In This World, In This Time

The Sunday Night Reader for 6/26/22

Jun 26, 2022

Good news first. Congrats to the team at (CU)rbanism, who spearheaded the campaign to pass Champaign’s Accessory Dwelling Unit ordinance this week. We can all have a positive impact locally, and this bunch is really showing us how.

Find out more about ADUs in this op-ed in Smile Politely from Adani Sanchez, and listen to (CU)rbanism’s pointpeople, Sanchez and Kathy Shannon, on the most recent ‘I Have to Ask…’ podcast.

Are We Screwed?

Speaking of having a positive impact locally, here’s a bit from an online Q&A with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez this week:

“What is important in moments like these is to not think binaries. Good/bad, screwed/not screwed. There is no doubt that things are bad. Some things, really bad. And they may likely get worse. But that does not preclude the fact that slowly but surely, some good can be growing as other things fall apart. This is not some syrupy sweet sliver lining case for optimism. Rather it is really about a choice all of us will have to make in life, either consciously or unconsciously: Will I be a person who is safe and creates good for others? Will I be a person who stands up? Will I be a person who primarily minds my business and serves myself or try to be a part of something bigger?

[W]hile we can’t change the world in a day, we CAN and do have the power to make our own world within our four walls, or our own blocks. We can grow there with the faith that somewhere out there, everywhere, others are doing the same. And we will come together. That’s why if you’re a parent, how you parent matters. If you’re a neighbor, how you are a neighbor matters…

Ultimately, we live in this world and in this time. We have no choice but to engage in it while we’re here. Even running away is a form of engagement. So will your engagement hurt or heal? Build or bring down? There is no neutral choice, so we can at least do our best to make good ones and learn and do better the next day.

You are allowed to be scared. To grieve. To be angry. But you are also allowed to create good, to be soft, and enjoy the small reprieves. Struggle lasts as long as we do.”

Ceding Ground

I won’t have to bear the brunt of new oppressions. In fact, systems will be built to protect me from them. But someone — many people, more people every day — will. From a Twitter thread by Jared Yates Sexton:

“Notice the reactions to the Roe ruling. Fundraising and promises to fix the problem without specific details. Appeals to corporations to do something while those businesses compete over recruiting employees by providing workarounds.

It’s a foundation to live with this.

The overturning of Roe will result, unless there’s massive protest and a forced sea change, in neoliberal ‘solutions.’ Meaning a system of oppression and suffering for the poor and vulnerable and premium alternatives for the wealthy. This neoliberal system has already pushed almost all power to market solutions, and poorer portions of the country are going to experience outsized oppression that will probably accompany reindustrialization and increasing exploitation. The momentum is with Right Wing authoritarianism. It will roll back the progress of the 20th century, including civil rights and worker protections until it’s profitable to produce here again.

Our system is already capitulating and grassroots pressure is our [only] hope.

Corporations aren’t going to leave these states, they’re going to circumvent it by offering to pay for travel to other states. In these situations corporate reaction tells you almost everything you need to know about where the political winds are blowing.

Again, momentum is with this theocratic, patriarchal authoritarianism and it’s staking a claim for a new order. Simply decrying it without meeting it politically or offering an alternative vision for a future only cedes ground. And we can’t afford anymore ceding of ground.”