Labor is Entitled to All it Produces

by Joshua StephensI cut my teeth in as an activist, largely, among anarchists; a milieu in which it's taken as granted that labor is entitled to all it produces. Ironically, it was similarly assumed that all movement labor was volunteer. In other words -- labor had no value, and was thus entitled to nothing. This was true for significant contributions of time, and contributions of significant skill, alike. Often, these came with an opportunity cost; graphic designers, artists, videographers, computer folks, translators, and the like all put in time that could've just as well gone toward paying their rent, or putting food on the table.At a certain point, I began working with a Palestine solidarity group. Same principles, same ethics, same commitments. The folks I found myself working with, however, set a clear boundary around allowing skilled contributions of time or labor to go uncompensated. The feeling was that it established a pattern of exploiting people's talents, and inevitably saw people burnt out and picked off by the demands of life under capitalism. Thus, considerable time and energy was budgeted for adequately fundraising to pay people and support them materially in carrying out work on our behalf. It struck a stark contrast for me, and receiving such material support in my own work -- often traveling to give trainings or presentations -- I felt valuable to my peers in a way I hadn't prior. My well-being mattered to these people, in a keenly tangible way, even if the support was modest. I felt both visible and accountable, and thus deeply connected to the work we shared.In recent years, my work has primarily taken the form of writing -- from Occupy Wall Street, to the Popular Assemblies in Athens, to organizing on the ground in the West Bank. All of it has informed both my dhamma practice, and my commitment to helping others deepen their practice at the intersection of radical social transformation. Unfortunately, none of it comes for free, and producing work that charts this intersection comes at the expense of writing I can sell to various outlets, to cover expenses I can't skip out on by sleeping on friends' floors, or in airports and train stations, or skipping meals. Further, I gather my situation is hardly unique. As practitioners, aware of our interdependence, and how we count on each other for refuge as we make new paths together -- it's incumbent upon us to dedicate resources to ensure we can continue to make those paths, together.The steady decline of compensation for writing and knowledge production is by design. It ensures the narrowing of discourse, and the instrumentalization of such work toward ends for which we have very little input. Those with the capital to invest in particular voices will determine who those voices are, and what is made available to us. Self-determination in this respect requires that we take responsibility for our aspirations, and for those conducting critical interventions in pursuit of our shared vision(s). Thus, I sincerely hope you'll support the Buddhist Peace Fellowship's Right Livelihood campaign -- a model from us, for us; allowing challenging, dynamic voices to stay in the game, and to speak directly to us and our practice.[divide style="2"]Joshua Stephens is a board member with the Institute for Anarchist Studies and a dedicated practitioner with Dharma Punx NYC. A longtime participant in anticapitalist and solidarity movements, he's spent much of the last year writing on recent global uprisings, contributing to outlets like Jadaliyya, NOW Lebanon, Truth-Out, Upping the Anti, and blogging for the Buddhist Peace Fellowship from Occupy Wall Street. He's the author of Self and Determination (forthcoming, AK Press) and blogs here.Read Joshua's other work for Turning Wheel Media here.If you would like to support Joshua's work and other media activists at Turning Wheel Media, give a contribution to our Right Livelihood campaign!

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