Bring It Down Today

By Travis C., WilderPress! Editorial Collective

I sometimes wonder what it will be like when it all comes down, when this fucking crazy machine comes to a grinding halt. I’m talking about the capitalist machine and the
industrialized addicted society that kneels to it.

I’m talking about america…

I think about what the streets will look like when the plants push up through the concrete; when the grocery store shelves empty and the only reminder of times long gone are the plastic bags blowing in the streets like sagebrush across the desert. I think about the shattered windows and broken doors—they did little to keep out the looters or the stones hurled by rioters. I think about the vulnerability of the cities when the electrical infrastructure fails and the power plants shut down—their demise a product of human’s irresponsible abuse and depletion of natural resources. I think about cars abandoned on the side of the road…left behind, forgotten, and worthless without their precious fuel…

fortunately, the oil wells have long since tapped out.

I think about the chaos and the madness and I can’t help but to welcome the collapse with open arms. Not because I enjoy the thought of pain or anguish for those involved, but because I know it is a necessary evolution that we must take, and I know it’s the only sure way the destruction will stop. I look around the world and see a level of violence towards our own species, towards other species, and towards the natural world that perils anything in human history. I am confused and disgusted at the way humans have come to carry themselves…particularly in this country and in the greater western world. america is responsible for so much destruction, so much violence…and for what? So some fucking asshole can roll down the street in an oversized truck, exhaust pipes extended out of the bed, dumping smoke into the air without a care in the world, bumper sticker reading “Mind if I have a smoke”; concerned with only themselves…”fuck the animals, fuck the people, and fuck the land,” that’s america’s credo…and she’s sticking by it.

I’ll tell you this much, I’m tired of participating in a society that carries itself in such a way…Further I see it as my responsibility, rather as our responsibility, to ensure that these destructive, violent actions are halted by any means necessary. This country kneels, quite literally, for anything it can get its greedy, blood covered hands on. Anything that will enhance wealth or power…regardless if it is at the cost of other humans, non-humans, or land. Citizens kneel to the politicians, who kneel to the corporations, who provide the affluence we are so pitifully addicted to. Let’s get real, this country has never stood for any of the bullshit that is plowed into our heads in grade school. Freedom? Liberty? Democracy? Give me a break. We live in what might be best described as a corporatist police state. Sure we have liberty and freedom…just as long as it never challenges the status quo. Just as long as you never ask any questions or make any demands…just as long as you follow their rules.

Yes’a Masta’…anything you need masta’…

Every day ancient forests fall to the teeth of chainsaws, once wild rivers are reduced to slow trickles, shackled by concrete and steel, mountains are blown apart in the relentless search for coal, and in far away lands our government commits atrocious acts of murder, all so we can continue our addiction to the black gold. The consequences of industrialism and modernized civilization have taken their toll on the planet and its inhabitance, and it is our responsibility to ensure it doesn’t last to lay siege on yet another generation. When I think of freedom or liberty what comes to mind is not the lies told to us through the declaration of independence or our constitution…and it’s not the idea of hoarding wealth, competing with my neighbor or abusing land in the name of personal gain. Rather my thoughts on freedom and liberty focus on a time and place in which the oppression of the State does not weigh so heavily on the people—when it, in fact, ceases to exist. I think of a time when the pigs stop harassing minorities, when the armed forces cease their campaign of genocide, and multinational corporations crumble, forever ending their ruthless attacks on the planet and its inhabitance.

When I think of what it ought to be like in this country I see people creating autonomous communities within their bioregion—taking care to not live outside of their means, or the means of the land. Communities that take responsibility for each other, care for their land base, and take things like food systems into their own hands. I see the border walls crumble and the line between the rich and poor following suit. Most importantly I see functioning tribes of people, devoid of centralized government and oppression—people free from the shackles of capitalism and the land healthier because of it. I see children smiling, not crying, and tanks and planes dismantled and parted out—their pieces, for the first time, being used for something productive like building a greenhouse or rain catchment system.

These are not just dreams…

Rather this is a reality that is entirely possible, and it’s possible now. I know it is because as I write these words I pick the dirt out from under my nails after a long day of gardening and drink warm tea made from the native plants I’ve collected from the forest around me. I know it’s possible because every day I am reminded that there is another way of life out there. One filled with meaning, love, and revolutionary thought…it is a life that was once led by all, but now is in practice by those of us focused on recreating a livable world where life is valued not commodified. I know it’s possible because I see it in my community, I hear it in their spoken word, I taste it in the food I grow—I feel it in the touch of a lover…see it in the depth of her eyes…

I can’t let them take these beauties away anymore…

We have to stop compromising with this system and its murderous political hacks…it’s time to create our own reality, and our own revolution—it’s time to take back our own lives and defend the lives of those who have no voice to speak out with. Freedom will come at the end of a raised fist thrust into the air and an unwillingness to allow this bullshit to continue. We should follow in the footsteps of those around the world fighting the system and pick up more rocks to hurl at the tanks…We should actively pursue the collapse of the most violent system humans have ever created—the forests, mountains and oceans depend on us.

Liberty will come in the form of homegrown food and local economic systems that no longer rely on violence to flourish. We will, again, sit down to meals grown by our own hands and share in laughter with our community…our family…our tribe.

Independence will come when we drum and dance on the ruins of capitalism…

The real question is: What are we waiting for?