As Bob Marley said, there's "so much trouble in the world." Times are so insane that if you aren't having a hard time maintaining your balance, I suggest you check your pulse for activity. Things have to be especially difficult if you are balancing work to combat oppression in an organized fashion. If true, you are handling lots of responsibility, while having most, if not all, efforts to engage you based on asks/demands for you to take on more and more. And the more you do, the more work is created and usually, the more criticism you are subjected to. Its enough to drive anyone over the edge, but there is something that will not only help you maintain that healthy balance, but also do so in productive and capacity building ways. That thing is political education, or PE. By PE I mean the process of dedicating your life to an ideology that is committed to provided you with values to live by that nourish you and provide you with inspiration and direction to continue fighting against this backward system. This process of acquiring PE cannot be done on an individual basis. Since ideological development is a conscious raising process, it cannot be done on an individual basis because no one human will live long enough to develop the capacity to make the proper assessments needed to understand the phenomenon to shape the world we live in. That's why you need other people because by working collectively with them through an ideological development process, you can close the gap and answer the questions facing humanity. This concept is as simple as the old adage that "two minds are better than one." So, collective struggle, intensive study, and an ongoing process to develop and maintain an understanding of what's happening in the world, how those forces impact you, and what you can do to influence those forces. Here is a visual of how this process looks. You engage in collective study with others. You dedicate yourselves to engaging in this process on a consistent basis. You take the information you discuss and you apply it to the circumstances you exist in so as to work to make change in the communities you function in. You use the process to assess your work. Make changes, and improve in the areas that need it. You continue this process and by doing so your confidence grows and from that, your abilities increase. From that, your capacity becomes limitless. These are the reasons this process is so very important if you are going to dedicate your life to fighting against injustice. A strong PE foundation will insulate you from long periods of depression, frustration, and demoralization, because you will have the tools needed to properly dissect all of the circumstances that would overwhelm you so that you can place them within their proper historical perspective. By learning how to do that, you will learn to work through adversity so well that you will lose your fear of it.
I'm a very strong advocate of basing your work in PE because I've seen it work very well in my own life. The PE process I've participated in within the All African People's Revolutionary Party is called work study. For decades now, I've participated in it. The process has permitted me to become firmly rooted in knowledge about Africa, the Pan-African movement, nationalist movements, socialism, communism, the differences between socialism and communism, organizing, history, and the struggles of other peoples like the Indigenous peoples, Irish, Palestinians, Filipino people, etc. And, I'm talking about growing in knowledge about all of these topics to be able to defend them, against pretty much anyone. This has evolved confidence that has helped me train and develop other organizers. Many others. Strong organizers. More confidence. More belief that we can win. This is why I can tell you without blinking that in the last few months I've been able to be in the lead of developing a new African freedom school - despite great adversity in doing so - while engaging many other labor intense and stressful organizing projects. I mentor many people, often at the same time. And, I've helped coordinate security for activists against violent white supremacists while writing on a regular basis and maintaining my sanity. Now, if you take what I've just laid out as simply an effort to brag, then you miss the entire point. There is no way I could accomplish anything without the masses of the people. I don't get the credit. The masses get the credit. I'm simply a conduit for struggle because whatever I have to deal with, its nothing compared to the trauma and pressure those who came before me had to endure. So, nothing I'm doing is going to be that ego driven. My drive comes from that PE that informs me every minute of every day that I have a responsibility to get better and continue fighting. That's the point.
So, the next time you're feeling overwhelmed. Demoralized, ready to give up. Hopefully it helps you to think about the need for political education. It will strengthen you. It will empower you. And, if you do it right e.g. collectively as a part of an organizational effort, you will find that a lot of the problems that are getting the best of you now, can, and will be overcome. They have to be because history is counting on you.
I'm a very strong advocate of basing your work in PE because I've seen it work very well in my own life. The PE process I've participated in within the All African People's Revolutionary Party is called work study. For decades now, I've participated in it. The process has permitted me to become firmly rooted in knowledge about Africa, the Pan-African movement, nationalist movements, socialism, communism, the differences between socialism and communism, organizing, history, and the struggles of other peoples like the Indigenous peoples, Irish, Palestinians, Filipino people, etc. And, I'm talking about growing in knowledge about all of these topics to be able to defend them, against pretty much anyone. This has evolved confidence that has helped me train and develop other organizers. Many others. Strong organizers. More confidence. More belief that we can win. This is why I can tell you without blinking that in the last few months I've been able to be in the lead of developing a new African freedom school - despite great adversity in doing so - while engaging many other labor intense and stressful organizing projects. I mentor many people, often at the same time. And, I've helped coordinate security for activists against violent white supremacists while writing on a regular basis and maintaining my sanity. Now, if you take what I've just laid out as simply an effort to brag, then you miss the entire point. There is no way I could accomplish anything without the masses of the people. I don't get the credit. The masses get the credit. I'm simply a conduit for struggle because whatever I have to deal with, its nothing compared to the trauma and pressure those who came before me had to endure. So, nothing I'm doing is going to be that ego driven. My drive comes from that PE that informs me every minute of every day that I have a responsibility to get better and continue fighting. That's the point.
So, the next time you're feeling overwhelmed. Demoralized, ready to give up. Hopefully it helps you to think about the need for political education. It will strengthen you. It will empower you. And, if you do it right e.g. collectively as a part of an organizational effort, you will find that a lot of the problems that are getting the best of you now, can, and will be overcome. They have to be because history is counting on you.
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