The Loneliness of the Long Distance Activist: A Plea for Care Work as a Revolutionary Tactic

Text: Clara Adbullah
Image: Ilkin Huseynov & Clara Abdullah

THE SPEECH (aka FREAK MANIFESTO)

We are the freaks, the weirdos, the marginals, the radicals, the queers, the sluts, the abused – the inadequates who just can’t accept being a product of our repressive environments, still crazy enough to believe Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine can be a product of ourselves. We come here carrying these labels from our respective contexts, not as burdens of shame but as badges of courage, that help us find each other in the fog of misinformation, insidious lies, and unbearable truths that have become our realities. In these realities that normalize selfishness and subjugation, you are deemed a radical freak by simply choosing empathy and human decency instead of squabbling over scraps of imaginary privilege. For many of us, the simple fact of existing where we do is an act of resistance, and being here to talk about it today should be seen as nothing short of that either.

Even though we don’t share the same trauma, we are bound by the same ecstatic energy that pushes us to resist, to transgress, to fight back, to step out of line. It is this same spirit that allowed generations of freaks before us to tear down fascism and other flavors of authoritarianism, despite the threat of reprieve or even death, standing by their identity and authenticity in pure defiance. Thanks to them, we escaped the colonial claws of the big bear, yet its shadow is still looming above us and as such, we never got the closure of a Nuremberg trial to feel that we can truly heal from the abuses of our enemy.

From the shattered bones of our predecessors, we are crafting our own tools and weapons to find our light through the dark shadow of the bear, whether it’s with the bright torches of revolution or the flashlights of our phones. We make full use of our voices, banners, reels, memes, protests, silences and physical presence to poke holes in the imperialistic facade of invulnerability. We dream big, expect little and celebrate every moment of disruption and spark of change we can provoke, from blocking the streets to protecting our votes, to defending our families on the frontlines.

We carry on doing so, with kindness, courage and hope, fully aware that nothing is guaranteed to work, but doing it anyway because we simply can’t stomach the idea of being passive in the face of a system this brutal. The truth is we don’t know if our activism will lead us to a brighter future, but that doesn’t really matter; what matters is the strength we feel every time we don’t bow our heads, every time we destroy the false idols of civilization, every time our eyes meet those of our sisters and brothers along rebellious paths, every time that our hands set fire to the symbols of power. In those moments we don’t ask ourselves: ‘Will we win or will we lose?’ In those moments we just fight, with authenticity and incendiary resistance.

We are asking you to be on the right side of this fight – and indeed history – because, in the words of Martin Luther King, when all is said and done, we remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. We are making this request not as victims who need to be saved by white knights on horses, but as people who know the authoritarian playbook all too well and can spot the red flags from miles away, even when they look orange to everyone else. We are here in Denmark, this country that constantly tops every index of wellbeing and democracy, and even in this social utopia, drones were circling civilian airports and military bases just last week. 

Today this is the story of us, tomorrow it can be the story of you and in the face of such a gloomy perspective, we only have each other to rely on. Opportunities such as this one, where we can build and nourish networks of solidarity beyond borders and historical contexts, are invaluable and so is the Rapid Response Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders, which has provided assistance to several of our friends when faced with immediate danger. But the race is long and it’s a marathon, not a sprint. We are ready to keep on charging forward, torches and phone lights in hand, while we forge out our path through the dark shadows cast by big bad bears everywhere. Are you ready to join us?

Care is revolution.
Kindness is rebellion.
Hope is resistance.

Don’t let them take any of these away from you.

Material created within the Cultural Blog of the Coalition of the Independent Cultural Sector of the Republic of Moldova, with the support of the Swiss Cooperation Office/Representation of the Embassy of the Swiss Confederation in the Republic of Moldova and the Danish Cultural Institute.