Ukraine (thread 1), Episode 18: Emma Goldman on War: Bodies, Obedience, and Power

Think of war through Emma Goldman’s eyes: it’s less about borders and more about who gets to use other people’s bodies. She called out states for turning citizens into instruments, warned that militarism trains obedience, and refused to bless any power that asks for permanent sacrifice.

She wouldn’t deny people the right to resist, but she’d insist we refuse the machinery that makes wars inevitable — the surveillance, the censorship, the economy built on death. Don’t let fear teach you to love the very systems that demand your loyalty.

In short: condemn the invasion, mourn the victims, and keep your conscience ungovernable — solidarity, not state power, is the real path to freedom.