Resistance by any means necessary
As we descend into darker and bleaker times, it is getting clearer and clearer that resistance is the only option we have to bring down the fascism we live under. Resistance only will save us.
As long as there has been oppression, there has been resistance. It exists many ways to resist, all those ways have their perks and are legitimate. Resisting by taking up the arms, staying put in your steadfastness, acquiring knowledge or joining your local community. No matter what option you choose to resist the oppression imposed upon your body, it is to care for humanity because resistance only will bring us the liberation and peace we so crave.
I haven’t been writing on here for about two months. In the meantime, many things have happened that have shown how worsened our situation has got: from the death sentence of innocent black men like Khaliifa Marcellus Williams or Black inmates setting themselves on fire to put an end to the deplorable conditions they get in prison; California voting to maintain prison slavery; genocides still happening, and the fascistic West still wholeheartedly supporting them in hope to keep western hegemony; the recent US election shambles from a disastrous Harris’ campaign doubling down on being further right to a fascistic Trump, and easily handing him the power; climate catastrophes that have only worsened whilst our leaders all flocked to Baku for COP29, in Azerbaijan, so we don’t forget how much they love human rights violations if it means clinging their claws to a system in decay. Anyway, we keep sinking deeper and deeper, but we might not despair and let go. Now is the time to pick ourselves up and fight back…RADICALLY!
A dying empire
I have always known ever since I grew a political consciousness that the fall of capitalism will happen. Sooner or later, capitalism is a system doomed to fail and collapse. Just like every empire before, the fall will be violent and hard. You can find a plethora of literature about the fall of major western empires, from the Romans to Rhodesia, every single one of them unleashed unmeasurable acts of violence in hopes to drag its reign a little longer. We are all witnessing it in real time right now, but it is not new. The West has been collapsing for many decades now, our ruling class has been very much aware of it, so much so they have decided to blame that decay on immigrants and woke culture. The thing is, an empire that needs to resort to violence knows it is doing so because the heightened phase of violence, fascism is their only hope to maintain the status quo. Blaming the result of your reckless system (refugees from the Global South) and the people who dare to shake the status quo (woke culture) is a calculated move. A fascist nation’s worse nightmare is a people united and undefeated by their gaslighting.
Empires in decline are dangerous because they tend to behave irrationally and make other powers act recklessly as well. This coordinated act is marking the end of their influence, the status quo is being shaken in ways that it won’t ever go back to what was seen as normal. The West has praised itself of being this beacon of civilisation, order as well as international law, yet today it has become crystal clear that those were mere words to hide their true intent. It has projected itself being this morally superior entity when in reality barbarity, autocracy and disregard for human life have always been what western values have stood for. You cannot convince me that the very people who were praising the ICC a few years ago on the arrest warrant against Vladimir Putin are now doing mental gymnastics trying to explain why the ICC arrest warrant against Benjamin Netanyahu, a genocidal freak, cannot be implemented or followed through.
The cracks of the western empire have been wide open for everyone to see. Witnessing how crumbling the western ruling class and their allies are right now, has been a satisfying look. They know what they are supporting is unjustifiable and that we are seeing right through their lies. Repression is at a all-time high, going from arresting anti-genocide protesters at their homes to taking economical disastrous policies. The empire is squeezing itself to oblivion, hoping to survive when all it is doing it slowing imploding. The West is dying, and that is a good thing. The US is losing its grip on its world domination and that is an amazing news. For far too long western imperialism has been hindering the birth of a new, fairer world order. But let us not veil from reality, for the downfall of the empire will not be smooth and calm. It will be violent and shaky because, combatting a system that is deadly to begin with can only lead to more violence. The current system will not give it up without a fight.
Reform is no longer enough
Wanting a system change requires tearing down the present, faulty one and building a new one from the ground up. I used to be pushing for reform: “the police should be reformed”, was I saying until I understood that no: “the police should be abolished!” It can’t be reformed, it is already too rotten. Plus, what kind of results are we expecting by reforming a rotten entity within a rotten system? Whoever believes something good can come out of a decaying apparatus is doing some strong wishful thinking. I dropped any hope for reform the moment part of the ruling class hopped on board, only to ease us all out and neutralise major social movements.
