#building stability

[shreetmtbars]

Discover the essential role of stirrups in construction. Learn about their benefits and the different types available, ensuring structural stability in various projects. Dive into this detailed guide by Shree TMT for expert insights.

[beyondthisdarkhouse]

My neighbours and I recently got talking about how our landlord sure as shit isn't going to spend money on it, but it would be really nice if someone did a smidgen of work on our building's dogshit landscaping. For example: Every year the city puts sod down and the landlord doesn't water it and it dies and the city pulls it up and re-sods it again next year, but at some point they're going to cut off the free sod gravy train.

Then we got distracted and I explained which politicians removed the limits on rent hikes and when, because I know too much about the Residential Tenancies Act and am extremely petty about it.

So now the central dilemma we're wrestling with is how to make changes we want without pricing ourselves out of our own building.

Oh, if my dead landlord card-carrying Progressive Conservative grandfather could only see me now.

[glassesweirdo]

Im thinking about how many people are mad about Singed getting a happy ending, but like, wasn't that the point? I feel like we're always so ready to praise characters for their devotion until its a character like Singed, he's a father, he's a mad scientist, he's killed people, he was banned from piltover due to his dangerous and morally wrong experiments, he was kind to a young and lonely viktor, and most importantly he did almost everything in the name of bringing back his daughter. He was blown up, disfigured, threatened by a kingpin, and he never stopped thinking about her and working for her, every move every breathe was for her, wanting her back because he is a father who loves his child and that greif can become twisted in the dark corners of a laboratory. This has just turned into me talking about Singed, but he's just such an interesting character to me, and I don't understand people praising jayces devotion to keeping viktor alive with the hexcore, yet lamenting that Singed got his happy ending. Has he not worked for it? He burned the world around him like he swore to, we knew he would, yet suddenly were shocked? All he ever wanted, from the very start, was his daughter back, and you doubted that he would get what he wanted?? That's just stupid.

[redthemarten]

They changed koleda’s voice and I’m grieving rn I hate the new one so much omg :( idk it’s not actually that bad but the old gravely voice was so awesome to me. That voice is canon in my mind.

My condolences ( • ᴖ • ｡)

I agree that the previous one was better. This one makes her sound so young.... I mean, she is young, but I feel like that's too baby for a Koleda. Also, I know that things aren't easy with VAs situation right now, but I get super used to voices and it's becoming rather distressing how they keep changing them...

Anyway as a lil consolation, here's my (very) artistic rendition of what's happened

[gorillawithautism]

shout out to all the disabled people whose disability is partially or entirely their "fault." everyone who's struggling as a result of their own behavior, everyone who was disabled by events that could have been avoided if they'd made different choices, everyone who isn't actively working to make their situation "better" or more bearable. we are just as disabled and just as worthy of love and compassion as anyone else. regardless of what the able bodied people around might think. regardless of what our own minds may tell us

[dailyanarchistposts]

Trajectories for the Future

In "Dark tidings: Anarchist Politics in the Age of Collapse," Uri Gordon paints an ominous picture: "industrial civilization is coming down," so "anarchists and their allies are now required to project themselves into a future of growing instability and deterioration."[20] I am not so sure about the imminent downfall of industrial civilization or the collapse of capitalism, but I concur that we need to project ourselves into some image of the future in order to prepare for it.[21] A complication is that the future is partially decided by how we project ourselves into it and how we imagine it. There is not a predetermined future that we merely need to prepare for. It will be shaped by how we prepare for it and by what future we prepare for. To fixate ourselves on a particular vision of the future could affect us by constricting our capacities in the present to those actions that lead to that future, blinding us to other possibilities.

