The real Earth Day is Lenin’s birthday! Free the people & planet through socialist revolution!
Earth Day is cool and all, I guess. But let’s be real. Bourgeois reforms aren’t going to save us from the ravages of pollution and climate change. Even if U.S. imperialism was suddenly willing to accept them, which gets less likely every day. That’s why I prefer to mark Lenin’s birthday on April 22. Anything less than socialist revolution ain’t gonna cut it. – redguard
1 - The Righteous Anger Addict - These are your ultravegans, diehard PETA members, some antivaxxers, and misguided activists. Anger is motivating, especially when its founded in something ostensibly just. The Righteous Anger Addict fixates on a genuine injustice in the world and blows it out of proportion to the point where any amount of anger is justified. Common targets are pharmaceutical companies, medical care providers, agribusiness, and the livestock industry. All things deserving of criticism, which makes them ideal wells of outrage. The Righteous Anger Addict feels ineffectual, but finds power and community in sharing articles and talking with other activists. Their identity is tied to being increasingly “anti-x”, which traps them in a sort of ideological limbo. They find power in ruthless criticism of both “x“ and their less zealous companions. This is a double edged sword. Any action on their part opens them up to that very same criticism.
2 - The Alienated Daydreamer - These are your starseeds, your indigo children, your Lemurian descendants. Above everything, the Alienated Daydreamer has a desire to feel special. They feel different. They’re not like everyone else. Be it undiagnosed medical issues and the failure of the capitalist medical industry, the general loneliness of late capitalism, or just that their friends all got married and moved across the country, the Alienated Daydreamer feels detached from the world. When one day, they read an internet article telling them they’re lonely because their aura is a rare new color that repels other people, or they’re actually an alien-human hybrid, or they’re a descendant of a proto-human civilization, it suddenly all makes sense. Their vague and implacable dissatisfaction with the world is validated, they really aren’t supposed to be here, they really are meant for better things.
3 - The Smug Insider - These are your flat earthers, your light shadow-governmenters, your pseudo-scientists. The smug insider is deeply terrified of a world that seems to be ruled by forces and organizations beyond their understanding. The institutions they were supposed to trust have failed them in a personal way. But they followed the rabbit. They read the right articles. They know whats happening while all these “sheeple” don’t and it makes them better. They’re on the inside, privy to all the hidden secrets that explain everything, and you’re not. Having insider knowledge makes one feel powerful, in-control. It gives the smug insider a sense of stability in a world they struggle to understand.
4 - The Disillusioned Nihilist - These are your doomers, your apocalypse cultists, your incels. The Disillusioned Nihilist has completely given up on believing in anything. The have been taken advantage of, stepped on, and disparaged from all sides. Their search for answers, if they ever really searched, has only been met with what feels like more vultures hungry for their time, money, and emotional energy. Faced with the imperfections of humanity, they have simply decided it should all burn, and resigned themselves to quietly hoping for it to end.
5 - The Disillusioned Daydreamer - These are your Qanon guys, your FEMA death-campers, your millitia larpers. The American dream has failed them. They were promised that if they worked hard and saved their money they could open a successful independent business selling motorcycles. They make decent money, but the IRS is on their ass for unpaid business loans. The roads are crumbling, the economy is tanking, and men are wearing skirts. Things are falling apart. But they have free time and income. Within the world of conspiracy, they are the main character. They are the last line of defense between the good sweet American people and the terrorist satanist communist europeans. They’re important. They were never lied to. They were right all along. The enemy is around every corner and just waiting for them to slip up.
6 - The Self-Hating Daydreamer - These are your pickup artists, your gays-in-denial, your alternative medicine and self-help obsessives. The Self-Hating Daydreamer is characterized by the idea that they are broken and need to be fixed. Where the Alienated Daydreamer seeks external validation, the Self-Hating Daydreamer seeks internal validation. They can’t be special, because nobody is special. Where the Disillusioned Daydreamer romanticizes rebellion and resistance, the Self-Hating daydreamer does not want to believe that their problems could come from anything but themselves. Issues like systemic injustice feel insurmountable, but they can change themselves. They believe themselves to be a burden on the world. Accepting any sort of assistance is weakness. If they can just find the right words, the right persona, the right nutrient regimen, they can finally feel like a person again.
