Empathy is one part of it. Not only for other countries who’ve had their wealth extracted for others, but for the people of said imperialist country that still suffer terribly in a supposedly “better” country. I’m lucky that I was born into an economically stable household and in a part of the country that isn’t being decimated by its own government.
Maybe it’s because I still saw how hard my parents worked and never seeing results that were promised, witnessing the injustice right in front of me from a system that ensured prosperity for everyone. I figured out at some point that the only ones truly benefiting from imperialism is the imperialists themselves. Then they use their power to manipulate the rest.
Even with education fairly accessible (from elementary to high school) our system can be changed and has been sanitized to fit a narrative that doesn’t exist. Our provincial government is literally manufacturing a healthcare crisis to push the narrative that private is better than public. Utility caps were removed and we were hit hard. Groceries are stupidly expensive, everything is with inflation. And now we’re headed into a recession. All orchestrated by the state.
I live in Canada, in a capital city of a province. Our homeless population is rising and instead of using our “surplus” to improve the lives of everyone, they use it for themselves and rich buddies.
Considering Canada is a colonized country, we’re technically imperializing ourselves; the Indigenous population suffering with the residential schools, and reserves with dirty water. Treaties are not respected and honestly were signed when they wouldn’t understand what they were signing. Law enforcement on all levels are used by the state to keep the rest of the population in line, making sure nobody acts up.
I’m self aware enough to realize the privileges I have. White, “middle class”, able bodied, and “capable” of pursuing a higher education that tries its hardest to exclude those without the right amount of capital to learn without student debt or PTSD from military service.
My mom couldn’t go to college, and had to get her GED instead of graduating “normally” because she had to spend her whole life working to help make ends meet for her family.
I’m lucky enough to be able to grip these opportunities that so many in this damn country can’t.
Even I have my struggles. I’m on disability, and disability in every province/territory is well under the poverty line. I live in a house with my grandmother and great-aunt, both on pensions. We’re lucky to have each other to make a comfortable life but even with all that we’ve had our hardships; I can only imagine what others have to go through because they don’t have a personal support system. I don’t even have to imagine it, I’ve seen it and read about it. Why should someone have to rely on a family that may or may not exist? What if their family is in the same situation? What if their family’s family is too? It’s a cycle that is manufactured to keep people compliant and reliant on the scraps tossed their way just to survive. People can’t fight back if they’re living in survival mode.
With the speedy rise of extremism becoming more mainstream and loud (i.e. Danielle Smith, Pierre Poilievre, convoy, etc.) the need for change is now. It should have been earlier…
I am able to go to university and pursue a PhD. Will I be in debt? Probably. But it’s worth it if it means I can make real change and help give others the opportunities that were stolen from them. Unfortunately, with “left-wing” ideas, they won’t let you get anywhere without a degree. Again, I’m able to do this and I want to make sure everyone else does, because even though they say everyone has the choice to go to school and pursue their dreams, they actually don’t.
I’m done with the scapegoating of minorities to manipulate the masses that there’s nothing wrong with the system, it’s all personal responsibility:
The homeless you see on the street? Addicts? That’s a choice they made. They don’t want help. They like it.
Indigenous people living in reserves treated like garbage? Well they’re freeloaders and get everything for free while you work hard. Lets not talk about colonization and the continued abuse they suffer, it’s ancient history, they should just get over it and pull themselves up by the bootstraps! Like you.
I don’t know how I gained class consciousness. It may be due to my family having a poorer background, maybe it’s me having to be on disability that can’t afford basic rent on its own, I can’t say for sure.
What I do know is while others have to struggle to make ends meet in a system that will never improve, I have the opportunity and time to dismantle it. I’m not making myself out to be a saviour or anything, I just know that I can offer my support for movements established before me. I am inspired and spurred on by the trailblazers who have been fighting before me and continue to do so even when the state cracks down. They stand strong and I want to join in the fight.
This mindset was sown just by the injustice I’ve witnessed in my own home, Canada, one of the “good” countries. After I learned what has and continues to happen in other countries; one’s we aided in destroying; further cemented my want and need to make changes.
As someone living on Turtle Island, let me just say, that the province bragging about it’s fucking surplus while every hospital loses staff, departments, and emergency services left, right and centre is one of the greatest furies. I am fueled by it eternally. Meanwhile a certain billionaire just keeps on thrashing the whole place while the bootlicks in government give him handouts and backpats.
Anyway, I just want to say that I really agree with what you’re saying here, and I think it speaks well that while we have different backgrounds and experiences that led us here, the environment we are in has both still led us to these conclusions. And it’s nice to know we’re not the only ones. I’m seeing more and more people open to discussing this stuff with me in real life, and agreeing more strongly when we do.