Gordon mentions some possible future scenarios, summed up as "grassroots communism, eco-authoritarianism, or civil war."[22] As the ecological crisis becomes more clear and people demand change, global capitalism might attempt to recuperate by making minor adjustments and putting on a "green face" without any changes in the system that is actually causing the crisis: capitalism itself. This can only buy time, and as the crisis intensifies capitalism will employ more authoritarian and repressive measures to stay in power. It can do this either in an authoritarian, neoliberal form, deploying superficial, liberal "progressive" rhetoric while preserving existing hierarchies; or it could instead turn to "eco-fascism," combining nationalist, racist and misogynist ideas of population control and "belonging" with the need to protect nature by totalitarian means. Both are tendencies that exist in the present.[23] In either case, it can only be a matter of buying time by managing the crisis until the inevitable collapse. In his piece Gordon suggests a number of praxises that are necessary in order to resist the authoritarian tendencies during this period of interregnum as well as to build alternative communities that prefigure a new way of life, independent of global capitalism.

Another, more recent, theory of possible futures is Geoff Mann and Joel Wainwright's (M&W) "Climate Leviathan."[24] They see four different trajectories: Either the capitalist order will continue under an increasingly authoritarian global sovereign - a planetary regulatory regime that decides who gets to pollute and at which cost ("Climate Leviathan") - or it will continue without such a sovereign as reactionary and nationalist movements refuse any serious collective efforts to mitigate climate change ("Climate Behemoth"). The global sovereign might also emerge as a non-capitalist world order: the state-socialist dream of a global centrally planned economy but with an emphasis on reducing carbon emissions ("Climate Mao"), and finally there is the more unknown path which involves a rejection and transcendence of both capitalism and political sovereignty ("Climate X").[25] Although climate denying "anti-globalist" right-wing movements have gained political power in several countries in recent years, the authors doubt this "Behemoth" will be long-lived: at some point the climate crisis will become so apparent it cannot be ignored.[26] They find the capitalist "Climate Leviathan" the most likely scenario as it can be built on global institutions and structures that already exist.[27] Climate X is less certain but is the only scenario the authors see as a viable strategy for the future.[28]

There are several overlaps between Gordon's and M&W's theories. Gordon's vision of eco-authoritarian capitalism is not that far from their Climate Leviathan: an attempt to manage the escalating crisis while preserving the existing structures of inequality. In his updated version, he admits that the prediction that capitalism would adapt by accommodating environmentalist and progressive concerns has not been realized. Instead capital has tended to "opt for full-blown reaction" expressed in climate denial and national chauvinism[29] - a trend that aligns with their vision of Climate Behemoth. The main point of convergence in the two theories is the hope for "Climate X" / "grassroots communism" - a movement of movements struggling for social justice, equality and self-management. My own theory is close to these. I also think we will see an increase in authoritarianism and inequality, but I posit that this is not really a change in the system but merely an intensification of the tendencies already contained within it. But the growing crises do give room for and force into existence other forces with the potential to create something new. I too, place my hope in "Climate X" - not as a utopian unknown but as concrete and existing praxises that can be expanded and amplified.

My aim here is thus not to critique the previous theories but to supplement them with empirical cases of what is already happening as the world responds to climate disaster - how the state and capital tries to consolidate the existing political structures on one side, and, on the other, how communities are responding by changing their social relations. Examining these cases from the present can give us a better idea of what to expect from the future and where to focus our struggles. I also add an element to "Climate X" that is under-emphasized in the aforementioned works, which focus primarily on protest and resistance to the dominating powers with the goal of preventing the destructive course.[30] Given the fact that climate disasters are already happening we also need to take into consideration how we are going to survive in the future. The politics of adaptation must be considered from the grassroots level.

[elllteo]

Creators I love you but it's time to wake up

Among rumors about our tumblr user data being sold off to Midjourney/Generative AI, recent Extremely transphobic events (that have been ongoing) coming to a head, another extremely concerning internet censorship bill being pushed in upper levels of government, and a general air of frustration over how the site belongs to and is operated by perhaps the second stupidest CEO (second only to twitters own) of our age, I'm very done with the last few vestiges of what the old internet held for artists.

And if you're reading this, you probably are too.

I know we're tired. We are all tired. It is not always viable to pack up shop and move, again and again and again.

From tumblr to twitter to anywhere else we've ever grown up posting, things no longer work. Our audiences are kneecapped by aggressive and hostile algorithms, our reach is abysmal - if we aren't shadow-banned or silenced for one (transphobic) reason or another, we're thrust into an ever growing pit of hostility where the only thing that drives clicks is fighting and contention.

