How to Survive the End of the World CORRECTED: Freedom Practice in an Unfree World
Dec 9, 2025
Autumn Brown, a mother and movement leader with roots in Black feminist and fugitive freedom movements, shares her journey from cooperative leadership to a focus on music and writing. She engages in a thought-provoking discussion about practicing freedom in an unfree world, emphasizing love, courage, and grief over fear. Autumn critiques the left’s performative politics and explores coalition-building strategies. They also discuss martial arts as a powerful way to reframe conflict and power dynamics, highlighting the transformative potential of Aikido and boxing.
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Parenting As Central Work
- Autumn celebrates her oldest child turning 17 and reflects that parenting is her most meaningful work.
- She also highlights that lack of communal childrearing in the U.S. makes parental breaks necessary and restorative.
Career Turn Toward Art And Teaching
- Autumn left cooperative leadership, took a yearlong sabbatical, and shifted toward art, recording two EPs and writing a book on fugitivity.
- She now focuses on transmission through writing, music, and hosting How to Survive the End of the World.
Move Beyond Us‑Vs‑Them Thinking
- Movements must stop treating disagreement as stupidity and instead do deep self-work to own shared responsibility for political failures.
- Organizing from love, courage, and grief sustains movements better than fear, resentment, or judgment.