Of all the things going on in world and also locally, from housing crises, economic instability, climate crisis etc.
How does one not fall into nihilism and just general despair? Are texts out there that teach and talk about how to hold grit and optimism in times like these?
TL;DR Help I don’t want to be a doomer :(
Revolutionary optimism. Realistically, does falling to despair hurt or help revolutionary cause? Historically, doomerism has been a tool of the bourgeoisie to suppress activism. Why agitate for the climate if we can only mitigate the coming impact, not prevent it? Why fight for socialism if it will result in imperialist aggression? There’s a very deliberate movement to suppress revolutionary fervor on the left, longing for the old USSR instead of looking to the future, etc, and the counter is revolutionary optimism.
What we are seeing right now is the undeniable advancement of the socialist cause worldwide, alongside the downfall of imperialism. The PRC is successfully charting a new course, and the global south is breaking free of the shackles placed on it by the west. Every day, there’s new scientific advancement, new revolutionary advances, all if you seek it out. The western media has to run on doomscrolling and only showing you the worst.
Don’t be unrealistic, of course, temper expectations and be resolutely optimistic.
Nicely put thank you!
beautifully put. i’d just like to add the classic “Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will”, as Gramsci put it