#organising

[sophie-frm-mars]

The Cass Review, and what we can do about it

The UK government is making decisive moves toward banning trans healthcare outright. The NHS says it is adjusting its policies to be in line with the "cass report", a pseudoscientific report written by a transphobe that goes as far as to claim that little boys playing with trucks and little girls playing with dolls is biological, and which disregards dozens of scientifically sound previous studies into HRT and trans healthcare in order to reach its conclusions that trans healthcare for under 25s should be radically changed to discourage transition at every turn and make it as hard as possible for young people to transition.

These moves will kill countless young trans people. I would not have made it to 25 if healthcare wasn't available and I know so many other trans people wouldn't have either.

The mainstream reporting in the UK is keeping itself ideologically cohesive by claiming that trans people exist, nobody hates them, and they're very rare, and the big problem is the explosion of new cases of not-really-trans people who are clogging up the system (this is a lie, the system has been intentionally slowed by malicious neglect, it isn't even a resource issue, the clinics have far more capacity than the number of patients who are let through)

Once again, this is genocidal and is actually a commonplace methodology of genocide. The nazis asked GRT people to help them understand which Traveller families were "real" travellers and which were the fake ones, since they insisted it was only the fake ones who were the problem and who had to be exterminated (because a lot of nazi GRT policy was based on American indigenous reservation policy).

Labour, the main opposiiton party in the UK, has announced it will "follow the Cass Report", and implement these restrictions on trans healthcare once in government.

For the survival of young trans people, robust community structures must be developed immediately.

Efforts to change the electoral situation will proceed at a snail's pace and will be entirely at the whims of what is politically expedient. It will turn around, but it will take a long time. At the voting level, everyone in the UK who cares about trans people needs to make it clear that they won't vote for Labour unless they reverse position on this, and to be clear about this: Labour will not listen. They are PR Brained Psychopaths and they don't want to get into this "controversial" issue in a way that might cost them further popularity and the easy election win.

Wes Streeting, inhuman lab experiment and Labour Shadow Health Secretary has said that activists need to "stop protesting to ask us to be better opposition and start protesting to ask us to be better government", in other words their electoral promises are cynical reactionary bargains and deals to get them into power and the only point at which they will change anything is once they are in government, if at all. I know this sounds very "push Biden left" but I'm not saying give up now - to repeat, everyone who cares about trans people in the UK should tell Labour to get fucked right away, and then keep doing it as loudly as possible, but it's just not going to change until after the general election at least.

Another way to help could be through legal routes, like the work that The Good Law Project has been doing for trans people for several years now, but I don't know enough about the law to know if it can be used to challenge this at all.

We have to accept there is no electoral solution right now to this genocidal campaign against trans people in the UK, and while those efforts are ongoing trans people and cis allies need to fucking organise. Trans exclusive / separatist organising is riddled with issues, I don't want to cast hopelessness around but there are really very few of us and while it's absolutely necessary to privilege trans voices in trans organising and give us the deciding power and the autonomy, we need to utilise the support and time and labour of every cis person who is willing to help in whatever way they can.

Robust community structures means community structures that are helping young trans people get healthcare as an absolute basic starting point, but it means a lot more than that besides. We need community structures that are consciously organised by people who are taking responsibility for the community roles they are in and being completely explicit with each other about the nature and function of their organising. We need HRT community resources so young trans people can survive this medical segregation, we need drug user harm reduction spaces so that what people turn to in despair doesn't kill them, we need sober spaces so that people can get away from unhealthy coping responses, we need conflict resolution structures so that our problems are dealt with privately and nobody is left completely isolated, but more than any of those things, and in order to have all of those things, we desperately need trans assemblies

Assemblies are how we will get a community of robust radical organisers, because only by repeatedly practicing the ongoing process of democracy can people learn how to do it in a way that will facilitate their own organising. We have to empower the whole community to answer our own questions, come up with solutions, organise people into structures to enact those solutions and then do them. All this means is that an open door event convenes frequently (at least fortnightly) to discuss what is happening in the community. Trans people get the mic for allotted time, and discuss the issues, and then whatever voting structure the assembly uses facilitates further discussion, for example through working groups - the assembly breaks into smaller groups to discuss the topic and then representatives report the outcomes of those discussions back and consensus is reached from what the representatives report.

