Revolution Is Now
Listen to a reading of this article (reading by Tim Foley):
People are always asking me what we can do to fight the tyranny and depravity of the empire and create a healthy world.
“But what can we do?” they ask. “You always talk about the problems, but we need solutions! How do we solve the problems you keep pointing to?”
It’s especially common during US election season, because I tend to spend a lot of time pointing to the fraudulent nature of western electoral politics and saying Americans will never be able to vote their way out of their problems.
Which is of course fair. If I’m saying “Not that way, it’s a dead end,” it’s only fair that I should be asked which way actually leads to the exit.
Trouble is I talk about solutions all the time here, and I’m always practicing what I preach and leading by example; some people just can’t seem to hear what I’m saying. It goes in one ear and out the other, because I don’t have any solutions that are as easy and immediate as “Cast your vote for Donald Trump, he’ll fight the Deep State” or “Cast your vote for Kamala Harris, she’ll stop fascism.”
The truth of the matter is that in the here and now there are no easy and immediate solutions to the problems we face in our world. The system is far too deeply entrenched, and people are far too deeply indoctrinated with propaganda to be persuaded to fight against it right now.
And I emphasize the words “right now”. My solutions might not be easy or immediate, but unlike voting for Trump or Harris in November, they will actually work if put into practice in sufficient numbers.
An effective solution that we can all begin applying in the here and now is working to foment a revolutionary zeitgeist by spreading awareness of the depravity and deceit of the empire. The primary obstacle to real change is the fact that far too many people are far too brainwashed by propaganda to rise up against our rulers, so our first task is to begin working to wake people up out of that propaganda-induced coma so they can see how desperately real change is needed.
The tyrants won’t end their tyranny until they are forced to, and they can’t be forced to as long as enough people are propagandized into believing things are fine. That’s why so much energy goes into narrative control measures like mass media propaganda, censorship, government secrecy, the war on journalism, and Silicon Valley algorithm manipulation. They wouldn’t pour so much energy into protecting that part of the imperial machine if it wasn’t very vulnerable to attack.
So we attack it. We cultivate a habit of small acts of sedition, trying to do something every day to de-normalize the abuses of the empire in the eyes of the public. Our historically unprecedented ability to share ideas and information around the world in real time makes circulating unauthorized materials much easier than it used to be, and much more democratic. This is something we can all dedicate ourselves to.
The machine is far too big and powerful for us to take down on our own, but if enough minds can become unplugged from the narrative matrix, we can definitely bring it down together. Once enough minds are pointed at this project, more concrete solutions will emerge and begin gaining traction in our collective consciousness.
It’s too early for an uprising right now. Ever seen Les Miserables? The part with the barricade? That’s what it would look like if we tried to take the machine head-on right now. The people wouldn’t come. It would be unwinnable. History is full of such failed revolutions. So in the here and now we dedicate ourselves to the project of making sure there will be many others joining us at the barricade, in whatever form that direct concrete resistance might wind up taking.
The good news is this brings the revolution into the here and now, since right now the revolution looks like something we can all start doing today. Each and every one of us.
None of us can do everything, but we can all do something. Anything you can do to help open the next pair of eyes to the horrors the empire is inflicting upon our world, the injustices our rulers are imposing upon us in our society, and the lies we’re being told to justify it all.
You can do this using any means at your disposal. Talking to people. Distributing literature. Making videos. Making TikTok skits. Making tweets. Making art. Making memes. Writing on the wall. Writing blogs. Printing zines. Writing letters to the editor at your local paper. Anything you can do to help get unauthorized ideas into eyes and ears which may not otherwise have encountered them, using your own unique set of skills and personal conditioning.
The more eyes are opened to what’s going on, the more hands we will have working toward the task of waking up the others. This allows for the possibility of nonlinear growth, which means things could move very quickly from looking impossible to looking inevitable.
All positive changes in human behavior are always preceded by an expansion of consciousness, whether you’re talking about changes of the behavior in an individual or changes in the behavior of our entire species. So let’s get to work expanding it.
It is my sincerest wish that one day before too long what I do here will be seen as nothing special, because there are so many others doing what I do that I no longer stand out in the crowd in any way. And ideally this project here will then fade into total obsolescence, as we create a healthy world together which makes it completely unnecessary.
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Featured image via Adobe Stock.
I've been listening to you, Caitlin - and I've been HEARING you for some time. Yes, what you are saying here, you've said before in many ways. And I am in full agreement - "All positive changes in human behavior are always preceded by an expansion of consciousness," and I understand why people are so reluctant to consider transitional results. But an expansion of revolutionary consciousness will definitely enable the formation of strategies to effectively confront - and overcome - the deadly and toxic stranglehold of the status quo.
The problem with revolution is, as you say, never fast - except when it happens. It’s getting to the happening that is the long, frustrating struggle but I think you’ve pointed the way Caitlin. Thanks.