that's not very coin-based

would that I could show you

Nice! Have you ever tried making a tofu scramble? I usually go for those, because the egg substitutes are pretty expensive.

do your worst

You're not alone at all. I feel the same way. At least with the pandemic, we knew those tend to fizzle out after a few years, but there's no standard expiration date for fascism. 2023 had plenty of problems, but from inside the US, it seemed to be the first relatively "normal" year since 2015 - and it will likely be the last normal one for quite a while. But while hardships are sure to come, falling into defeatism is doing trump's work for him (not that that's what you're doing; it's just a common sentiment I've seen online). The "it's all over, we're so cooked" mentality is just as harmful as the maga one. Because it's never "over" as long as people are willing to fight back.

I'm not much of a stew person, but I've made this vegan beef stew recipe before, and enjoyed it. Tofu has plenty of protein, and the rest of the stew is vegetables, so hopefully it fits the bill! Credit for the recipe goes to Felix Whelan and Carol Ann Whelan.

Ingredients:

1 pound extra firm regular tofu, frozen, then thawed (this dramatically changes the texture from soft and squishy to firm and spongy in a very "meat-like" way)

1 large onion, chopped

4 cups vegetable broth (I use 4 cups warm water in which 4 Magi brand vegetable bouillon cubes are thoroughly dissolved)

5 tablespoons vegan Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

4 large carrots, cut however you prefer carrots for stew. I cut them into 1/2 inch thick chunky disks.

4 potatoes, peeled and cut "stew style," whatever that means to you!

1 large tomato, seeded and diced

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon dried basil

3 tablespoons margarine

5 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with water till all the lumps are gone

Directions:

The Tofu:

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees F.

2. Drain the water from the thawed tofu. Cut the tofu into slices and squeeze more water out.

3. Cut the slices into "stew-style" chunks (however big or small that is in your ideal of the perfect "beef stew") and place in the oven on an ungreased cookie sheet. Check the tofu about every 10-15 minutes, and pull it out before it actually browns. The goal here is to dry the chunks out as much as possible without burning them. When they're just right, they should have roughly the consistency of croutons.

The Stew:

1. Place all ingredients in the slow cooker. Stir well, and cook on high for 3 hours.

2. Stir the stew thoroughly. Replace lid and cook on low for another 5 hours. The stew is ready when it is thick and brown.

You were right then as you are now. Let the "I told you so" flow through you.

there is, it's called being a capitalist

never played it as a kid, but I'm enjoying it now

i've been reading the handmaid's tale and the diary of anne frank, also for no real reason

fixed

As someone who just started playing pro skater 3, same tbh

Bam Margera's pro skater just wouldn't be the same

that's amazing, i've got the same combination on my luggage!

i was just about to say that

It does seem like the fascists will be successful in their soft coup d'état. Too many people are staying at home and dissociating instead of resisting, and the few thousands who want to fight back are still stuck doing ineffective things like peaceful protests or calling "their" representatives. There are too many liberals, and not enough leftists. Hopefully the incoming repression will radicalize more people, but will it be enough to mount a real resistance? Millions are going to suffer or die before then, and it's the worst feeling knowing that there's nothing you can do to stop it right now.

It's unclear whether the maga regime will fall due to a civil war, or world war 3. Or, maybe there will be a "greater" american empire, like the ancient roman one, that will persist for hundreds of years before crumbling. None of these outcomes are good, but while the future is uncertain, the only certainty is that we can't simply give in. We may be tired, we may feel hopeless, but we have to keep fighting. Our survival, and the survival of the most oppressed masses, depends on it.

and we still aren't sure why it displays properties of both a wave and a particle

Very pertinent and well written, thanks for posting!

keep it that way

For example, no matter what else they do, Food Not Bombs feeds hungry people, and that is worth doing.

The point the video made was that while it is a good thing to do, it isn't toppling the conditions that give rise to starvation or homelessness in the first place, so it's not the most effective thing to do. Our org tried to do red charity and organizing work for a while, but we eventually had to face the fact that the charity work was eating up too much of our limited time, energy, and funding. Since we were such a small group of people, it was sapping most of the energy we could've been putting towards organizing, so we eventually had to make the difficult decision to suspend the program. The decision was delayed for quite a while because some people thought it was too heartless to stop doing grocery handouts.

