Feb 27, 2024

Existence Is a Nightmare, yet we Persist

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Photo by Ash Hayes on Unsplash

If you scroll back far enough, you might find traces of my high school dream of becoming a journalist. However, one introductory journalism class in my first semester of college had me dropping journalism and running to the English department. What do you mean I had to interview people? Me? Talking to strangers? My anxiety screamed and fled and refused to let me breathe for so long until I realized that this blog could have a journalistic aspect while also staying true to my random mumblings and ramblings. 


I've been wanting to write so many different posts lately, but so many of them lie half-written in my drafts. Sometimes it feels like the state of the world is so awful and so dystopian that none of my silly thoughts should reach the light of day. Who cares about my thoughts on the Percy Jackson TV show when there is an active genocide happening in Palestine right now? Why would I post a book review of the last book I read when we live in a capitalistic hellscape where workers can hardly afford food or rent or some of life's basic necessities? Why would I talk about my job as a Starbucks barista when the company has been under fire for union-busting and illegal actions for years? No matter what I wanted to talk about, I found myself hitting save and logging out. While yes, this blog is simply a way for me to get my thoughts out and has never been about making money and getting famous, there's also a part of me that feels shame for finding little moments of joy amongst the constant horrors of existence. So I guess this is a small post to say that yes, there is a lot of shit going on in the world and a lot of it is bad. But there's still hope left. We keep going. We rally together and we demand change. We protest, we call for a permanent ceasefire, we share awareness for everything going on in the world, and we try not to let it consume us.


I've been working closely with union organizers the last few weeks, and whenever I ask "But what if the company doesn't bargain in good faith?" or "What's the point of fighting so hard for a union if the company can get away with treating the workers so poorly with seemingly little repercussion?" or any slew of "what if" questions, the organizer I'm working with reminds me that we have to have hope. As union organizers, and as people, we have to have hope that things can change for the better. Even when all hope seems lost, we have to cling to the last little burst of light to keep going. I think that relates to the human existence as a whole. Yes, things can be terrible and sometimes it can feel like things might never get better, but you just have to hope that things can get better. Throughout our union campaign, Starbucks Workers United loves using the saying "direct action gets the goods." It's one of the main slogans for the campaign, and it can relate to many different aspects of existence. Direct action gets the goods. Working together can enable change.


While the world may seem terrifying and bad news seems all-consuming, there is still hope that things can change. There are so many resources out there to take action against the genocide happening in Palestine. I've been using https://uscpr.org/resources/ to gain information and I've used https://uscpr.org/take-action/ to find ways to take action. There are so many email templates to send to your representative without any effort, including https://act.uscpr.org/a/%20stop-funding-israels-massacres.


Starbucks Workers United posted today, February 27th, that Starbucks has finally agreed to begin discussions on a framework to achieve collective bargaining with unionized stores. It is no coincidence that this is taking place not even two weeks after 21 stores filed to join the union in the largest filing surge in SBWU history. Similarly, in the wake of Aaron Bushnell self-immolating in an extreme act of protest against the genocide in Palestine on February 25th, people are talking and sharing information and remembering Bushnell, who sacrificed his life for a cause he deeply believed in. I believe that the tide is changing. People can no longer stay complicit to the issues the world is facing. Things may seem bleak and terrifying, but together, we can rise up. We can demand change. We can work together to make sure the millions of displaced people in Gaza have a free homeland to look forward to. We can ensure that workers have the legal right to organize without retaliation. 2024 is the year of change.


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