A lot of people, especially activists are quick to be pessimistic about the current situation and may feel that my excitement is naive. There is so much concern about the immediate political implications of this, and the possible media representation, that I feel people are missing the big picture.
Of course, I am aware that politicians, groups seeking politician power and all variety of agitators will attempt to attach themselves to this movement for their own gain. I am aware that failures of certain individual efforts will result in propaganda against anarchists, as will random acts of violence. This should be a concern for activists in the field, and something to look out for, but I am optimistic regardless of all of these factors because I see a cultural force developing that will outlast any potential bad press or political consequences.
Over the years, I had nearly lost all hope in seeing any tangible positive change in society because my generation was so complacent and so insistent on playing by the rules and working within the system. People have gone through waves of different political trends and battles, but little about our society has improved. The people coming up behind us must have been paying attention to that though, because now they are out here liberating police departments and demanding abolition.
A cultural change like this is more powerful than any law, election or even regime change. Politicians come and go, regimes come and go, empires come and go, but cultural changes like this can break the cycle and get people thinking about real solutions, instead of rebuilding the same system of control they were born into.
I am not foolish enough to think that we will be living in the world we want by next year, or that everything will play out perfectly, because it obviously won’t, but I am watching a cultural change happen that I never expected to see in my lifetime.