Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy

“No change for the good ever happens without it being imagined first, even if that change seems hopeless or impossible in the present.”   Martin Espada

I asked the questions about why we are not rising up like many people around the world to the current political climate and I looked at some of the reasons why we might not be collectively engaged in an uprising in Part I.

In today’s article I want to look at some examples of real resistance and how people have organized in ways to bring about collective liberation, which is a constant struggle.

One way to think about collective liberation is from an excellent article by Stephen Darcy, Environmentalism as if Winning Mattered: A Self-Organization Strategy. Darcy suggests we need a two-pronged strategy of Resistance and Transition. Darcy argues that while we resist oppressive structures and systems, we need to simultaneously work to create autonomous systems and practices that reflect the kind of world we want to live in.

As a way to talk about creating the kind of world we want to live in I want to use a recent meme I saw (here above), which reflects a very limited vision and ultimately a false narrative, since it is premised on the idea that we can achieve systemic change by simply voting. I want to juxtapose the list in this meme with concrete ways we can work towards collective liberation.

Vote because groceries and gas cost too much – Government policy does not determine the cost of food or gas. While I recognize that the recent tariffs imposed by the Trump Administration have had an impact on the cost of basic items like groceries and gas, those costs are primarily determined by our economic system of capitalism.

Gas costs – The US government needs to stop providing subsidies to the fossil fuel corporations, end US military interventions that are driven by accessing oil and gas resources around the world and radically shift to mass transit systems that are truly sustainable.

Cost of groceries –

• We do need more people to question the existing food system and learn food growing and food preserving skills. More people growing and preserving food is an important step, but it is only a first step and not the end goal.
• We need large, fully functional farmers markets in a sectors of the Grand Rapids area, which will make it easier for more people to access fresh food that is in their neighborhood.
• We need to guarantee that people have access to land to grow food, particularly to grow food collectively. I support people turing their lawns into spaces of food production, but this is often a privileged response, since many people do not have lawns. Vacant lots, church property, green space that exists at commercial facilities, all need to be made available for people to collectively grow food.
• Right now, a great deal of food that is grown in West Michigan, does not stay in West Michigan. Many of the area farms grow mono-crops, like corn and apples, which are either used for animal feed (in the case of corn) or the food is sent abroad to be used in the creation of highly processed foods. Current, the food system is not bio-regional and this also means that the average food item grown will travel 1,000 miles before it is consumed. This is not sustainable, nor should it be desirable. More farmers would use a CSA model (Community Supported Agriculture), but this requires that thousands more need to join a CSA.
• Food waste is built in to the current food system. Food that goes bad before it gets to consumers is expected and used as a write-off in the current food system. Then there is the amount of food that grocery stores throw away because it has expired and all the food that is thrown away by restaurants and other institutions that prepare thousands of pounds of food every day. So much food ends up in a landfill, food that could be used to meet the nutritional needs of so many people.
• We need to rethink how we access food and move beyond supporting the large grocery chains, moving to other food distribution models. We need more food coops, food buying clubs, more CSAs and more neighborhood-based farmers markets. 75% of the food sold in Grocery store chains is highly processed foods that we don’t need, and if fact, the highly processed foods is what has led to a major health crisis, especially for those experiencing poverty.
• The Slaughterhouse industry has also now being exposed to its brutal and dysfunctional nature. For years we have know that a meat-centric diet in the current food system is a major contributor to climate change. Moving forward we need to come to terms with the fact we need to significantly reduce animal consumption to truly have a just and sustainable food system.
• Right now it is apparent that agricultural workers/migrant workers are “essential workers.” However, agricultural workers/migrant workers have always been essential to the current food system, despite the fact that they are exploited on a massive scale. Food worker demands should be met, which includes a livable wage, safe working conditions, just housing conditions and the elimination of the threat of ICE arrest, detention and deportation, since many workers in the food system are undocumented. Farmworker unions should be a priority.
• Farmworker labor improvements are a good first step, but it would still not do much to challenge the existing food system. We need massive land reform, which includes a longstanding tradition, particularly in the Global South, where those who work the land should own the land.
• We also need to challenge the massive subsidization of the current food system, also known as the Farm Bill. Billions of dollars of taxpayer money is used to support a dysfunctional, exploitative and unjust food system. 
• Instead of ending the Farm Bill, maybe we need to radically re-imagine a new Farm Bill that would redistribute the billions going to support the agribusiness sector and redistribute that money to fund all of the other ideas listed above.

Vote to End ICE cruelty – Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was created in 2003 as part of the Department of Homeland Security. ICE has always been cruel, just as the history of US Immigration Policy. According to the book Unbuild Walls: Why Immigrant Justice needs Abolition, the Obama Administration made the immigration system bigger and more effective, but not in a good way. His administration created new programs and partnerships and increased family detentions and creating the Secure Communities program, which got county sheriff departments involved in immigration enforcement, like what happened in Kent County in 2012.

The Obama Administration was referred to as the “Deporter in Chief”, since he deported more immigrants (3.5 million) during his tenure, which was the most at that time for any administration.

Lastly, the author makes the point, stating: “the Obama administration expanded and set up a powerful machinery for Trump to exploit by plugging in the detention and deportation system much more closely to criminal law enforcement across the country.”

The book also discusses why there hasn’t been as much organized opposition to US immigration policy, especially during the Obama and Biden years. One could argue there has only been organized opposition from affected groups, but most white liberals who are now outraged at what the Trump Administration’s treatment of immigrants did not oppose what recent Democratic Party Administrations have done.

If we want to actually end the cruelty of ICE, the people should get involved in the work of GR Rapid Response to ICE and concretely resist ICE and provide Mutual Aid to the families affected by ICE violence.

Vote for Justice for Epstein’s Victims – Let’s be honest for as long as we have known about the heinous crimes of Epstein and those complicit in those crimes NO administration has made any real effort to make the Epstein files public and then do the hard work to actually provide justice for the victims. We need a mass movement to make this happen.

Vote to make sure Billionaires can’t run our country – Members of the Capitalist Class have always run the US. As the first Chief Justice of the United States John Jay said, “Those who own the country ought to govern it.” Again, mass movements are necessary to force the billionaire class to give back the wealth they stole from everyone else. Taxing the rich is just the first step, but we need to abolish the millionaire/billionaire class.

Vote to bring an end to the Iran War – The US has been waging war on the Iranian people since the CIA coup of 1953. The most recent US government assault on Iran is not new and we need to come to terms with that. However, why just stop with ending the war with Iran, why not end the US assault on Cuba, Venezuela, end the billions in military aid that the US provides Israel, or shut down the 170 US military bases around the world. Think of what the nearly trillion dollars the US spends on militarism could be used for. If you want an idea, check out the National Priorities Project Cost of Pentagon and War tracker  and the Trade Offs, which shows what we could fund with all the money currently going to militarism.

Vote to Make Healthcare Affordable – see above.

Vote to Fund Our Public Schools – See https://www.nationalpriorities.org/interactive-data/trade-offs/

The rest of the meme regarding public land, yourself, your family and the next generation could all be addressed by redirecting our priorities and moving away from representative democracy to direct democracy. As the Puerto Rican poet Martin Espada said – No change for the good ever happens without it being imagined first, even if that change seems hopeless or impossible in the present.