Welcome to Territories, the monthly newsletter from Inhabit.
We’re entering our third year of publication. In addition to regular updates about Inhabit, we’ve published more than two dozen original articles written by friends and comrades around the world. From communal kitchens during popular revolt to rural futures amid the pandemic, Territories brings you firsthand experiences of revolution in our time.
We have big plans for the future. We’ve recently expanded our editorial team and have a variety of essays in the works, many from new contributors. We’re exploring new models of syndicating and hosting content—look out soon for a new call for submissions too. If you have something you want to see featured in Territories, we want you to get in touch.
On to the issue. Stay fierce—reality demands it.
We’re excited to announce a new homepage and the launch of the much-requested Tools feature on readinhabit.com. On the Tools page, you can download PDFs of the book, a starter kit, zines, and our new Strategic Thinking for Climate Resilience group exercise. This exercise debuted last summer at a regional gathering—now it’s available for partisans everywhere to take up as their own.
This is a group exercise meant to help us think strategically. Most of us are used to critical thought—deconstructing ideas, or exposing the flaws of someone’s ideology, or political project through examining it under an ethical frame. Contemporary political milieus owe much of this to their ties to liberal arts. Whether we learn what’s right and wrong through philosophy, our family ties, or experience shaped by the street, the ethics we develop strengthen our critical eyes. Thought is an act—an exercise—and like other exercises, if we only condition certain muscles, others will atrophy. Our adversaries train all their muscles.
Esta Todo Incendiado
A Conversation on the Anti-Mining Struggle in Argentina
For decades, the people of Patagonia have resisted the ongoing extraction of resources from their unique region. Last month, the provincial government surreptitiously enacted a law that would allow new mining ventures, despite campaign promises not to. In response, the people erupted in fury and quickly forced the government to back down. After this victory—reported almost nowhere in the news—we spoke with a friend on the ground who relayed their experiences of the revolt.
People were furious. We all were. We didn’t want to do things peacefully this time. I guess we all felt the same. We wanted to break things. The government didn’t hear us, so we wanted to force them to—and we did.
Our friend Lainie (@lainiecassel) has launched a newsletter devoted to her original writing on health, fitness, and “getting free.” Check this article on some lesser-known aspects of plant-based diets and the challenges they may bring, featuring lovely art by Eros (@melancholy_generator). Subscribe here and watch for an upcoming collaboration featured right here in Territories.
Are you in the reading group? Join us for a lively discussion—one chapter every week.
“All summer, this place was choked with wildfire smoke, trapped under a heat dome and crowded with pandemic paranoias.” Matt Hern & Am Johal on the climate crisis up north.
“These numbers demand that we reorder our picture of the world we live in, recalculating the brutality of the present.” David Wallace-Wells on the deadly air we breathe.
“Plastics are poised to dominate the 21st century as one of the yet-unchecked drivers of climate change.” Rebecca Altman on the horrific ubiquity of plastic.
“Now we know that we must protect it; it is our responsibility and our children’s.” Siegfried Modola on forest defense led by Samburu women.
“Experimentation and dreaming otherwise is the only thing that has and will continue to get us through apocalyptic times.” Raechel Anne Jolie on loneliness, care, and belonging.
“While the right has become far more extreme and has its tens of millions of true believers, it is morphing into a minority sect.” Rebecca Solnit on social change and polarization.
“It is embarrassing and not a little enraging to realize that you are subject to the whims of an amoral and incurious capitalist posing as a visionary optimist.” David Roth on the stupidity of Mark Zuckerberg.
“This recycling of futures is fundamentally a conservative force, in which social relations are dressed up over and over again, with no thought to whether they’re worth preserving, or what could be built in their place.” Sun-Ha Hong on the imaginative poverty of technofutures.
“Interdependence is power, and moving from brittle autonomy toward emergent and collective answers to complex problems is the path to progress.” Divya Siddarth & Kelsie Nabben on autonomy and automation.
“The delusion that salvation from capitalism can be found in new, more clever capitalism is incredibly seductive, and always wrong.” Hamilton Nolan on cryptocurrency, radicalization, and the crises to come.
That’s a wrap for now. See you next month.
You’re on Path B,
Inhabit