REIMAGINE SPRING 2021

Page 12

Solidarity can make a new world possible.

reimagine

The world is on fire. And necessarily so fire is cleansing; new things are forged in fire. The oxygen that fuels this fire is not only the killing of unarmed black men but also the dire political outlook of the world. Hope has been squandered by those who have the ascetics of progressive politics but not the actual platform and desire to fight for what is just. This is the scene that set the stage for the facsist theater that was Trump. Politicians and so-called activists who are, as one of my very good friends describes them, “experts in what is not possible”, have occupied the positions of power for far too long.” These actors are a perpetual buffer, separating the mass of oppressed people from much needed progress. The idea that so-called progressive candidates are detrimental to progressive movements is disheartening but unfortunately our reality. We see this in the fact that newly elected President Biden bombed Syria before coming to the aid of the American people whose lives have been ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic.

wage for workers, and a reevaluation of the role that the built environment has played in the systematic exclusion and marginalization of communities of color are all the result of collective political action and outrage. The development and expansion of the concept of allyship and solidarity should be viewed as fundamental components of the future we hope to build. This latest phase in the popular movement against the racist, sexist, and xenophobic foundations of American society has completely altered the political landscape in the country-for the time being. And it has caused the nation to take a long hard look at the fundamental racist nature of most of its institutions. However, there are two themes at play here, survival and hope. Those who don’t believe that our society needs a fundamental change and are looking for ways to hijack language and concepts in order to survive to make their modes of oppression more palatable and continue to exploit working class and poor people in this country. On the opposite side are people who believe that a better world is possible, their religion is hope. The keepers of the flame are not dismayed or discouraged by the continued aggression of the enemies of democracy and life nor the glaring absence of their supposed friends at the most crucial of times. Pessimism is not possible because their very lives depend on the issues they fight for. Decent and affordable housing, a living wage and

But if we have learned anything in the last year it should be that through collective action, we can overcome most things. The progress that has been made in fighting state violence carried out by the police and also our starting a new chapter in our discussion of race and oppression is proof of the inherent power of unity. The calls to defund police, the fight for a living

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spring


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