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Systems Change Is Real - An Ongoing List of Good News

An ongoing list of good news compiled by @alixa​garcia_ on Instagram. Follow for updates to the list and to add more good news in the comments.

1. The Minneapolis school board voted unanimously to terminate its contract with the Minneapolis Police Department after years of youth organizing and in response to the murder of George Floyd. • 2. Ferguson elects first Black Woman as Mayor!!! Get it @mayorellajones ✊🏽✊🏽✊🏽 • 3. The former defense secretary, James Mattis, denounces 45 as a threat to the Constitution. • • 4. Mayor of D.C @murielbowser also a Black Woman✊🏽✊🏽✊🏽, had "Black Lives Matter" painted in huge yellow letters on a section of 16th street that leads to the White House. • • 5. D.C. Mayor also renames street where 45 held bible 'Black Lives Matter Plaza'. That means that in front of the white house there’s an official 'Black Lives Matter Plaza'! Wow! I can just feel our ancestors looking down now 😁 • 6. Minneapolis City Council is taking the  first steps to “dismantle” the police department. This could mean imposing a temporary restraining order on the city's police department in response to the killing of #GeorgeFloyd, and a state  investigation into racial discrimination by the police over the past decade.

• 7. Los Angeles Mayor will cut as much as $150 million from the LA police department for youth jobs, health initiatives and “peace centers” to heal trauma, and will allow those who have suffered discrimination to collect damages. • 8. In New York, more than 40 city council candidates are calling for a $1 billion cut to the NYPD’s $6 billion budget for community programs. • • 9. Many more people, organizations, businesses and institutions are vocally supporting the movement for Black Life like never before! • • 10. Protests erupt around the world in solidarity with Black Life! • 11. Take time to celebrate y’all! 💛💛💛 •

12. Both houses of the NY State Legislature just passed a bill to repeal NY Civil Rights Law section 50-A, which has shielded police disciplinary records from the public for 44 years! (NY Times)

• 13. The new white house fence is getting covered in protest art. (NPR) • 14. Over 40k have signed the petition to defund the police. BLM needs over 100k signatures. You can find it at blacklivesmatter.com • 15. A Missouri woman asked Merriam-Webster to update its definition of racism and now officials will make the change (CNN) • 16. The show Cops is officially cancelled after 31 years on national tv. (NY Times) • 17. University of Minn. cancels contract with police. (Times Magazine) • 18. The Metro Boston Board orders that buses won’t transport police to protests nor protestors to the police. This has been a long standing practice that’s now changing. (Boston Globe) • 19. NYC Bus Driver Union says it won't help police transport arrested protesters. (The Hill) • 20. Minneapolis Bus Drivers refuse to transport protestors to jail. (Vice) • 21. "Black Lives Matter = Defund the Police" was painted in yellow on 16th Street in front of the white house . (ABC news)

• 22. 45 wanted 10,000 troop to quell protest and both the attorney general and the defense secretary opposed the move. (ABC news) • 23. A group of current and former Bay Area district attorneys on Mon. called on the CA State Bar to ban prosecutors seeking election from receiving political & financial support from law enforcement unions. (LA Times) • 24. Defund the police & the People’s Budget is spreading from L.A to Nashville to Grand Rapids (citylab.com) • 25. Confederate monuments and statues are being taken down all over the place, from Virginia to Birmingham to Philadelphia. Goodbye Robert E Lee and Frank Rizzo for starters. (NY Times, NPR, CNN) • 26. Can’t believe this one’s just happening: US Navy bans Confederate battle flag from all of its bases, ships, aircraft, and submarines (Business Insider) • 27. Columbus statues are being dismounted across the nation. (CNN) In Boston it was decapitated & the head left @ the scene 😂

•

“Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.” -Arundhati Roy

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Resources & Actions Following Murders of George, Tony, Sean, Breonna, and Ahmaud

The following list, compiled by Naima Penniman, is also published at http://www.soulfirefarm.org/in-defense-of-black-life/ and http://www.climbingpoetree.com/we-rising-up/

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Movement for Black Lives National Week of Action

Natl Resource List #GeorgeFloyd+ - includes an extensive list of pro bono legal services, political education resources, tips for people attending protests, alternative actions for people who cannot protest, places to donate, and social media tips

National Resources List - this compilation of resources, created by Indigo, a non-binary Afro-boricua essayist and abolitionist, includes bail funds by city, mental health resources, trans funds/resources, and George Floyd resource compilation

