Spoke to my friend who lives near St. Cloud, MN yesterday.

[artemis@dice.camp]

@feznander
But in terms of wake-up call to my siblings, I hope it's helpful to just let them know: "hey, I may be about to start doing the riskiest shit I have ever done, & I want y'all to understand that there are a lot of scenarios where I will not choose my physical safety over helping my neighbors."

[feznander@mstdn.social]

@artemis for every story you hear about them kidnapping and brutalizing people, there are a hundred that you might not hear about how observers kept guard as two or three vehicles spent an hour idling in a parking lot or circling a block, then finally gave up and fucked off.

[artemis@dice.camp]

There is no reason not to be careful. There is every reason not to throw your life away pointlessly, not just for yourself but for everyone you hope to help. We are all needed. We all have ways we can help.

Y'all, stay alive. I want you to stay alive. *I* want to stay alive.

But safety? In some cases, safety just may not be an option.

[artemis@dice.camp]

My mom responding to me (privately) not saying "don't risk your safety," but offering me resources on community defense means a lot to me.

It means she gets it. She is proud of me & my brother, & she is also educating herself & getting herself ready to help. It means she knows that some things are worth taking risks for.

[artemis@dice.camp]

As Minnesota folks are reminding me: our strength is each other. We have numbers. Together we are so strong.

And our hearts are in this in the way the fash can't even imagine. The power of love for each other, our homes, our communities is not something they can understand.

[artemis@dice.camp]

Little bro has told me there are people in his community who have stepped up that he didn't think had it in them. People he thought were kind of flakey & not to be taken seriously. But in this moment, they're doing the work, because solidarity fucking works.

[a87b402ac081c8849b9d5bd4e39f2287f25709d3e3f79e784af1e8b38fefbdf1@mostr.pub]

Renee Good made a really stupid mistake by not stopping her car and turning off her engine. If a bad person wants to hurt you, the absolute worst possible thing you can do is to give them plausible deniability.

Renee Good avoided being a martyr in most people's eyes when she accellerated her car towards that ICE agent. And yet she still died. Even if you think for some reason that ICE agent would have killed her either way, the biggest consequence of her choice is still providing that agent a pretty damn good social and legal defense.

That kind of behavior is not the way to fight for justice. Be better!

[brad@1040ste.net]

@artemis Being strong enough to be gentle and kind is a lot more impressive than being violent. Any arsehole can lash out.

[artemis@dice.camp]

I'm finally getting what the Jesus character meant when he said, "whoever does the work of my Father in heaven is my sibling."

What matters is that you do what you can where you can. What matters, what unites us, is doing the work & caring for each other.

That's what fucking matters.

[artemis@dice.camp]

We aren't all going to be on the streets. I've talked about this before: there are different abilities & different opportunities that we all have. What matters isn't how "important" or risky your work is.

What matters is taking whatever you have in front of you, whatever you know to do, & doing it.

Some of us may be called up to take some serious risks. Ok, fine. Be ready for that. But for now, help in the ways you know how. Anything that needs to be done is worth doing, no matter how "small".

[shiitaketoast@beige.party]

@aeischeid @artemis On top of that, the only way they’ve been taught to fight back is violence. And solo violence at that. They can’t imagine themselves as part of a bigger movement@with broader strategies than “punching the bad guys”. I mean punching Nazis is an unalloyed good. But filming their atrocities and delegitimizing them to others, feeding people, helping neighbors, slowing down traffic, etc. is how you really beat them.

[artemis@dice.camp]

If you are feeding people, that is the work.

If you are helping people with clothing or shelter, that is the work.

If you offer encouragement & support, that is the work.

If you share information & speak the truth, that is the work.

If you're setting up chairs for a community defense training, that is the work.

If it's worth doing, it is worth doing.

[artemis@dice.camp]

The best analogy I have right now is an ant colony: ants don't fret about "importance", they just do their job, & together ants are ridiculously powerful for how frickin tiny they are.

We're ants. We're small but many, & by all making our contributions, we have so much power.

All I really ask is that you give of yourself. I mentioned my big bro: he has 7 kids. I'm not going to ask him to take unnecessary physical risk. Those kids need him. But he needs to be in this.

[artemis@dice.camp]

Take setting up chairs for a community gathering for example.

A lot of people who do this kind of work don't even see that it's real & it matters.

It's not "just setting up chairs". For that meeting to happen, someone needed to set up the chairs. You decided to be that someone.

That is the work. It's a job that needs doing, & you showed up & did it. So much of what needs doing feels ridiculously "small", but that's why we are strong *together*, because everyone has *something* to give.

[robcornelius@climatejustice.social]

@artemis Hollywood force feeds us lies about brave, courageous, "manly" heroes overcoming Impossible odds to stick it to the man.

There are people who believe these myths and try to fight back against the whole world on their own. They are generally known as spree killers.

The only real power is solidarity and community. Monke together STRONG.

[artemis@dice.camp]

I've been talking about my little bro & how proud I am: some of what he's doing carries significant risk, but a lot of it is just showing up & asking "what can I do to help?"

He is in physically good shape, so beyond risky confrontational shit, he can just be a big help, because he is physically able to do a lot of things that need doing.

It's not about being a hero for him. He says he just shows up to things & says "tell me what you need me to do."

[handsomebird@kind.social]

@artemis
> he has 7 kids

That's an indication of the underlying issue.

[artemis@dice.camp]

@handsomebird
It sure is....

[lexyeen@plush.city]

@artemis If you'll pardon a quote from the /antagonist/ of A Bug's Life, speaking to his underlings, as emphasis for your point...

"You let one ant stand up to us, then they ALL might stand up. Those 'puny little ants' outnumber us a hundred to one, and if they ever figure that out, there goes our way of life!"

[artemis@dice.camp]

@LexYeen
Fantastic! Exactly.