Thanks for the Memories

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Before I begin, I encourage you to look up "Anarchist Calisthenics", also called "Everyday Resistance", or "Infrapolitics" (by eggheads and people who want you to know they read the James C. Scott book, Weapons of the Weak, where he introduces the subject). There are several good Youtube videos on the subject.

In short, the idea is that resistance is not a single action, it is a practice. it is a muscle that must be stretched so that we are used to using it, and a muscle that must be flexed so that we can make build its strength. It is not practical, or advisable, to get up from your couch and immediately attempt to run a marathon. Neither is it practical, or advisable, to attempt to exist in resistance and friction with any kind of opposing power without first engaging in small acts of disobedience. These are what we refer to when we say "anarchist calisthenics". Just like exercise calisthenics, they get your body used to the idea of change.

I write because it is the only power I have, small as it is, to show people other worlds than these. I have focused so much of my writing on futures because I write for people like me, because queer people, of all people, deserve to dream of a future where they are not just tolerated, or accepted, but normal and everyday (the way we really are). I have spent a lot of time working on the world-building and character development for a novel set in a North America two thousand years in the future, with a giant zone in the middle thousands of miles in circumference that is the equivalent of a nuclear containment area - a place where time and space get ... fuzzy, and complicated, and broken.

And who put it there? Who caused that rift in space and time to exist, two thousand years in the future? Spoilers for the world-building of a book you will likely never read, because it will likely never be published -

It was fascists. It was the fascists who did it. In our time. That zone is still there two thousand years later because of actions taken in our time.

(It has, unsurprisingly, become difficult to write that story in recent months)

The actions we take echo onwards into the future, and every person we interact with is changed in ways they may never even consider, which is why it is always so important to tread lightly when you can. It's why what is happening now is so dangerous - Not just in the United States but in Europe, and here in Canada (See - the Edmonton Public Library removing Pride flags and citing a "Neutral" stance.). They are not treading lightly, and Even should everything change tomorrow and go back to some semblance of a former normal, it would take decades to undo all of the work that has been done in less than two months. Not only can it happen here, it has been happening here for some time. I should not need to remind anyone reading of the attempted coup wrapped up in "protest" giftwrap from a few short years ago.

I remember feeling completely abandoned by people in power, much like I do now. The Premier, if I remember correctly, went "snowmobiling" for at least a week-hoping it would all blow over, I imagine. The municipal government was stymied by its own police force working in tandem with the malicious actors, providing them with food, offering them intel on when their own force was supposed to be acting, and hamstringing those efforts when they could. Eventually, the federal government was forced to step in, the problem was solved, and cases went through the courts. Not-so happily ever after (especially since the main ring-leaders effectively got slapped on the wrist and a finger wagged in their face).

Except wait - let's walk back a step. Why was the federal government "forced" to act? What happened to change things so significantly?

A protest and blockade colloquially known as the "Battle of Billings Bridge" happened.

During the coup attempt that overtook several streets in downtown Ottawa, residents had built up networks of information over social media and chat programs - resource sharing, people from outside the downtown core offering places to get a good night's sleep (truck horns were blaring off and on at all hours at levels that left people with hearing damage), and just general information. Word got out from people monitoring the coup's "private" chat channels that a large group were going to be coming to reinforce, and they would be avoiding the blocked-off highway exits by driving straight up Bank Street from Riverside Drive.

Anyone who has spent a moderate amount of time in Ottawa will know that road infrastructure is pretty woeful. Even when highway 417 is not blocked off, there are not enough large east-west corridors for travelling long distances uninterrupted, and the situation is possibly even worse in the north-south direction. That means that to make this "daring" maneuver, the coup reinforcements were going to have to not only stop at a busy stoplight to turn right, they were going to have to immediately cross a bridge.

So, some brave folks decided to make a blockade of their own, and headed down to be a real nuisance at Billings Bridge. And they were successful! Successful enough, in fact, that they managed to hold on long enough for reinforcements of their own to arrive. While I cannot confirm numbers (and would not, even if I could), I have heard that almost a thousand residents ended up at the protest blockade at the bridge. They managed to successfully not just turn back the malicious actors, they also forced them to remove what flags and slogan posters they had adorned their vehicles with.

The next day, the Federal Government began the work of clearing the blockade.

This is not a coincidence. It was not the work of many scurrying bureaucrats behind the scenes that just happened to line up with the events of Billings Bridge. While I'm sure they had been working, and maybe were even close to taking action, the Battle forced them to move their timeline up, because one thing had become exceedingly clear: the people of downtown Ottawa were sick of people in power fucking around, and were going to take matters into their own hands - and the Feds might not like the results.

I bring this up for two big reasons. The first is that it shows what united public action can do. The kind of people who are currently attempting to drive our world into a rock cut actively rely on the vast majority of people simply rolling over and doing nothing, hanging on in quiet desperation because "there is nothing I can do". When people not only do not roll over and play dead, but organize en masse? That strikes fear into the heart of fascist minds everywhere. They know that their ideas are unpopular - they are hoping you won't do anything about it until it's too late.

The second reason is to show that you've been here before, and when you were, some people (maybe even you) acted. You've done it before, and you can do it again if you have to.

Of course, the last time we were here, we hadn't done our calisthenics. I spoke to several people in the months after the Battle of Billings Bridge, and they said they had a hard time going to protests for a while afterwards. Had a hard time in crowds, or had trouble sleeping, even had panic reactions at the sound of car horns. They had acted collectively without stretching that muscle, and had pulled it too far.

Post-traumatic stress is not an uncommon thing for protesters to have. It is, unsurprisingly (though it must be said regardless), a very stressful and traumatic activity. Resistance is not a sprint, it is a marathon, and we must not just attempt to jump our couches and do it. We also need to ensure our after-care, our continued health, and our support structure. None of us is a monolith, and we must all take care of each other as much as we can. This is why building community and working collectively with like-minded friends is so critical to any hope of success.

So stretch. Do some calisthenics. Engage in small acts of purposeful resistance in your every day life. Build up a community of people share your values. Take care of the people around you when you can.

Share this with someone who would find comfort in it.