Practical Solidarity: 3 Things You Can Do To Support A Revolution
ch0ccyra1n #international #tutorial
When we talk about “Solidarity”, there often is a problem where it turns into a leftist version of “thoughts and prayers”, rather than what it was originally meant to be: an umbrella term for actions taken from one place to support the people of another. This article seeks to provide a universal jumping-off point, instead of focusing on a particular state of affairs in a particular state’s borders. The situation on the ground is always changing, and this article would otherwise become irrelevant after a month or two. With that being said, here are some things you can do to support a revolution from your position outside of the place where it’s happening, ordered by difficulty from easiest to hardest.
Run a Tor Snowflake Proxy
If you understand how to install a browser extension, you can run a snowflake, which allows people to access the uncensored and open internet in countries with internet restrictions. Internet access is typically clamped down upon by state authorities during a revolution, such as in 2017 during Catalonia’s Independence Referendum, where websites providing information on how to vote were blocked by local Internet Service Providers.1 For more information on running a snowflake, check out snowflake.torproject.org.
Donate to a Mutual Aid Project
If you have disposable income, it is extremely helpful to use it to support the revolutionary struggle abroad by donating to a mutual aid project. Importantly, you should make sure to do your own research to understand where your contributions go before donating. Often, these will be prisoner support funds to help with bail and legal fees for detained rebels. However, there are also funds set up to provide resources for cooperative projects, such as Schools for Chiapas2 which helps fund education projects in autonomous communities controlled by the Zapatistas in Chiapas, Mexico.
Write to Prisoners
Being a prisoner is tough. Being imprisoned for political activities is even tougher, and knowing that there are people on the outside who support and care about them is an important way to keep up the fighting spirit. Two readily available places to write letters to prisoners is via the Prison Project at the ROAR Center in the University of Oregon (check the calendar for details on when they meet) or through the Anarchist Black Cross Belarus, who provide a handy form3 and will translate letters from English into Russian and handle logistics of mailing it to prisoners in the country for you.
Author’s Note
I hope this article was helpful in providing a few ideas for solidarity for the leftist who, like me, found the rallies and statements to seem insubstantial when it comes to helping revolutionaries on the ground. There certainly are many more ways to support a revolution than the 3 listed in this article, but these are relatively easy for people who might not have much to offer but still want to contribute to the struggle for freedom.