Hey reader – how’s your heart today? For many of us, I know this week has been painful and frightening.
From the overturning of Roe v Wade in the US, the shooting at an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Norway, to the continued raids and crackdown on climate protests in Australia – It’s been a heavy week.
Considering all this, I’ve been reflecting on sentiments from friends in the US who said that the Supreme Court had been bought, and therefore was for sale. Similar sentiments were made – on a different issue – back here in Australia, suggesting money was the answer we need.
These sentiments have merit. There is little doubting the influence of money in politics (no matter the country), and the role it has played in the rise of the far right.
The problem is in the solution though. As Audre Lorde famously wrote, “For the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change.”
Genuine change is not buying back our options. It’s a total revolution of values and systems.
To be clear, money isn’t a bad thing – it’s not the root of all evil, wealth is not the same thing as capitalism, and wielding it with power doesn’t lead to corruption (more on that in another email).
But we’re not dealing with a broken system – we’re dealing with systems that fundamentally were not designed for the wellbeing of all, and ‘buying’ our way to power is not enough.
We’re not looking to tweak the system – we’re looking to revolutionise it.
So, this week, while we find our footing, I want to offer some guidance to finding your most meaningful path to change.
1. Feel.
Love is a powerful foundation for activism. It is the essence of social healing, the heart of transformation.
But love without the containers of grief and rage is merely platitude.
Love engages all of our emotions – grief, wonder, joy, rage. There is no bypassing the messy, uncomfortable or painful parts.
Our grief and rage this week offer us a compass to where we best act, and we benefit from time to feel them.
Rushing to action – reacting to our emotions, and not responding to them – not only contributes to stress and burnout, but also to ineffective action. The compass, after all, can orient us to our journey, but it doesn’t tell us what to pack.
Take time to be present this week. To return to your body, to the wisdom of feelings, to let them guide you to response.
2. Vision.
We live in a world shaped by someone else’s imagination, and – very often – our wellbeing was often not included in that vision. It’s time to change that.
For too long the lie has been sold that “this is just the way the world is”, “people can’t change”, “power only corrupts”.
For too long we have been trapped in hustle culture, exhausted by capitalism, with little time to vision and dream of different ways.
Dreaming can also feel painful when it butts against the reality of the world.
Visioning, however, is a form of sovereignty, of conjuring, and resilience.
As you honour your feelings, trusting their compass, ask yourself: what is the world and outcome I desire here?
3. Organise.
The more just, regenerative world – the one that calls us from the stretches of our imagination – is not born through our purchasing power.
It requires collective organising.
Some of this organising will be in the form of mutual aid, to create support networks for those in need.
Some of this organising will be to disrupt – to vocally, publicly and courageously stand against injustice. To stop the machine in its tracks and empower others to join them in the disruption.
And some of this organising will be to build – to create the systems that stand when the current structures fall (and they will – history teaches us that all structures do).
Where is your compass guiding you?
4. Revolution is an Inside Job.
For all we work to change the structures and systems around us, we must also work to unpack our internalisations of the system (read: patriarchy, capitalism, supremacy culture). The inner work is where we learn to put down the masters tools.
As we rage, grieve, vision and organise for a better world, let us tend and heal the wounds these systems have left behind. May we plant tiny seeds of revolution within us, so that we embody the change we seek.
There’s no one way to change the world, and we should and can use our money to influence change. But the world we want isn’t for sale, so let us also use our head, heart and hands in offer this week.
As always – reach out, let me know how you’re doing.
Love & courage
Laura