We have to get people engaging in this process because in order to effectively combat this situation trans people must agree on the solutions and then tell cis allies how to help and so far we haven't been doing that. We really really haven't been. But we could be with a little work. And as I'm saying, doing this will also empower everyone in the community to organise toward specific solutions for specific issues like HRT provision, sober spaces, housing, food, etc.

fuck

I'll have more to add to this post later I have to get to therapy I just got really mad when I saw the news this morning

[sysy-studyblr]

saturday 28/10/23

shawdies i’m sorry i been gone. four hour daily german is killing me. i’m in A2 now, and i need to start getting more energy to get work done after class. today i just passed out. like gymming 5 days a week and 9am classes is mad exhausting but i’m good!

♫ feel so good - mase ♫

[probablyasocialecologist]

The forces that oppress us may compete and make war with one another, but when it comes to maintaining the order of capitalism and the hierarchy of white supremacy, they collaborate and work together based on their death-making and eliminationist shared interests. Oppressed people, on the other hand, often demand ideological alignment or even affinity when seeking to interrupt or upend structural violence. This tendency lends an advantage to the powerful that is not easily overcome. Put simply, we need more people. What do we mean by this? We are not talking about launching search parties to find an undiscovered army of people with already-perfected politics with whom we will easily and naturally align. Instead, organizing on the scale that our struggles demand means finding common ground with a broad spectrum of people, many of whom we would never otherwise interact with, and building a shared practice of politics in the pursuit of more just outcomes. It’s a process that can bring us into the company of people who share our beliefs quite explicitly, but to create movements, rather than clubhouses, we need to engage with people with whom we do not fully identify and may even dislike. We can build upon our expectations of such people and negotiate protocols around matters of respect, but the truth is, we will sometimes be uncomfortable or even offended. We will, at times, have to constructively critique people’s behavior or simply allow them room to grow. There will be other times, of course, when we have to draw hard lines, but if we cannot organize beyond the bounds of our comfort zones, we will never build movements large enough to combat the forces that would destroy us.

[aeolianblues]

okay with now twenty five years of wisdom I’ll tell you the secret to making it in a non-traditional/creative field, or perhaps really even any field for that matter, as told by someone who has now realised they are twenty five and have absolutely not made fuck-all anywhere: you cannot get disheartened. It’s a labour of love not only on what you do, but also in who will support you.

You know that XKCD meme about the entire internet resting on the shoulders of one single open source library developed by a single developer in their free time at home? Most movements are propped up on the shoulders of a small handful of passionate people who genuinely care about what they’re doing.

Take care of yourself, and take care of their sanity and yours. If you truly care, you simply have to get good at not getting disheartened when you realise that most people do not give a fuck, and that most scenes are propped up by a few people with little to no resources.

It’s not going to be the people in positions of authority or relative power who will support your work with resources. You’ll be very lucky if they do. At most someone might drop you the money to do what you wish. Making it come true unfortunately, is up to your little troupe. Do not expect any more than you know you can get. It will only lead to disappointment.

You are not special of course, bubbles of burgeoning culture have cropped up before you and have died uneventful deaths. But the fact that you are playing even a small part in your era is huge. Whether you’re pioneering post-modern postmodernism or setting up a new way of involving kids in youth theatre. Whether you’re starting a local punk scene or rallying every furry online. You are part of something that you believe in. It will never have gone to waste. Your efforts will always have mattered. It doesn’t matter if the whole world doesn’t know. Those who you created an opportunity for, will know and care. And they will never forget you.

Sometimes you don’t know what you have laid down the foundations for. Things take time and patience. Sometimes things you wish you could be around for will happen when you’ve moved on from them. Know what you did. You did good.

Never forget why you started doing something. Let that be the principle that guides you. The path may change, you must be flexible too; you’d know a thing or two about unpredictability in unorthodox feields anyway. Accept the happy accidents, and let the greater good that set you on your path guide you. Don’t lose sight of it.

