Dear activists,
Two years ago we started what has now become, a guerrilla tradition, our New Year’s Revolutions piece in lieu of a dry, Annual Foundation Letter to outline our intentions, aspirations or resolutions for the days ahead. Very simply, we are posing a single question to ourselves: ‘What is the revolution you’d like to see taking place this year?”
Here goes..
“My hope for 2020 is a shift of attention from insular campaigns or projects to what makes our movements stronger: the communities of practice, networks and circles of activists who connect across issues and geographies to co-develop strategies and skills, renew their strength, and practice solidarity.” – Romy Krämer
“One year ago Rutger Bregman shook the World Economic Forum in Davos with his bold statements about tax evasion. I spent most of my reading in 2019 about tax issues and it is truly a disaster. If we would tax the assets that are idly sitting in tax havens around the world, we could easily collect hundreds of billions of Euros to plant trees and accelerate the healing of the planet. Let’s end tax havens in our lifetimes!” – Toni Schwarz
“Being stuck between the condition of the semi-peripheral capitalist economy and growing populist nationalism and authoritarianism, followed by the growth of unemployment, brain drain, the rise of xenophobia and other harmful effects on people’s lives and society as a whole, further deepening the existing tensions in the region, I wish a radical shift towards a new perspective for social and political transformation. I hope to see more diverse and innovative tactics and get engaged in actions that demonstrate alternatives to the current system, and through different redistribution of power and resources enable real change to happen.” – Iva Čukić
“My wish for 2020 is to see fewer do-gooders focus on treating the symptoms of a rotten system, and instead take bold action to tackle the root causes of the problem – towards a more empathetic, courageous, collaborative, creative, and regenerative economy, society, and environment. Some examples? Funders directing more resources to activists than to traditional NGOs; More media outrage and coordinated action towards reckless corporates and careless consumers during Black Friday; and more voters considering the green credentials of political candidates because they realize there’s no economic prosperity on a dead planet.” – Paolo Fresia
“In a hectic world where the likelihood of survival for us as a species (and all the other ones as well) is diminishing by the hour, I wish to see more collective spaces to breathe, reflect, step out of the (capitalist, consumerist, you-name-it) wheel and zoom out… At the same time these spaces should be built to hold grief and sadness about the things we have lost and will inevitably lose in the years to come. To nurture these spaces and create companionship & community in a society that pushes us into isolation, depression and loneliness will create resilience and – for me – is a major part of the concept of sustainable activism. We can build a better world only if we are working together, taking care of ourselves and of the ones around us.” – Julia Gajewski
“While acknowledging the extreme hardships that people are facing around the world I will eschew a conscientious Miss Universe reply for something more genuine and yet admittedly selfish. I hope that Berlin, the place I call home, is able to rise up against gentrification and hostile corporate development to curb climbing rent prices & unaffordability in general. I want to see it emerge as a bastion of street politics and counterculture with strong, diverse, intentional urban communities – to succeed where San Francisco, Amsterdam and London failed.” – Ivan March
