Once we start to work collectively at the local level to meet our needs, government and the criminal economic system it props up start to lose.
18/05/26 by https://atthegrassroots.substack.com/p/some-thoughts-on-ways-of-subverting via thefreeonline at https://wp.me/pIJl9-I0P
You donât need us to tell you that over the last few years, taking to the streets to protest has increasingly become a more fraught and risky affair. Some activists will do what they can to get around this, albeit knowing theyâll be taking more of a risk than ever before.
However, itâs inevitable that a number of activists will, for various but understandable reasons, be deterred from going out on the streets or occupying a site. Does that mean the end of the kind of activism that can challenge and subvert the system? Far from it as weâll briefly outline in this pieceâŠ
If the government think that keeping us off the streets will eliminate any threat to a system thatâs increasingly dysfunctional, theyâre very much mistaken. A lot can be done in the here and now to start building the kind of world we want to bring about. What weâre talking about is starting to set up parallel systems.
The consumer treadmill is one place where we can make a start. Rather than constantly upgrading, disposing and renewing, how about repairing and making instead?
Do you really need to upgrade the smartphone? Given the growing possibility of digital ID, will you even want a smartphone that will keep you plugged into a system of increasingly ubiquitous surveillance? Would a so called âdumbphoneâ or âburnerâ phone be a better and safer option?
Rather than be a slave to the latest in computer technology, why not forget about the latest shiny iMac and opt for a second hand desktop or laptop whereâs itâs possible to repair it yourself? Heck, why not get a typewriter and go back to analogue? If as an activist, you want security of communications, typed missives are a lot safer than hackable computers!
There is a growing repair movement where people meet up, bring along the items and appliances they want fixed and are either shown how to repair them or matched with someone who has the skill and expertise to fix them. Not only does this extend the life of your items, itâs social and a way of forming a collective of like minded people.
Assessing your real needs and cutting down on unnecessary consumption is a way of undermining an economic system thatâs dependent on you staying plugged in and buying. What can the government of the day do about it? At the moment, absolutely nothing!
Weâve written about this before but it bears repeating â the more control you can gain over your food supply, the less reliant you are on the system. Previously, weâve drawn attention to increased food self sufficiency offering protection against the consequences of the finely balanced âjust in timeâ food supply chain we have being disrupted. Whatâs equally, if not more important, is the independence it gives you from the government and the corporations they do the bidding for.
Through your own efforts, individually or much better collectively, you can start to provide more of youâre own food. Should a future government move towards a system of Universal Basic Income thatâs tied in with a social credit system in a cashless society, at the flick of a switch if they deem you havenât been a model âcitizenâ, they can cut you off from the means to buy food. If you think thatâs conspiracy theory, just take a step back and think about what has already been done to us over the last five years, and whatâs in the pipeline in the coming years. Frightening isnât it?
This kind of food growing can range from a few window boxes on a balcony topped up with micro-greens indoors, through to re-thinking what you really want from a back garden and onto getting an allotment or even guerilla gardening. When you start to look closely at many neighbourhoods, the amount of land that could potentially be brought into cultivation is staggering. Obviously at this level, itâs something that would have to be done collectively.
Longer term security can also be secured not just from growing your own food but also from saving and nurturing seeds for the following seasons. This is how a wider variety of crops can be ensured. This can be enhanced by collectively starting up a seed bank with like minded people. This is not just to save and conserve seeds but also to exchange expertise and to learn.
A lot of this could be done at an individual level. If enough individuals do whatâs suggested above, sure, it would start to dent a consumption based economy and the tax base. Would it be enough to challenge the system? No it wouldnâtâŠ
What would not just be a threat to the system but also offer the glimmer of what a new world could look like is if we organise collectively. Basically, weâre talking about putting the principles of mutual aid and solidarity into practice while telling the divide and rule merchants to get stuffed.
Once you recognise that the government benefits from us being at each others throats, itâs easier to see the game thatâs being played, take a few steps back from it and realise that we lose if we carry on this way. Once we start to work collectively at the neighbourhood level to meet our needs, the government and the dysfunctional economic system it props up start to lose and we start to win. Whatâs not to like about that?
What weâre doing with this piece is throwing out a few ideas in a bid to inspire people. If youâre involved in an initiative thatâs achieving a degree of collective independence from the system and the government, weâd love to hear from you. The whole point about At the grassroots is to link the points of light and build a network of not just resistance but also, of bringing about the world we want.
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