Oh, and probably most importantly? It’s okay if it fails. For the time that it existed, your efforts were glorious and will have touched people’s lives in intangible little ways that you may never get the chance to know. And so I’m telling you. Your efforts matter. Your impact on your surroundings can never be erased. Keep working.

[shego1142]

Okay so… I don’t really want to make this post, mostly because I feel like I’m always the one wearing tin foil hats on tumblr

But listen… I understand being upset and sad and afraid right now

But yall some of these posts are going beyond doomerism

Some of these posts

A lot of these posts, actually

Look quite a bit like demoralisation

So many of these posts I’ve seen look very much like purposeful targeted demoralisation

And I do hope everyone can understand very quickly how bad demoralising people right now is.

I do hope everyone can very quickly understand just how much people in power stand to gain from demoralising us.

I mean, you know, not that I’m saying that there’s a psyop taking place on the website that has routinely had multiple proven right wing/conservative/white supremacist psyops take place or anything

You know, that would be bonkers.

But all of these blogs out here saying that everything is hopeless and nothing will ever get better and we are all doomed and we should just tear each other apart and play the blame game?

That’s a little fishy.

Especially given that now more than ever is a time to stand with one another and hold on to hope and start organising together.

All of these blogs just blind faith accepting the election results as they are and not even considering any bad acting is at play? Just rolling over without any hint of a fight and implying that everyone else has to as well?

That’s a little fishy.

Especially given that:

The election results are not certified until December 25th and the House and Senate do have the power to object to the electoral college votes (especially if enough pressure is put on them to do so)

Especially given that it took a long time before we were sure who won in the last presidential race and it looked like Trump had won that first week back then too

Especially given that Kamala Harris’ Concession speech is not legally binding, and if it is found out between now and December 25th that she has won, then that will still be considered a legal win.

Especially given that many states, including battleground states, are already doing a recount and many more states are presumed to follow (So far Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Nevada are recounting the ballots and Arizona and Texas are considering)

Especially given that there has already been proven minimal forms of tampering with the election process including multiple burnt absentee ballot boxes, bomb threats at polling places, as well as just plain human error whether malicious or benign.

So… you know… anyone posting on here saying that hope is dead and that we should all hate each other and everyone should just fuck off and stop caring about everything and stop supporting each other?

That seems a little bit fishy, doesn’t it?

That seems a little bit fucking sus, doesn’t it?!

Especially given that, even after all is said and done, even if he 100% did win and there’s no doubt that it’s legitimate

He’s still being sued for multiple charges and violations of conduct, he could still end up in jail

Especially since even if he doesn’t, even if he is sitting as acting president one January:

We have 2 and 1/2 months to mobilise

2 and 1/2 months to organise

Sure would be convenient for Trump and the 1% and the right wing pundits to make everyone feel like everything is hopeless and tragic and to pit leftist against democrats and what not

Sure would be useful to them if we were all just sad and hateful to each other these next coming months

Like I’ve seen many posts tying to do.

You can feel your feelings but if you start advocating for us to attack one another, for women to fight and hate leftist men who voted for Kamala, for black people to fight and hate other people of color, for leftists to hate democrats for not “going far enough” and for democrats to hate leftists for “going too far”

And all this bullshit in-fighting

I’m just going to assume you’re a bad actor and block you

This isn’t the time for the blame game, there’s no fucking one to blame other than Trump and most likely Elon Musk’s money.

Now isn’t the time to give a shit about why the election results are what they are.

Now is a time to stand together, united, to make our communities better, safer, sanctuaries.

Now is the time to talk to one another, to not strive for perfection but for safety.

Call your representatives

Get your passport

Print out as many copies of books (especially banned ones) as possible and fill your local little libraries with them, fill it with zines about community building too,

Check out these links:

Talk to the queers and the people of colour and the disabled people in your community

Book a meeting room in your local library

Talk to your librarians, talk to your teachers and health care workers

Talk to your local conservationists.

