Elias Kosznik is the pseudonym of a musician, artist, writer, former housing advocate and HIV/AIDS support case manager, revolutionary Somervillain, and occasional (recalcitrant) cog in the machine. Called a “smooth punk preacher,” “shit-kicking anarchistic poet,” and an “unlikable blowhard” by outlets like Stereogum, Impose, and Pitchfork/Condé Nast, he’s not quitting his day job. Viva la New England Unsettler

The End of 2016 bore uncanny resemblance to an End of Days for many of our friends, loved ones, neighbors, and comrades: America (sort-of-)elected a dictator to the highest office in the land, and gave his party control of the house and senate, as well. In his dash for the White House, he managed to malign, mock, offend, or threaten some of the most marginalized communities in the country.

Growing up, I was wont to fantasize about being on the right side of history as we sped through lesson plans full of turning points and sea changes. Clearly, I would have tried to stop colonists from driving Native Americans off their land, risked the gallows fighting alongside John Brown or Nat Turner, joined the CNT/FAI in the Spanish Revolution, personally led a suicide mission to kill Hitler during WWII, fought cops in the streets during the Stonewall Riots, etc. And yet I did not travel to Chiapas to consult with Subcommandante Marcos when I learned of the Zapatistas’ rebellion, nor am I currently in Rojava, training with the People’s Protection Units. I didn’t even make it to Ferguson to offer my privileged white body as a barrier between killer cops and the Black community on which they’ve been waging war, nor to Standing Rock, to defend what little land indigenous people in the US have been left against the encroaching fossil fuel industry’s emissaries of destruction. I’m not in Flint with a hatchback full of water bottles. I’m not in Whitefish, lying in wait to beat back anti-semitic white supremacists.

Like many of the people reading this, I am caught in a cycle of wage work and demoralization endemic to late-stage capitalism. I cannot, or don’t feel ready to, strike back against the injustices of the world with riskier forms of direct action. But that’s not the only way to involve oneself, and there are things one can do to learn the skills and pick up the knowledge necessary for engaging the world from a social justice perspective between the work day and leisure time (the latter of which is often necessary for self-care). This past year, I tried to envision the person I wanted to be, and took steps toward becoming that person. Of course, that’s what most of us do, in some capacity, as we enter a new year. So, from my more-or-less anarcho-syndicalist perspective, here are some ideas on resolutions for revolution:

1. Reclaim Your Digital Sovereignty: For better or worse, most of our lives are lived online these days. In fact, you’re probably on the internet RIGHT NOW. Whoa! Virtual living is tough–it’s challenging to verify who is who, threats abound, and the government can more easily exploit a person’s ignorance for the purposes of surveillance. It’s nbd, though, you can just use encryption services (on encrypted devices), browse using Tor and/or a VPN, develop solid passphrases that are super hard to crack (and remember), and set up multi-factor authentication for your online accounts! Easy, right? Well, maybe for some. But for the rest of us, there’s CryptoParty Boston. CryptoParties are free events, where you’ll learn how to best protect your privacy by establishing a threat model for how you use the internet. There’s one every month, so mark your calendar!
2. Get Informed/Stay Informed: “Fake news” and fake news were both instrumental in the rise of our neocon/”alt-right” fascist overlords, but all politicians tend towards muddying the waters and attaching plastic shark fins to any issue or group they need stigmatized in order to further their agenda. The only real way to make sense of any of it is to review multiple sources’ presentation of the information coming across the wire, and to keep history in mind, as a tool for contextualizing current events. To that end, I recommend ditching Facebook and getting your news by setting up an RSS feed reader with a bunch of sites. I like TheOldReader, which mimics the GoogleReader project of days past, and I use Feeddler RSS for mobile reading. Both are free, and you can add anything from “reputable” news sources like the Guardian and Al-Jazeera English, to partisan mainstream hacks like Huffington Post and Fox News, to radical socialist or anarchist sites like Jacobin, It’s Going Down, Dissent, Submedia.tv, etc. Check headlines and articles from one source against another. You can also throw some fun or goofy feeds in there, too, so you don’t get bummed out or overwhelmed.

I also like podcasts a lot, since I can listen to them on my commute. I get my daily briefing from the BBC Global News podcast, and pepper in progressive liberal assessments on politics (Slate’s Political Gabfest and The Gist, Politically Re-Active, Team Human), as well as more radical takes (Crimethinc.’s The Ex-Worker, The Final Straw, WeAreMany, Feminist Killjoys, PhD). Again, add some fun stuff so you don’t drive yourself nuts, and feel free to skip around, end episodes early, and delete stuff that doesn’t feel relevant to you.

