Because the universe wants me to bear witness to all of the world’s events, I happen to be in LA today. It is apocalyptic. The world smells burnt through my mask, my eyes are watering from smoke and also sorrow. The sky is blanketed in smoke. I picked up a scorched leaf that landed in front of me. It crumbled in my palm.
The LA fires hold up a mirror to capitalist colonialism and the carceral system.
The genocide and land theft of Indigenous people in the area including the Gabrieleño, Tongva, Tataviam, Kizh, Serrano, Chumash people have led to where we are today.
Indigenous people cared for (and continue to care for) the land with a deep understanding of winds, worlds, and fires. We can say with confidence that the land would not burn this way if it were cared for as it should have been under Indigenous stewardship.
30% of wildfire firefighters in the state are incarcerated people. The state leverages intentional loopholes in legislation that permit outright slave labor. Yet these same people would not be able to be legally employed in the department if they applied for a job. The dehumanization of the carceral system.
In addition, prisons, including juvenile prisons, are often the last to be evacuated or not evacuated at all during fires, hurricanes, and floods. Capitalism chooses.
The wealthy often hire private firefighting companies to further buffer themselves against their own capitalist consumption. Perhaps they do not know yet, that you cannot stop fires fueled by colonialism.
Privatization is a capitalist colonial weapon of individualism. Keep in mind how the incoming administration is aiming to privatize several public services and agencies such as the USPS and financial school and home loans.
Community and interdependence line the path forward to life and liberation.
We must extinguish Empire and its capitalist colonialism. When you dig into why everything is happening with such severity and loss, that’s where it always returns. The world is on fire because Empire set it on fire.
Hold the land as your relative.
LandBack with Indigenous stewardship means life and liberation for all.
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