Glad to hear, Cheyenne. You're most welcome. I only hope that I can contribute in a small way here with my writing to pushing all of us in a positive direction.
Right on! I also would suggest that people are hungry for relationships with others who are sharing their horror and fear and rage about what is happening in our country now. But our culture of individualism and boot-strap coping is so strong that the very act of inviting friends to a circle of conversation may be a barrier for some. Interdependence, interconnection, interbeing are new ways of experiencing ourselves in the world, but perhaps this crisis will realign ourselves in this essential condition of existence.
Absolutely, Kathleen. The collective emotional processing of this gathering was really important, too. It helped us all feel a lot more grounded knowing that we all are prepared and ready to take action, together.
I threw this video together in light of current events in the USA. In this song by Brother Ali (a hip hop artist from Minneapolis) titled “Uncle Sam Goddamn” (from 18 years ago) he speaks to the realities of the statism, its systemic abuses and how murderous agents of the state are paid for with your taxes.
Slavery is making a comeback in the USA. I.C.E. detention centers are for-profit facilities that use torture and threats to induce forced labor to profit from human trafficking under the guise of “immigration enforcement”.
"This is a challenge to Biocentric readers: hold a gathering like this."
I'd go a big step further: after forming such a group, strive to form it into an actual physical group, an intentional community — ideally, at least a half-tank of gasoline from a population centre.
For roughly ~293,000 years, humans lived in groups of under about 150 individuals — the number of relationships any one of us can maintain.
Cities only happened when the invention of grain agriculture some 7,000 years ago brought excess food, and subsequent hoarding, withholding, hierarchy, riches and poverty, and power-over.
What we are seeing happen in the US right now is just the opening stanza to the collapse of civilization, as non-renewable resources go into permanent, irrevocable decline.
We've known this for 58 years! It's almost too late to begin working on it.
I agree that co-habitation alone won't solve anything, and that active resistance is important. Thus, my "half a tank away" criterion.
My approach has been purposeful isolation. We're at least four hours travel to a place as big as Reno. We are accessible only by water and air. When the ferries stop running, the "lightweights" will move away. It's an area with a thriving Indigenous culture.
People with empty bellies don't travel very far. Isolation lets you put more effort into survival, and much less effort into defence. Our defences are fjords and mountains.
Covid is still a very real threat. Meeting in person is dangerous without proper virus mitigations. Wearing a properly fitted N95 mask, open windows, and air purification must be utilized to keep everyone in the community safe😷
Thanks for sharing that, Jasmine. Personally, from my understanding of the science, those precautions might make sense today for high-risk people, when someone is known to be sick or exposed, or for those who can't get sick for one reason or another. But for many of us, the health benefits of community may actually outweigh the risks associated with higher disease transmission. Certainly, I think that organizing involves risk-taking, and in these times, that includes risk of disease alongside the risk of climate collapse, fascist and vigilante violence, repression, etc. etc. I haven't read the whole book, but from what I have, the recent book "In Covid's Wake" has some fascinating discussion of the trade-offs associated with various ways of managing the risk of the illness.
From my understanding of the science EVERYONE IS VULNERABLE TO COVID and LONG COVID. I can get you mountains of studies and numerous doctors, people with long covid, etc, to back me up. Gathering CAN BE DONE SAFELY. But the effort needs to be made to do so. I wouldn't dream of going anywhere in public without masking 😷 I don't want to get sick and I certainly don't want to get anyone sick.
I feel this article to be very timely, Max, as I have been chewing on similar thoughts- thank you for articulating these.
Glad to hear, Cheyenne. You're most welcome. I only hope that I can contribute in a small way here with my writing to pushing all of us in a positive direction.
Right on! I also would suggest that people are hungry for relationships with others who are sharing their horror and fear and rage about what is happening in our country now. But our culture of individualism and boot-strap coping is so strong that the very act of inviting friends to a circle of conversation may be a barrier for some. Interdependence, interconnection, interbeing are new ways of experiencing ourselves in the world, but perhaps this crisis will realign ourselves in this essential condition of existence.
Absolutely, Kathleen. The collective emotional processing of this gathering was really important, too. It helped us all feel a lot more grounded knowing that we all are prepared and ready to take action, together.
Below is an edited version of the music video for Uncle Sam Goddam by Brother Ali (the 2026 I.C.E. edition)
https://odysee.com/@recipes4reciprocity:e/Uncle-Sam-Goddam--Brother-Ali-%28the-2026-I.C.E.-edition%29:2?r=9aYZYgtj88xp74cHgKbsZBEYDSWij3Ec
I threw this video together in light of current events in the USA. In this song by Brother Ali (a hip hop artist from Minneapolis) titled “Uncle Sam Goddamn” (from 18 years ago) he speaks to the realities of the statism, its systemic abuses and how murderous agents of the state are paid for with your taxes.
Slavery is making a comeback in the USA. I.C.E. detention centers are for-profit facilities that use torture and threats to induce forced labor to profit from human trafficking under the guise of “immigration enforcement”.
https://theflaw.org/articles/migrant-bodies-as-commodities/
Brother Ali is great.
"This is a challenge to Biocentric readers: hold a gathering like this."
I'd go a big step further: after forming such a group, strive to form it into an actual physical group, an intentional community — ideally, at least a half-tank of gasoline from a population centre.
For roughly ~293,000 years, humans lived in groups of under about 150 individuals — the number of relationships any one of us can maintain.
Cities only happened when the invention of grain agriculture some 7,000 years ago brought excess food, and subsequent hoarding, withholding, hierarchy, riches and poverty, and power-over.
What we are seeing happen in the US right now is just the opening stanza to the collapse of civilization, as non-renewable resources go into permanent, irrevocable decline.
We've known this for 58 years! It's almost too late to begin working on it.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/looking-back-on-the-limits-of-growth-125269840/
That's an important way to address the crisis we're facing, too, Jan. Thanks for sharing it. I wrote about that topic in some detail here, in case you're interested: https://maxwilbert.substack.com/p/alternative-cultures-are-beautiful
I agree that co-habitation alone won't solve anything, and that active resistance is important. Thus, my "half a tank away" criterion.
My approach has been purposeful isolation. We're at least four hours travel to a place as big as Reno. We are accessible only by water and air. When the ferries stop running, the "lightweights" will move away. It's an area with a thriving Indigenous culture.
People with empty bellies don't travel very far. Isolation lets you put more effort into survival, and much less effort into defence. Our defences are fjords and mountains.
Covid is still a very real threat. Meeting in person is dangerous without proper virus mitigations. Wearing a properly fitted N95 mask, open windows, and air purification must be utilized to keep everyone in the community safe😷
Thanks for sharing that, Jasmine. Personally, from my understanding of the science, those precautions might make sense today for high-risk people, when someone is known to be sick or exposed, or for those who can't get sick for one reason or another. But for many of us, the health benefits of community may actually outweigh the risks associated with higher disease transmission. Certainly, I think that organizing involves risk-taking, and in these times, that includes risk of disease alongside the risk of climate collapse, fascist and vigilante violence, repression, etc. etc. I haven't read the whole book, but from what I have, the recent book "In Covid's Wake" has some fascinating discussion of the trade-offs associated with various ways of managing the risk of the illness.
From my understanding of the science EVERYONE IS VULNERABLE TO COVID and LONG COVID. I can get you mountains of studies and numerous doctors, people with long covid, etc, to back me up. Gathering CAN BE DONE SAFELY. But the effort needs to be made to do so. I wouldn't dream of going anywhere in public without masking 😷 I don't want to get sick and I certainly don't want to get anyone sick.