Revolution and responsibility

This was originally published August 15, 2021

That anyone with liberatory politics would eschew a message of personal responsibility, going so far as to call it harmful and attempting to cancel people who advocate for it shows me that the left as it is now has absolutely no teeth.

In taking responsibility for ourselves we take full ownership of our power. We see the power we have to transform the landscape of our own lives, and we see the power we have to impact others for good and for bad.

And so by taking responsibility we commit to wielding that power in radical service to the thriving of our lives and relationships and in radical service of our values and visions for a more just world.

Taking responsibility for ourselves does not mean ignoring systems of oppression. It means seeing ourselves as agents within them.

I can assure you that a non-agent cannot revolt.

A non-agent has no capacity for transformative change.

So if revolution is what you truly want, you need to start by seeing yourself as a site of immense power, and lifting up your comrades to do the same.