Yesterday I was asked what Revolution would look like to me...

I’ve been thinking about it since.
Being witness to the Arab Spring via the internet and now watching the British Insurrection that has spread so quickly I know that America’s issues are far more similar to Britain’s. And after the last two days of reading opinion after opinion about what is going on there I know the American people are too wrapped up in fear to really revolt any time soon. We are domesticated and over the years have grown soft, especially post WW2, where technology has made us lazy and we willingly imprison ourselves in a world of fantasy and make believe, trapping ourselves in our individualism, fattening ourselves for a long drawn out slaughter of the soul.
We do not have the fight in us. Those of us who do would quickly be condemned as thugs, scumbags and criminals if we were to fight.
So what would a new American Revolution look like to me?
It would be a combination of 3 things:
1. Non-participation in the system. Take your money out of the banks. Learn how to grow your own food. Rain water harvest. The exploration of holistic healing methods. Bringing back midwifery. Organized community “home” schooling. A DIY society. Weening ourselves off of petroleum. Basically minimizing our dependence on forces that remain unseen and that reside far from our immediate communities.
2. For those willing to take big risks we could begin organizing strategic targeted dismantling of corporate property that should belong to the commons. This includes taking down dams, sabotaging gross polluters to the point that it is no longer cost effective for them to continue being in business, occupying what is left of our wilderness and our natural resources. These are the things worth risking our lives for.
3. I think of this last one as being inspired by Edward Abbey. Direct, non-violent action within metropolitan areas. Taking over empty lots and planting gardens and creating play spaces for neighborhoods, holding impromptu dance parties in our downtown streets, holding poetry slams at city council meetings. Performing small acts of creativity that jolt people out of their zombie reveries, constantly agitating the population with exuberant acts of unapologetic love that make them squirm with the discomfort of the thaw. Warming their frozen hearts and minds with displays irreverence and freedom.
This is a route that would take a while. If it were to begin today I wouldn’t even expect to see the fruits of my labor, but that would be alright by me. I find plenty of joy in life as it is to sustain me through the nightmare that we live now. I think the joy I feel now would only increase throughout the struggle. It would just be enough for me in this life to have started on the path.
This is what the new American Revolution would look like to me.