There has not been a moment in my life in which I would identify myself as a Marxist, socialist, or communist. I wrote an article called “From Ability to Willingness: Freeing Socialism from Its Patriarchal Roots,” in which I take deep issues with socialism. And, still, I can’t imagine me being able to think what I think and be what I am without Karl Marx having lived and done the work he did. It is from Marx that I got the significance of the material basis of all human social institutions, the possibility of distributing resources based on needs, and the radical malleability of humans based on how we live. It’s because of him that I see the material and systemic roots of everything and why I look for explanations for human phenomena that are rooted in systems of governance (the political) and systems of resource flow (the economic).
The thinking of every single one of the people who have influenced my work, as well as that of any other critical theorist, has been influenced by Marx whether or not there is conscious awareness of that. Marx, also, was someone who saw the human being of the future as being “rich in needs” instead of being reduced to the one need “to have.” This deep insight is something I learned about from Agnes Heller’s book The Theory of Needs in Marx. Especially given how unpopular his name and thinking are, I want to take the risk to honor him and his gifts to humanity even though, by and large (though not exclusively), those who have aimed to apply what they learned from him created what became dictatorships.
The following four sections are intended to initiate the process of alignment between you and NGL. Please take your time reading them. Our intention in communicating with you in this way is to bring clarity to your involvement in NGL as a Friend and for that clarity to live in both your mind and in your body. The more clearly you understand the invitation by which you are welcomed into NGL, the more ease we anticipate having in meeting our purpose together. For us, NGL Friends contributes to our intent to practice openness and build relationships that will mutually support our collaboration towards nonviolent global liberation.
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As we mentioned in the introduction to Join NGL Friends, we have a number of requests of you that we want you to engage with seriously as you decide whether being an NGL Friend is a fit for you.
The overall principle we are asking of you is that you recognize the limits of our collective resources as a community, and adopt the attitude of reverence and “do no harm.” We have worked for a long time with much care to create this space. We want it to be as welcoming as we know how, and we know it’s not perfect.
We want to learn from and with you, and our capacity is limited to engage with you beyond what we offer generally. We ask that you act with awareness of being a guest in our community. We have attempted to offer as much guidance as we can to support your journey into and within NGL, and we may have not given sufficient clarity.
If so, let us know when we ask for feedback, and we will aim to find a way to offer more guidance in new ways. We deeply believe that you will learn and get a sense of belonging from attending calls and we ask that you do this with care for all of our specific requests (which mostly focus on your overall intention and focus, not concrete actions):