Edit: I didn’t mean for it to sound like I was saying we are in the same province, lol, this is happening in like half of them right now, it’s fucking depressing.
Yes yes yes! I think the whole pandemic and “in your face” fascism has really started to push people into questioning what is happening and being open to further discussion. While some are moving to the left, others; for some reason, are moving to the right. I don’t know why the hell they’d come to that conclusion.
I heard some university students on the LRT talking about Lenin! I think they were criticizing a paper about Indigenous rights; the paper concluded that to improve the disparity between the Indigenous population and the rest is to read more books. They were laughing at how that’s not going to do shit, Lenin had the right idea. So that made me happy. I was worried they’d be bootlickers, because contrary to what Danielle Smith says; universities are not infested by communists.
Even my mother, who was never one for politics; my grandma who is literally a Portuguese immigrant from the Salazar era (very poor and no education); both engage in these deep conversations about capitalism and fascism with me and they genuinely listen. They even agree with me too.
I can’t say the word communist yet; my mom and grandma don’t even know what it means, but they’re both proud there are people like us who want to make changes.
I’m lucky to have them as a support system, everyone deserves it and more.
Even my step-dad, from Saskatchewan, and who is fairly anti-union is willing to listen and even understand some of my points. He still believes that unionizing is what makes everything so expensive and for some reason doesn’t understand that if everyone unionized that wouldn’t be a problem. He’s also encouraged a recession because of the cost of living but doesn’t realize that there is going to be mass unemployment as a result. I’ll get him there one day.
Also I’ll just outright say that I’m in Alberta lol but I did keep it vague because I know the same is happening in Ontario with Ford, the far eastern provinces hit by the hurricane are also being fucked by their governments (literally said they’d rely on nonprofits for aid), and the northern Territories have never been respected.
I am, unfortunately, in the Maritimes, where the Irvings and the Olands own the government, the hurricanes (which will just keep coming more frequently every year) are wrecking everything, clear-cutting the forests by the Irvings exposes us all more to flooding, and the governments brag about surplus but yeah…won’t do anything about the problems. I mean, I could write forever about how much the Irvings are screwing over the people and ecology.
I luckily had a pro-union mom growing up, however she used to be like, a huge liberal, and bought into the Elizabeth May girl-power nonsense. And literally I recently had her agreeing that violent revolution could not be dismissed as immoral as a response to the staggering deaths imposed by capitalism, and that blew my mind that she agreed. We never agree on anything, and she hates the smallest conflict and is normally a staunch pacifist.
Trudeau was elected in his first time with 100% of the Maritimes’ seats and now (while depressingly the provincial governments are swinging full conservative) there are former dyed-in-the wool liberals and NDP supporters that are still terrified of the “Harper years” that see discussions of anti-capitalism as a regular and acceptable conversation topic, when literally two years ago they would have shut down those lines of thought without hesitation.
Living in these provinces is really just having us like: “WHERE’S THE MONEY LEBOWSKI??”
Brag about the surplus but it just disappears
I hope people are seeing that a hurricane is not normal here and we’re at the turning point of needing implement change now. Change should’ve happened way before this but, unfortunately, some people need drastic disasters to be the final push for them.
My mom is definitely similar to yours: girl-boss and was raised with the mindset to never cause problems, never argue, just be a doormat. She’s absolutely terrified of conflict, especially if it involves me. One time when we got our EPCOR bill (over $1000) I got angry and was outwardly stating my disdain and need for revolution; she immediately freaked out thinking that I’m going to get arrested for just talking shit in my own house. She’s the type that says “that’s just how it is” but she is supportive in me making changes. When it comes to family matter she silently supports me when I argue, but if it’s something state related she’s scared I’ll be detained or worse.
When the NDP were in power here in Alberta I think people may have been to confident that we’d stay orange come next election. But the UCP somehow managed to take power again even after the 40 years of conservative fuck ups; they really campaigned on the NDP doing nothing. Now with the absolute shitshow on display that is the UCP (and cons in general), the immediate steep decline since taking office, seems to be pushing even the most devote cons to the “left” (even though Notely is not a leftist) while the UCP scrambles to garner support with the “Alberta sovereignty” and “Ottawa bad” folks. Some people (convoy sympathizers especially) have unfortunately fallen for that message. But others are seeing that, actually, the whole system is fucked.
I think Politicians aren’t scared of the people enough considering they’re willing to let their whole province get demolished by a hurricane and just shrug it off; like no matter how bad it gets the people won’t do anything about it.
