Let's reclaim our vision for the amazing society we can build from the ashes
Hi everyone, I’ve been stress-eating chocolate, so I’m not sure how coherent this post will be. Besides the general state of the world, I also have my book launching next week with an in-person event in Seattle, the logistics have been bringing up gala-related trauma from my previous years as an executive director.
A few weeks ago I was talking to Jacqueline Ebanks, President and CEO of Nonprofit New York, planning for my keynote at their conference on November 12th. We were discussing challenges preventing our sector from reaching its full potential, and I mentioned our sector and liberals-in-generals’ suppressed imagination and lack of vision. “You know who do have a clear vision?” she said, “the tech billionaires.”
She’s right. These dudes have some terrifying visions for our world. Mark Zuckerberg, for example, envisions a world where artificial intelligence provides basic and vital human connections. We’d have AI chat bots for friends and even therapists, in part to address the loneliness epidemic.
Oracle’s CEO Larry Ellison, meanwhile, waxes about an Orwellian future with “citizens on their best behavior” because technology will be surveilling their every move.
And if that’s not chilling enough, there’s Elon Musk and his “Dark MAGA” movement which pushes for a future where there are no more democracy or elections or government, just society being ruled by tech bros. If you’re up for a horrifying glimpse into what he and his followers are working toward, Rosie the Resister lays it all out.
We need to take these guys seriously. They have all the power and resources, and few barriers, in making their visions a reality. One of the things we, and must, do, is to provide our own vision to counter the awful ones they’re proposing. This has been challenging. I think over time, the right-wing has controlled so much of the narrative that the left has been forced into a defensive mode, where we only think about survival and protecting communities from the awfulness. We’ve been spending so much time putting out fires that we haven’t been able to dream of what we can build when we finally stop the arsonists.
I see this in our sector. All organizations have a vision statement. Beautiful and ambitious things like a peaceful and just world where every kid is safe and there’s no more poverty or violence. But these visions run into the cold reality of financial challenges, political barriers, and white moderate tendencies of people to be “practical.” Over time, these vision statements become hollow and meaningless, something we create without believing are possible.
But I think our ability to rise out of this horrible period and build something better depends on our ability to reclaim our vision and to inspire the rest of society to do the same. I want us to have a world where everyone has their basic needs like food and shelter taken care of. In this vision we’d already have made reparations for past injustices like slavery and stolen Indigenous land. Concepts like capitalism, racism, misogyny, transphobia, poverty, war, borders, and so on would be hard for people to remember or even imagine.
I want us to reconceptualize work so that we’re not beholden to it and our worth isn’t judged by how “productive” we are. I want people to spend most of their time creating art—writing poetry, painting, dancing, and making music, whittling small animals out of bars of soap, etc.—and for fun, not because they’re hustling trying to pay rent. Housing would be a basic human right, along with healthcare and education and other things people need to thrive. And because everyone’s needs are met and they’re spending most of their time hanging out and creating art and learning stuff, it’s so safe that there’s no police or prison system at all.
Frolicking! I want us to frolic in beautiful natural spaces, picking wild berries and eating them, in harmony with the earth. All energy is clean and renewable, and public transportation is widely available and free and accessible so there’s just no need for most people to own cars, and when there are cars, they are solar-powered (and can fly!). There are communal spaces everywhere, with lots of public bathrooms with single stalls or at least ones that don’t have gaps in them! When the world is just and equitable and people have time and space and energy to build connections, we probably wouldn’t have a loneliness epidemic.
I can go on forever (Chocolate! So much chocolate! And it’s all fair-trade and ethical and don’t cause kidney stones if you eat like a pound of it a week!) but the point is, we need to restore our imagination. I don’t want the asshole tech-bros' sad dystopian visions to be the dominant ones. I want the visions I’ve read about on countless nonprofits’ websites.
Our sector has a role in society’s reclaiming of its vision. If you work with an organization or foundation, review your vision statements with your team. Start dreaming about that world you spent hours wordsmithing at that retreat years ago. If you’re not with an organization, take some time to think about what the ideal world looks like. We all need to constantly ground ourselves in these visions as we continue fighting fascism. And we need to be loud and vocal about them all the time.
Because, these fires and the people who set them will burn out, and our visions will help guide us in creating a better world from the ashes.
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Vu’s new book will be coming out on October 14th, 2025. Pre-order your copies at Elliott Bay Book Company, Barnes and Nobles, or Bookshop. If you’re in the UK, use this version of Bookshop. If you plan to order several copies, use Porchlight for significant bulk discounts.
Net proceeds from the sales of the book from now until end of 2026 will be donated to organizations supporting trans rights, immigrant rights, and/or are fighting fascism.