At the same time they offer a chance for meeting people with similar values and philosophies.

They touched on that, too, and came to the conclusion that a limited grocery distribution could be useful as a stepping stone to connect with the advanced masses. If it's done with that in mind, with the intention of moving on to bigger and better things once you get more people on board, then it can be a good starting tactic.

That’s where having pre-established networks of people willing to help each other may be life saving - both for you and others.

Sure, I agree with this. I have a side project that I run that would fall under your definition of mutual aid (I can't say what it is, due to OpSec). But it's not a massive drain on my time or resources, so it's feasible for me to do. I think mutual aid should be something that the masses do themselves to support each other. The issue I'm talking about is when a self-proclaimed revolutionary org is spending all of its time and energy doing one-sided "mutual" aid work that doesn't get them any closer to revolution.

give that baaaack

i didn't know my insomnia had an account here

I addressed some of these points in my reply to twovests, but I wanted to address mutual aid here. I don't know what kind of mutual aid work you're doing, so if it's not what I'm about to describe, feel free to ignore this comment. But a lot of "mutual aid" that I've seen is usually something like giving out free groceries/supplies to hungry people, along with zines. And while it's a good thing to give hungry people food, ultimately it's just charity work, not a genuinely revolutionary activity. There's a really good video that talks about the difference between "red charity" work and organizing. My organization was stuck in the red charity trap for a while, and I tried talking to them about how we weren't actually building towards anything (including showing them the above video), but it took them a while to understand. Once they pivoted to tenant organizing, then they saw the difference between treating the symptoms of capitalism and attacking the disease itself, and they wrote a self criticism of their previous "mutual aid" work.

Not at all, I understood your intent, and I always appreciate principled criticism!

I appreciate your response; it seems like there were a couple of misunderstandings here that I want to clear up. I wasn't trying to say people should throw away their hobbies, far from it! Having a way to unwind and relax is healthy and needed. What I meant to say was organizing is more important than doing hobbies; so if a progressive person is spending 100% of their free time doing hobbies and 0% of it organizing, that is what I am saying is a problem. Because nothing will change if they keep hoping someone else will do the work. This post is aimed at those types.

The thing is, we can't be in every fight. You have to be in some fight, but you can't do anything if you try to be in every fight.

I agree with this, too; you can't solve all the world's problems at once. Since the post was aimed at people who aren't doing any organizing, I simply chose one example from the many problems we are facing right now, to illustrate that their "thoughts and prayers" are not materially helping. It was meant to spur them to action. I think it's very good that you are already helping out with several struggles, so don't push yourself too hard and burn out. Since you are doing what you're supposed to, the message wasn't directed at you.

If you said, "Look up your local tenants union" or "Get a pistol permit" or "Take a first aid class" or "Put money toward mutual aid rather than toward video games", then that might be something.

I mean I did say to join their local communist party (and if they're worth their salt, they will probably be doing something like tenant organizing), but I get what you're saying. Talking about what kind of organizing is the right thing to do is a whole other essay though, and I wanted to keep the message of this one simple. I guess I could've linked to this at the end, which does give some actionable first steps.

I also want to say, as far as peaceful protests go, I don't think they accomplish the goal most people think they do (i.e. persuading the government to change its mind on a certain issue). Because as long as it is peaceful, the government can simply ignore your demands. That's not to say they are completely useless, though, as they do bring together like-minded people. So they can be useful as a recruiting tool for an organization.

I can relate to not being cut out for organizing, but I don't think giving up is the right answer either. It takes practice to get good at it. To quote Pearl, "Deep down, you know you weren't built for fighting, but that doesn't mean you're not prepared to try." I was awkward when I first started out, and made plenty of mistakes, but I had to keep trying to get decent at it.

As for what exactly to do, I can't give you a clear-cut answer, because it all depends on what it going on in your location. I think the first step is to figure out what issues the people are facing, and see which of them are suitable for a campaign. Maoists call this "social investigation and class analysis." Here are a couple good articles written about how to get started from scratch:

https://jiminykrix.wordpress.com/2016/09/14/some-suggestions-on-how-to-help-others-become-marxist-leninist-maoist-organizers/

https://libcom.org/article/building-solidarity-network-guide