After the Crash: a Survival Guide for the Ungovernable

politicsopionion
Written By Amira Clarke

(This is companion piece to Amira Clarke’s State of Disunion column ‘Taking Stock: A House of Cards Built on Debt and Delusion’)

The market crashed. The centre wobbled. You’re angry. You should be. But rage without structure burns out. This is your field guide for building heat that lasts — and turns into power.

No sugar. No slogans. Just strategy.

I. START WHERE YOU STAND

Every revolution begins with local gossip. You don’t need permission. You need three people and a WhatsApp group.

Find your local:

  • Tenants Union: Start or join a local renters’ union (e.g., ACORN in the UK, Tenants Together in the US).

  • Mutual Aid Group: Use mutualaidhub.org to connect or seed one.

  • Labour Organising: Contact IWW, Unite, or SEIU depending on your country. No workplace is too small.

II. MOVE YOUR MONEY, STARVE THE SYSTEM

If your bank funds fossil fuels or foreclosures, move your money.
If your pension invests in arms or prisons, divest.
If your landlord owns 80 homes, make sure everyone knows their name.

Tools to use:

III. DISRUPT BUSINESS AS USUAL

Peaceful doesn’t mean passive. Disruption is a form of care. It says: you will not ignore us while profiting from our misery.

Tactics:

  • Blockades of logistics and supply depots

  • Rent strikes

  • Digital sabotage (e.g. flooding complaint channels, auto-generating fake bookings)

  • Public shaming of exploiters — with receipts

Groups to learn from:

IV. RADICAL CARE IS INFRASTRUCTURE

The state will not save us. But we can save each other — not with charity, but solidarity.

Build it:

  • Community fridges / pantries

  • Neighbourhood childcare cooperatives

  • Time banks / skill swaps

  • Solidarity funds with transparent ledgers

Example orgs:

V. LEARN TO DEFEND EACH OTHER

Security isn’t police — it’s preparation.

Know how to:

  • Film arrests safely

  • Protect identity online (try Tails OS + Signal)

  • Admin self-defense collectives

  • Safely disrupt public meetings

Resource hubs:

VI. KEEP YOUR JOY TACTICAL

Rage gets us through the door. Joy keeps us in the room. Celebrate resistance. Build culture that resists commodification. Laugh in the face of power. Refuse to go quietly.

Because dancing on a collapsing system is not frivolity. It’s prophecy.

They built a world to break us. Let’s build one they can’t afford to live in.

Amira Clarke

A former policy researcher turned radical columnist, Amira brings fire and forensic clarity to her monthly political column, “State of Disunion.” Her work bridges the gap between grassroots activism and institutional critique — she’s as fluent in abolitionist theory as she is in parliamentary doublespeak, and she’s unafraid to name names.

Raised in Brixton and educated in Oxford (where she once got kicked out of a debating society for calling a minister “a well-groomed meat puppet”), Amira writes with the cool precision of someone who knows exactly how the system works — and exactly why it doesn’t.

Her column dissects global and local politics through a feminist, anti-capitalist lens, with recurring targets including carceral feminism, corporate virtue signalling, and the erosion of bodily autonomy through legislative creep. She once described NATO as “a boys’ club with bombs and better PR,” and the quote now lives on a protest placard spotted in Berlin.

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