emsenn on Nostr: Every generation of radicals prepares for **the crackdown**—encrypted chats, burner ...
Every generation of radicals prepares for **the crackdown**—encrypted chats, burner phones, avoiding cameras. We train ourselves to dodge the big, obvious threats 🚔👀.
But that’s not what kills movements.
The real danger isn’t a spotlight, it’s a slow dimming of capacity.
It’s not the surveillance that stops you.
It’s working late to make rent.
It’s being too tired to show up.
It’s your free time eroding into survival time.
Fascism doesn’t just come with jackboots and raids.
It comes with rising grocery bills 🏠💰
disappearing community spaces 🏗️
and 60, 70, 80-hour
workweeks that
drain
every ounce
of
energy...
...before you can make it to the distro.
They don’t need to **repress** you if they can just **keep you too busy to resist**.
So, yeah: Use Signal. Mask up. Be smart. But also:
- **Keep your people housed.**
- No one organizes while drowning in rent debt.
- **Keep your people fed.**
- A hungry movement is a dying movement.
- **Keep your people from disappearing into the grind.**
- A slow fade is still a loss.
Because the real question isn’t **who avoids the crackdown**?...
It’s **who’s still fighting once it's in full effect**?
But that’s not what kills movements.
The real danger isn’t a spotlight, it’s a slow dimming of capacity.
It’s not the surveillance that stops you.
It’s working late to make rent.
It’s being too tired to show up.
It’s your free time eroding into survival time.
Fascism doesn’t just come with jackboots and raids.
It comes with rising grocery bills 🏠💰
disappearing community spaces 🏗️
and 60, 70, 80-hour
workweeks that
drain
every ounce
of
energy...
...before you can make it to the distro.
They don’t need to **repress** you if they can just **keep you too busy to resist**.
So, yeah: Use Signal. Mask up. Be smart. But also:
- **Keep your people housed.**
- No one organizes while drowning in rent debt.
- **Keep your people fed.**
- A hungry movement is a dying movement.
- **Keep your people from disappearing into the grind.**
- A slow fade is still a loss.
Because the real question isn’t **who avoids the crackdown**?...
It’s **who’s still fighting once it's in full effect**?