We're tired. We're so fucking tired. We aren't businesses, we aren't content mills, we cannot keep this pace that modern social media has set for us, to wring every ounce of creativity out of us to profit from and leave us rotting.

The key to staying afloat here, and I cannot stress this enough, is to stay connected to your peers.

Pack up and move as units if you must. Exodus from the sites that are killing us. Push your entire friend group of artists to move from one site to the next that promises you a kinder experience.

Art drives movements, it drives change, it is all that encompasses being human. If you take that away from the shitty places, they will be left with nothing but a cesspit of inhumanity and the people who follow you will be more incentivized than ever to move with you.

Yes, this is terrifying. There are no guarantees. There never was, and never are, and never will be.

But stay connected. Stay human.

Support each other and be willing to hold hands and jump when we all - as a group - need to jump from the flames we're all trying to convince ourselves wont kill us before rescue comes.

Rescue isn't coming, rescue will be found hand in hand with each other. I'm offering you my hand, please take it. There's always a new start, there are always helping hands reaching for you. You have to look up from the doom-scroll long enough to see and take them.

[anderstrevelyan]

Stumbling in from an accidental almost-three-week hiatus: hi!

[shreetmtbars]

Learn about different types of foundations used in construction, including their advantages and applications. Discover key insights for building stability and longevity.

[theodimasbabygirl]

I've seen some people mention this briefly but can I just say I hate the trend of giving Mabel a new love interest every season?? Its so fucking bland and especially worse knowing that they've cycled through two PERFECT developable love interests for her (Oscar and Theo). It just...reeks of some kind of sexualization for lack of a better word I suppose. Its an easy way to get people talking, an easy person for the audience to suspect, etc. I just HATE it. Oscar was there to be a boy toy, Alice was there for woke points, Tobert is there for the sake of giving Mabel someone to kiss. Its OLD and LAZY.

[bagea]

my NEXT <3

[harringtonesque]

sims 3 vs sims 4 articles are so funny they're all like:

sims 3 has this super cool feature! but sims 4 runs better. sims 3 has this other different super cool feature! but sims 4 runs better. sims 3 has another other super cool feature!! but sims 4 runs better. which is better? wow that's a really hard question haha they're both good you know? because sims 3 has all these super cool features. but sims 4. sims 4 runs better.

[houseofdissension]

⸻  𐄁  𝐕𝐎𝐋𝐍𝐄𝐑-𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐍𝐄  𝐈𝐍𝐂.  //  𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐌  𝟎𝟗𝟗.𝐀

SUBJECT  INTAKE  FOR  DUAL-IDENTITY  REGISTRY FLOOR  OF  DISSENT  —  DISSENSION  INITIATIVE,  FLOOR  40  –  RESTRICTED All  data  collected  is  strictly  classified.  Retrieval  of  memory  post-submission  is  forbidden.

[  𝗩𝗢𝗟𝗡𝗘𝗥-𝗗𝗢𝗪𝗡𝗘  𝗜𝗡𝗖.  //  𝗗𝗜𝗦𝗦𝗘𝗡𝗦𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗖𝗘𝗗𝗨𝗥𝗘 𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗠  ]

