It's been a dark few months for my corner of the world, and not just because I'm north of the 49th parallel. I was laid off in December, towards the beginning of what's a continuous stream of layoffs from companies with more money than I will see if I live to be a thousand. There's been a lot of good posts about how these layoffs happen, their callousness and unjustifiable destruction of lives. Capital his taken a ship that hit a gentle swell and tossed a thousand of us overboard, claiming they're barely staying afloat.
I don't want to talk about that.
In November of 2016, I was lying in a bed recovering from major surgery. I was quite literally helpless as I saw a fascist ascend to the highest seat of power. We all had to decide how we would go forward. Some people went "black pill," deep into cynicism such that they could never be hurt. But I chose, and still choose, to believe that a better world is possible.
You see, at the end of the day, a lot of people really like the work they do, they're proud of it, and they don't need the duress of capitalism to do it. Pilots will still want to fly, writers will still want to write, nurses will still look after the sick. Nobody gets a degree in journalism because they think it will bring them riches. Quite the opposite!
Capital knows these drives exist, that people want to be good, and it exploits them. When nurses in the UK strike because they see a system falling apart, they're called greedy. When game development burns out an artist on eternal crunch, they find another wide-eyed graduate to take their place. Thousands of unpaid culinary interns are building fruit beetles because they want to be chefs.
One of my favourite tweets says:
"rich kids being able to do art for a living may be a reflection of their privilege but it seems to me like a reflection of the fact that a human that doesn't have to worry about money will often choose art."
The building blocks of a better world are already there. People's wants and desires are twisted by capitalism but they are not the result of them. There's no such thing as unskilled labour. We want to make the best game you've ever seen, we want to make the best burger you've ever tasted, we want to heal those who are hurt.
The billionaires of the world think everyone is like them: selfish and greedy, isolated and cruel. But that's why we can win: we're not. We don't need to fight each other for the last crumb. By trusting that our comrades will have our backs, we can turn on our plutocrats and seize what they've stolen.
At the last-ever Alterconf, I gave an impromptu closing statement. I paraphrased The Adventure Zone and said "you're going to fight, and you're going to win." I still believe that. I think I always will.
