Stop calling yourself a leftist.
“Freedom is not something that anybody can be given. Freedom is something people take, and people are as free as they want to be.” - James Baldwin
The Haitian Revolution - The Burning of Cap Francais by Jean-Louis Boquet
We’re at the point now where we can no longer mince words. The imperial boomerang has returned once again, this time manifesting as dragonfire that has the potential to destroy Los Angeles completely. The travesty has fully brought into the light how the United States government is, at best, weaponizing their incompetence to excuse an entire slew of legislative and budgetary failures.
But it’s so much worse than that, if we’re being honest: the most marginalized people who have nothing to do with the destruction of this Earth are the first ones to face our Mother’s wrath. For the ones the Empire determines to be weak, there will always be hell to pay.
The weakest of us will continue to be extinguished by the imperialist overlords, one by one, while the so-called “left” refuses to actually decolonize, shed their egos and get to fucking work. My time spent on the various short form video apps this past month has only reinforced this statement’s validity. Everyone wants to prove someone else wrong, no one wants to actually understand. I’m sick of it.
There’s an abundance of “discussions” and “talks” and “book clubs,” and not a lot of realizations about how our likelihood of survival is directly dependent on our relationships to the people in our immediate vicinity. There’s a little too much “This is what y’all get for voting for Trump!” and not enough “Who do I know that could feed me tonight if I really needed them to?”
What got me to this point of frustration was some of the commentary I got after saying that anyone who is high in financial or social capital is deserving of suspicion, regardless of how “for the people” they appear to be (I thought we learned this lesson with AOC, but I digress). The specific person of discussion was Hasan Abi, a professional Twitch propagandist whose main goal is to prevent young men from falling down the violent alt-right pipeline, as so many unfortunately do.
I’ve always been extremely wary of conventionally attractive white men who have lots of money and followers…because, duh. I’m not sorry for having that attitude, and it won’t be going away anytime soon. In fact, the world would probably be a much better place if more people had this purview.
However, after being thoroughly educated by Hasan’s community members, I came to the realization that this man is, as my dear friend Hope put it, “a knight of the realm.” He wasn’t a frequent topic of discussion in my organizing circles because Hasan is fighting an entirely different battle, and my initial judgement was only so blurry because I was making it from so far away.
I made a follow up video amending my initial statements and Hasan watched it on his stream a few hours later. In fact, he actually thought it was nice. I personally was thrilled at how the entire thing turned out, because my thousands of followers got to witness my learning in real time, in addition to having a positive interaction with a white man for once.
Despite this, I still received a bunch of comments, messages and stitches from random strangers trying to humble me for even opening my mouth to speak on something I wasn’t 100% sure about, even though in the original source material I expressed a very specific desire to be enlightened by the public on the topic. This is on top of the clapback video I was forced to make because someone had the audacity to comment that my critique of a white male millionaire who appeared to have good politics was part of the reason why the left would never truly win, and that this isn’t a “poverty cult.”
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All of these interactions prompted a very specific type of infuriation. It made me realize that, once again, I am the person who is actually the most serious about liberation on this so-called “left.” I am the person who is frequently convening with the ancestors to guide us on this revolutionary path forward, given the fact that our victory is literally written in the stars. I am the one who has realized my true role as a shepherd.
James Baldwin told us that love is not a popular movement, and no one’s ever really wanted to be free. I balked at his words initially, but time, in addition to many other things, has proven him to be correct. I ran into an all-white communist organization at full speed with love bursting my body at the seams, only to have the 4 month stint end with a white woman who I thought was my friend telling me, in writing: “This is not a liberation focused space. This is a Marxist political organization.”
What in the ever loving fuck are we doing if we’re not focused on liberation for all oppressed people, immediately? Do any of you stand on what you say at all?
The word “leftist,” at this point, has lost its meaning. You telling me you’re a leftist gives me absolutely no concrete information off the dome about what your politics are. It actually could mean anything. Does it not bother you that you’re putting yourself in a position for others to be unsure about what you stand for? Do you enjoy immediately giving others permission to doubt your true intentions?
I’ve been calling myself a variety of different things lately, just to see how they feel. Lesbian. Radical. World-saving propagandist. Witch. Sorceress. Revolutionary.
But the label that kick-started this entire process was “liberationist,” which is what I proudly claimed for myself after realizing that there are communists who don’t consider liberation a priority. It was after journeying as far “left” as I could go that I realized that there actually was, indeed, more radicalization and decolonization to be done. Because, of course, the path that will lead us to victory has never been traveled before. It needs to be carved out by whoever is brave enough to go first.
So for all that is good and holy in this world, stop calling yourself a leftist. At least, don’t refer to yourself as such around me and expect to be taken seriously. You’re either 110% for the immediate liberation of all oppressed people in this realm, or you’re not. Like I said before, we’re done mincing words here.
Who will step up onto the platform of liberation beside me? Who understands that the fate of the world lies within our ability to secure freedom for the weakest of us? Where are the liberationists?
I’m tired of hearing “lib” this or “lib” that in a way that’s derogatory. The word “lib” is actually too culturally powerful for it to only be used to refer to the most politically inept of us. Misunderstand this at your own peril: the things we say have power, but we’ve been convinced into throwing around words meaninglessly. Who benefits, either materially or energetically, from the public’s refusal to speak with intention?
Liberationists will free the world of her chains. Liberationists are the ones who will lead the collective rage against the machine. Liberationists understand that we are past the point of arguing which European white man wrote the best book. Liberationists are the ones who show up to fight every single day until the war is won.
So yeah, diva. The libs are fucking back, and playtime is over. If you don’t consider yourself a liberationist at this point, consider my relationship with you officially deprioritized. I only have space around me for the ones who are willing to claim this path loudly. If that’s you, then you’ll let me know. If that’s not you, then you’ll move out of my way.
As an ancient parable reminds us time and time again: the girls who get it, get it. The ones who don’t, don’t. Will you tag yourself already?
With love,
Your G.F. x
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To me, experientially, leftist means (inside) and right means (outside). We can say on the political compass from top to bottom the differentiator is authority, but it's unclear what left to right is because it keeps moving based on who's in power. From the perspective of the social anarchist leftist, what She does not want done to Her defines Left. What He wants to do to the External world defines right...I think the gender disparity between leftists and libertarians is proof of this. This is also why the deep seated defiance of a social anarchist is far more powerful in motivating movement than the libertarian gun show performance artist
This was such a beautiful powerful encouraging and engaging wrap of the events of this week luv! Liberationist we ride at dawn to turn the tides on the empire!