Contributed by Daniel Celovsky, April 18 2022
We have heard from many of you - we have heard your call to provide a place to rally around with each other. Together, we can change the direction we are headed in - completely.
We are rising together to change the path that the 1% are leading us down.
The first thing that is so obvious - is that we can only change things if we come together. Power comes to those that unite with each other. There is no power to change anything if we stand alone. When we unite - all the power we need is fired-up!
So, we have taken a first step to unite us. We set up this Substack presence so we can rally around it. We can join in with each other - and embrace the power of each of us into one loud unified voice. Subscribe to this Substack and you are in. It is free and it is simple.
By subscribing you will receive emails notices as this all comes together. We will ask for your input - because every step we take, we have to decide together.
We are new on the scene - and we have never done this kind of thing before. So, we will learn on the fly! We will learn together. We need you to help guide us. We are all going to have to figure out our path forward together. Each one of us adds to our abilities, our ideas, and our power.
Respect is part of the deal. We respect each other and know we each have our own comfort limits. Some will strive to be active and to put themselves out there. Others are more comfortable just providing quiet support. And - most of us - lie somewhere in-between. Go with your comfort level - because it will be respected and you will be embraced. We need us all.
As we go through April, we will be gathering an inventory of what we need and we will be gathering an inventory of the skills we each have so we can put the two of them together. We will be circulating questionnaires on both (subscribe to get these!). And we want your ideas.
So far, we have some high-level ideas to start us off with:
Amplify Heroes - There are thousands of activist groups and individuals going to the front lines. We need to amplify and support them. We will organize ourselves to promote actions, amplify those actions, and to support those actions. This can be quiet support or it can be active support where some will even stand with them. Each of us will find our own comfort zones.
What we will do - is make their energy stronger and their voices louder.
Support Community Engagement Efforts - Many are organizing for a better future within their own communities.
We will support those engagement efforts where they spring up. We will strive to support and strengthen them. We will take actions to engage our own communities so that every community can set their own path. We will advocate for organized communities everywhere. We will share information and learn from each other as we find our way.
Empower Democracy - We will restore democracy back to life. Our institutions are occupied by the 1% corporate elite. We will empower ourselves - we will use the authority democracy gives us - and we will take our institutions back.
We will unify ourselves around the issues that we all share. We will set aside those issues that divide us. Why? Because the issues we share vastly exceed the issues that divide us.
Democracy flourishes when people get together. Alone, none of us has any power. Together - our power and our authority is fired-up and engaged. We will fire-up and engage our democracy.
Empowering Labor - This is the sibling power to the power of democracy - organized labor. The 1% ownership class relies on our labor to achieve their pursuit of monetary profit. They provide capital to make their businesses go. But they only treat labor as an input of production. Well - some of us are completely reversing that by making labor the more powerful input than the capital of the 1%. We will support the organization of labor everywhere.
We will gain knowledge to encourage workers to come together. It will span the horizon from union-organization to promoting worker cooperatives. We will facilitate and provide guidance to every worker group and community that wants to re-imagine their workplace to move power to the people in those workplaces.
Self-Determine Our Futures - We can determine our futures - and the futures of the generations that follow us. We can. The power of self-determination by the majority is sitting right at our feet - waiting for us to reach out and embrace it. What does that require? It requires us to rally together into one voice - it requires us to join together.
We can continue to be ruled by the 1% corporate elite - or we can choose to be ruled by us.
The above are just a few starting points. There are more.
But this is the key thing: Only if we unify do we become stronger. Only together do we have more talent and more skills to draw on. Together we can take on the challenges and we can overcome them.
We will need people that engage others. We need people that cover all social media platforms. We need legal talent (constitutional and labor law to start with). We need technical skills to design and build websites. We need savvy administrators who keep people informed and not lose anyone on the way. We need people that can organize communities. We need those that can effectively outreach to active organizations to unify them into one voice. We need inspirational leaders. We need people that can fund-raise. We need people that can inspire. We need people that can educate. We need people that can unite.
We need people that bring others together across the globe, the country, and within our communities.
And we need people that can bring more of us into the fold. And we need so much more. There are roles for everyone. We are literally going to change our societies, our communities, and our lives.
It is Personal Decision Time
I had to take this step to be here today - and it is not an easy one to take. It is personal - and will be personal for each of us. I am sure we each have to go through this personal decision.
Can I commit myself to this action? Will it make a difference? What if it is futile and pointless? What are the odds of success? What if we cannot rise above the challenges we face? What if I make mistakes and fail?
However, there was one question that moved me to act. What if I did nothing and had to answer to my kids and grandson why I chose to do nothing? All those other questions lost their meaning because I could not answer how I would explain my choice to do nothing to my kids and grandson. I could not live with that. So, I am here. I am in. Every other question is meaningless. I choose to try.
Taking that first step is the hard one. I had to make that decision alone - as does every one of us. I had to find that grain of courage I needed to take it. I don’t even know what every next step beyond it is. But - Martin Luther King Jr inspired me: “You don’t have to see the whole staircase; just take the first step.” He is right!
Every next step I will not be taking alone. I have everyone else taking those next steps with me. I have someone standing to my left. Someone standing to my right. And so many others surrounding us all. Each next step will be taken together. I can just feel the energy of that.
Take the first step - we will have the energy and power of each other to take every next step together.
That gave me the personal grain of courage I needed. I am in.
My Role
There is a role for each of us. We each bring something to the table - and what we each bring, makes the whole of us so much better, stronger, and powerful.
What can I best do to contribute? I can write. I have done the research to define our moment, to outline our challenges, and to define our strengths and weaknesses to win this. So, I am writing a book that outlines it all. It does not provide the details - those are between all of us to decide. But it covers the background, the challenges, and the general dynamics that can carry us to victory. Others have encouraged me to write it. So, that is what I am doing for the next three months.
For more about my book - previous posts presented both the Introduction Section and the Chapter Outline. I will get it done. Your support, encouragement, and feedback along the way is greatly appreciated.
Meanwhile, others are coming on-board to organize us to make the change happen. Let’s all go and get this done. Let’s all go together and change our futures into the direction we all want to go. We can do it because we are going to go together. And the strength of our unity is what fires-up every single action we take.
Take the time you need to reflect on your personal decision. You will be respected for whatever decision you make. If you decide to join the rest of us, you will be respected for whatever level of participation you are comfortable with. You will be embraced for being you. We will embrace each other and we will chart our futures together.
Love and solidarity,
Dan Celovsky