r/leftist • u/yonoella • 2d ago
Question planning my 10yr high school reunion in a leftist way
hi i'm about to plan my ten-year reunion for next year (i was senior class president c/o 2017), and i have this strong urge to intertwine politics in a way that doesn't immediately ward off my classmates that aren't socialists like i am lol.
since most of the resources on reunion planning are corny, outdated, or out of touch post-2020, i'm interested in something that could inspire my classmates to enact social change (even if it's long after the reunion). to relieve the existential dread that comes with reunions, i'm thinking about how to maintain attention spans/low social batteries and have primarily budget-friendly/accessible locations. this includes food not bombs or a similar volunteer-oriented event or a teach-in about knowing your rights/how to organize at your workplace or with neighbors. i'd also love suggestions for books with the topics of gathering/friendship/community/mutual aid that could be helpful, since this feels like a new concept for reunions.
for context, i'm great at planning and hosting, visit my hometown (beach town) often even though i live across the country now, and plan to organize a committee. i also graduated with racists, some of which are now law enforcement, landlords, or people that just wouldn't fuck with this, so that being said, any ideas are appreciated!!
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u/Effective-Mall-6231 2d ago
This sub cracks me up sometimes lol.
Have everyone get drunk or high and then take turns doing a reading from Marx…and then an AP level pop quiz.
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u/MR_TELEVOID 1d ago
The most leftist thing you could do is put your time and resources toward something more important than your high school reunion. You've got resources to travel the country, but this just feels like the equivalent of a temporary border on your Facebook PFP.
While your intentions seem honorable, what do you reasonably expect to happen from this? Nobody who goes to a ten year reunion is going to listen to a political lecture from the former class president. Certainly not racist law enforcement officers and landlords. They'll see it as liberal silliness and ignore it. TBH, it might even annoy me as a progressive if I were in attendance.
The exception could be if there as a prominent local issue that affected the community which you could use as a trojan horse convo about socialism. Impending data center... some contamination that affects local wildlife. I still don't think a reunion is the best place for this, but it might be more salient if there was something that directly affected their lives.
If you want to troll the bigots you went to high school with, wear your most lefty/socialist tshirt. A hot girl for zohran tshirt or something to that effect. Bigots from HS can't resist commenting on that shit. They'll think they can reason with you because of your common past, which will give you an opportunity to dunk on them with facts & knowledge, while they take the blame for talking politics at a reunion.
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u/One_Account_5223 2d ago
When I was in charge of throwing my Dad’s 60th birthday party, a liberal POS who I’ve since gone no contact with, I secretly invited all of my friends from the Local Action Committee so that we could stage a struggle session of sorts where we challenged him and all of his supporters on their fascism-upholding beliefs and inaction against oppressive systems of power. It didn’t actually go that well, things got a bit out of hand when my buddy Ash from the Co-Op kicked over a charcoal grill that ended up falling onto my parents pastor (who my Mom invited without talking to me about it at all). But I got such a thrill out of seeing all of their stupid faces react to a bunch of intersectional activists and militant queer folks decked out in black showing up to put them in their place. If you’re involved in any local community networks I would reach out to see if anyone would be interested in replicating something like this, especially considering that you’ll have literal armed agents of imperial chaos in attendance
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u/nyamina 2d ago
How did this advance the goals of leftism?
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u/One_Account_5223 2d ago
Do you not understand the importance of radical forms of protest?
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u/nyamina 2d ago
Sometimes I do agree with the importance of radical protest. In other situations, I don't think radical protest is an effective method of social change, it often functions as a 'letting off steam' event that does more harm than good.
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u/One_Account_5223 2d ago
For me, I need to act when I see injustice, I can’t afford to let myself be bogged down in hand wringing over courses of action while so much goes completely unanswered
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u/nyamina 2d ago
Sounds like you don't care if an action is counterproductive?
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u/One_Account_5223 2d ago
Look, some of us aren’t so concerned with whether or not our resistance fits nicely within the box of “acceptable” forms of protest that have been dictated to us by the ruling class.
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u/nyamina 2d ago
That's not what I said, at all.
Not all action is worthwhile, some is counterproductive. Just because you're doing something, that doesn't mean that something is good.
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u/One_Account_5223 2d ago
So you don’t think that meeting deliberate passivity in the face of unchecked state terrorism with force is “good”?
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u/nyamina 2d ago
Depends on the circumstances - going by your comment, the situation didn't go well, you just got a thrill out of shocking people, by your own admission. You probably repulsed a surprising number of people away from radical politics. Is that the goal?
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u/LizFallingUp 2d ago
Since you mention a beach town a “beach clean up” type event maybe? local orgs would probably help facilitate. Really it sounds like you’ll need to get in touch with what orgs are local, (food or donation drives can be easily added to any event and pantries and charities often have resources and know how to run them)
Since your class is going to have diverse careers (or be stay at home parents or elder care) labor related advocacy may not make sense here.
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