Wrote a song called “Your Struggle Is My Struggle” – as usual, there were more words in my head than fit in the song. Sharing some of those words here.
Your struggle is my struggle
your fight is my fight
as long as you’re in need of solidarity
I will be by your side
Our struggles are interconnected. The fights for personal, national, civil, cultural and societal freedoms share more similarities than differences. Oppressors may take many forms, but their tools of control are often the same. No struggle exists in isolation. Recognizing our solidarity cultivates humanity. Your fellow human’s fight for liberation is not separate from your own. Collective action, shared knowledge, and unwavering solidarity are our best tools to dismantle oppression and build a future rooted in justice and equality.
Many people experience a societal bystander effect, where they recognize the urgency of the situation but feel powerless to act. This administration has triggered a widespread trauma response, resurfacing deep-seated fear, flight, or fight that never fully faded from the last term. This collective reaction highlights the challenge ahead – overcoming fear and paralysis to build a movement for real change. The key lies in breaking out of isolation and, together, finding ways to take meaningful action.
You must be, or damn well should be, past the point of rolling your eyes, laughing off or tuning out to what is happening. Universities are folding under pressure. Students are being jailed for organizing protests and writing op-eds. Law firms are capitulating their morals. People are being sent to no-way-out foreign prisons without charge. If you think this doesn’t affect you, think again. The lines of repression move faster than you realize, and what’s being done to them today can be done to us tomorrow.
It’s overwhelming to keep track of everything, and nearly impossible to remember it all. The simultaneous push of executive orders, dismantling of institutions, and reshuffling of alliances and allegiances is the strategy of chaos. This kind of governance thrives on instability, forcing people into a state of learned helplessness where outrage feels futile and action seems impossible. The challenge is to see through it, hold onto truth, and to remember that chaos is not invincibility— it’s a smokescreen.
There needs to be a bigger idea. Whatever comes next, should the country continue as a republic, will require a fundamental rethinking of how this system works and who it protects. If this is to come, it will require real work and real effort. It will require mass mobilizations, general strikes, boycotts, labor movements and more. It will require a true opposition party and platform. This begins with the courage to think and act on a scale beyond anything we’ve attempted before.
We also need systemic change in the tech and media sectors that influence our lives. Zuckerberg gave the president $250 million to settle a frivolous lawsuit, ABC settled a similar case and CBS may follow suit. Musk spent $288 million to buy the election. The consolidation of narrative will only increase the spread of misinformation. How news reaches us— and whether it reaches us at all— will change dramatically. The old tools we once relied on to create change are no longer enought. We must build new ones.
What keeps us together is solidarity. The old tools – traditional political parties, tradional and new media – we once relied on to create change have proved to no longer be useful. We need new tools that empower people directly, bypassing gatekeepers and amplifying voices that have long been silenced. I urge you to explore new forms of activism and communication — ones that break free from corporate control, empower grassroots movements and adapt to the challenges we face today.
your struggle is my struggle
your fight is my fight
as long you’re in need of solidarity
i will be by your side
we are brothers, we are sisters
cut from the same cloth of life
and the forces pulling us apart
know shared freedom is our right
so we must stand together in this fight
your struggle is my struggle
your fight is my fight
as long you’re in need of solidarity
i will be by your side
our dreams and hopes are the same
your liberation is my own
i feel your pain as if happening to me
your story shall not go unknown
we all lose when a part of us suffers
so we must stand up for one another
your struggle is my struggle
your fight is my fight
as long you’re in need of solidarity
i will be by your side
it is one pursuit of justice
and whatever I can give to you
through the streets with love and dignity
together we shall not be moved
your struggle is my struggle
your fight is my fight
as long you’re in need of solidarity
i will be by your side