╰──  LEWIS PULLMAN,  32,  CIS MAN,  HE/HIM  ]   ＞  𝙾𝙱𝚂𝙴𝚁𝚅𝙴𝙳   𝙰𝚂𝚂𝙴𝚃   𝙻𝙾𝙶:  The  individual  known  informally  as  [  JUDE EASTERLIN  ]  has  been  noted  for  presence  within  the  Downe’s  Hollow  parameters.  According  to  behavioral  estimates,  they  present  at  approximately  [  THIRTY TWO  ],  and  have  been  under  evaluation  for  [  TEN MONTHS  ].  During  scheduled  daylight  hours,  they  are  recorded  operating  in  the  role  of  [  DISSENSION EMPLOYEE  /  LEXICAL STABILITY TYPIST  ].  Community  observation  reports  suggest  notable  behavioral  markers:  prone  to  [  NEUROTICISM  ]  under  stress,  yet  reportedly  [  ASSIDUOUS  ]  in  collective  settings.  Volner-issued  residency  placement:  [  CORNELIUS CIRCLE / GUINEVERE LANES  ].  Echo  archetypes  detected  in  personality  patterns  include:  [  SURVIVAL THAT DEPENDS ON DISEMBOWELED IDENTITY, ON THE SACRIFICE OF INDIVIDUAL AUTHORITY AND CONFIDENCE IN DOMINANCE. THE ACHING PRICKLE OF SMOKE INHALATION THAT CONSTRICTS THE THROAT AND CRAWLS PRECARIOUSLY INTO THE TEAR GLANDS BEHIND THE EYES. NAUSEATING HUMILIATION, FESTERED INADEQUACY, CARDINAL DESIRES— UNFULFILLED— BURSTING FORTH IN RESIGNED, IMPOTENT TEARS— IN EMBARRASSED SOBBING AND GASPING TO NO ONE IN PARTICULAR, LIKE A DROWNING MAN WAVING HIS ARMS TO OVERHEAD CLOUDS  ].  𝚂𝚃𝙰𝚃𝚄𝚂:  under  continued  observation..  Decompression  tolerance  uncertain.  Reintegration  probability:  INCOMPLETE. Continue on to Dissension Form below:

╰──  𝗗𝗜𝗦𝗦𝗘𝗡𝗦𝗜𝗢𝗡  𝗜𝗗𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗜𝗧𝗬  𝗦𝗨𝗣𝗣𝗟𝗘𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗔𝗟  𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗙𝗜𝗟𝗘  —  𝗙𝗟𝗢𝗢𝗥  𝟰𝟬  𝗥𝗘𝗖𝗢𝗥𝗗𝗦. 

＞  INTERNAL  IDENTIFIER:   JUDE E.   ＞  DEPARTMENT  ASSIGNMENT:    MEMORY STABILIZATION TEAM ＞  TASK  UNDERSTANDING:   “I organize walls of text and give them all the novelty of updated standard logging of operating procedures… ‘SLOP’, if you will. I average about 130 WPM with 100% accuracy on a good day.”   ＞  LAST  PERFORMANCE  NOTE:   “Jude E. devotes meticulously thorough attention to detail in every task he performs. However, he often gets sidetracked on labor of dubious value, such as cleaning the underside of desk drawers, or wiping down the inside of the communal office paper shredder to get rid of 'particle residue'. Jude E. has not been reprimanded due to consistently staying ahead of production quota, but he should not be encouraged, as he seems to create his own ideas of personal incentives.”  ＞  CROSS-MEMORY  TRACE  DETECTED?:  NO  ＞  DREAM  REPORT  (  IF  ANY  ):    EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCES PERIODS OF ABSOLUTE SILENCE. HE CLAIMS THAT NO ONE TALKS TO HIM, OR PRODUCES SOUND WHEN THEY MOVE.  ＞  MOTIVATIONAL  SCORE:  HIGH 

𐄁  𝗩𝗢𝗟𝗡𝗘𝗥-𝗗𝗢𝗪𝗡𝗘  𝗜𝗡𝗖.  //  𝗣𝗢𝗦𝗧-𝗦𝗘𝗧𝗧𝗟𝗘𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧  𝗢𝗡𝗕𝗢𝗔𝗥𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚  𝗘𝗩𝗔𝗟𝗨𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡

FORM  82-D  |  RESIDENCY  JUSTIFICATION  INTAKE: Your  responses  are  recorded  under  Civic  Harmony  Protocol  6.1.  Please  answer  with  full  clarity  and  personal  accountability.  Ambiguity  may  result  in  further  observation.

1. At  the  time  of  your  Procedure,  you  were  given  the  opportunity  to  decline.  And  yet,  you  proceeded.  Why  did  you  choose  Dissension?

