Beyond Digital Vigilantism (A psychic warrior's guide to get started).
What the fuck is going on?
Simply put, the perceived authority has shifted in favor of ideologies that do not value human life as a priority and justify human rights violations in all sorts of nasty ways.
Not only has it taken hold over the United-States during the 2024 elections but their president seems to be willing to dismantle the current world order and replace it with a vaguely defined inbred iteration of fascist ideology.
The internet collectives that often presented themselves as either a form of coherent opposition or a more reasonable reform pressure have proven to be good at neither in the face of an organised and directed intrusion by elements of the right wing directly into American social media spheres.
Disorganised intersectional grievances that were never addressed combined with competition among the collectives as to whom now represents that perceived authority generally devolves into digital vigilantism.
Digital Vigilantism
One of the most common form of online direct action we often see in the information space is a digital adaptation of crowd justice adorned with semi-anonymous vigilantism. The action will typically follow a transgression of the collectively, and often arbitrarily established moral standard that encompasses the most common affinities of a collective, and often strive to expose it.
In order to ground myself for this article I first read this 2018 article about class divide impacting online activism.
What the article outlines the most is the asymmetry in the means of resource acquisition among digital vigilantism however the parasocial aspect is overlooked. We can form solid communities revolving around parasocial principles. I am a person interacting with the web, I recognize the people in this "web" are real people and associate socially in a selective manner with some of them.
There is no expectation of social responsibility, the community I am engaging in does not HAVE to provide me with purpose, I do not HAVE to provide it legitimacy and respect. This exchange occurs only if everyone involved consents.
As an aspiring Psychic War contributor I have accepted that it is highly unlikely human right violations and political extremism that leads to fascist policies can be reversed, or even opposed effectively in the material world therefore Psychic Warfare is necessary.
Psychic Warfare does not happen in the material world, however it does require some form of material planning for anyone to hope to have an impact while engaging in quant-fictional politics.
In my life I have been organising small grassroots communities and took part in some pretty epic non violent direct actions, some of which I have published on my main page. During this time I had adopted a very simple framework around which other volunteers, activists, and I organised non violent direct action.
The purpose of the framework is just to lay out the most important aspects of your campaign, the objectives you wish to accomplish and how to do so in a more simple form that can be broken down into three categories of social interactions; Ideological, Organisational, and Political.
1. (Ideological) Relating individual perspectives to causes.
This aspect of communication involves how individuals interpret, frame, and relate to a cause based on their own beliefs, values, and experiences. It shapes personal alignment with online communities and the motivation to engage with them in various aspects.
Framing and narrative control within smaller grassroot communities is often loosely defined, it is somewhat of a vulnerability to take into account. It also means that anyone with a solid framing and control over the narrative will produce a solid leverage from the community they are part of. In the case of psychic warfare, this can be literally anything, ideally something hilarious and fun to engage with. Even when there are no actual ideology being pushed forward there is always some form of narrative that forms from the interactions between members of the community.
Selective exposure and echo chambers stand on the same ideological balance, while you might pride yourself in maintaining an honest and objective perspective on things... so does everybody else. Contain your narrative where you have determined it is most impactful. Try to avoid places where your narrative is lost in the echo chamber as well as where it is addressed with logical fallacies. Criticism and self-criticism should not feel like walking on eggshells, if it does, it might not be the right space for your movement.
Access to information is a wild card, some people have a lot of information about a certain topic while others might be easily swayed by the media they use the most. Their encounter with your content matters a lot, sometimes even more than the content itself, and ideological vigor might need to be tuned accordingly. Ideally you want to funnel people into accessing information on their own as a result of your interaction and encourage them to contribute in providing feedback.
2. (Organisational) Organising and moderating communities.
This refers to the ability to structure, mobilize, and sustain collective engagement within a collective. It includes coordination, decision-making, and resource allocation.
Coordination from a core of trusted members allowing for some form of transparency is probably the most important aspect of an organisational structure. In a social-democratic structure the directorial body of an organisation is separated from the civil administration. In smaller movement intent to commit to NVDA this is not ideal for legal reasons and you will have to work on a need to know basis a lot of times.
Decision-making, voting/veto, consensus, leverage... all depends on the core aspect of organisation. The type of decision you make should be aligned with the ideological aspect of your plan... but by now this has already been discussed amongst yourselves. There will inevitably be situations where you might have to make a call that everyone will hate. Stick to the objectives and establish strategies to accomplish them, including the types of leadership you need to adopt.
Fundraising and resource allocation is often the killer of grassroots movements, and also a means through which the state forces them to register into corporations or non-profit organisations. Try to keep spending to a minimum and produce content yourself however it shouldn't become a taboo to ask for donations. Content can be tailored to respond to the expectations of those who contribute and that is entirely fair, however people should only contribute as long as they are financially comfortable to do so.
3. (Political) Negotiating shared realities with outsiders.
This aspect involves the ability to engage with institutions, media, and the general public to legitimize action as well as push for sensible solutions that aligns with the shared ideals.
Marketing, Propaganda, Raising Awareness, Popular Education... are all means to engage with a certain portion of society. May it be calling someone out in the media, exposing scandalous information to the public, or blocking some evil scheme directly, success on the political space is going to be determined by the consistent presence of your movement around those who see it in the media. If nobody has ever heard of who you are, you are unlikely to be noticed until someone who does have consistent social leverage supports you.
Direct Action in essence is taking action with the specific intent to cause changes within a certain system, ideally changes that value human life. It is an interaction with the hyper-object of society, or at least a certain portion of it that encompasses a specific information sphere. Because of the peacekeeping nature of our societies, trying to oppose some subtle abusive mindfuck will inevitably get people in trouble. Whether you are facing a strategic lawsuit or arrest, it is important to be able to accept the consequences of those actions that lead to this outcome. They are personal sacrifices that an activist has to make and fully consent to before engaging in direct action.
Militant Competition is when movements that have a somewhat similar objectives engage in competition to determine who is the most competent movement to accomplish the objectives. I personally find it distasteful, but it will happen, there will be moments when you might have to give space to another movement, or you might have to take your space while another movement is present.