On Individualism

Individualism is the result of the isolation through white supremacy and the patriarchy and the breaking of community ties through exploitation in capitalism and colonialism under imperialist capitalism and white supremacy. 

What I mean is:

Our earliest concepts of humanity revolve around community. Ancient and global Indigenous cultures teach stories of co-operation and warnings of what happens when that co-operation ends. We know that many Indigenous communities across the globe lived in some form of co-operative society. The basis of evolution as a science is co-operation of cells to form new things. Sciencists and theorists teach us that co-operation is our natural society, built on a social sustainability for all nature, supporting the Indigenous teachings truth that has always been. 

Co-operation grows into solidarity. Solidarity grows into mutual aid. Mutual aid grows into communities. Communities become co-operation for fulfilling needs in each community. Co-operation between communities grows networks of solidarity to meet everyone's need according to the needs they have, starting with those who have the most needs. Meeting the needs of the whole community as a community, by ensuring the needs of each person as met by those who have the ability to provide. From each according to their ability, to each according to their need. This is socialism. 

Socialism, the needs of all being met through the abilities of all, is the combination of co-operation, solidarity, and mutual aid. It is the truest state of nature. It is the most natural form of society for humanity as a part of nature. It is human nature. 

Individualism destroys that nature. 

When capitalism grew out of feudalism and developed into imperialism, white supremacy was already embedded deeply in the ideology, even though whiteness as a race wouldn't be theorized until the 1600s. Europeans who terrorized and colonized Indigenous peoples and their land did so in the name of advancing European supremacy, imperialism, religious supremacy, and resource hoarding. They forcibly attempted to destroy the co-operative nature of Indigenous people, and we see this happen over and over again in history as imperialism continues to grow. As global Indigenous lands become colonized by Europeans who called themselves civilized, resource hoarding begins in the occupied places. The greed for power and control through resources allows white supremacy and colonialism to flourish under capitalism. Displaced communities continually attempt to come back together to restore their nature, but the nature of capitalism is to demand and enforce isolation, so individualism is an arm of the propaganda war to divide our minds and spirits. 

Individualism is the child of white supremacy and capitalism. It isolates and suppresses our communal nature. It twists our innate need for community into traumas that become anchors weighing us down and keeping us silo'd from each other. Individualism is a chain, specifically designed by capitalism and white supremacy to hold us back from our natural co-operation and solidarity. It has been incredibly effective. Individualism has taught us to put our individual identities first before the community identity. It encourages and reinforces capitalism and white supremacy within constructs forced upon us to keep us separated. 

And it is killing us. 

The only way to survive is a return to our nature - a society built on meeting the needs of all through the effort of all according to their abilities. Some have more abilities than others and that is okay. Individualism would tell us to compare abilities and contributions, but that is an attempt to divide. All people deserve to have their needs met. That is an undeniable innate human right. Individualism whispers in our minds that right should depend on our abilities, but solidarity reminds us that we all have this right just by existing. 

Individualism separates us from our nature and therefore nature itself. We lose sight of our communal nature within individualism and that means as a society we have lost our community with nature. The Indigenous warnings about what happens when co-operation is lost come true. Solidarity with humanity is solidarity with nature. As a part of nature, we must relearn how to be a part of the natural society to heal from individualism, listening and supporting global Indigenous communities who have been practicing their true nature all along. 

Co-operation, solidarity, and mutual aid are the pillars of the better world. The way to build that world is to do it now, in our spaces, in our communities, in ourselves. Individualism intends to divide us and works its way into our psyche as a part of internalized beliefs and thoughts. Breaking free from individualism requires internal work to challenge those internalized things. Changing those things internally will allow you to challenge them externally. It's a continual process, because the propaganda of individualism is strong and deep. It is finding your principled values of co-operation, solidarity, and mutual aid and truly living them out. And yes, that takes effort; yes, it's a lot of work. It's also necessary and vital. We build the better world first in our hearts, then in our worlds.