Thread by @batallonbakunin

1/9 More #inauguration day thoughts, written on J20 2017 and now part of upcoming book project with @PMPressOrg.

2/9 “La suerte solo rie a los audaces.” “Fortune only smiles upon the bold.” So goes a famous Latin American rock song. I’m definitely no poet, so symbolism and metaphors aren’t necessarily my strength.

3/9 But I feel like precisely that point was illustrated to us that day in an usually poetic manner. How much more clearly could we expect the principles of solidarity, individual courage, and collective strength be portrayed in practice?

4/9 For individual courage, we had the image a lone anarchist taking on a secret service agent in defense of his comrade. For solidarity and audacity, of Spazz literally flying through the air into the safety of the bloc.

5/9 And for collective strength, of destroying a secret service checkpoint with what can only be described as shocking ease.
We took these lessons and experiences to heart and used them as stepping stones for greater and bolder adventures that were soon to come,

6/9 as our confrontations with the state are nothing if not adventurous. That when we believe in our capacity, as courageous individuals and as a collective fighting force, we can achieve unimaginable feats.

7/9 Sixteen years later to the day, I saw similar acts of individual and collective courage on the same streets of Washington DC during the Donald Trump inauguration. And many comrades now owe their freedom to the courageous charge that allowed them to escape the police kettle.

8/9 I don’t need to have been there to know that it was the quick thinking audacity of the optimists among us who created that moment. And I know that what we discovered back then is just as true now. That circumstances are something we can create,

9/9 and that “lucky” is often just another word for daring. That when we are bold, audacious, and wildly optimistic is when we become truly ungovernable. “Fortune only smiles upon the bold.”