Unconditional Love as Strategy: An Idea for Activists

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I've been thinking a lot lately about what will be needed for this world to be more just and equitable. From the genocidal war in Yemen to the worsening global climate crisis, for many of us the need for societal transformation is urgent.

At the same time, we know there exist reasons for cautious optimism. Take for instance the recent student-led walkouts in schools all over the US - that had even folks in other countries showing solidarity - or the ongoing organizing efforts of Cooperation Jackson in Jackson, Mississippi, to create a city-wide "solidarity economy" and become "the most radical city on the planet." These are but two of many current examples from which we can draw hope, courage, and resolve.

In spite of all this, the question persists: on a global level, what will it take for us to break through and build a more just, equitable, and gentle world right now? This framing seems to imply that there is one single, simple answer. And my instinct is to say, "Of course it's super complicated!" But what if it isn't as complex as we think? What if a big part of the answer is unconditional love?

Let me walk you through my thinking.

Generally speaking, those at the financial and material top in our society hold excessive and unchecked levels of wealth. They profit off of many things good, bad, and in-between, including but not limited to human misery, and they are not being held to account for their outsized impact and role in perpetuating systems of civic injustice and global destruction. From bankers being bailed out and given bonuses after crashing the world economy, to torturers evading criminal conviction, they - the profiteers, let's call them - are getting away with a lot. And they, by and large, realize this.

Let's stop for a moment and think about this from an individual perspective. (And my apologies for speaking in such basic terms, but it's my belief that the biggest problems of our time are relatively simple and straightforward to solve.) When you do something you know you're not supposed to, and it causes harm to someone else, and you don't face any consequences, what is the impact on you? Depending on the seriousness of the transgression, some people put it out of their minds and get on with their lives. Others are racked by guilt. In either case, when accountability doesn't follow a misdeed, many of us fear that it will, but we don't know when, how, or who will be administering it.

This generally causes discomfort and fear, and leads us to not act from our best selves. We behave irrationally, and with a posture toward defensiveness and self-protection. This is what leads kids to lie to adults when they think they might be "in trouble," adults to lie to partners, and federal officials to lie to Congress. We fear losing what we have - a sense of safety and security, our deepest connections, our livelihoods, or our lives.

When we extrapolate this out onto a larger scale, keeping in mind that the profiteers know quite well their outsized role in our increasingly bleak prospects for sustained human life on Earth, we can anticipate that this is precisely how "they" will respond to demands for accountability and justice: out of fear. How do we know this? Because it's how they already respond to perceived or real threats to their power and status.

For these reasons, I'm not sure that revolution as we've come to know it - a popular force growing large enough to unseat those in power - will have lasting success. It might "work" for a time, but ultimately, it's replacing one group at the top with another - albeit larger - group. This is simply replicating the global caste system we are trying to undo.

That is why in my view, we need to think beyond more traditional modes of societal change. We need to remember that those "at the top," though they may be severely disconnected from their own humanity and that of others, are nonetheless human beings like us, our fellow brothers and sisters. We need to embrace unconditional love toward one another and toward ourselves, because we want to be the kind of society that others see and say, "Hey, I want to be a part of that!" We need to show those at the top that we are ready to accept them back into the human fabric, that the accountability to which we hold them will be fair, proportional, humane, and based on a foundation of unconditional love.

Though the profiteers at the top may not deserve our love, as a wise fictional drug dealer once said, "Deserve got nothin' to do with it."

Rest in power, Snoop.

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