freelansing in Seattle

The new regime now running our federal government has made clear its intentions: The strong should dominate the weak, those most powerful should punish those least powerful—trans people, immigrants, the poor, and other marginalized groups—simply because they can. The man with the greatest fortune declared that empathy for those less fortunate is a bug in the system that should be eradicated. No empathy, no mercy. Destroy everything that is good and kind and compassionate. Send innocent people to torture prisons abroad. Punish everyone you can and call it righteous justice.

This calls back to the very worst in human history when raw power and domination were all that mattered. A time when nobles dominated peasants, men dominated women, whites dominated blacks, when powerful nations conquered weaker neighboring nations simply because they could. Not a model for the future. We won’t go back.

I think about the social movements I’ve known in my life—social justice, peace, and environmental protection—and sometimes they blur together a bit. Don’t all boil down to opposing domination?

Social justice is about defying injustice. Injustice mostly boils down to the strong dominating the weak. Rich people over poorer people, white people over PoC, men over women, straight people over gay people, cis over trans, citizens over immigrants, and so on. All forms of violence and domination.

Peace movements are about opposing violence and war, which also often boil down to the strong dominating the weak: Israel over Gaza, Russia over Ukraine, US empire over most of the world. That violence is rooted in injustice.

Environmental protection is also required because of how the strong dominate the weak: Human civilization and technology against the whole living Earth. Humans destroy the habitats of fellow nonhuman beings, cause entire species to go extinct, and poison the land, air, and water, especially in vulnerable communities—it’s all violence and injustice.

Sometimes social justice, peace, and environmental protection all seem like the same thing—preventing the strong from dominating the weak.

To be clear, I’m not saying that we are weak—we who do not occupy the upper rungs of power in this system of domination. Individually, we lack power, but collectively we have a great deal of power when we build it strategically, stand together in solidarity, and don’t fall prey to simple divide-&-rule tricks by the dominant class.

No system of domination has lasted forever, however entrenched it may have seemed. People won’t stand for that shit. We won’t stand for that shit. Stand together, and we win. But don’t expect an easy battle. These bastards are playing for keeps.