And go to the library, for Fawkes’ sake! They’ve got periodicals, political theory classics, reading groups, and, for funsies, CDs you can borrow (rip a copy of those big-name releases to save money for local release and shows, duh).

3. Think Local and Organize: Knowing what is going on in the world, and what has gone on in the world is important, but all of the major movements and events in history have been shaped by the people that have witnessed and engaged with them on a local level. You don’t wanna miss out on what’s happening in your own neighborhood. Volunteer with or join a group in your area that supports a cause you care about (maybe one like SURJ, Black and Pink, City Life/Urbana Vida, BARCC…), or form your own!

We all know a thirst for knowledge extends beyond traditional schooling, but it’s often difficult to know how to approach learning on one’s own. The good news is, you don’t have to. Get some like-minded friends together and “assign” each other books, articles, and actions; meet weekly or bi-weekly; have a potluck or order pizza, and talk things through. It works! I’m part of such a group myself, and while our political ideologies differ in some ways, we have plenty of common ground from which to work. We’ve had guest speakers, and have taken up a donation each week that’s gone to a local organization in need of resources.

You can also do some digging and find out when community or town-hall-style meetings with your local officials are taking place, or whether or not you can join a committee that is a part of the dialogue with these officials. I know I sound pretty reformist for a self-described radical, but I’m into playing the long game–I even hold my nose and vote, dammit! To my mind, participating in the current system is not mutually exclusive to engaging in direct action. Be insidious! It’s an important weapon! Speaking of weapons…

4. Learn to Defend Yourself and Your Community: Here’s where I’ll likely lose a bunch of the people who just warmed up to me when I admitted a willingness to work “within the system” while pushing for more radical change. But hear me out! Right now, the folks that pushed for a socially-conservative oligarchy, thinking they were thumbing their noses at the establishment and “elites” by putting the worst among them in charge, seem to have the largest interest in martial arts and weaponry. They’re feeling emboldened. They’re seig-heiling during meetings in DC, attempting marches and rallies, and attacking and threatening people who are (or are assumed to be) of a different religion or ethnicity than they are. Yep, even in Massachusetts.

Luckily, there are trainings to learn de-escalation skills, or how to intervene as an ”active bystander” when you witness harassment. Personally, I also signed up for classes at Redline Fight Sports, a fight gym which was recommended via a queer Facebook group and seems to be a welcoming space, and took a firearms safety course at Boston Firearms Training Center in Everett (which included hands-on experience loading and unloading a revolver and semi-automatic handgun, and live fire practice with the latter). Martial arts and marksmanship are skills you never want to have to use outside of the gym or the range, but as Nelson Mandela said, “Nonviolent passive resistance is effective as long as your opponent adheres to the same rules as you do. But if peaceful protest is met with violence, its efficacy is at an end. For me, nonviolence was not a moral principle but a strategy; there is no moral goodness in using an ineffective weapon.”

5. Learn the Skills, Forget the Bills: There are other practices, disciplines, or activities that might come in handy as we watch the capitalism crumble. Often times, we’re not pursuing the interest we might have in them because they lack features that are attractive under the current system. More often than not, “marketability” is the key feature determining their utility. If you can’t turn something into a career, why do it? Well, one of my big resolutions for 2017 is to not to ask myself what I am “doing with my life” as often, because, well, whatever I’m doing is what I’m doing with my life.

I’m not willfully ignoring privilege here; some folks literally have no free time because of how much they are forced to work or because they are constantly expected to provide unpaid labor such as child care or “homemaking.” But here I’m addressing people who, like me, get caught up on the idea of “career paths” to the point that they often ignore the possibility of doing something they care about with the time they have outside of traditional work. As Crimethinc. cautions, “We need to nourish our idealism and our willingness to take risks, not work out new ways to integrate our frustration and our desperation for change back into the society that engendered them.”

Here’s a few activities that are interesting, will likely be useful as (or after) civilization falls, and don’t cost a lot of money to begin messing with: buy a $12 set of picks and a practice lock and read/download the MIT Guide to Lockpicking for free; visit the Cambridge Naturals bulk section for herbs and advice, and find herbalism recipes online; listen to guided meditations on YouTube or drop in at the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center on Tuesdays from 6-7 (suggested donation $5-10); learn a new language through the DuoLingo app (and, if you’re looking to improve your Spanish, consider the local immersion programs in JP and Brookline that match new speakers with seniors); and, just in case we enter a cyberpunk dystopia, learn to code on CodeAcademy.
Hopefully some of this information is useful to you, Comrade. It has been to me already, and I’ve been gathering it throughout 2016, getting ready for 2017. There are dark days ahead, no doubt, but fortune favors the brave, and mutual aid and solidarity can get us through. When we fight, we win. Stay free!