Last night, as I was heading to bed, it was confirmed that a truce has been agreed in Lebanon where the genocidal state of Is(not)real has been recklessly bombing and attacking since October 8th, 2023. Although temporary, this ceasefire deal shows two major things: 1. the resistance fighters in Lebanon have shown not only their strength and steadfastness in defending their land and their people. 2. It most importantly showed that the only way to resist western imperialism is by taking up the arms. Peaceful resistance waiting for your masters to stop bombing your people to smithereens won’t do anything. Imperialism is an evil disease with the only goal to wipe out everyone and everything “obstructing” its way to world domination and exorbitant profits. Resistance is necessary. Indispensable even! I know that here in the West, we have been cradled with distorted stories about masters willingly giving up the lands they occupied and decolonisation happening smoothly. Yet, reality teaches us otherwise.
I still vividly remember the sanitised version of decolonisation I learned in school. How the colonial entities were presented as sensible and humble for decolonising their former colonies. Things were always presented as a peaceful handover: one day a white settler woke up, realised the people of colour he was seeing as less than, were actual human beings deserving of life, and it was time for him to leave and go back to his country of origin. I had to grow a curiosity to truly research about the process of decolonisation and came to find out that the settlers did not give up the lands willingly. Resistance fighters fought them off until it became too costly, tiring and dangerous for the settlers to stay. It just so happens that in the 40s-70s, mobile phones weren’t a thing, social media not even a thought therefore resistance was not shown for the world to see like we can see it now.
Liberation is global radical solidarity and action
Fighting for decolonisation is a revolutionary act. And revolution is an act of love, this cannot be denied. You must love greatly to want people to have improved material conditions. If you support an oppressed group, you must support the ways in which that oppressed group chooses to break their shackles. There is not one way to resist your oppressors, each and every way is worth praising. When I see Lebanese people from the South returning to their homes right after the ceasefire deal being announced, or Gazans returning to theirs despite having lost everything, this is a form of resistance I can only applaud. When I see resistance fighters, fighting til their last breath or depleting Is(not)real capabilities, may it be with a failed iron dome, depressed army or material damages within occupied territories, I can only cheer.
Resistance has many facets, all of them get us closer to liberation. As our dying empire is desperately unleashing its wrath onto us, it is only beneficial to us all in the core of the empire to radically shift our understanding of a better world and how to make it happen. Mellow demands won’t cut it, it is important we learn the true meaning of solidarity, community and organising. It is important we fathom that there is not one way to resist but each of our personal experience of resistance needs to be combined for efficiency. The ruling class won’t hand us down our decency and dignity. They never did and they never will. It has always come from below.
I know we have been told that civilised equals peacefulness but how far are we willing to bow down to our oppressors before we comprehend that they are fucking us around? How far are we willing to go until we realise we have nothing to lose? What does it take to convince you all that our material conditions are only going to get worse if we don’t act now? What are we waiting for? Who are we waiting for?
A better world is possible. It is! The Global South has already done so much, breaking open the true intent of the West. It is already doing its part heading towards liberation. But the world won’t be liberated if the entire world is not freed. Solidarity is international, when they are free over there, we will be free here too. We need to be more radical, we need to follow our Global South comrades and lead for the system change we so deserve. It won’t happen under “western civilisation", this needs to be crushed and dusted. Remember, revolution is an act of love, for you love humanity you must fight for it. Resist by any means, but resist to destroy and rebuild. I believe in us all, we will see a better world in our lifetime, we just need to dare to make it happen!
I agree with you that the system cannot be reformed. It’s working the way it was intended to work. There needs to be a revolution for things to truly change. The best way I put it for people is to say this: why would the people in power (the ones who maintain the system as it is for their gain) want to give up their power? Any reform is simply going to be an act of tokenism. The people in power will not give up their power without a demand.
But I also believe that a lot of people, definitely citizens of the world powers, really don’t want things to change. This is why they have a reform attitude. They’re okay with how things are. They believe things could be a bit better for them and others. Whether they don’t want things to fundamentally change due to ignorance or just blatant selfishness is another issue. We can do our best to try and educate people. But we also have to understand that people will choose to stay ignorant for an infinite amount of reasons.
Great post!