PLEASE READ: Contingency plan.

How to support if my Substack gets deleted.

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Hi everyone. As you already know, the United States Congress voted to ban the social media app TikTok. Last I saw, it has since been restored, but demonetized for anyone living in the U.S.

I’m not very active on TikTok, but I could well have been. And I could have been like the millions of independent artists who just saw their income wiped out, unilaterally, by Congress.

These demonetizations are not random. They’re happening in many forms across creative industries—publishing, news, film, television—and pushed by both governmental and corporate bodies. There are several reasons for the TikTok ban, but one of them is that TikTok was one of the main channels by which people could actually see USrael's genocide of Palestinians. Which is part of a larger push to hide the ongoing crimes of empire, and make sure the only things people see are what billionaires want us to see: news and art that are friendly to capital.

As you know, I’m not especially friendly to capital. Or to nationalists, USrael, abusers, transphobes, xenophobes, and so on. The fact that I source an income from a diverse and shifting community of individuals—you—is my chosen business model, because that's why I’m able to consistently advocate for the vulnerable as part and parcel of the work of writing. I don’t have to worry that I won’t be able to eat the day after I criticize an abuser, a politician, or a billionaire.

But as Trump takes office again, it’s not out of the question that my accounts on Patreon and Substack would be deleted, without notice. They’ve rolled over before and they will again. In any case, my income would be gone. Writing—and speaking up—would become much more difficult.

So in that case, I have a contingency plan.

I have a third platform by which I receive support, called Fractured Atlas. Like Patreon and Substack, you can set up a recurring monthly donation; or you can also give one-time lump-sum amounts. If one or both of my accounts go down, I have your email addresses, and will get in touch to point you to FA. FA doesn't have its own newsletter service, so I’d then send you my regular posts and updates through another newsletter service, like Ghost or Buttondown. (One reason I'm not doing this now is because I just can't afford the attrition that would come from switching platforms. In the last year, I've lost many patrons due to inflation and my criticism of USrael. So every dollar counts.)

A little more about Fractured Atlas: unlike Patreon and Substack, they’re a nonprofit. They process donations on behalf of artists—and those donations are tax-deductible for the donor. Artists then withdraw funds as needed. Notably, Fractured Atlas has been been around for much longer than Patreon or Substack. (When I first set up there in 2009, the idea of individual artists asking for donations was weird and odious. Now it’s the norm!)

I’ve asked FA about their vulnerabilities as Trump takes office. They’ve assured me that they fully support members’ freedom of expression, as long as they don’t violate their community guidelines. Of course I worry that such guidelines could be reinterpreted, as laws are rewritten—for example, conflating all criticism of Israel as antisemitism, which is already happening. But it’s the best option we have at present.

Thanks so much for reading. I promise I have a happier post coming soon.

Much love,

Monica