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Welcome to Your Art Is A Spell, the podcast that ignites inspiring and transformative conversations about art as a magical practice. I'm your host, Edgar Fabián Frías—a multi-passionate artist, witch, therapist, and proud mutant shape-shifter. My art spells have reached audiences through social media, billboards, and skyscrapers and have even been placed on the surface of the moon! Join us as we explore how reclaiming your unique artistic voice and embracing bold creativity can transform your life and the world around you. Subscribe to the podcast and sign up for our newsletter at www.yourartisaspell.com to stay connected!
okay real talk what if the way we think we're
resisting capitalism is actually screwing us
over what if rejecting money entirely is one of
the reasons we can't build the change we know
is possible hey loves I'm Edgar Fabian Frias and
welcome or welcome back to Your Art is a Spell and
today we're diving deep into something I like to
call punk damage that voice in your head that says
that making any sort of money is selling out and
by the end of this video I'm going to share the
exact mindset shifts that helped me go from broke
burnt out activist to financially stable change
maker without selling my soul so my own personal
love for counterculture started when I studied
abroad in England this was during my undergrad i
went to Leeds England and there I met a crew of
queer and trans anarchists who were living in a
squatted house or an abandoned house at the time
England allowed people to live in abandoned homes
and if they took care of these homes well enough
for long enough they got to keep these homes they
got to stay inside of there these queer and trans
people were dumpster diving they were free aka
they ate whatever they could find they were living
off the grid we shared meals by candlelight food
that they rescued from supermarket bins we turned
broken furniture into altars we made magic in
spaces that capitalism had abandoned that time
fully changed my life i got to experience this way
of living for the first time ever and got to see
that these weren't just ideas they could be lived
experiences that could impact and help you create
a sense of identity and community and when I came
back to the United States I was all in i moved to
Portland Oregon i helped to organize grassroots
community-based events that were fully funded by
the community we had music festivals and abandoned
warehouses we collaborated with nonprofits i was
so into this idea that we did not need money to
build sustainable movements i've also worked as
a domestic violence counselor i've worked for
nonprofit social work agencies and throughout
all of it I really had this belief that money is
corrupt it is evil if you're comfortable you have
sold out if you are successful you are compromised
this is something that I heard so much in all of
those spaces I just mentioned from underground
music and art scenes to the nonprofit sector this
is what I call punk damage this is an ethos where
many of us who are building a better world trying
to ameliorate the consequences of capitalism we also
internalize this message that money is bad and
that if you have money you are also bad tell me
if this sounds familiar to you if you're not broke
tired and miserable are you even doing activism
right and here's the truth about punk damage
it accidentally serves the status quo perfectly
my wake-up call hard numbers according to the
Human Rights Campaign LGBTQ plus Latinx women earn
about 72 cents to every dollar that a non-Latinx
woman earns trans women earn about 60 cents
for that dollar native American LGBTQ folks
even less i had a moment when I realized I'm not
just broke because I'm radical i'm broke because
this system is literally designed to keep people
like me underpaid and disempowered and then when
you add to that an internalized anti- capitalist
shame around money you actually start to reinforce
that same level of oppression towards yourself
we start believing that financial stability
equals selling out that precarity equals
integrity and that struggle means you care
but what we're really doing is burning out
underfunding our movements and keeping ourselves
at the margins and let me be clear capitalism is
trash in so many ways but rejecting money does not
solve the issues found within capitalism it just
keeps us broke inside of it here's the gut punch
punk damage actually ends up reinforcing privilege
think about it who can afford to work for free to
live precariously for years usually folks who have
safety nets family wealth generational support a
place to crash when things fall apart meanwhile
those of us from marginalized backgrounds with no
nest egg no wealthy parents no backup plan we burn
out we end up leaving those spaces we disappear
one of my closest friends a brilliant Latinx
organizer had to quit her community job just to
survive while others with way more access stayed
behind preaching anti- capitalism from the comfort
of their inherited homes that's not just hypocrisy
it is a structural problem and if we don't name it
we keep just reproducing the same harm that we
claim to be fighting against so healing our punk
damage that's not just about us it's about making
our movements more diverse more sustainable and
actually able to win about 5 years ago I had this
moment sitting alone in my apartment lights off
to save money guilt flooding me for wanting more
stability when a question just came through what
if having more actually helps me to give more i
started looking at movements that created lasting
change labor unions with credit unions civil
rights groups building economic power indigenous
movements with resource sovereignty these were
not broke movements they were resourced ones and
that's when it hit me that there's a false binary
either you're pure and broke or you've sold out
but we all know that here on this podcast we
like to take binaries and transcend them find
other ways of working with them and I want to
just say that money is a tool and if the only
people who have access to this tool are the ones
who don't share our values then how are we ever
going to build the world we want here are the
things that helped me start to heal from my
punk damage first I needed to redefine success
success is not about abandoning your values it's
about gaining the resources to amplify them what
does your version of ethical success look like i
also needed to embrace strategy the best change
makers think long term start seeing yourself as
a money witch a wealth steward a liberator of
hoarded resources you also need to create new
models use financial stability to build mutual
aid networks cooperatives new systems for the
first time in my life I finally have a retirement
plan and a savings funds to support myself in the
future as well as artists and causes that I love
practice sustainable activism you cannot pour
from an empty cauldron self-care is not selfish
it is strategic build collective power the more
resourced we are the more we can support others
i think of folks that I admire who have resources
and share them these are people who have created
ways to share their resources and build wealth
within their communities people leveraging money
to redistribute power if I could go back to my
younger squatting idealistic punk self I would
say this you're not a sellout for wanting peace
you're not betraying your values for wanting
to eat well and sleep soundly you're entering
a world that was not built for you but baby you
are powerful enough to remake it the greatest
act of resistance might just be thriving while
also dismantling the system because the world
does not need more broke burntout activists it
needs resourced rested and powerful visionaries
like you so let's flip the script let's make
healing wealth and sustainability a part of
our liberation toolkit just remember that
sustainability is sacred never forget that
you are allowed to thrive and we need you whole
i'd love to hear your thoughts about punk damage
how you have experienced it yourself what you've
learned about money and also how you would like to
think about money going forward especially after
listening to this episode if this hits home I
want to invite you to sign up to my newsletter by
going to yourartisaspell.com you can also send me
a question via email or through voice by going
to speakpipe.com/yourartisaspell if you're
watching this on YouTube I want to invite you
to leave me a comment leave a review subscribe
and never forget that your art is a spell and it
will change your life and the world around us bye