by Jacob Richards
Everywhere you look you see Democrats and never Trumper Republicans getting on their knees to kiss the ring of our new king.
Polis praised RFK’s appointment.
ABC News just settled a lawsuit with Trump that they would have surely won.
Pelosi climbed out of her grave to block AOC’s appointment to be the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight committee instead seating a geriatric with terminal cancer.
Facebook, Toyota, and other large corporations have donated millions to Trump’s Inauguration.
Biden has done virtually nothing to childproof the government before Trump takes power, instead pardoning his son, carving up our spoils of war in Syria, and escalating the conflict in Ukraine.
Locally, Restore the Balance has no plan to resist the coming authoritarianism.
Step one is DON’T KISS THE RING!
Soon we will start to see local organizations preemptively fall in line and kiss the ring. Organizations will start to become less diverse; programming and positions will be self-censored.
The silence will be deafening as they come for our immigrant neighbors and our trans friends, but we must not remain silent.
We have a massively uphill battle to just keep our communities and families and selves safe, let alone make progressive change.
It is easy to feel adrift, and overwhelmed. Honestly, there are days that I feel more like a puddle than a human. Worry and fear are the enemies of progress, but action is the cure. Let’s get organized!
The good news is something is changing–bubbling up–taking form through myriads of unseen human interactions. People are meeting each other and connecting. People are finding organizations capable of resisting and joining them.
The Rev gets emails almost daily from people that have woken up to the reality that our capitalist politicians will not save us. The Dem’s have shown us that campaigns centered on candidates, and TV ads does not make a movement. and that we must do the hard thing ourselves–we must organize, and we must act. If we do the outcome is certain because when the people lead, the leaders, they have to follow.
There is a real grassroots movement in the making. Since the election we have met 100s of people.
“Welcome to the revolution! It was a pleasure to meet all of you!”
Today we have an opportunity to build the very thing needed to move the needle–a movement.
I have felt it before–the ground swelling.
I felt it in the lead up to the Iraq War, people came together and organized and fought and tried to keep us from going to war. When the bombs started falling in Baghdad the movement was smashed, then slowly it rebuilt itself as the war(s) dragged on.
I felt it when protestors took over Zuccotti Park, and launched the Occupy Wall St movement. People wanted in on the revolution–wanted the ‘change’ that Obama promised and never delivered on–wanted to see the banksters that caused the crisis behind bars not bailed out.
I felt it in the beginning of the pandemic, as people came together in that time of fear to sew masks, shop for neighbors, share resources at the Distro. The Facebook group Grand Junction Mutual Aid went from 50 ppl to 15,000 in a matter of days.
And I felt it after the police murdered George Floyd and the world was able to watch, and it shook with anger.
Today we must seize this momentum, build community and organization, and we must learn how to resist. And this time we need to build a base solid enough to not only survive the coming months and years, but to also start making progress towards a more just world.
When we launched as a regular publication in April we had goals. We quoted Abbie Hoffman, “if your scene doesn’t have a paper, you probably don’t have a scene together.”
We laid out our goals clearly. We seek “to be [the] backbone for radical movements for change on Colorado’s western slope. Send us your news and events. Help us build a ‘scene!’”
That is happening– a scene– a couple of scenes– a whole damn vin diagram is forming.
And the far-right are scared of it.
In December the far-right, Rocky Mountain Voice, attacked The Revolutionist. “In towns like Grand Junction and Fruita, socialist ideology is finding fertile ground in the form of The Revolutionist.” adding “The rise of The Revolutionist serves as a warning to Western Colorado conservatives.” We couldn’t agree more.
It’s cliche to say that a moment in time is ‘pivotal’ but the coming weeks, months and years truly are going to be pivotal. Let’s pivot together in 2025. Let’s keep our friends safe, Let’s remain fearless, and if we must let’s become ungovernable.
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