The fluorescent light murmurs to him— a quiet, buzzing chorus, like a swarm of tiny insects burrowing beneath his skin with evolution’s precision. It drones on during his sleeve pulling and eye darting. They want him to walk to some reason to all of this, to empty his bags, to sort and leave that; to take out each frayed thought and illuminate it. But as Jude considers the cost of alcohol, the trade of pills, the draw of smoke in his lungs— he finds that he already knows how to give every last thing away. He has done it a thousand times. The real cost, he knows, is long paid. His voice, when it comes, is strained— cracked from too many hours spent without another human ear to catch it. “I do anything for work. Construction. Auto repair. I’ve even worn one of those giant animal suits to hand out flyers. Whatever pays.” He pauses, eyes fixed on an invisible thread on the laminate table. “But I’ve burned through it all. I spent years addicted to anything I could afford. Whatever was cheapest.”  Jude swallows. He is not ripe for the picking— he is past it, he is rotting. “And now I’m here, clocking in to a job where I don’t even get to remember the work I do.” He looks up. His eyes are glassy, ashamed. “Anyway, the luxury of dignity…” His laughter is whispered, like a ghost hiding in another room, “... is far beyond my means. I Just—” a breath, “— I just need the money.” His gaze sinks under the meek weight of resignation, so low that no spark of pride left to shield can be found in the downcast crescent shapes, witnessed in the enervated and gradual droop of his shoulders, like a melting candle, and in the mumbled and humming tones his words take on. A wan smile clings to his soft and pallid face; the last beacon of levity, albeit crumbling, left behind in the collapse. 

2.  At  the  time  of  your  arrival,  what  were  you  running  from,  or  toward?

“Yeah, so, uh… It’s funny now— well, kind of funny— how fast things go wrong when you owe the wrong people. It starts small, you know?” Jude’s smile widens fast, brittle. As a reflex. He chuckles, sharp and too quick, like a match struck in the dark, hoping to light the story before the shadows close in. An echo thrown ahead of the fear. “I thought I was juggling it all, being clever. And then one day, I was face down in an alley with a guy telling me he was going to turn my kneecaps into dust if I even looked like I was thinking about running.” His voice thins to silence, and his smile shudders. Jude’s stare slips across the floor— lost, unmoored— as if the hush between his heartbeats can summon the taste of blood mixed with bile in his mouth.  “I think he called me “sweetheart” too, which, now that I think about it, is probably the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me. Anyway, that kind of motivates a guy.” And Jude ran. Full sprint. Half-packed bag, bus station at midnight, shaking so much he couldn’t hold his ticket straight. He still has that shake in his hands, but he hides it behind his sleeves, twisting them tight around his fists. “That was a year ago. I don’t talk about it much. It’s not really… much of a story.” He glances up at last, but the moment vanishes like breath on glass.

3.  Do  you  believe  you  chose  this  life,  or  were  chosen  for  it?

Jude’s fingers twitch once in his lap, and then again. He blinks, and for a moment, stares down at the floor as if the answer might be hiding in the polished reflections. But nothing arrives. No spark, no elegant unraveling of thought. He sits— a vessel unfilled in heavy silence. His hopes are small things now, shriveled and quiet. He is too empty to hold meaning, to consider choice like it’s fate, or fate like it’s choice. He shifts in his chair, the creak of it far too loud in the hush. He swallows. His mouth is dry. “I don’t know,” he says finally, his voice low, unsure if he should’ve spoken at all. A beat. Jude lifts his gaze, but only part way. His eyes flicker near the interviewer’s face without quite meeting it. The words feel like failure in his throat— thin and unpolished. He hates the sound of his voice, how final the admission seems. “I don’t know,” he repeats, softer this time. “Is that okay, that I don’t know?” Jude shrugs, an apologetic gesture. His shoulders fold like the edges of a newspaper. “Sorry,” he adds, voice almost cracking. The interviewer hasn’t moved. They’re just listening. Letting the silence stretch. Jude’s face grows hot, gaining the blushing tincture of embarrassment. He wants to be impressive, articulate, maybe even wise. But all he has are dumb answers. “I mean,” he says, trying again, “I could think of an answer. I could say something. But I’d be making it up. Is that—” he breaks off, then finds his voice again, shakier this time, “is that okay?” His words linger in the air, fragile things. He folds his hands to still them. There’s a tremble—not in his voice, not quite—but in the space between each breath. The interviewer doesn’t speak. Just watches.