Please note, many Black Minneapolis organizers are urging people NOT to come to Minneapolis and rather SUPPORT effective Black-led #DefundThePolice and #Abolition work IN YOUR AREA. And encourage donations to:

The Official #GeorgeFloyd Memorial Fund (confirmed for the family)

Black Visions Collective

Reclaim The Block Minneapolis

MPD150 - Minnesota Freedom Fund

Justice for Big Floyd - Grassroots Law Project petition 

Justice for George Floyd - Change.org petition

Justice For Tony McDade - Change.org petition

Justice for Breonna Taylor - Change.org petition

Justice for Ahmaud - Change.org petition

Legal Defense Fund for Minneapolis Protestors

Black Birders Week - Black AF in STEM 

New Era of Public Safety report and toolkit developed by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

Sign a petition calling for justice for Breonna Taylor here.

Follow instructions to contact the Louisville Mayor's office here.

Donate to the Louisville Community Bail Fund here.

Sign the Black Lives Matter petition to #DefundThePolice here.

Donate to Campaign Zero, which campaigns for the enactment of policy to end police violence, here.

MORE GROUPS TO SUPPORT

CTUL

Black Immigrant Collective

Racial Justice Network

Black Lives Matter MN

COPAL

TakeAction MN

Minnesota Voice

NAACP MPLS

Black Lives Matter Twin Cities

Communities United Against Police Brutality 

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Photo by Texas Isaiah

Toolkits, Guides, and Databases of Mutual Support for COVID-19 Times

We gathered a few COVID-19 toolkits, guides, and databases that have been compiling some crucial data, information about projects and programs currently offering mutual support, and lists of actions and free resources across the country during the pandemic. 

Our hearts are in deep solidarity with all those in struggle and loss right now, and we continue to stand in the light and belief that other worlds and other alternatives are indeed possible as we move through this into the future.

Soul Fire Farm, Northeast Farmers of Color, Black Farmer Fund, & HEAL Food Alliance have been collaborating on a Food & Land Sovereignty Resource List for COVID-19. The list is continually updated and includes information from many farm collectives across the country launching efforts of mutual aid and support for communities during COVID-19 (for example, Catatumbo Cooperative Farms, based in Chicago, has a volunteer sign-up to help deliver meals, amplify news, and run errands for elder and immunocompromised people.) There is free online learning, like the “Ask a Sista Farmer!” Facebook Live Q&A where “experienced Black womxn farmers answer your call-in questions about gardening, livestock, agroforestry, plant medicine, and food preservation.” 

Harriet’s Apothecary has a list of Remedies, Recipes, and Resources for COVID Times that includes info on nourishing spaces like the “QTPOC Support Group with Eva Turner” or “Spiritual Strategies in COVID Times for Black, Indigenous & People of Color Health Workers and Healers with Adaku Utah, Cara Page, and Erica Woodland.” The list also features information on plant medicine, resources for undocumented communities, and other inspirations to strengthen and support each other during these times.

CTZNWELL’s Coronavirus Community Care Resource Guide compiles facts about the virus to help dispel disinformation and gives perspectives and ideas for social solidarity and collective care. It includes resources such as the Calendar of Mutual Care: The Shared Living Room, a “daily, community-fed calendar of mostly free or donation-based live-streamed meditations, yoga classes, workshops, group therapy sessions, and more,” and a needs assessment tool, a document created by the SisterCARE Alliance that can help you, your family, and community keep track of physical, household, emotional, or financial needs and store important contacts.

This extensive Coronavirus Resource Kit features resources from disabled, queer, elderly, Asian, and Indigenous people, with continually updated information to support people at every level of the pandemic: workers, educators, parents, artists, organizers. It includes emergency contacts, resources to help people access technology, lists of mutual aid projects and community groups in various cities, info on virtual gatherings taking place and advocacy and policy platforms for equity during the pandemic.

The Database of Localized Resources During COVID-19 Outbreak contains info on local mutual aid, national mutual aid support, relief funds, organizing for specific demands such as stopping evictions during COVID-19, and resources for children, mental health, and self-care.

This list of mutual aid funds by KQED - Emergency Funds for Freelancers, Creatives Losing Income During Coronavirus - is geared towards artists, creative professionals and freelancers facing financial hardships. The funds distribute emergency grants with the awareness that many self-employed people who do not qualify for unemployment insurance and who rely on direct cash payments do not have safety nets at this time. 

