There’s a great deal of discourse happening now about if we’re in a revolution or not. These are all rooted in opinion, of course, though there are some irrefutable truths. The role that this virus has played is quite interesting. Loss of employment has led to social change. Has led to more time. More action. Lack of travel has led to some kind of environmental repair. The presence of minimal carbon footprints. The influx of commodities has led to a reflection on consumerism. Where we consume. Whom it profits. Workers previously ignored for their influence, their impact, their help has led to greater respect. Healthcare has notably been realized as a universal affair. As one person’s health and needs do, in fact, impact others’. It has led to greater compassion. Community. In some respects. 

The democratic party’s divided desire for a more progressive candidate, like Sanders, had been ultimately squashed. Perhaps this has nothing to do with the virus, with the way it has infected our desires for “normalcy”, to return to the same old lives we once walked in months prior, or perhaps it has everything to do with it. Though it can universally be agreed that normalcy is in fact the issue. That not electing Trump is just the beginning. That removing him does not remove the norms he stands for. It is so clear that we can no longer sustain the structures set before us and the norms of past decades are no longer viable to this moment. We’ve seen white people awaken to what black people have been asking us to pay attention to with Black Lives Matter. We’ve seen attention drawn to violence against women, trans rights, non-binary rights, indigenous people, immigration, borders, peace, war, and acts of hatred against all other marginalized groups across the nation. The world.  We’ve seen an influx of movements. BLM. LGBTQ+. METOO. Etc. Etc. Etc. The list goes on as we as a collective reinforce and demand change. 

What we think of when we think of revolution is often huge. Bright. Red. Though in reality, it starts small. Minute. It starts in the everyday. Where routines are disturbed. Rituals lose old meanings. Creativity flourishes despite unsettling. It starts where activists, often advocating on different agendas, come together to find the common thread. And tug together. And so it truly is a theory. On if this is a revolution or not. Though, an old order is ending. I believe. 

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EJH