7 - The Cynical Grifter - Your Ben Shapiros, Jordan Petersons, and PragerUs. The pundits just here for the speaking fees. Every once in a while Ben Shapiro will say something. If you watch closely, you can watch him realize that what he’s saying is complete horseshit. For a split second, you can watch him remember that he wanted to run a bakery, that he never wanted any of this. You can see all those old memories well up. All the directions his life could have taken. What is he doing? Why is he saying this shit? Is this what he wants? You can watch him remember where he is. That he has bills to pay. That he has to wake up tomorrow for another day of being Ben Shapiro. You can watch the light die in his eyes. The Cynical Grifter genuinely hates their target of choice, but they also hate their audience. The Cynical Grifter sees their audience as stupid and easily tricked, but with their hearts in the right place.
8 - The UnCynical Grifter - Your Alex Jones and Steven Crowders. Any semblance of attempting to appear reasonable or rational is out of the window. It is eternally unclear how much Jones actually believes in what hes saying. Its clear he thinks there is some sort of conspiracy happening, but he is also very cognizant that he is running a business. The line between grifter and sincere believer is blurred. These are the pundits where you could get fired for wearing their merch.
9 -The Not-So-Cryptofascist - Your sandyhook truthers, anti-globalists, your genuine militia members. The point of no return, the final evolution of a conspiracy theorist. The layers of veiled metaphors and post-post-post irony are falling away, and “They control the world” has become “(((They))) control the world.”
Have you made your plans yet? Do you have plans for a veg garden? Are any groups near you planning May Day actions? Do you have an affinity group or a buddy? Are you connected to your local mutual aid group yet? Will you be doing any DIY projects or direct action?
Let us know in the replies! We’ll be sharing your responses on this blog to inspire others, and of course sharing your actions too! If you need inspiration, scroll through our blog a bit to see the resources we’ve shared and all the actions from in previous years
A better world is possible! Let’s build it together!
I've been preparing for few things to do during the week
tutorial on how I usually make pants
silk paper sun catchers
party decorations
milk carton mini greenhouses
something for my “pimp my tradition” folk costume project
embroidered patches
guerilla art
take #2 on growing mushrooms
clothing designing
solarpunk picnic!
I don’t plan on doing all of these, I’ve (hopefully) learned my lesson on planning for more than I have spoons for, but these are options of what I could do and what I have done some preparations for.
Ooo, this’ll be my first SPAW! here‘s some things I’m planning:
- plant more things in my garden (I want to focus on attracting more butterflies as pollinators because someone that lives near my garden is deathly allergic to bees)
- mend some clothes (thrift store jeans and a cardigan)
- hem a corduroy skirt to be knee-length
- cinch the waist of most of my jeans
- try to make more teas w the stuff from my garden
- finally finish that book on environmental policy
- make a bee bath!
- try out that moss milkshake paint thing… that’s mainly for me, it just looks rlly neat
- try out different water saving techniques and see what works
and that’s about it! If anyone has any more suggestions for what I can do, I’d always appreciate hearing them!
I have some mending I plan to do on a blanket I like. I ordered some trees through the Arbor Day Foundation that I should be recieving/planting around that time. I am also hoping to be able to get my rain garden together with native plants from my the sale my local conservation center puts on annually ♡ I will also be cruising arpund my neighborhood on my bicycle to pick up some of the litter (it is constant because I live on a school road).
I was supposed to me at my place for the week but I’m gonna be with my mom who will be recovering from surgery instead, so no planting the garden for me unfortunately. But, it does mean I have a captive audience in my mother, who went to art school for fashion design, as I learn how to mend clothing.
Plus, it gives me some time to finish my book on ecosocialism AND have some conversations with my pretty conservative family.
