Cong He By Zhong Lin For W Magazine China June 2024

What troubles me most is the phenomenon of individuals—many of whom have previously shown no interest in politics—suddenly coming to realize that every aspect of life is inherently political, simply by virtue of being part of a society, the polis. Some are only now engaging because the privileges they once passively enjoyed have eroded, compelling them to confront a reality they could previously afford to ignore.

Yet instead of critically examining the systems that led to this shift, many break from their prior political nihilism or cynicism only to adopt a centrist, “third-way” neoliberal perspective. This stance, typical of post-postmodern white liberalism, reflects a detachment rooted in both ideological comfort and historical disengagement.

It is, at its core, an escapist response—a refusal to confront the consequences of their previous apathy and inaction. They enter the political arena not as informed participants, but as confused actors in a game they never bothered to learn. And when they do engage, they often align with the very forces that perpetuate harm, lacking the critical knowledge necessary to make ethical or informed decisions.

Honestly hate it when MLs and anarchists treat their cute little ideologies as insular sectarian cliques. Yeah I’m sure you and your five friends who are hostile to other revolutionaries and the masses themselves and don’t attempt any tenant or labor organizing and look down on all non-liberal forms of protest or militancy are gonna convince the masses to take giant risks that might destroy their lives based on hostility and vibes alone.

Nobody is becoming a revolutionary if they don’t believe such a thing is possible which they absolutely won’t believe if they don’t have smaller victories like unionization and wage increases to point to. Your job is to build their confidence, which also protects you. You’re already a target so make yourself a bigger one and become so indispensable in your community that people defend you when the state and fascists attack you and try to smear you as a socialist or anarchist of some variety.

If you’ve already helped them win gains in their lives, they will protect you and that’s our only protection in this world. “Why are they attacking these people who help us” is what you want. Otherwise no one will know or care about the abuses you endure trying to change the world. It also backs up your ideology. If you’re the union steward and the office commie and you’ve helped win gains for the masses around you, that’s gonna convince people maybe you’re right.

If you want to be irrelevant and alone and lose, then yeah treat revolution like a clique of the already initiated that requires nothing from you but smugness and the occasional protest. Which sounds like cult shit to me but you know I guess a lot of fringe ideologues treat their beliefs like secret knowledge outsiders simply cannot understand.

Jewish women's bath in the Sar Chal neighborhood of Tehran, Iran, 1970s.

A red-tailed racer (Gonyosoma oxycephalum) poises on a branch in Kaeng Krachan National Park, Thailand

by Matt Summerville

A hora da Estrela (Suzana Amaral, 1985)

embarrassment has good bones

Khreshchatyk at night, Kiev (Kyiv), Ukrainian SSR, 1979 (photo by Mykola Kozlovskyi)

Artem Rohovyi - Symphony of Branches gouache on paper