4.  When  you  envision  the  person  you  used  to  be,  what  part  of  them  still  lingers  in  the  current  design?

There’s an ache building behind his eyes now— fatigue, maybe, or the slow unraveling of a mask he didn’t know he was wearing. He breathes out. It shakes. The question carries the sound of a reverberating bell, prompting him to wake up in his childhood bedroom, and harbor deep within its vague, imaginary space. He sits there, still as a photograph, as memory unfolds around him. He can see the low attic ceiling, narrow and dark. The door always closed. The curtains drawn. That sterile, acrid smell— too clean, so clean it feels wrong. It has never left him. Not really. It lives deep in his twisting guts, right next to the hunger and the quiet, constant pain. Jude doesn’t raise his head. His gaze stays on the table. “My mother believed in purity. Not metaphorically, not as some symbol of holiness to aspire to like all the others. No, she believed in it. She said God didn’t dwell on the unwashed, the gluttonous, the boisterous. The soul had to be scrubbed. To be pure, we had to be alone. We had to be silent.” There’s a tremble at the edge of his speech. He remembers his lessons.  Jude’s shoulders hunch deeper inward, minimizing the space he occupies. His usual emotions, his regular habits, his conversations with others— all are presented with an instinct to withdraw, to shrink. Presence, after all, is intrusion. “That was part of her religion. Pain was private. Holiness was earned in solitude. Repentance found in raw, burning skin.” Jude’s voice rises shakily from his lowered, hidden face. He feels his throat close up like it’s trying to protect him. “I ran away. I slept in alleys that smelled like piss and rot, under bridges that echoed with the groans of trucks and people trying not to cry.” He begged with his head down, not out of shame— shame came later— but because he couldn’t bear to see the disgust in people’s eyes. It’s one thing to be invisible. It’s another to be seen and pitied. “And it worked, for a while. But there’s a cost to vanishing, and to using. You don’t just lose the pain. You lose the parts of yourself that might’ve been worth saving.” There’s a hollowness he can’t name, even now. Sometimes, he wonders what part of him got scrubbed away for good. He was once clean, too clean, and he rejected it by finding every filthy thing and letting it touch his soul. Either way takes courage, either way wants him to become someone blank enough to survive. Something’s missing. Some softness, maybe. Or some part of him that once believed in safety. “Now, even clean, even housed, I feel… stained. Like I carry the scent of it with me, the rot I couldn’t wash off.” There’s tension in his posture even as he leans back and finally raises his chin. “But I eat now. Most days. I let my house be a little messy sometimes. I don’t own bleach. Can’t stand the stuff.” He doesn’t say that he still wakes up in the middle of the night, heart pounding, afraid that he’s been too loud in his sleep. Some part of him still believes that silence keeps him safe.

𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞  𝐭𝐨  𝐕𝐨𝐥𝐧𝐞𝐫-𝐃𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐞  𝐈𝐧𝐜.,  𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦  𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵  𝘪𝘴  𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺  𝘢𝘯𝘥  𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦  𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴  𝘵𝘩𝘦  𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧.  𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳  𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦  𝘩𝘢𝘴  𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯  𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘥,  𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳  𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭  𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥.  𝘞𝘦  𝘢𝘳𝘦  𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥  𝘵𝘰  𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯  𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴  𝘫𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘺  𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳.

𝗪𝗲’𝗿𝗲  𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗱  𝘁𝗼  𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲  𝘆𝗼𝘂  𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿  𝗼𝘂𝗿  𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲. –  Compliance.  Continuity.  Purpose.

[weweantica]

burned, plowed, disc’d, seeded, and packed!

[yourbestbuddie]

I can do angst, I can even do the type with a bittersweet ending and they don’t end up together.

Where I draw the line, however, is when one of the main characters is suddenly severely maimed.

Amputated arm? Nope. Nope I know that characters big dream was to be a professional artist someday you did not just go and amputate their arm and squash their dreams like that to move the plot.

That shit is too depressing for me, nuh uh.