Don’t just talk to leftist spaces either, remember:

There is Power in Making Friends, Not Winning Battles - reach out to your community and find out what the real issues are, it’s very rarely actually just hate, it’s usually fear and poverty.

Do nice things for your community in the name of Queerness - in some places you can adopt a road and make it beautiful, so this with a group of queer friends and get a plaque that says “This Road Was Adopted by The Queer Community”

Get together with your minority friends and figure out how to open a soup kitchen (easiest than you think and registering as a non profit is actually a great way to stay safe for many reasons)

Have your community see you as a part of it, not a threat to it.

Speak at schools

Fundraiser for the library

If you’re included to do so, you could partner with different religious groups as well, especially since there are in fact religious groups that are inclusive and welcoming and supportive.

Make your community know that the “threat” of the “lgbtqia” is non-existent

Don’t make yourself less queer, less a person of colour, less disabled, etc, don’t fade into the background

Become a shining beacon of positivity and goodness that everyone in your community can see as an asset to the community.

Give back more than you e ever gotten.

I know how difficult that can be but trust me, it will be worth it. Work with the leaders in your community to lobby for more rights just in your town and then you can lobby for more rights in your state.

Just like how many states have now said that if Trump tries to do mass deportations they will stop him, work to create that solidarity within your own communities.

Do not sit quietly in fear doing and saying nothing but hopeless things for the next two months.

Do not let anyone convince you that it’s over.

Do not become another statistic.

[marxist-lelouchist]

[ukrfeminism]

Update

In brilliant news, I’ve recovered access to my messages and inbox, which means I can now resume using this blog as it was originally intended - to organise for the UK radblr community!

Less brilliant, I have lost any messages or asks that were sent to me in the period I didn’t have access. If you have contacted me at any point since the start of June, please reach out again and I’ll be happy to help.

And of course - if you are interested in meeting other radical feminist/rad leaning women near you, reach out, and we can start planning meetings!

[anarchistfrogposting]

You mind elaborating on how to find and connect to our communities? Some of us are hermits and don't know how to do that stuff.

I think the best thing to do is to look online for projects in your local area that need volunteers. There are often community gardening projects, book exchanges, food banks or mutual aid funds that need extra hands. Doing this is praxis in itself, but you’re also really likely to meet folks on a similar political wavelength if you help for long enough, and they can often help you find interest groups/local parties/activist organisations that it might not be as easy to find in an online search.

If you don’t spend a lot of time outside (outside is scary, I get it), it can help to do small scale stuff with friends to dip your toes in the water a bit. The folks that are battle hardened, fervent activists have years of experience of small stuff like that under their belt. Some start in uni, some start as early as secondary school, some start when they’re aching and greying; some people have just always existed in closer proximity to those circles. The big thing is to pick a fight that matters to you right now and resolve to do something about it in your spare time.

[tlisie]

hi. here's my digital "archive"

[mintystudies]

Minty's Study Tip - No. 6

If you ever feel super overwhelmed and cannot work out how much time you should be spending on each subject then use this handy tip!

So I have five subjects and I worked it out like this. I allotted 20% of my time to each subject, then I considered whether these splits made sense, was I as good at Biology as I was at English? No I wasn't, so I took five percent off of English and allotted it to Biology, then I kept doing this until all the splits made sense!

[tips-from-a-tech-worker]

Working on a zine series...

So far I have completed one entry and am well on the way through making the second. Thought I'd post them here for feedback, but also just to share them around.

Organising 101: Mapping: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pw-qCwhI-tfURKlRopPCdKcAKvnWIJEDgdooX22V078/edit?usp=drive_link

Organising 101: Talking to co-workers: https://docs.google.com/document/d/14bwTNW_UqZ3Uf12ugcSjS6AUWcmL398Y_QoNE1bbFak/edit?usp=sharing

Let me know what you think!

Additionally, I am currently without a job, and if anyone wants to send me a little something something as a tip.. I wouldn't say no to it..

