local lessons on global liberation
what is your place in the movement for freedom?
hey y’all,
i’m back at yonder, to no one’s surprise. the local spots in durham have their fall menus in full swing, and as much as i love pumpkin flavored things it’s exciting to see what specialty items they can dream up. today, i went with a chocolate chess pie cappuccino and it was actually the perfect drink for me. pie is my favorite dessert, chocolate chess pie is my favorite pie variety, and cappuccinos are my favorite kind of hot espresso drink. my only complaint is that i wish there was more if it. i could have drank at least 3 of these (but maybe that’s exactly why it’s so small).
the walk from my apartment was so beautiful this morning. the crisp autumn air burned off with the sun by the time we were ready to turn around and come home. there was a runners club out and about, some bike boys jaunting and tinkering, and a block party off of roxboro street. i had to stop into my local pharmacy, and the line was nearly out the door. it was a bit disorienting to realize how fragmented we all are. all these people living completely separate lives, with little-to-no overlap, except that we all need our medications today.
durham is a secondary city. it’s quite small and spread out, and is not as well-known as raleigh in the ubiquitous geographical knowledge of most americans. it’s a historically Black railroad town that has been slowly gentrified in the name of a modern medicine monopoly, private academic prowess, and (alleged) technological advancement. it is also a hub for radical politics, with an active PSL chapter and strong union activity.
durham is a microcosm of the dynamics at play on the national level. it is quite similar, politically, to chicago but is small enough that it is not a current federal target. we have local elections coming up soon, and we’re having the same age-old debate of the uselessness of the electorate when it comes to liberation, while acknowledging the impact our elected officals have on people’s material lives. it is such a frustrating conversation to me, because electoral politics and radical liberatory actions don’t actually have to be opposed to each other.
it is my professional (lol) opinion that electoral politics in the U.S. primarily allow us to move the overton window, as well as reflecting it back to us.
if you’re not familiar, the overton window is the spectrum of ideas on public policy and social issues considered acceptable by the general public at any given time. project 2025 is an overton window project. since reagan, alt-right organizers have been shifting the overton window toward oppression. while i am skeptical that they’ve actually succeeded in doing so, they have made enough progress to sedate the american people while we rapidly roll down the hill toward total authoritarianism.
where they have not succeeded is in historically progressive areas, like durham. the dissonance of living under a fascist federal government, while walking the streets of my city and seeing “free palestine and fuck I.C.E.” hanging from the overpass is one many of us experience daily. yes, it is true that people are being mass detained and deported with no due process. yes, people are being threatened with losing their jobs (and their lives) for what they post online. yes, there are more Black people killed by law enforcement in 2025 than there were in 2020. yes, the united states has more cumulative COVID 19 deaths than any other country in the world.
all those things are true, and simultaneously i see durham refusing to lay down and take it. i am especially plugged into the events surrounding police chief patricia adams and UNC chapel hill professor dwayne dixon, not only because they are local to me but because of what they might represent in the work to move the overton window away from fascism. what is important to note here is that we have not lost! professor dixon and chief andrews were both fervently defended by the people living in chapel hill and durham. we said no, this will not be tolerated and we won.
we are, slowly but surely, winning on palestine as well. noted a-political, casually racist, do-nothing celebrities like jennifer lawrence are speaking out publicly for the first time. this is less than 2 years after many of her peers signed an open letter fervently defending israel. while none of us should be singularly generating our political opinions from actors, they are high-status individuals who benefit from the current economic system.
they are, on the whole, some of the least likely people to speak up on issues that might jeopardize their careers. in fact, many of their PR firms and talent managers work directly with the administration in order to sway the public one way or the other. what this shift demonstrates is the overton window moving in real time. in 2 years, we the PEOPLE have made it socially unacceptable to support genocide in palestine.
so, why aren’t we free? moving the overton window is a prerequisite for liberatory action. it is not liberatory action in-and-of itself. the U.S. is a sprawling country, with more diasporic cultural and ethnic diversity than any other country in the world. attempting to unify an entire nation, at the national level, is an impossible task. most americans are not participatory in the political environment where they live, and receive most of their political education from privately funded media corporations.
in order to be free, we must not only shift the overton window but take direct actions that protect those most vulnerable once we have won the narrative. if each and every one of us take one small step, daily, in the communities where we live to shift someone’s perspective, we will build a movement. we, the people, must demand liberty and justice for all. every single living thing in this world deserves a life where their needs are met and their dignity is preserved. what the current administration has so effectively convinced many living in poverty is that the end of their suffering can only come at the cost of those deemed lesser than them. this simply is not true. there are enough resources in our world for every human being alive to be fed, clothed, sheltered, and cared for.
our task is to move our society toward true equality, by any means necessary. these means are not at odds; they all serve the purpose of getting us closer to freedom. we don’t have to fight amongst ourselves whether or not the electorate, the academy, the peaceful protest, or the guerilla fighters are going to get us there. we don’t need to condemn violence in order to choose non-violent tactics for ourselves (and vice versa, though that’s less common). the goal is to make the subjugation of any people and the hoarding of resources socially and politically unacceptable. no single tactic will work, because humans are not monolithic.
we need different tactics for different groups, and good organizers shift their tactics based on who is in front of them. i have centered my personal pocket of the movement around compassion and connection. i believe, strongly, that being in community and conversation with other regular people who are just trying to live their lives is the best way for me to move the overton window. i believe that illuminating the inherent humanity within us all is how i can contribute to ending tyrannical rule.
i’m not here to tell you how you are approaching liberation is wrong. i’m here to tell you that it is your obligation to participate in liberation with whatever resources, access, time, and methods you have. i’m here to tell you that, yes, you are a necessary part of us achieving collective freedom. don’t let yourself be discouraged by the many different ways we are all showing up and how incremental our progress might seem. find something that is true to you, and do it every day.
it’s never too late, as long as you are willing to keep fighting. it’s easier to fight with an army than on your own and an army can’t function without healers and letter carriers. if you’re looking for a place to start, consider downloading and printing my latest zine and distributing it around town.
or, send the digital copy to people who you think might benefit. or just forward this email to someone you know.
just don’t do nothing.
xoxo,
kuya von
i showed you my gooey center, please respond 👉👈
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“don't you remember how we used to split a drink? it never mattered what it was. i think our hands were just that close. the sweetness never lasts, you know.”
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eat local, buy small press, support your local library, and don’t call the police <3