[dailyanarchistposts]

Another Present is Possible

These examples of events in the recent past give us a terrifying image if we extrapolate them into the future. Assuming they will only intensify with climate change they in no way show us the collapse of civilization as we know it - i.e. a world order of economic and political inequality (inside and between nations), domination and exclusion. On the contrary, this "realist" model shows us that it is not the collapse of order we need to fear but its continuation. But the picture I have presented of the present is only partial and therefore misleading. In recent years we have seen many other social reactions to disasters which point towards a completely different future.

During Hurricane Katrina thousands of volunteer activists arrived in New Orleans, not to distribute charity but to offer their solidarity. They helped the communities who were already coming together to set up local information centers where people could find their loved ones, offer their skills, leave or take supplies, etc. The same happened during the other disasters mentioned here. This spontaneous "disaster communism" or "disaster anarchism" has a long history: when the imposed order of the state and capital retreats people rarely react the way Leviathan assumes - when people find themselves in shared circumstances they are at least as likely to start helping each other as they are to start fighting.[54] A crucial difference over the recent years is that it is no longer spontaneous: communities are learning from past events are preparing for the next; they are practicing the skills required and building communities and networks that prepare them for the future by changing how they relate to each other in the present.

This is about more than surviving during a disaster. In New Orleans the organizations Common Ground Relief and the Common Ground Health Clinic were established to provide immediate relief and mutual aid, but they continue to this day long after the disaster as community led organizations for social justice and self-management. They are now part of the growing network Mutual Aid Disaster Relief which help communities prepare for disasters before they happen, using principles of mutual aid and self-empowerment instead of dependence-creating, top-down "charity."

During Hurricane Sandy in New York, thousands of volunteers came together to organize the relief effort. Their efforts were helped by existing networks of communication and trust established during the Occupy Wall Street protests. The movement Occupy Sandy organized around 60,000 volunteers in an effective relief effort that outperformed both the Red Cross and the government agency FEMA.[55] A report from the Department of Homeland Security praised the decentralized, horizontal and transparent model: "We can learn lessons from Occupy Sandy's successes to ensure a ready and resilient nation."[56]

When the state's branch of repression has such praise for decentralized structures there is reason to be weary of co-optation. Governments could use the potential for community self-organizing to justify neoliberal austerity policies. But since top-down government "rebuilding" efforts have also been used to implement neoliberal policies this is only a reason to further insist on strengthening and radicalizing the grass roots movement and combining the emergency relief and post-disaster rebuilding with an egalitarian anti-capitalist practice. The activists in Occupy Sandy had seen what happened after New Orleans and were from the beginning focused on preventing and resisting the gentrification that often follows with the recovery process.

Furthermore, these movements are not merely reacting to emergencies, trying to survive in the disaster. They are also engaged in climate mitigation by focusing on the environmental surroundings of their communities. Common Ground in Louisiana runs a program for wetlands restoration which is necessary for mitigating the effects of climate change (the wetlands protect against hurricanes and land-loss) and play a part in reducing climate change (by storing CO2). Most importantly though, these movements are building new praxises and social relations that are necessary parts of a different social order beyond capitalism and the Leviathan.

This is not political idealism as in the opposite of "realism" - I have again merely pointed out things that actually exist in the real world and many more examples could be given from many other parts of the globe. As Martin Buber noted,[57] all societies contain to some degree both the "political principle" (organization characterized by domination) and the "social principle" (association based on common needs) and any realistic analysis would be lacking if it merely focused on one, not merely because it would miss part of reality but because it would affect our actions and thus shape reality. The two narratives give us radically different affective states and have the potential to shape our ideals for the future and our capacities in the present. Both principles will likely be intensified with climate change; which one will be stronger depends on what we do.

The movements described may not today be big enough to replace the system in its entirety and stop climate change but they do provide us with a lived and "concrete utopia"[58] which can give us the hope and trust necessary to break the paralysis caused by an overpowering fear of climate induced societal apocalypse. They show us that it is not the breakdown of the current order we need to fear. If we are to avoid climate catastrophe the social order must be radically changed. Communities and movements like these are part of determining the direction of that change - they allow us to prepare for the future by changing the present, thereby expanding our collective imagination of what is possible. Their most important function might be to dispel the Hobbesian fantasy.