The 1/27 Iskra - Inside the Storm

 The 1/27 Iskra - Inside the Storm

The storm has been gathering for months. We’ve all watched as it’s brewed on the horizon from a distance. We’ve been preparing as best we can for this storm. But now that it’s here I’m not sure we could have ever done enough to get ready for what fascism is. One’s mind can only blow up so many times in a week, and I’m pretty sure we’re getting ready to find the limit on how many times one’s mind can blow up this week with the atrocities that come from forty-seven and his douche canoes. 

I don’t have the mental fortitude to dive into the literally hundreds of executive orders forty-seven signed. I don’t have the mental fortitude to list all the blunderous bullshit that has flowed from his oral cavity these past four days. I can’t read them again. I can’t explain how fucking stupid, and racist, and transphobic, and classist the shit him and his douche canoes are putting out there is. If you cannot see between the lines of the orders he signed there is no hope for you. If you cannot see fascism is here then there is no hope for you. You love that boot on your neck, and you love licking it like it’s the last thing you’ll ever do. You’re hopeless. And I’m giving up on you. Really I don’t know why I was even thinking I could show you how desperately cruel, and close minded, and hateful you are being. 

I do want to talk about one thing though. That’s Elon and his nazi salute. Or as the Republicans like to call it “his awkward gesture”. No honey. It wasn’t an awkward gesture. The Germans, who have the authority on the nazi salute, said it was indeed a nazi salute. Then to seal the deal on the nazi salute, just in case there was a bit of doubt, Elon then attends (via zoom or something) a far-right gathering in Germany. A gathering calling for the removal of immigrants (among other far right ideologies). Sound familiar? Elon is becoming a global face of the oligarchy and fascism. Those folks I see making excuses for his nazi salute is what pushed me over the edge when it comes to social media this week. Those on the right I used to be facebook friends with posted photoshopped pictures of Democrats with their hands raised in a nazi salute fashion. It was a far reach. But the fact that they wanted to take up for this billionaire literally doing a nazi salute was all I could take. 

That brings me to this paragraph. Social media. There’s a lot going on around social media at this hour. The fact that part of the oligarchy owns the two major social media platforms (insta and facebook) is a major blow to how we connect and get our news. Then there’s tiktok, which after it had its few hours of down time, and then after that came back all weird. I know there have been protest going on around the world when it comes to forty-seven getting elected, but why the fuck aren’t they in my feed? My fyp should be blowing up with this. This is the stuff that my feed, of all feeds, should be showered with. Alas, it’s not. Not a damn protest showed up on my fyp. I found out from American users giving accounts of those other countries protesting. Then I had to go dig on my own to find out about these protests. Not insta, not facebook, and not even tiktok had the balls to show me what’s really going on in the world. It’s buried with bullshit like renaming the Gulf of Mexico or Mount Denali. Smoke screens. There are other platforms growing as I type this. Blusky is a twitter type platform that seems to be growing, but  their privacy is lacking, and of course they’re still a baby so it’s got to grow some to be an effect platform. I’ve also recently joined substack. I don’t know a lot about this platform. I think it’s more for long form posts - kinda like the ones I post here - so I’m not sure how much use I’ll get out of it when it comes to me sharing, but I do plan on reading some that come through there. Then there is Xiaohongshu, or rednote, which I joined the second tiktok crashed. I love seeing another culture - especially a culture that the American government has tried to vilify. Xiaohongshu has definitely brought new perspectives on life in America. I’ll be sticking around on that platform, but not posting much, just watching. 

I’m keeping all my social media accounts (for now). I have tightened my privacy settings. I have removed “friends” who I know voted for forty-seven. And ya know, I thought that by deleting my “friends” who voted for forty-seven would caused me to be living in an echo chamber, but I know now this is not that case. I consume mainstream media. I literally see Fox News before my eyes at the gym, because I inevitably always park my ass on a treadmill in front of Fox News. Therefore, by deleting my right wing boot lickers from my “friends” I have not created an echo chamber. I simply cleaned up my social media space. I made my social media space a safer place for me and my comrades. I made my social media space a space where I can pay attention to the humans that are fighting for me not against me. Those right wingers think we can be “friends” even though they lick forty-seven’s tiny black boot. We can’t. I can’t do it anymore. I can’t watch them sympathize with Elon doing a nazi salute. I just can’t anymore. I need my social media spaces to inform me, uplift me, inspire me, and give me space to put things out there on my sleeve for the world to emoji react to. I need this space, this tiny little blog, to write paragraphs on my sleeve for my own sanity. 

I don’t know the right answer. I’ve never been an adult during a time when fascism sits in my home. I don’t know if we should disconnect from Meta. I know it’s controlled by the oligarch, but it’s sheer size makes it almost impossible to leave and not feel disconnected. I don’t want to leave either, because I don’t want to give those fascist a strong hold anywhere. Yes, Zuck controls Meta, but we run Meta - I don’t know the final act of Meta in this fascist regime, but I think I’ll probably be here for it. I don’t know if we should all flock to another platform. I don’t know if Bluesky will ever be big enough to be able to feel connected. I’ll hold out to see. I don’t know if joining another country’s social media platform, like Xiaohongshu, is where it’s at during this time. I know the Chinese spy that gets assigned to me would probably be much more sympathetic to me than my American spy, who will most likely turn me over to ICE eventually. My Chinese spy would never. I don’t know what the correct path is here. I’m going to take it a day at a time. Today I’m limiting my interactions with fascist sympathizers in my social media world. Today I’m going to keep sharing hope. Today I’m going to write in my blog. Today I’m going to make a post calling out fascist sympathizers and tell them to please for the love of all things holy, unfriend me - I can’t watch you lick another boot. Today I’m going to fact check the shit out of what ‘ol Zuck feeds me, because he sure the fuck ain’t. Today I’m in this social media game, and I’m going to keep going until it’s not safe anymore. Safety is my main concern. As long as the space is safe I’ll stick around. 

Do what’s safe for you comrades. Do what’s safe for your mental health and your emotional health. On this ship that is Meta bail if you need to bail. There is no need to feel like you have to stay. There’s no need to stay online at all. I imagine there are other ways to connect as opposed to social media; they're just a little harder to work with. But I do believe we all need to connect though. Have some community. We need each other. Especially during these times. It’s not the time to hide in the woods. It’s a time to find each other. Snail mail if you have to. Community is where it’s at. We must get there. Find your people and build solidarity. It’s beyond time. We live in the days of fascism. You might not want to be in a class war, but rest assured my comrade you are. We are. Together. It’s the masses of the working class against the oligarchy. We will win if we wake up to class consciousness and pull together. We will win. Solidary comrades. Solidarity. 

comrade h