The future depends on us using the power we still have

The #openweb holds a quiet kind of power – messy, distributed, human. But I keep wondering: are people now too afraid to use that power? The sad truth is, many always were. Power isn’t something most of us are raised to understand, let alone wield collectively. For decades, we’ve been taught to outsource it, to institutions, to markets, to influencers. But the cracks are everywhere now, and there’s no more room to pretend.

What we’re facing isn’t theoretical, the hard right is not just consolidating power, they’re weaponizing it. They’ve successfully atomized progressive movements, through culture wars, #AI manipulation, and economic precarity, they’ve made sure many can’t even think collectively, let alone act.

And where is this leading? Let’s be blunt. They are on track to kill billions of people and vast swathes of nature over the next 100 years. This isn’t hyperbole. It’s baked into the political economy of climate collapse, border militarization, and resurgent fascism. #XR and other movements have been sounding the alarm for years, but the line just keeps going straight… into oblivion.

And yet… There is still hope. Hope doesn’t mean passive optimism, it means seeing that the little power we still have matters. That using it, no matter how small or local or chaotic, is the path.

• When we build on the #openweb instead of feeding the #dotcons, that’s power.
• When we organize locally, build mutual aid, and share resources without gatekeepers, that’s power.
• When we link, when we write, when we resist the urge to block and shame and instead connect and amplify, that’s power.

None of this is perfect, it’s not about purity, it’s about action. And that action doesn’t need to scale overnight. It just needs to grow, slow, messy, rooted. Because here’s the thing the right knows and the left forgets: Power isn’t given. It’s taken, built, and – at best – shared.

So let’s stop waiting for permission, stop fearing the imperfections. The future depends on us using the power we still have – to make more.

Let’s grow it, seed by seed.