You grow up and you realise A Bug’s Life was the revolutionary Leftist masterpiece of our childhoods
I’m not even slightly kidding
Ants are the workforce doing the labour needed to survive, and they have to do it twice over to provide for both themselves and for a group of parasites who do nothing but consume the labour of others
The ants work themselves near to death trying to stay afloat
The grasshoppers don’t even need any food. They have tons
to spare but still insist on taking the food the ants worked for because they ‘deserve’ it, despite actually contributing nothing of value. The only reason this works is by threatening ants with force and degrading them so they feel weak and worthless, and insisting that the grasshoppers deserve a cut for some vague service they claim to provide to society
In reality Hopper is desperate to stop the ants from thinking for themselves, keeping them ignorant of the fact that he has subjugated ants through threats of power while the ants actually overpower the grasshoppers through sheer numbers.
And should the ants ever realise that the grasshoppers take from them while providing nothing and that revolution is possible, the class system they’ve installed will be finished.
interesting how white people with disabilities that make it difficult for them to navigate social situations can still manipulate social discourse against people of colour
I’ll never criticise someone for having difficulty navigating social situations, but racism cannot be characterised merely as difficulty with navigating social situations. disability / neurodivergency may impact how racism is expressed, but it can’t make you express basic disrespect for the humanity of people of colour unless that was already present.
to use neurodivergency as an excuse for racism, and thus to imply that showing basic respect for people of colour is some kind of nuance of social ettiquette, is to dehumanise people of colour. it is to say that we shouldn’t expect to be respected as people, but should be content with the fact that most white people understand social ettiquette well enough to hide their disrespect (and even this falls apart when you consider that how we’re treated by neurotypical white people often does not differ in its essentials from how we’re treated by neurodivergent white people). not to mention that it does a disserve to disabled & neurodivergent people in general.
How much longer until the utopic Solarpunk future where Capitalism is dead and we all live in ecologically sustainable high-tech forest cities? Asking for a friend.
Until we make those ecologically sustainable high-tech forest cities ourselves. It’s going to take a lot of us to do it though, so best to spread the word (and gather native tree seeds).
And, like, get started now. Then our “weirdo houses” will be the only thing functioning when everything falls apart!
The only reason why we don’t live in a solarpunk world right now is because no one has bothered to make it yet.
We’ll have to make it ourselves, and we’ll have to help each other make it. That’s why it is solarpunk.
Some resources to consider creating or joining or doing:
Repair cafes – create or join your local repair cafe! Repair stuff, learn how to repair stuff, teach others how to repair stuff.
Map of Makerspaces – make some things! learn how to make some things! teach others how to make some things!
Community Garden Map (note that this is US-only, and not a complete list) – join a local community garden
Learn some basics on passive solar design – clever use of the sun can create extremely energy efficient homes and buildings. You can use these principles to save on energy bills, even if you’re renting.
Free USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning, 2015 revision – cut down on personal food waste! Learn how to safely preserve food. Very useful if you suddenly harvest / purchase for crazy cheap in season / dumpster dive a ton of perishable food.
Donate to One Acre Fund, which provides training and capital to farmers (making them more productive and pulling them out of poverty) in various east African countries
Donate to Bridges to Prosperity, which provides technical expertise, money, and volunteers, to help local people build and maintain their own footbridges in extremely isolated rural areas
joining r/solarpunk, and sharing links/ideas/art/music with the community. Also, upvoting stuff for greater visibility. There’s over 900 members!
punkpixel 