The 1/13 Iskra - We Didn't Start The Fire

 

The 1/13 Iskra - We Didn’t Start the Fire

Goddamn. Thought we could get a little peace before the inauguration. Ya know, just a little reprise before the storm rolls in on us on Jan 20th. But no. No, Southern California, Los Angeles to be exact, caught on fire and is currently still burning. The latest updates for acres burned depend on the area of the fire itself. As of now the Palisades fire is 23,707 acres with 11% containment. It’s the biggest. The Hurst fire is 799 acres with 89% contained. Kenneth, Sunset, and the Lidia Fire are 100% contained at this time. At the time the death toll for the fires is at 24. Twenty-four people have lost their lives. At least two of the people tried to protect the homes where they raised families and lived for decades, while another stayed behind with his son who had cerebral palsy and could not evacuate. Tragedies - each of them. Unnecessary tragedies. The ultimate cost is lives of course, but along with loss of life is loss of property. They are saying this will be the costliest fire in known history - estimated at 20 billion. At least 10,000 structures have been destroyed. It's a catastrophic in loss of life and loss of personal property. 

What’s the acute cause? The micro cause? A mixture of an horribly dry period - downtown LA has only received 0.16 inches of rain since October - and powerful offshore gusts, the Santa Ana winds, have also created perfect conditions for the wildfires. That’s the ingredients LA had when something sparked. They don’t know the exact cause of the fire. It could be someone neglectful who let a fire get out of hand. It could be lighting. It could be arson. It could be utility lines. It could have been one of those godfuckingawful “gender reveal” bullshits. We will know in time as the firefighters investigate. But you want to get to the macro reason - the real fucking reason as to why Southern California is experiencing catastrophic wildfires? 

Climate change. 

Climate change is how this ultimately came about. Climate change brings about extreme weather conditions. The violent change in the Earth’s average temperature is wreaking havoc on Earth’s systems. The cause of climate change? Greedy filthy men. That’s the cause of climate change. Top contributors? It has been found that about one hundred companies are responsible for more than 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, since 1988 four companies have been the biggest emitters — ExxonMobil, Shell, BP and Chevron. The immeasurable greed of the men that run these companies is disgusting. They take and take from our Earth, then burn it, and then watch it burn. They don’t wonder why the world burns. They don’t wonder why the world drowns. They don’t wonder why record force hurricanes broil in the ocean. They don’t wonder why record droughts choke the Earth. They know. They know they’re the cause, but they can’t satiate their greed. They are poisoned in the patriarchy where nothing can satisfy them, and they consume more than they should. Never ceasing. Billionaires are truly our problem. They are the cause of climate change. They are the cause of our extreme weather. They are the cause of the LA wildfires this month. Capitalism and its thirsty billionaires destroying the only planet we got in this solar system. They are our enemy in the class war. They will sacrifice us,  the working class, to climate change (if we don’t do something). A few of them will start over on Mars after life dies out on Earth, and then they’ll all kill each other on Mars because billionaires are rotten inside, and that will be it for Earth humans. I’ll officially put it out there that I’m down for a more advanced species to please beam down and save us from the billionaire overlords and their governments.

I digress. 

Along with a huge chunk of America being on fire, and Trump lurking in the shadows of existence, the city I live in funded our racist police force with new ways to surveillance its citizens. Then I learned our democratic mayor is a centrist boot licker. All during a city council meeting Monday did these things occur. The post before this one there’s a recap from my perspective. It’s been a few more days since the whole occurrence, and the new revelation concerning our local government and its police force (which was all Gen X white men in the meeting) is like a “well, goddamn” moment. An arrow to the back sorta. Again, me and my privilege hiding under a rock. No more. 

There was a leftist sign/art making gathering at the union hall on Elm this past Saturday that was postponed due to inclement weather (for the foothills of the Appalachias 3+ inches of snow  is a state emergency) . We were to commune and make signs for the upcoming Trump/Billionaire oligarchy protest on Jan 20th downtown. Knoxville actually did a great job this snow go around. Roads were clear on Saturday due to pretreatment and snow plowing. I was glad for my tax dollars to pay for well planned emergencies when it comes to road management. Though highly disappointed that my city fails when it comes to taking care of its unhoused during these emergency circumstances. The city relies on churches and their volunteers instead of devoting tax dollars to caring for our most vulnerable. (Instead of 27 million to the fucking police to spy on us more we open resources in this city for our vulnerable.) Our city disappointments me. The corruption of greed runs deep in America. From the federal level oh so dark and deep to the sublevels like small cities where they think they’re shit don’t stink. I know I should have known. Shit, at least I know now. 

Times are dire y’all. When capitalism can no longer sustain itself it will burst like a boil into fascism. This is the path America is on. This oligarchy will only be able to sustain itself for a limited amount of time before it has to take away rights in order to sustain its reign. Trump and his douche canoes are coming. We live in a late-stage capitalism - a hellscape of sorts where a comparable country has a higher standard of living, lives longer, lives healthier, works less, travels more, blah, blah, blah. You know the drill. The majority of comparable countries have it better than here. Why Americans keep choosing to lick the boot of their oppressor I’ll never know. Or I’ll never believe anyway. It’s a difficult lick for me to grasp. To be able to care for one another with our taxes by building community homes, and growing community food, and funding community health care, not funding Israel in its genocide of Palestine. Billions we have sent to the Zionist government of Israel in bombs and missiles. It’s revolting. I’m fucking tired of the money that comes out each month going to things I hate and will never support. 

The hour draws nigh comrades.

Either annihilation or revolution. 

Change boils just below the surface. Violent change. 

We may or may not make it. 

It doesn’t matter. 

Just ride the current. 

See where it takes you. 

And know I’ve fucking got you, and I know you got me. 

comrade h