Hey, thanks for writing. I guess the point is that nouns are 'sticky'. Holochain is embracing fascism- it's an action, a process in motion, a thing that has happened in the past through a thousand tiny cuts and that continues to happen now. To say that Holochain is fascist to me would be where the reactionary politics and finger-pointing starts, where unfair blame lies, where we devolve into "us" and "them". It would also be untrue, and a crude label to apply to a socially complex and dynamic community of practise in which I have met many people who's actions are (from my perspective) generative and positive for the world.

So I genuinely ask that we deepen relationships, in order to weed from our collective psyche the foul roots of our comforts, our toxic positivity, our saviourism, our apologism for hate that does not affect us, our abandonment of the oppressed, and other unconscious biases and entitlements that conspire to give rise to #genocide.

Yes, those conversations will probably have the effect of recentering some who are vulnerable to fascist thought back into their singular reality. But we are mostly an amalgam of the people we spend the most time with, and I should think the idea of reformation near the core of a group wholly devoted to a hateful cause be laughable. At least those their propaganda harms will be able to identify them, set boundaries, keep distance. The alternative is for things to continue as they have been- background fascism influencing events in secret, bigots being empowered, and oppressed people being silently harmed and erased without accountability.

(Related reading: The Alt-Right and Global Information Warfare)

I take your point that alarm does not lead to wellbeing. Maybe it can lead there indirectly if we are able to make our way through the fear. If not, we are stuck in a hostile world behind our individual protective measures. In a world in which fascism is on the rise I think we should all be vigilant.

Thankyou for mentioning Gaza in this reply. We could say similar for Ukraine or Sudan or any of the other places that the West fleetingly cares about. (I'm sharing that discontent intentionally, as channelled via a Ukrainian friend who feels abandoned by most of their social circles now that media attention and leftist virtue signalling have moved on.)

Emotional care for anybody experiencing the impacts of genocide is important work, and I believe these events reinforce the truth that resisting fascism and colonialism really does require being in #solidarity with all oppressed peoples. The ignition point for all of this was Islamophobia being tolerated. Tolerating anti-trans hate speech is just a continuation of the same decision.

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