One thing this holiday season made me realize is just how bad you become at parties once you start gaining class consciousness. All of a sudden, 1) it’s the only thing on your mind when people ask you things, meaning most conversations either end in awkward silence or in broken relationships, and 2) it makes pretty much all holidays, like Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Year, etc. appear in the light of colonialism and how badly veiled they at hiding that particular historical legacy. Not to mention, it is almost impossible to find cheers and joy when you know that innocent people are being bombed as we open our first presents or that children are freezing to death as we begin our New Year's festivities. It’s a harsh reminder these holidays about how those who have everything versus those who have nothing live their lives.
In a perfect world, I would simply wish everyone a Happy New Year. But I suspect 2025 will be a turning point for the Western Empire. We will initially not see any difference; the Israeli Foreign Minister, Gideon Sa’ar, is pledging another $150 million on ‘hasbara’ - a public relations strategy that aims to target “media campaigns abroad, in the foreign press, on social media, and more,” including “concentrated activity on U.S. campuses to change their attitude towards Israel and its policies.”(source: Jewish Insider), what this means for your daily intake of news in more propaganda on how the most moral army in the world ISN’T, in fact, the vilest, most genocidal, and violent group of people in the world. But then again, who will they target with these PR shams? It seems that most Western media is already sympathetic to their cause of killing people they deem inferior, and the world leaders are either ignoring or preparing for the scenario that they need to claim ignorance of what has been happening for the last 15 months in Gaza (source: The Intercept_).
The big difference will come on January 20, 2025. This is when President-elect Donald Trump takes office once again in the bloodstained ‘white’ house (even the name has so many connotations that it boggles the mind that we’re still blind to the haunted house of horrors it really is). This will mark the start of a changing America - an America that, like Trump himself, will be much more overt about what it’s really about. He and his regime will start making good on their Project 2025 promises (source: Common Defence), which means declaring war on so many rights of minorities and working-class people in the US that it will start to become noticeable for everyone in the West just how crocked and violent the ethos of the West really is. You will watch our leaders in Europe rationalize and defend President Trump's action; you will see governments, like the joke that is the current Swedish ‘Regering,’ even start to laud and propose similar sanctions against women's rights, immigrants, and the working poor. There will be a barrage of outcry against what is happening in the US, and it will become much, much worse, I fear, before it reaches a critical boiling point.
What happens then? Well, my hope and wish for 2025 is awakening. The Western Empire is a dead man walking. We’re heading towards doom, war, and an eventual fall. I would want to control this descent as much as possible by having the working class understand its role in bringing on this event, but also to reshape the world that will emerge from it. I will escalate my efforts in the streets and online to bring about more change and improve my understanding of what is happening. I am prepared to make sacrifices to bring about a better world for the innocent.
Will you join me?
