demand "law & order," rules that can operate without human choice. That's never going to be functional when dealing with humans.

Unironically, that approach when taken to its logical conclusion means a lot of innocent people will suffer, & a lot of ill-intentioned people get off scot-free.

Being unable to respond flexibly & contextualize things is a fucking problem.

When prison abolition comes up a common question is "well, what will we do with the people who [commit x harmful activity?"

This is a completely understandable question, but it does betray a specific assumption: that we must decide ahead of time what must be done about a given harmful action. Which in turn assumes that such infractions are best viewed in the abstract, apart from all the real circumstances, the individuals harmed, etc.

But that isn't the only possible choice.

Fedi is so interesting for me as an anarchist because it's an experiment in choice & cooperation.

We see the specific struggles that come with decentralization & individual choice & how that interacts with building safe & caring communities.

It's not always fucking easy, & we can see major issues (like harassment of POC) that require solutions for community safety are not easily solved & put to bed.

But we can also see the power of what people can do when they collaborate.

So you'd think Hegseth firing the Army Chief of Staff would have something to do with the war going on, but reportedly he fired the guy because of the pushback Hegseth received for removing certain Black & female officers from a promotion list.

They're starting an incredibly unpopular war & they are still working very hard to demoralize their troops anyway. Interesting decision.

I told them I'm autistic & then I fucking participated in non-guided physical activity. So 2 really big trusting moments in one night.

I actually can't believe that I have friends that I'm at the level of trust with that I can let them see me like that.

It's very new.

I did an important thing yesterday. Went over to hang out with a couple of my close friends yesterday & join them in their evening stretching before a nice cuddle.

They invited me because I'd told bestie that the way she & her husband were trying to add healthy movement to their lives sounded like a great idea.

So I went to a place & intentionally moved my body for health reasons while other people could observe me! That's a huge fucking breakthrough, actually.