Here is another list of resources for artists who need aid during the pandemic, compiled by artnet News: Are You an Artist in Need of Aid? Here Are Dozens of Emergency Grants, Medical Funds and Other Resources to Help. The list is organized by resources that are nationwide and also by region. Many of these resources have a rolling application process.

"This outbreak reveals the interconnectedness of our world in a very personal way. It is showing, conclusively, that the health and well being of one is intimately bound to the health and well being of all. We must take action to protect the most vulnerable who will be hit hardest: those whose health is already compromised, those who are denied access to medical care, those who bear great risk in asking for help and those on the frontlines of poverty and pollution." ~Partners in Health

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A Rural Community in Haiti Comes Together to Address Food Scarcity

They’re not waiting for emergency food rations from foreign aid; they’re mobilizing home-grown solutions.

It’s been months since Haiti has been in a state of lockdown due to political unrest. And the members of the rural farming community of Cormiers, Léogâne know that the best way to get something done is to begin doing it yourself.

The reality is that food is scarce. In the country’s current unrest, where Haitians have had limited access to electricity or fuel, and where protestors have taken to the streets to speak out against the incessant political corruption that continues to undermine Haitian life – access to food has become more precarious for many.

Community members of Cormiers came together with a plan to help those in their village who are struggling to eat. They are OJADCL (Organisation des Jeunes Actionnaires pour le Développement de Cormiers Léogâne).

The plan is a community restaurant, one that uses local produce from farmers in the area to provide affordable food to Cormiers residents. The restaurant, OJADCL envisions, would both help address the community’s hunger needs by serving one hot meal each day while also supporting local agriculture. 

A few members of OJADCL were once a part of Ayiti Resurrect, an organization that connected Haitians and volunteers from across the African diaspora to work with Cormiers residents in the aftermath of the earthquake of January 12, 2010. The earthquake was devastating beyond true measure. It swallowed 300,016 lives across Haiti and scarred the lives of millions of others. Ayiti Resurrect’s mission was to work in solidarity and collaboration with the people of Cormiers to heal what had been irrevocably broken, nurture the seeds of resilience in the community, and support the community’s plans for its future. Read about the transformational work (from a water well to wellness clinics, reforestation to irrigation systems) that arose between 2010 and 2017 from these efforts here. 

The 10-year anniversary of that earthquake has just passed. Today, the country’s infrastructure still does not support a sustainable income (most people live on less than $3 a day), and decades of debilitating forces including neoliberalism, neocolonialism, and climate injustice have created seemingly insurmountable challenges for this bright nation. Haiti’s past still looms: a history of exploitation juxtaposed to a history of steadfast struggle for liberation. In the midst of new disasters, OJADCL – which organizes to find solutions to environmental, nutrition, health, and education problems in Cormiers – continues to stay focused on the right to self-determination and a good life. Projects like the community restaurant are one way to meet immediate needs while strengthening community resources and resilience. 

ACTIONS

Contribute funds to this mission! Ayiti Resurrect has created an Indiegogo funding page in support of OJADCL’s fundraising goal of $4,460 for the restaurant. The campaign still has a couple of days left!

Read about the projects that residents of Cormiers have nurtured in collaboration with Ayiti Resurrect over the last 10 years.

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The Love She Waged from a Prison Cell

How environmental justice activist, Siwatu-Salama Ra, dug deep while incarcerated, and the community that lifted her up.

When Siwatu-Salama Ra arrived at the Huron Valley Correctional Facility last year to serve a two-year mandatory sentence, she was in shock, six months pregnant, and not sure how she would live through the ordeal. She spent her first days in an isolation cell staring at the wall. And yet, somehow, through the harrowing nine months that she was there, she advocated for Muslim incarcerated women, organized around birthing and parenting rights for herself and others in the pregnant and postpartum unit of the prison, and convened a poetry group where women inside wrote and shared their deepest selves. 

Now, after being released on bond since November 2018 with a GPS tether on her ankle for almost a year, Siwatu’s conviction was reversed on August 20, 2019, and the tether finally removed in late October. Her legal team is urging prosecutors to dismiss the case and not recharge her. Her next hearing is scheduled for November 15, 2019, and the tentative trial date is February 18th, 2020.