Empathy is one part of it. Not only for other countries who’ve had their wealth extracted for others, but for the people of said imperialist country that still suffer terribly in a supposedly “better” country. I’m lucky that I was born into an economically stable household and in a part of the country that isn’t being decimated by its own government.
Maybe it’s because I still saw how hard my parents worked and never seeing results that were promised, witnessing the injustice right in front of me from a system that ensured prosperity for everyone. I figured out at some point that the only ones truly benefiting from imperialism is the imperialists themselves. Then they use their power to manipulate the rest.
Even with education fairly accessible (from elementary to high school) our system can be changed and has been sanitized to fit a narrative that doesn’t exist. Our provincial government is literally manufacturing a healthcare crisis to push the narrative that private is better than public. Utility caps were removed and we were hit hard. Groceries are stupidly expensive, everything is with inflation. And now we’re headed into a recession. All orchestrated by the state.
I live in Canada, in a capital city of a province. Our homeless population is rising and instead of using our “surplus” to improve the lives of everyone, they use it for themselves and rich buddies.
Considering Canada is a colonized country, we’re technically imperializing ourselves; the Indigenous population suffering with the residential schools, and reserves with dirty water. Treaties are not respected and honestly were signed when they wouldn’t understand what they were signing. Law enforcement on all levels are used by the state to keep the rest of the population in line, making sure nobody acts up.
I’m self aware enough to realize the privileges I have. White, “middle class”, able bodied, and “capable” of pursuing a higher education that tries its hardest to exclude those without the right amount of capital to learn without student debt or PTSD from military service.
My mom couldn’t go to college, and had to get her GED instead of graduating “normally” because she had to spend her whole life working to help make ends meet for her family. I’m lucky enough to be able to grip these opportunities that so many in this damn country can’t.
Even I have my struggles. I’m on disability, and disability in every province/territory is well under the poverty line. I live in a house with my grandmother and great-aunt, both on pensions. We’re lucky to have each other to make a comfortable life but even with all that we’ve had our hardships; I can only imagine what others have to go through because they don’t have a personal support system. I don’t even have to imagine it, I’ve seen it and read about it. Why should someone have to rely on a family that may or may not exist? What if their family is in the same situation? What if their family’s family is too? It’s a cycle that is manufactured to keep people compliant and reliant on the scraps tossed their way just to survive. People can’t fight back if they’re living in survival mode.
With the speedy rise of extremism becoming more mainstream and loud (i.e. Danielle Smith, Pierre Poilievre, convoy, etc.) the need for change is now. It should have been earlier…
I am able to go to university and pursue a PhD. Will I be in debt? Probably. But it’s worth it if it means I can make real change and help give others the opportunities that were stolen from them. Unfortunately, with “left-wing” ideas, they won’t let you get anywhere without a degree. Again, I’m able to do this and I want to make sure everyone else does, because even though they say everyone has the choice to go to school and pursue their dreams, they actually don’t.
I’m done with the scapegoating of minorities to manipulate the masses that there’s nothing wrong with the system, it’s all personal responsibility: The homeless you see on the street? Addicts? That’s a choice they made. They don’t want help. They like it. Indigenous people living in reserves treated like garbage? Well they’re freeloaders and get everything for free while you work hard. Lets not talk about colonization and the continued abuse they suffer, it’s ancient history, they should just get over it and pull themselves up by the bootstraps! Like you.
I don’t know how I gained class consciousness. It may be due to my family having a poorer background, maybe it’s me having to be on disability that can’t afford basic rent on its own, I can’t say for sure. What I do know is while others have to struggle to make ends meet in a system that will never improve, I have the opportunity and time to dismantle it. I’m not making myself out to be a saviour or anything, I just know that I can offer my support for movements established before me. I am inspired and spurred on by the trailblazers who have been fighting before me and continue to do so even when the state cracks down. They stand strong and I want to join in the fight.
This mindset was sown just by the injustice I’ve witnessed in my own home, Canada, one of the “good” countries. After I learned what has and continues to happen in other countries; one’s we aided in destroying; further cemented my want and need to make changes.
As someone living on Turtle Island, let me just say, that the province bragging about it’s fucking surplus while every hospital loses staff, departments, and emergency services left, right and centre is one of the greatest furies. I am fueled by it eternally. Meanwhile a certain billionaire just keeps on thrashing the whole place while the bootlicks in government give him handouts and backpats.
Anyway, I just want to say that I really agree with what you’re saying here, and I think it speaks well that while we have different backgrounds and experiences that led us here, the environment we are in has both still led us to these conclusions. And it’s nice to know we’re not the only ones. I’m seeing more and more people open to discussing this stuff with me in real life, and agreeing more strongly when we do.
