Tootfinder

The #IWW #GDC as an antifascist organization was always kind of a hack. It was a beautiful hack and it worked well for what it did.
In 2016, as Trump was rising, I found info from the Twin Cities GDC. They were super organized, building an amazing community defense organization. When we (Seattle) went to set up our chapter, following their lead, they were extremely supportive. When I got shot, Twin Cities folks were at my house keeping my partner safe. They literally flew people out to support us. They very much remain in my mind when I think about what mutual aid looks like.
Unionism is an important strategy of a larger fight. But it's important to realize that it's not the other way around. The GDC was built to defend the union, because there wasn't something larger to do that work. It filled a gap.
When we organized against Trump, we tried to make the GDC the greater thing. We tried to make the GDC into the vehicle for social revolution against the fascist threat... And it sort of worked. We were able to do a lot.
But that was never what it was built to do. It was always built as an appendage of the IWW. This contains its own problem. If Unionism is the revolutionary movement, then it becomes impossible to build a truly revolutionary society. Unionism centers "workers" which implicitly decenters those who can't work in the traditional sense (the young, the elderly, those physically or mentally able to work). It also decenters care labor that hasn't yet been widely commodified. Sure, there are all types of hacks to patch the holes, but the fundamental construction starts from the wrong assumptions.
It felt, for a while, like things could go another way. Like that our ability to bring members in could shift things a bit, maybe set the GDC on more equal footing with the core focus of the IWW. But that was always an illusion, far less important to think about than the crushing terror of the regime we were fighting.
Now, I will absolutely trash talk the IWW on occasion but in the end I do think they're doing good and important work. Any criticism I have should be taken with a grain of salt... And I know I do have a lot of salt. Again, Unionism is an important strategy. It's useful both in improving immediate material conditions and as part of the most powerful weapon we have against the capitalist system: the general strike. It's important, I can't say that enough. But it's not sufficient.
I've been thinking about this a bit recently, and I wonder if there are any other GDC organizers or former organizers who might be feeling the same. Feel free to DM me. I'd like to get some more perspectives and see if my understanding from several years ago deviates significantly from what other folks are feeling right now.
I'd also like to bounce some ideas around that come from my own organizing experience.

On The Road - To Xi’An/ Quiescence ➰
在路上 - 去西安/ 静止 ➰
📷 Pentax MX
🎞️Kodak Double-X 5222
#filmphotography #Photography #blackandwhite

Kind of tired of media about conspiracy theories being right. We need media where chasing conspiracy theories is a moral failing. Humans don't need conspiracy theories to do bad things.

HarperCollins UK drops children's author and comedian David Walliams following allegations of inappropriate behavior toward young women (Paul Glynn/BBC)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cev8p7d0gmgo

David Walliams dropped by book publisher HarperCollins
Walliams is one of the UK's most successful children's authors, having sold more than 60 million books.

Facing down a new week of too many deadlines like this chestnut-backed chickadee (Poecile rufescens) in Stanley Park, Vancouver
#naturalist #wildlife #photography

Filing: the US FTC ends its review of SoftBank's $6.5B acquisition of chip designer Ampere, granting an early termination; SoftBank announced the deal in March (Josh Sisco/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

SoftBank’s $6.5 Billion Deal for Chip Firm Ampere Wins FTC Nod
The US Federal Trade Commission has ended its review of SoftBank Group Corp.’s acquisition of semiconductor designer Ampere Computing LLC, removing an obstacle to the $6.5 billion deal.

When you're trying to get #Google to help them fix a problem they have in relaying an email to a list (they are forwarding as if it they are originating your non-GMail email, thus incurring an SPF failure) their helpful support team to the rescue (see image attached).
FYI... the second thing they want is a screen cap of the client SMTP config.
Very temped to send a screenshot wit…

"As trading activity spiked on [#Crypto] exchanges and prices whipsawed, multiple centralized platforms suffered glitches. Binance’s site went completely down at one point, and customers reported unexplained account freezes, unsuccessful trades, and automated protections like stop-losses failing to trigger"
Again, of course. People build crypto exchanges because they want to get ric…

Anatomy of a crypto meltdown
October 2025 brought the most dramatic crypto flash crash of all time, but it was only a dress rehearsal for the systemic crisis the industry is building toward.

The idea I’m rambling toward: when we talk about our current lack of “shared reality,” let’s not think of that as a fixed set of walls; let’s think of it as a •process that’s failing•.
It’s not that we can expect people to never be mistaken; it’s that we want time to counteract our mistakenness. It’s not just about walls (ideological “space”); it’s about time.
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An Alabama state board votes to keep its contract with PBS for now, rejecting an effort to become the first state to cut ties following federal budget cuts (Kim Chandler/Associated Press)
https://apnews.com/article/alabama-pbs-2149809fa142c792fab0ca6e8730ee80

Alabama Public Television to keep PBS contract
The commission that oversees Alabama Public Television voted to continue paying its contract with PBS. The decision came after a public backlash to the idea of dropping PBS. The Alabama Educational Television Commission voted without dissent to continue paying the contract with PBS that runs until July. It also voted to create a committee to explore the future direction of Alabama Public Television. A proposal to take the first step toward severing ties failed when no commissioner seconded the …