The Ongoing Battle for Liberation: Time on the Clock of the World
Grace Lee and Jimmy Boggs’ “time on the clock of the world” is never a difficult question when every injustice is connected.
In their 1974 book Revolution and Evolution in the 20th Century, Grace Lee and Jimmy Boggs asked, “What time is it on the clock of the world?” This question was an invitation to imagine our collective human history as a clock; as time changes, our conditions change, and so should our strategies – how do we resist? What organizing tactics do we use? How do our previous experiences and collective histories inform where we are on the clock? How does this translate to strategy? What, if anything, needs to be built from scratch?
The global anti-war movement has reemerged for the first time in 20 years. And if we are using the time on the clock of the world framework, it is to be expected. The fight for liberation against oppression, colonialism, imperialism, and surveillance is ongoing. Whether it’s Palestine today, Vieques in 2001, Vietnam in the 1950s, or Hawai’i in 1900, the besieged change, but the occupiers are the same. Whether we are fighting mass incarceration and police brutality, border militarization, pipelines on Indigenous land, transphobic violence, climate crisis, or eugenics, we are all fighting injustices all the time. We are told access to basic needs, including housing, education, healthcare, and debt relief are beyond the realm of possibility. “We can’t afford it!” and “How will we pay for it?” have been part of the fabric of status quo responses for years. We struggle to make ends meet while we watch the U.S. send a blank check to Israel, co-signing genocide despite massive public outcry.
We are expected to continue business as usual while our electeds play in our faces.
“Today… the struggle is much more difficult. What it requires is that people in every stratum of the population clash not only with the agents of the silent police state but with their own prejudices, their own outmoded ideas, their own fears which keep them from grappling with the new realities of our age.
The American people must find a way to insist upon their own right and responsibility to make political decisions and to determine policy in all spheres of social existence — whether it is foreign policy, the work process, education, race relations, community life.
The coming struggle is a political struggle to take political power out of the hands of the few and put it into the hands of the many. But in order to get this power into the hands of the many, it will be necessary for the many not only to fight the powerful few but to fight and clash among themselves as well.”
James Boggs, “The American Revolution”
I remain moved by the many actions unfurling worldwide. We are using so many tactics, and they are all worth celebrating. Whenever I want to reflect on movement dialectics and what time we are on the proverbial clock, I review the Movement Cycle and Beautiful Trouble’s Movement Compass. Tip: Beautiful Trouble’s Organizing 101 toolkit is helpful for folks starting up as activists, re-engaging as former organizers, or recovering from movement burnout.
The Movement Compass’s 6 phases are Enduring Crisis, Uprising, Peak, Contraction, Evolution, and Opportunities Awaiting; I’d love to reflect on the first four phases and take stock of our current movement moment.
Enduring crisis is our baseline. There is widespread frustration and no movement infrastructure to confront it. The people’s “Shock Doctrine,” or our wake-up call, is triggered by war, natural disasters, economic recessions, and/or pandemics; these moments in time are not just opportunities for the powers that be to double down and impose their will, but it provides space for people to step into their power. Enduring crisis is where we build consciousness, air grievances, and decide whether or not to take advantage of any windows of opportunity.
As folks are elevating first-hand accounts of the atrocities in Gaza and the West Bank by the Israeli apartheid state, they are also denouncing the many abuses impacting our neighbors in Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Haiti, Pakistan, Sudan, Tigray, and the Congo, and rightfully so. This approach will help us connect our global crises (aided and abetted by the West) and transform support into an uprising, the next phase on the Movement Compass.
Uprising is where we employ tactics ranging from mass mobilization to pressuring our elected officials towards a ceasefire, the bare minimum. One of the theories that informs Uprising is Al faza’a (a surge of solidarity). Faza’a is a Bedouin term that means solidarity. It conveys the idea of taking action to help those in danger. Al faza’a acknowledges the reality that a segment of supporters will only join during peak moments of a campaign, typically in response to something like the genocide in Gaza, and they will likely disappear once they perceive the rapid response moment to be over. The test here is trying to make lasting connections to call upon them again later on. If there’s anything we’ve learned, the struggle continues.
Peak is when the cause has gone viral. It is essential to stick to core messages and try to push the Overton window, which I think is critical to name here because the right wing does it all the time. The Overton window “designates the range of points on the spectrum that are considered part of a “sensible” conversation within public opinion and traditional mass media.” It shifts left or right, where once unthinkable things become sensible or acceptable positions. So, while we say anti-zionism is not antisemitism as one of our core messages, the status quo in politics and media push back and say we are antisemitic, which is part of the zionist propaganda playbook. When we ask for a ceasefire, the status quo pushes back and says, “A ceasefire would benefit Hamas,” which defends the indefensible (and protects business interests in the region). I’ll add that there are also narrative and cultural shifts that happen at both the Uprising level and Peak level.