[oklemmetrythis]

Day 23

aired out the flat, went shopping and realized that one of my favourite shops will close at the end of the year, but got a good deal on some metal baskets I can use for my tea and spices, had nice cake and (surprisingly strongly alcoholic) mulled wine at a café (don't worry, I did not drive, I took the bus)

Time: 5h

Media: local Radio Station

[kropotkindersurprise]

How out of touch can you possibly be when you say a good way to start doing praxis is look for local groups? That might work if you lived in a big ass city, but many people don't. Hell, there aren't even demonstrations where I live if im not doing them. You anarkiddies talk about the working class, but you have no connection to or knowledge of the working class outside of your local area 💀

Sometimes people live in different conditions or different places than you. I know this must be confusing for you, but its true.

It sounds like you live somewhere like antarctica, or perhaps the sahara desert, where there are no near-by cities or towns at all. In that case it would indeed be a better idea to start your own group without checking, I agree. In many other places if you look around you will find other leftists already organising near you, even if its just small groups.

But seriously, OBVIOUSLY the first thing you do when you start being interested in organising is looking for local groups. And then by looking you might find out there are no local groups, or that they used to exist but are no longer active. This might mean you can contact people from previously active groups, or that you need to start your own new one, but then you actually know, and can connect to local historical struggles possibly. Often you dont have to invent the wheel of left-wing organisation all by yourself.

I'm not saying you should expect to find antifascists or communists or anarchists in the closest small town to you, but for most people there will be SOME kind of organisation in the closest medium-sized town to you, either now or historically.

What an incredibly weirdly passive-aggressive message.

[lesbiansandgayssupporttheminers]

This is a memorial from Roussay on Orkney to James Leonard, an early tennant organiser. He was ultimately evicted from his land by the infamous landlord Frederick William Traill-Burroughs. Following his eviction, three of his children died of diphtheria. But his work in organising the tennants and giving evidence to the Scottish government ultimately got more protections for the crofters and may have helped prevent other clearances on Orkney.

Despite this he failed to win protection in time for the crofters of Roussay, and the island's population has gone from over 1000 at the time of the clearances to less than 100 today.

James Leonard's words still ring true today: "I am prepared to speak the truth and will not be cowed by landlordism" and "We are under the despotism and terror of the landlord and we want that removed ; even though I should fail in this battle, I will fight it out."

Today, James Leonard's farm stands derelict, and the land he rented unfarmed. Meanwhile, Burrough's grand house was gutted by a fire in the 1980s and also currently stands empty.

[saskia-mae]

monthly reset

hi everyone! since it’s the end of the month, i thought i’d tell you what i do at the end of every month, to prepare for the new month :)

brain dump tasks for the month ahead

this includes any events I have, such as a party, someone's birthday, important deadlines or exam dates, as well as the revision I want to get done in the month.

organise my calendar

i use multiple calendars to keep myself organised. first, i use ical and a physical calendar for birthdays and parties/events. then I use google calendar to time block my week out, adding in when I'm at school, my morning routine, study sessions, workout sessions and my free time. to organise my revision, I have a separate monthly study planner from emmastudies.com that I fill out. i have this above my desk on my corkboard, which helps me to know what revision I have to do on any given day.

set goals

to do this i look at my yearly goals (which i have on my yearly notion page), and then i decide how my yearly goal can be broken down into an achievable yet challenging monthly goal. for example, one of my yearly goals this year is to learn german, so one of my recurring monthly goals is to do german on duolingo daily. as I'm doing my a levels this year, my german study isn't too intensive, but once I've sat my exams in the summer I'll increase how much I study german.

tidy my environment

to bring in the new month it's super important to have a clean and tidy environment. for me, this means clearing any clutter off my desk, vacuuming my bedroom, cleaning my windows, windowsill, mirror and makeup brushes. i also like to tidy my clothes shelves and make sure everything is folded nicely, as well as my underwear and socks in my drawers. don't forget to change your bedsheets as well!

self-care

my favourite thing to do is have an everything shower and do my skincare routine, so I can get into my nice fresh bed all clean :) I also love to go to bed a little bit earlier than I usually do, and read for a little while before going to sleep.