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A404 lemmy.dbzer0.com A404@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Joined: 2026-04-11
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Something haunts many activists, anarchists, environmentalists, many of my friends. It haunted me. Much of our subcultures tell us it’s not there, that we can’t see it, hear it. Our best wishes for the world tell us not to see it. But for many, despite their best efforts — carrying on with the normal activism, the movement building, living both according to and as an expression of their ethics — despite all this, the spectre gains form. The faint image grows more solid, more unavoidable, until the ghost is staring one in the face. And like many monsters of past tales, when its gaze is met — people freeze. Become unable to move. Give up hope; become disillusioned and inactive. This malaise, freezing, not only slows ‘activist workload’, but I have seen it affect every facet of many of my friends’ lives.

The spectre that many try not to see is a simple realisation — the world will not be ‘saved’. Global anarchist revolution is not going to happen. Global climate change is now unstoppable. We are not going to see the worldwide end to civilisation/capitalism/patriarchy/authority. It’s not going to happen any time soon. It’s unlikely to happen ever. The world will not be ‘saved’. Not by activists, not by mass movements, not by charities and not by an insurgent global proletariat. The world will not be ‘saved’. This realisation hurts people. They don’t want it to be true! But it probably is.

These realisations, this abandonment of illusions should not become disabling. Yet if one believes that it’s all or nothing, then there is a problem. Many friends have ‘dropped out’ of the ‘movement’ whilst others have remained in old patterns but with a sadness and cynicism which signals a feeling of futility. Some hover around scenes critiquing all, but living and fighting little.

20   Original
A404 lemmy.dbzer0.com A404@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Joined: 2026-04-11
#2 · Quote Reply

Am not posting this to make people give up. I just want people to know about the future threats we are gonna face. The next 10-15 years are gonna be really ugly.

7
deeprlyeh lemmus.org deeprlyeh@lemmus.org
Joined: 2026-08-14
#3 · Quote Reply

…it is better to die fighting than to die on your knees…

5
Nouvellalia lemmy.world Nouvellalia@lemmy.world
Joined: 2025-02-16
#4 · Quote Reply

This is where it has always been leading, the intentional destruction of every natural system, allowing every input to be quantized, even the air itself.

2
Sanctus anarchist.nexus Sanctus@anarchist.nexus
Joined: 2025-09-08
#5 · Quote Reply

I'm reading this, just wanted to say authority and hierarchy must be imposed. The natural wild of things cannot grow under an iron fist, but the fist of iron rust, and time erodes rule faster than shorelines. We may not win, but we cannot be stopped.

1
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