onoira [they/them]

a lumpen creature trying their best between constant crises

  • 2 Posts
  • 18 Comments
Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: January 14th, 2024

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  • all the people in my life are libbrained. they agree with almost everything i believe in but then instantly forget every conversation we ever have and go on believing and acting the same way they always have. their entire concept of geopolitics is flag emoji bashing into each other and making SWOOOSH and CRASH sounds. they treat it like a team sport. casualties are just numbers on a scoreboard. it’s all just a game to them.

    there are a few of them who are aware of how politically uneducated they are, and they’ll come to me with questions, which they insultingly open with some variation of ‘so i get the impression you’re not the biggest fan of capitalism’ (DO YOU NOT REMEMBER A SINGLE FUCKING CONVERSATION WE’VE EVER HAD???). and i’ll answer directly and briefly, with links to more information. they never look anything up on their own. and then they come back a month later about how ‘someone who used to be my friend who went to Harvard said you’re wrong. thoughts?’ and i tell them to kick rocks and go back to rotting in their bingbingwahoo and superhero slop.

    my local orgs are trapped in a sectarian stalemate; too busy fighting with each other. the paths toward effective action are all criminalised, so organising has been limited. i’m mostly stuck doing small things here and there with radlibs. all ‘above board’ of course.

    the job i’ve trained for / done my whole life has been outsourced. i’m blacklisted in my industry and need to re/upskill thanks to “AI”, with no support. (not that there’s any jobs available anyway; there isn’t.) i might get deported. my trump card is playing into my disability, which sacrifices my agency and belonging for being permanently isolated but almost never having to worry about being homeless again. i’ve been on the streets twice; i don’t think i can do it again at my age.

    i’m just so fucking done with it all. idk i’m writing this mostly to scream into the void.









  • i have two minimums: the socialist minimum (the broad front; groups i’d act together with), and the libertarian socialist minimum (groups i’d organise with).

    the socialist minimum is:

    1. social ownership
    2. internationalism
    3. critical theory

    if you aren’t for the negation of capitalism, private property, nationalism, imperialism and false consciousness: you’re not a socialist; you’re not a comrade.

    the libertarian socialist minimum is:

    1. horizontalism
    2. self-determination
    3. prefiguration

    if you aren’t for direct action and free association, or your means don’t match your ends: you’re not an anarchist; you’re not a friend.

    i identify with social anarchism because it describes my approach to life, but i’ll broadly advocate for anything matching my libertarian minimum, and more broadly lend (critical) support for anything matching my socialist minimum.


    within this frame, i feel that Zohran is a socialist (public utilities, social housing, city-owned grocers, BDS; a focus on improving the material conditions), but the focus on state-mediation (ex. rent control) over dual-power (tenant unions) makes me feel — aside from tugging the Overton window — that he’s more focused on relieving people than empowering them.


  • Also the sight of a so-called “socialist” or “radical” government managing capitalism, imposing cuts, breaking strikes and generally attacking its supporters will damage the credibility of any form of socialism and discredit all socialist and radical ideas in the eyes of the population. If the experience of the Labour Government in Britain during the 1970s and New Labour after 1997 are anything to go by, it may result in the rise of the far-right who will capitalise on this disillusionment.

    • see also: the Italian general election of 1921, and the weak liberalism it brought, which led to the Fascist March in 1922, which led to Mussolini.
    • see also: most governments in Europe right now.




  • is this all there is? /rh

    in Europe all i ever seem to meet are:

    • ‘communists’: chauvinistic pensioners, or uni trots selling newspapers
    • ‘syndicalists’: workaholic labour aristocrats and manscapers
    • ‘anarchists’: teenage punkers

    i’m either too old or too young to hang with any of these groups, and every year i get badjacketed because i wear a mask or have a ‘funny’ accent. i spent most of today having my fashion sense and diction mocked by 80 year old crackkkers. [nb my keyboard is broken and typed the three k’s itself. i’ve unlocked Maoist English autocorrect on my pc.]

    all the local orgs are either clandestine anarcho-nihilists, or radlibs adopting revolutionary language but whose praxis begins and ends at petitions and performative protests.