How To Overcome Fear And Climb Out From The Bunker-A brief guide for first time political activists-- Part 1
How To Overcome Fear, And Climb Out Of The Bunker- Part
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Introduction-- Fear is normal
Martha and I have a combined experience in political organizing and activism of more than 80 years, and we've learned a few things over time. We have lived an unconventional life, as those we are close to know very well. Today, on our 35th Anniversary, we want to give you all a present, which are some hopefully useful insights for difficult and perilous times. It would be supremely selfish for us to hoard that knowledge, given the unique opportunities of the moment.
There are many folks who "know too much" regarding the nature of the threat represented by our GOP/MAGA fascist adversary, who remain in a state of political paralysis and are doing relatively nothing about it. The paralysis is born of fear, and in my view, there is no point in not addressing it, as it is pervasive and has been the primary factor suppressing real activism, especially since the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse. (Which I'll come back to in another part) The general point is that our greatest resource and potential for political power to defeat Trumpism are those people of goodwill and sound mind, who for a variety of reasons remain in hiding. This letter is written with those good people in mind.
First off, let me say that for the most part I understand this and empathize. Personally I have been in organizing situations which were frightening, having been physically attacked and sent to the ER, had my life threatened with brandished weapons, threatened when alone by a hostile mob, jailed by local police, targeted for entrapment by law enforcement, faced a politically motivated Federal indictment, had my family seriously harassed, and we even had an undercover FBI informant temporarily living in our home. Martha in an organizing situation was assaulted by a US postal policeman and was herself charged with felony assault, facing a 10 year jail term if convicted. (Reduced to misdemeanor) That comes with the territory, (we were in a 20 year long "dispute" with the Kissinger/Bush crowd) as they say, when you are fighting for human rights and economic development, even during what we used to consider more "normal times", B.T. (Before Trump)
I know what it is like to wake up at night in a cold sweat, and walk around feeling a 100 pound weight on my chest, and not be able to keep my lunch down because of the fear, which on some days was worse because I was walking into a situation with lots of unknowns. At the time, I tried to deal with it by adopting a kind of false pride, a confidant but contrived cockiness that the personal threats were proof of our importance, effectiveness, growing influence, and the righteousness of our cause. It was mostly self-consoling bullshit. I couldn't get away from the fear no matter how hard I tried, and at a certain point gave up on fighting it, and decided to at least try to make it work for me.
How did that work? Well, I knew that with all of my years of political organizing experience and accumulated knowledge, that if I was afraid, then other people we were trying to organize had it a lot worse. And knowing that, I made a decision that my being persistent and continuing to move forward would set a positive example for others. You know the expression about "talk," and the need to "walk the walk." It was like that. But it meant socializing and admitting to the existence of the fear for others sake, rather than constructing a false and transparent persona of macho bravado. That is the first step. Admit to it being there.
And guess what. Because life is one big unknown, the fear factor never fully leaves, it just abates sometimes, whatever you are doing. As in my case for example, the completely new challenges of living in Mexico, which can both be wondrous and also rife with uncertainty, as it is a different world. We go where life's path leads us, making choices large and small along the way to either move ahead, or dig in. And that is perfectly normal.
Part I-- The "Hamlet problem"
It is worthwhile to explore these questions because in the context of our current crisis, which threatens widespread fascist political violence, the fear is not just of death, or pain, or loss. It is the fear of the unknown, or as Hamlet described in his most famous soliloquy "the undiscovered country from which no traveller returns."
What actually was the fear which paralyzed Hamlet, which stayed his sword from striking down the evil usurper of the Crown who murdered his father, cuckholded his mother, and was destroying the Kingdom of Denmark? It was the fear of leadership. It was the sheer terror of being responsible for the fate of others, to have the welfare and lives of other people in his hands which caused his vacillation. Hamlet couldn't act against his uncle because he was not emotionally or constitutionally fit for the Crown himself, and he knew it. And that was the tragedy of the self-absorbed and immature Hamlet, as it is our own today. He chose inaction at precisely the "punctum saliens," the turning point of the drama at which had he acted, he would have changed everything and avoided the horrible, fateful end, where mostly everyone in the court wound up dead, and Denmark in ruins. History teaches us that such turning points are few, and that our successful survival depends upon anticipating, preparing for, and acting decisively upon them when they arise.
Part 2- The Futility of "hanging on for dear life"
One way to overcome our fears is to draw from the examples of others who are accessible to us, who have won this fight with themselves to accomplish politically important things, in order to internalize the idea that so-called "heroes" are people just like us. The only thing special about them is that at the right time, and the right place, they chose to be selfless and took a huge risk for the right reasons..
You've read about them and know them, from Rosa Parks, to Adam Kinzinger. For them, it came down to an understanding that they had no real choice but to act because no one else would. And that is why, in a certain way, for us to bear some measure of suffering and hardship on behalf of a just cause can be redemptive, because it requires at times losing nearly everything to realize you have nothing to lose. The simple unavoidable truth is that most people are not there yet. They are hanging on for dear life to that which they think they have, but are in the process of losing.
One example of this which I often draw upon is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe titled "Descent Into the Maelstrom." It is poignant, funny in a way, and thoroughly relateable, so if you haven't read it, or did many years ago but forgot about it, give yourselves a treat, and find it someplace. It is special. But for our purposes, I'll summarize--
I'll start with a popular term commonly in use today, "counterintuitive." It's a nice word, that describes a conflict between a strongly held popular belief, and an event or thought object which can seem unexpected, unlikely, even absurd on the surface as in, "that was the last thing I would have thought would be true", or, "actually at first thought, I thought the opposite would be the case." Today, the term is relevant.
Poe presents his short story, "Descent into the Maelstrom", describing the peril faced by three brothers, Norwegian fisherman, who because of an unexpected Hurricane, missed their time deadline for returning to shore safely, which causes them to be sucked into the vortex of the daily Maelstrom, the mile wide whirlpool in the Norwegian Fjords, which destroys everything that gets pulled into it. The story is obviously metaphor. Without spoiling it, the narrator, the brother who survives, has an epiphany while facing his doom. Knowing he is about to die, and coming to grips with his own mortality, he relaxes. He overcomes the terror, and reflects on the wonderment of what he sees and hears, and feels honored to be able to die amidst such an incredible natural phenomena. He observes, reflects, reasons, and evaluates. Then he realizes that he can survive, by doing what seems to be the craziest, most reckless and unimaginable thing that nobody else would do. He throws himself overboard. And it works!.
There is a life lesson here of sorts. People who are preoccupied with personal survival, rarely survive. (The Biblical expression is; he who loves their life shall lose it) People who have accepted their mortality as inevitable can often think more clearly and have a higher moral and scientific ground, and are more likely to make good decisions. There are circumstances where abiding by one's personal survival instinct is our very worst instinct, those times which instead call for calm and calculated maximum risk-taking grounded in reason.
Once again, for Poe, the inevitabilty of death is the equalizer, a moralizing force, the ultimate judge which affirms our actions and thoughts as valid and enduring, or not. And it is a story thoroughly applicable to our current situation, in terms of a way to see ourselves coming through this crisis, and getting to the other side. Don't "tie yourselves to a sinking ship. Jump ship, while you still can, and live!" is Poe's message.
End Part 2 ---To be continued, the lessons of the "White Rose", what I learned personally from veteran MLK civil rights leaders, and members of the East German resistance.
