Erik Houdini: What is Praxis?: Becoming Activated“Man can affect his own development and that of his surroundings only so far as he has a clear view of what the possibilities of action are open to him. To do this he has to understand the historical situation in which he finds himself: and once he does this, then he can play an active part in modifying that situation. The man of action is the true philosopher: and the philosopher must of necessity be a man of action.” — Antonio Gramsci
What's praxis? Like, for real though—be for real. What is this nebulous concept? Praxis is when your friend says, Hey, we want to do some kind of anti-American event for 4th of July, and you pivot to, Yeah, let's give the money to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society and a local immigration organization. And let's tie the struggles back to the Global South and the imperial core because we're all ultimately oppressed by the same oppressors: the capitalists. That's praxis. Praxis is the connections we make between people on individual levels as working-class individuals. It's staying back after the show is over and asking, Hey, does anyone need any help cleaning? Praxis is mutual aid in action. It's when you find out one of the homies hasn't been eating. You don't just say damn, that's rough. You start asking around. Can we get him on food stamps? Can someone help him navigate the Medicaid website? Can someone front groceries until we get it figured out? It's collectivized survival. It's pulling together the fragments of a busted welfare state and patching it up with your own labor and time. It's when the plaza gets skate-stopped, so you grab a crowbar, a bag of Quickrete, and the homies to tear that shit out at 3 AM. It's when you say, Yeah, we're taking $5 off the $15 show if you bring two cans of food. They've got to be good cans of food, no scum shit. And then all that money goes back to a local pantry. That's real mutual aid. That's real praxis.
https://houdinimagazine.com/articles/2026-04-09-erik-houdini-what-is-praxisSlavery reparations are just, but who exactly owes whom?The contemporary framing of the reparations debate is seductive in its simplicity: Europeans arrived in Africa, Africans were enslaved, Europeans grew rich, and Africans became impoverished. Ther
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