We are all books waiting to be read

An Essay By Story

What is happening: a developing and chaotic situation 

As of writing this it’s 8:34 pm 3/13/20 my school has shut down after all other educational classes have taken suite and shut down as well. I’m honestly not surprised that it took my school about maybe a week or two to close a school over a natural virus [1], It’s strange to me as a student and as part of a community of students as to why not cease and change operations earlier especially when schools make money off of us attending [2] thus making them dependent on said money [2.1]. This creates a moral dilemma which our schools constantly work to try and solve for us (through union meetings, strikes, flyers, and pamphlets, etc. trust me I have been there with my mom, the representative for her school in UTLA)  ‘What is more important: the profits of our schools? Or the people that depend on it to learn, nurture and grow?’. To the people in power (principals, health officials,etc.) it’s both and if anything I find this interesting situation for folks with mental illnesses and neurodiversity like me because now people are talking about the issues that Plague marginalized communities like lack of necessary needs [3] [3.1]. 

Yet I must also ask a very important question: Why are we only taking our disabled friends like me and others into consideration now only when it’s convenient?! [4] I think that a massive part of this is due to the fact that ableism is heavily normalized within society [4.1] [4.2] [4.3] and education [4.4] [4.5] [4.6]. This makes me even more angered when I take into account the fact that people with disabilities get harassed and bullied more than their able-bodied peers in all educational levels [5] [5.1] [5.2] I cannot even begin to talk about the number of times I have been called ableist slurs or how my able-bodied peers use said terms and normalize the pain and suffering people like me and others have gone through! I may not have autism but, I have ADD, GAD, MDD, and mild cerebral palsy and it’s very angering to see people especially those around you that don’t have to deal with first-hand harassment of being neurodivergent [5.3] This is made even worse when the majority of my closest friends are people who have some form of neurodiversity or oppression forced on them (including myself) [6] as this chaotic situation develops we should work together to make sure that we can learn [7] and continue to learn and nurture one another to the best of our abilities and create mutual aid and solidarity within this difficult time we are all facing!

Xenophobia and Racism: Sad intersections that must be dismantled 

Since plagues have happened we have always been finding ways to distract ourselves and blame it on something else. This distraction is very apparent with ‘Crisis Capitalism’ [1] [1.1] (when corporations make profits off of human suffering and disaster [1.2] [1.3] [1.4]). Since the COVID-19 outbreak we have not only seen conspiracy theories [2.1] [2.2] though biological warfare has been used since the 18th Century and beyond [3] which is a repeat of racist, xenophobic, colonialist ideals recent examples include the Trump regime using COVID-19 as a form of keeping Xenophobia alive and well in u.s.a political climate [4] [5] blaming a natural virus by naming it “Wuhan Virus” or “Foreign Virus” is the GOP making use of making a pandemic a tool of biological warfare and psychological warfare around the world, other examples include how the United States has restricted international travel [6] [7] [8] one can say that this is a form of protection against any more cases but, can be easily dismantled by the fact that before Trump declared these travel bans, numerous domestic cases of COVID-19 had already been declared [9] [10]. Anarchists are responding to this crisis with solidarity across the non-existent borders [11] as collectives help those devastated and vulnerable [12] and due to crisis capitalism attempting to bury us in fear we see marginalized communities fighting back and helping each other [13] [14] [15]. How do we expect survival when the systems we are forced to require the subjugation of human beings? I don’t know yet since the creation of capitalism in the 17th century we’re still able to make alternatives and live more dynamically and lovingly without coercion or exploitation even now [16] [17] [18] [19].

Community, Especifismo, and Solidarity in terrifying times

Community and mass movements are important for any relationship or revolt to survive [1] we need unity [2], spaces where we can build mutual aid, solidarity, radical education, and active consent and revolutionary love [3]. Anarchism is a political philosophy that stresses constantly changing [4] and it takes many forms in our everyday lives [5] [6].

 I stress this specifically because if we want to survive pandemics [7], neoliberal capitalism [8], environmental collapse [9], and the rising tide of Nationalism and Fascism [10] [11] [12] [13] [13.1]. If we want to continue living and making a better world then, we can take lessons from growing movements like The Care Strike [14] [14.1] which empathize using tactics from Anarchism and anarcho-syndicalism [15] instead of waiting and watching silently as the government fails us [16] and pivots focus on the ruling class that owns the majority of the stock market [17] [18] instead of focusing on things like the college debt crisis [19] [19.1], Medicare For All [20] [20.1], and Housing Insecurity [21] [21.1] [22].

Since we’re living in a time where shelves are getting emptied due to panic buying [23] (this is what capitalists call “socialism” [24] [24.1] [24.2] despite Crisis Capitalism creating said shortages of necessities [25]). If we want to survive then we should take a step back, take a deep breath, and realize that if we want to make it through this we have to build each other with love, education, and autonomy but, also build community unity and mass movements and groups to help nurture one another with solidarity, constant support, and revolutionary relationships [26] [27] [28].