The Counterpublic Papers vol. 9 no. 12

A few weeks ago a friend reached out, asking what could be done inside and outside of the classroom. We still don’t know what’s coming, but we’re all being prepped for Day One violence of one kind or another. Here’s my attempt to do so. I may come back to this. Here are the assumptions I’m bringing to this.

First that we’re in a cold civil war. I’ve said and written this before, but it bears restating. 

Second, the enemy in this war is a transnational ethnocultural tendency backed by a combination of tech and fossil capital.  

Third, this conflict will last until the institutional conditions exist to transform the 50+1 election dynamic we’ve had over the past few cycles (the last time the presidency changed hands this often was the 19^th century) into something more durable. As many problems as I had with Biden and Harris, I do think that if we’d have gotten a second term out of them—a term which would’ve likely seen significant green investment in red states and regions—it would’ve significantly reduced the duration of this conflict. 

Fourth, this conflict will be waged not just on straightforward political terrain—in the electoral and legislative arena—but will be waged in every major American institution. 

Finally…and this is critical. We can win.

Reconstruction—which not only reconstructs the nation-state but also reconstructs what democracy means—happens after the Civil War. Jim Crow happens after the populist insurgency. The New Deal happens after the Great Crash. The Civil Rights Movement happens after WWII on one hand and during the Cold/Korean/Vietnam Wars on the other. 

We can win. But it requires that we take this moment seriously. 

‘…..

Now with all of this stated…what do we do?

First the micro.

Recognize that the feelings you have are real. For some of you this takes the form of grief, in some of you this takes the form of anger, for others some combination of the two. (I don’t have the range to consider other options, but I imagine there are other possibilities.) For me, it was grief and frustration.  Don’t put these feelings. Don’t ignore them. Acknowledge them. Articulate them out loud in one way or another. If you aren’t in spaces where you feel you can do this…put yourself in spaces where you can—even if those spaces are confined to your home.      

Then, understanding these feelings are real, create a practice that acknowledges these feelings exist and moves through them. What’ll likely happen starting in a couple of weeks, is that there will be so much shit thrown that our stress-levels spike. What happens will then bleed into your workplace (depending) and your home. Breathing or some sort of meditative practice will enable you to keep your head when all around you are losing theirs and blaming it on you. Even if it’s just a few minutes at the beginning or the end of the day. 

Your attention is one of the most important resources you have available to you at this moment. Change your media consumption habits (and your internet habits more broadly) to reflect this. You want to increase your awareness of what’s happening, while at the same time decreasing the hold Trumpian enshitification has on your attention.  Read some combination of local and national level newspapers that give accurate news…and then perhaps subscribe to a few publications/newsletters that gives you analysis you can falsify. Read just enough analysis to give you a sense of what’s going on. 

Then? 

Wean yourself off of everything that doesn’t connect you to other human beings. To the extent you use Facebook and the like to stay in touch with what your people are doing, use them….but only to that extent. I still use Facebook, but that’s largely because it gives me the opportunity to keep track of folks I care about, and gives me information about a few other things (recipes, math, card tricks, etc.). I sometimes post these newsletters there…sometimes I engage in political discussions with friends, but that’s about it. I’ve started having the equivalent of outside-of-the-office hours at Mama Koko’s here in Baltimore largely because it’s the closest thing to Detroit I’ve experienced here in some time, and it reminds me what I’m fighting for.     

Take this…opportunity (I need another word for “opportunity” but it’ll have to do) to get your time and attention back. 

(I understand that for a lot of folks, even a bit of news consumption can put you in a tailspin. I still haven’t gotten back to pre-election news consumption habits yet, so understand there’s a process to all of this. But paying attention, with an eye to facts can pay dividends. Paying attention will literally “re-mind” you. That this is all worth struggling for. That you aren’t alone. That even though this is the second time around they still don’t know what the fuck they’re doing. And they are neither a durable nor a coherent coalition—as I type this Steve Bannon is threatening to expel Elon Musk from the MAGA coalition within a week and a half.) 

Now moving from the micro, let’s move towards the meso.

Identify people, organizations, and struggles you can commit time to. 

And whether you’re in a metropolitan area or not do so in local communities. Where you have to see and break bread with people face to face. We don’t have Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, the national protests over Palestine, without robust organizing through social media platforms….but to build the type of coalition we need and stay rooted, we’re going to need to organize with each other in as close to real time and space as we can pull off. In and outside the workplace—this time around it looks like some of us won’t just be fighting to protect students, but also to protect ourselves. Folks in Baltimore have already begun organizing and I have to say that being in space with them, with people who are grieving themselves but are committed to struggling in solidarity? It’s done wonders for me. It’s reminded me of what’s possible. It’s reminded me of what’s needed. It’s reminded me of who I am. 

There’ve been all types of debates about the value of organizing solely or primarily on social media—in fact some don’t even think about this work as organizing at all. I don’t want to step into that debate, except to say that there’s something about being physically in community with one another that staves off doom loop scrolling, or troll fighting. 

I’m not going to focus on the macro here, both because that requires more space than what I have, but also because I know for me, it’s better to think about what I can do personally…and then what I can do here in Baltimore. I’ll turn to the macro soon enough. Just not today. 

See you on the other side.