Let’s see if I can get my ass in gear enough to put together some of those woodshop projects I’ve been keeping around since spaw last year… pallet bench; suburito; maybe fix up the shed ramp if I get real frisky
the bench is for donating to a bus stop near my house. plus I have some parts to give to the local bike co-op.
Start my own garden and help my great aunt with hers (she has a large on, but its getting to be too much for her alone)
Sew all of the buttons back on to clothing, which i have been avoiding
Stop by the community garden and get the schedule for events and probably sign up to help
Pick up trash along the road
Check-in with the local libraries and see if they need any volunteers
I’ll be mending clothes all that week. It’s the most I can do with chronic fatigue syndrome, but between that and relearning how to use my bread machine that’s collected dust for several years, it’s something I can make good progress in.
We do not make plans for specific times in this house cus were all ADHD, but we have just begun adding gardening to our home ed curriculum since the kid wants their diet to be more local and sustainable, and we are at some point going to add repairing and making clothes, recycling and repair, and as the weather gets better we will be helping the neighbour with his allotment. Were also going to start litter picking in the woods where we take our walks.
(We might also be planning to sneak some edible plants into the green areas around the village, should we end up with more than we need at home)
It’ll be food-focused for us! We’ll be right in the middle of our tomato Harvest, and we’ll be fixing up the sweet potato and planting some radishes and carrots. I’m also going to alter the face masks that I use for work so that they fit my face better! If I manage to finish all of that, I’ll go ahead and crochet some more donation items :)
I ordered some native wildflower seeds and they’re coming tomorrow (anticipated)! There’s a big ol flowerbed by my dorm that has nothing growing in it but a porterweed and something else I can’t identify yet, so I’m gonna rough up the soil a bit and scatter some wildflower seeds! I won’t be there to see the results but I’m still excited!
One of my neighbors is excited about getting into gardening so I’m also going to start some zucchini plants for her! If I start them this week they may be ready to give to her by that week! Also might start a handful of other things for her, like tomatoes and summer squash!
I’m a little ahead in that I’m building a raised vegetable garden this week, but next week I’ll be actually planting in it! Gonna be planting radishes, carrots, turnips, onions, garlic, basil, and tomato! Very excited to stop relying on the produce aisle :)
And I have clothes to mend, cleaning to do, donations to make to the local food drive, etc.
This is my first SPAW and im thrilled to be part of a community
As with every SPAW, I’ll be running the blog and sharing everyone’s actions throughout the week
As with every week, I’ll be volunteering with Birmingham Mutual Aid on Tuesday (and possibly more) and with the Birmingham Free Store, probably on Friday and Saturday
I’m gonna try to organize some extra actions for that week, namely a workday for the People’s Park at the Free Store and a mutual aid supply drive for both BhamMA and the Free Store
There will no doubt be gardening tasks at my house that week. Not solid on what those will be yet, we’ll see!
And finally, I’ll be going on a distro run to 7 little free libraries around the city to drop off this fat stack of radical reading material taken from the Free Store’s abundance, including copies of Inhabit’s Instructions for Autonomy, the 2 most recent issues of Slingshot Magazine, CrimethInc’s guide to graffiti, flyers about local resources/organizations/causes, and more. While I’m out I’ll also be throwing up tons of stickers!
My plan so far for the week is:
Mend clothes
Make paper from yucca (maybe. depends on weather. Can’t do it if there’s a burn ban)
Put up a clothesline and use it
Continue doing whatever needs done in the garden, including possibly laying down a stone path in the little kitchen garden so it’s more accessible???
Take my niblings on nature walks to see whatever is growing
Tentative plans:
Repot sprouts and plant new seeds
Mending
Figure out something to do with salvaged fabric
Rope friends into “pick up trash from the woods” walks
Stickers!
I don’t have the skills to do much, but I might take some time to learn how to make bread and scones, take my friend on a plant walk, and work on the restoration site as usual. I have so much homework that not much else is feasible but my stretch goal is to try making soap for the house.
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