Edit: I didn’t mean for it to sound like I was saying we are in the same province, lol, this is happening in like half of them right now, it’s fucking depressing.
Yes yes yes! I think the whole pandemic and “in your face” fascism has really started to push people into questioning what is happening and being open to further discussion. While some are moving to the left, others; for some reason, are moving to the right. I don’t know why the hell they’d come to that conclusion.
I heard some university students on the LRT talking about Lenin! I think they were criticizing a paper about Indigenous rights; the paper concluded that to improve the disparity between the Indigenous population and the rest is to read more books. They were laughing at how that’s not going to do shit, Lenin had the right idea. So that made me happy. I was worried they’d be bootlickers, because contrary to what Danielle Smith says; universities are not infested by communists.
Even my mother, who was never one for politics; my grandma who is literally a Portuguese immigrant from the Salazar era (very poor and no education); both engage in these deep conversations about capitalism and fascism with me and they genuinely listen. They even agree with me too.
I can’t say the word communist yet; my mom and grandma don’t even know what it means, but they’re both proud there are people like us who want to make changes.
I’m lucky to have them as a support system, everyone deserves it and more.
Even my step-dad, from Saskatchewan, and who is fairly anti-union is willing to listen and even understand some of my points. He still believes that unionizing is what makes everything so expensive and for some reason doesn’t understand that if everyone unionized that wouldn’t be a problem. He’s also encouraged a recession because of the cost of living but doesn’t realize that there is going to be mass unemployment as a result. I’ll get him there one day.
Also I’ll just outright say that I’m in Alberta lol but I did keep it vague because I know the same is happening in Ontario with Ford, the far eastern provinces hit by the hurricane are also being fucked by their governments (literally said they’d rely on nonprofits for aid), and the northern Territories have never been respected.
I am, unfortunately, in the Maritimes, where the Irvings and the Olands own the government, the hurricanes (which will just keep coming more frequently every year) are wrecking everything, clear-cutting the forests by the Irvings exposes us all more to flooding, and the governments brag about surplus but yeah…won’t do anything about the problems. I mean, I could write forever about how much the Irvings are screwing over the people and ecology.
I luckily had a pro-union mom growing up, however she used to be like, a huge liberal, and bought into the Elizabeth May girl-power nonsense. And literally I recently had her agreeing that violent revolution could not be dismissed as immoral as a response to the staggering deaths imposed by capitalism, and that blew my mind that she agreed. We never agree on anything, and she hates the smallest conflict and is normally a staunch pacifist.
Trudeau was elected in his first time with 100% of the Maritimes’ seats and now (while depressingly the provincial governments are swinging full conservative) there are former dyed-in-the wool liberals and NDP supporters that are still terrified of the “Harper years” that see discussions of anti-capitalism as a regular and acceptable conversation topic, when literally two years ago they would have shut down those lines of thought without hesitation.
Living in these provinces is really just having us like: “WHERE’S THE MONEY LEBOWSKI??”
Brag about the surplus but it just disappears I hope people are seeing that a hurricane is not normal here and we’re at the turning point of needing implement change now. Change should’ve happened way before this but, unfortunately, some people need drastic disasters to be the final push for them.
My mom is definitely similar to yours: girl-boss and was raised with the mindset to never cause problems, never argue, just be a doormat. She’s absolutely terrified of conflict, especially if it involves me. One time when we got our EPCOR bill (over $1000) I got angry and was outwardly stating my disdain and need for revolution; she immediately freaked out thinking that I’m going to get arrested for just talking shit in my own house. She’s the type that says “that’s just how it is” but she is supportive in me making changes. When it comes to family matter she silently supports me when I argue, but if it’s something state related she’s scared I’ll be detained or worse.
When the NDP were in power here in Alberta I think people may have been to confident that we’d stay orange come next election. But the UCP somehow managed to take power again even after the 40 years of conservative fuck ups; they really campaigned on the NDP doing nothing. Now with the absolute shitshow on display that is the UCP (and cons in general), the immediate steep decline since taking office, seems to be pushing even the most devote cons to the “left” (even though Notely is not a leftist) while the UCP scrambles to garner support with the “Alberta sovereignty” and “Ottawa bad” folks. Some people (convoy sympathizers especially) have unfortunately fallen for that message. But others are seeing that, actually, the whole system is fucked.
I think Politicians aren’t scared of the people enough considering they’re willing to let their whole province get demolished by a hurricane and just shrug it off; like no matter how bad it gets the people won’t do anything about it.