Of course it's impossible to avoid it in this non-society. Of course the state cannot permit safe spaces where it could not violate people.



And that's one of reasons it's so painful to deal with it. Every time I try to get some basic document sorted out - to get my birth certificate to replace the one the passport office lost three years ago - I am at the mercy of the bureaucracy. If they say no, like they did the last time I tried to get my birth certificate, then I'm screwed. If they mail it to the wrong address, then I'm screwed; they don't always send things to the same address I put down. If they give me incorrect or contradictory instructions, then I'm screwed. If they ask for false information, then I'm liable; if their definitions differ from reality, or two different institutions use different definitions of the same thing, things get very dangerous for people on that margin.



Every time I deal with bureaucracy I feel scared, and helpless, and nauseous, for hours afterward. And when you consider violent bureaucracies - the military, police, courts, immigration controls, etc. - I'm surprised that the people who deal with them don't just end it. Life is good, but is a life of constant, intense pain and fear and vulnerability, good?



Be human. Smash vulnerability.