As a movement, what are we doing right now? It’s not just civil disobedience or mass street actions in the tens or hundreds of thousands. We are flooding apps like Instagram and TikTok to uplift the voices of impacted Gazans and Palestinians in the diaspora by subverting the algorithms and avoiding censorship and digital suppression. We are using hashtags demanding #ceasefirenow and a #freePalestine. We are hashtag hijacking to beat shadow bans or flood location tags like Masafer Yaata, a village in the occupied West Bank where settlers are in an active violent campaign to displce Palestiniansfrom their homes. Jewish Voice for Peace adopted ACT UP’s 1991 Day of Desperation banner drop at Grand Central Station during their action demanding an immediate cease fire. Anti-war activists are using blockades targeting weapons manufacturers at their headquarters or interrupting cargo shipments. We are engaging in decentralized consumer boycotts of companies that benefit from apartheid and occupation. We use guerilla marketing through graffiti, murals, and sticker bombs to spread messages in solidarity with Palestine. We show up for our neighbors through jail solidarity and dearrest when necessary. We are phone banking, calling our representatives multiple times a day, every day. We are media-jacking, taking advantage of air time to interrupt xenophobia, Islamophobia and antisemitism when they arise, interrupting Senate Committee testimony, and campaign events. We are doing noise demos, whether they’re pots and pans at the state department or a drumline at City Hall.
I’ve talked with friends about the limitations of putting all our energy into on-the-ground protests. I have also publicly decried the privilege of being able to feign ignorance and claim “compassion fatigue.” I don’t think we have space to be nihilistic or check out in this moment, but I am a realist, and in true Libra fashion, I teeter between radical optimism and futurist pessimism. Over the last few weeks, the miles of marching, phone calls with congressional staffers and aides, and the many conversations I’ve had with strangers and comrades alike, I know that our primary tactic relies on strength in numbers, putting us all in the direct action grinder, exposing us to surveillance and to sickness (there’s still a pandemic outside despite what the anti-maskers in our ranks want you to believe). And I know many of us are thirsty for critical connections beyond critical mass.
We need sustaining alternatives.
We need to start strategizing. We all have the things we need to make this not just a moment on the clock of humanity, but a galvanized force for justice and liberation for all people across the planet. For this to work, we need to plan for the long haul. What comes after mass mobilization? What communal care practices can we use to prevent mass illness, and what can we do when flu/cold/covid/RSV befalls us? How will we connect and uplift our disabled comrades? Are we building relationships and capacity in a way that is safe and non-extractive? How will we scale up our security practices? How are we incorporating necessary political education for the long term? How can we make space for invisibilized people, like elders and children?
Deepa Iyer’s “Mapping Our Roles in a Social Change System” is another tool I love that helped ground me during the 2020 summer uprisings. Solidarity is a verb, a practice, and our roles serve as a commitment to ourselves and one another. Who are our healing practitioners? Who are our messengers? Who are the creatives, the musicians, the artists? Who are our educators? Who are our guides? They are all around us; they are us.
What role or roles in movement best match your skills and expertise? What is the impact of your chosen role on your spirit/mind/body? Is it physically taxing, liberating, or both? Does it drain you, make your spirit soar, or both? Could you deal with occasional redundancy or compromise in your role? Does your role connect to your privilege (i.e., being able-bodied, well-resourced, etc.)? What does the role you feel most comfortable with tell you about who you are? Where can you afford to take bold risks? How will you bring others along to develop their skills, practice, and expertise? Where would you like to improve, and who can you skill share with to make it happen?
I used to believe in joining a revolutionary cadre organization to serve as a political home. But in 2020, many big umbrella organizations were accused of rampant racism and sexism, protecting abusers and intimidating survivors, and disposing of organizers who did not fall in line with their rigid standards. These same organizations are using this current moment to erase their harms, taking advantage of the lack of a genuine leftist flank to prey on eager people and co-opt the resistance. If you are looking for a place to focus your energy and intention, here are some questions that can help guide your decision-making. I posed these in 2020 but I think they’re still relevant today.
What are the organization’s goals and principles? Do their values challenge white supremacist cis-hetero patriarchy? Are their spaces accessible for folks with disabilities? Are they covid-cautious, or do they dismiss and gaslight anyone who asks about their policies? Are there queer and Black trans people in positions of leadership? Is it an intergenerational space? What types of actions do they participate in? What does their programming look like? Do they focus on building leadership, or are there concerted efforts to support thought partnership? What does their internal ecosystem look like? Are they as committed to doing their own internal work as they are changing material conditions? Do they have a robust security culture? How do they mitigate vicarious trauma in their ranks? Do they center individual and collective wellness, and is it trauma-centered? How do these spaces make you feel? How do your comrades in these spaces make you feel? How do your comrades feel about these spaces? Do you feel trusted and supported enough to be your best self?
These aren’t meant to be exhaustive. Feel free to reflect on these and share them with folks you know.
Calls to Action
Apply pressure for a ceasefire now or text GAZA to 51905
Take action with Jewish Voice for Peace, Palestinian Youth Movement, and If Not Now
Support Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS)
Seek coverage from the Electronic Intifada, Middle East Eye, Mondoweiss, and Al Jazeera wwhich all have Palestinian journalists reporting from Gaza