We have been socialized by our hyper-individualist culture to think about solutions primarily in terms of individual action. But by acting as individuals, we simply reproduce the status quo. The most radical thing we can do is to act in community with others. Any action that broadens and deepens our experience of community is a form of resistance.

Our capitalist culture increasingly alienates us from each other, selling us forms of pseudo-connection like social media in lieu of real community. We need to build real life communities, communities of flesh and blood. We need to connect communities across cultural, racial, ethnic, religious, and political boundaries.

We must resist to fear at every opportunity and cultivate trust. Competition and fear help maintain the status quo. Their opposites are connection and joy. People who trust each other are more likely to cooperate with each other and to create alternatives to the destructive systems which constitute the status quo. They are then be better able to withstand the shock of environmental change and economic collapse.

Building community doesn’t happen overnight, though. It takes years. We can start by resisting the impulse to act individually and seek out others with whom we can act together in community.