Socialism is a Matter of Proximity

One of the best things about following community pages (especially school and neighborhood pages) is that everyone is a socialist when it affects them directly. Good! Solidarity. One of the worst things about following these community pages is to realize that these people you know directly or indirectly are actually people, and you may not like them, and you can see their pores with everything they post. It’s easy to be a socialist with an abstract proletariat, but when it’s people you know—who outwardly disdain and rage against their own side of the class war as soon as it leaves their county—it requires a certain amount of perspective and humility. I can do it (inshallah), but it is alarming when you see it up close. Solidarity with all of the people! You don’t have to be perfect (and certainly not whatever crazy version of ‘perfect’ I have in my head) to deserve freedom.