Andor absolutely kills it when it comes to speeches that enumerate the conditions of fascism. It has a lot of awareness of reality. Maarva’s speech is my favorite, personally, and also feels relevant.

“We had each other and they left us alone. We kept the trade lanes open, and they left us alone. We kept their money and ignored them, we kept their engines running and the moment they pulled away, we forgot them. Because we had each other. We had Ferrix. But we were sleeping. I’ve been sleeping. I’ve been turning away from the truth I did not want to face.”

“There is a wound that won’t heal at the center of the galaxy. There is a darkness reaching like rust into everything around us. We let it grow and now it’s here. It’s here and it’s not visiting anymore. It wants to stay. The empire is a disease that thrives in darkness, it is never more alive than when we sleep.”

As a queer person there is a lot of truth in that quote. We have failed as a nation to identify the enemy, because we didn’t want to. They helped the economy, they seemed to cave in small ways like legalized gay marriage, and we believed them when they said it was enough. We got cocky, we fell asleep. Books, stories, perspectives, are light on the path that don’t always see, if we shut ourselves off to them we leave ourselves dark, and that’s where it wants us.

“Perhaps it’s too late. But I’ll tell you this; if I could do it again, I’d wake up early and be fighting these bastards from the start. Fight the empire!”