Parts of my ‘finding people who don’t just have good politics but are also actually good people’ strategies are obvious,
Things like ‘do they actually help a comrade in need regardless of whether anyone considers that help activism?’ and ‘do they treat activists that make a mistake as disposable?’ etc.
But also a part of it is looking at how people react when bad things happen to bad people.
Do they get joy and inspiration from a nazi getting punched because that is an effect action successfully done? Good. Do they get joy from a local nazi getting hit by a car because that means less work for the antifascists? fine. But do they find a lot of joy simply in knowing that a bad person is suffering, regardless of how that suffering impacts the world? That sets off my alarm bells.
I mean, we all occasionally experience this, but it’s a nasty side, which has been nurtured by a society invested in punishment-as-justice for profit and control, this nasty side should become less when we learn that punishment isn’t justice and the universe doesn’t become any better when the people who have harmed us suffer.
People that claim to reject a punishment-based justice system but that themselves find a lot of joy in punishment for the sake of punishment and revenge for the sake of revenge have a nasty side that they haven’t worked through and I don’t trust them. I think they’re capable of growth but I don’t want them too close to me.
QueerAnarchism 