The environmental activist has spent much of her life as a community organizer. As a teen, she worked with other youth to tackle environmental concerns affecting their local communities and later became the co-director of the East Michigan Environmental Action Council, where her voice and ability to resonate with people was crucial. She was following the footsteps of her mother, Rhonda Anderson, who has been an environmental justice organizer for the Sierra Club for almost two decades. In her interviews, she expresses how being convicted of felonious assault and felony firearm was not like anything she’d ever experienced in her life or could have been prepared for. 

Michigan’s Stand Your Ground

The details of Siwatu’s case were reported by many including dream hampton in Essence, the New Yorker, and Democracy Now! as it became clear that pieces of the case weren’t adding up. 

In July 2016, Siwatu was visiting her mother at her Detroit home with her two-year-old daughter when a young girl came by to visit Siwatu’s niece, who also lived in the home. The family became concerned about the presence of the girl as the niece was recently jumped by her at school. They decided it was best she leave. The girl’s mother, Chanell Harvey, arrived to pick her up, infuriated that her child wasn’t welcome. 

Siwatu testified that she’d asked Harvey repeatedly to leave the premises. Harvey then drove her car and rammed into Siwatu's parked vehicle, where Siwatu’s two-year-old daughter was playing inside. Then she tried to hit Siwatu's mother—she’d forcefully brought the car within a hair of her. At that point, after taking her daughter inside, Siwatu reached into her car's glove compartment and brandished her licensed, unloaded gun to demand Harvey leave. 

Harvey took snapshots of Siwatu, took the pictures to the police, and filed a report that Siwatu had assaulted her and her daughter by pointing a gun at them. Siwatu dropped off her daughter and picked up her husband from work, and arrived hours later to report the incident as an attack on her family by Harvey. One day, after over a month with no response from police, Siwatu’s home was surrounded by police who arrested her because Harvey’s report, in which Siwatu had been named the aggressor, had been on file first.  

Of the many controversial details of Siwatu’s case, the most impactful one is the fact that Michigan is a self-defense "stand your ground" state, which gives a legally licensed, law-abiding gun owner the right to use deadly force if they believe it is necessary to prevent death or great harm to themselves or another person. 

Siwatu was a licensed gun owner with a concealed carry permit and her gun was unloaded. And Michigan law has consistently interpreted aiming an unloaded gun as non-deadly use of force, according to Wade Fink, one of Siwatu’s attorneys appealing the case. He also states that her case should have hinged on whether Siwatu used reasonable force to meet the threat posed by Harvey, rather than whether or not she feared for her life. 

Another issue, Fink points out, is that at the time of the event Harvey was on probation for assault; it was her third felony, and violating probation would have gotten her into trouble. Fink contends this could've been a valid motive for lying. But the defense wasn’t allowed to pursue this line of questioning. 

A YES! article that details the rise in Black gun ownership despite the racist origin of the second amendment, explores the perspective of Black gun groups who view the right to self-arm as basic for self-defense in a climate of constant violence. Yet, we also see where laws like Stand Your Ground don’t always work out positively for people of color, as we saw with Trayvon Martin and Marissa Alexander. 

As reported by Vox, the Urban Institute found that Stand Your Ground laws seem to worsen racial disparities. When the shooter is Black and the victim is white, only 3 percent of deaths are ruled as justifiable versus the 34 percent when the shooter is white and the victim is Black.  “Even when black shooters kill black people,” the article states, “those shootings are less likely to be deemed justifiable in a court of law than those involving white shooters who kill white people.” 

The dominant, false narrative that Black people are intrinsically violent obscures genuine issues of equity. It’s why we can have a criminal justice system that operates on implicit biases, even when all persons concerned are Black. 

Siwatu’s jury had to ultimately decide, based on Michigan self-defense law, whether Siwatu was truly afraid in that moment to warrant invoking self-defense. Despite the question as to why a woman whose daughter and mother are being endangered by a vehicle would not be afraid and feel a basic human need to protect, the jury ruled guilty because they didn’t believe Siwatu could be afraid, only angry. And the felony firearm charge, which means that a firearm was used in an assault, came with a two-year mandatory minimum. 

The power of a community

As she details in conversation with adrienne maree brown on The Practice of Freedom: A Conversation with Siwatu-Salama Ra and Rhonda Anderson on the How to Survive the End of the World podcast, when Siwatu learned that she was having charges brought against her for, essentially, acting within what she believed were her rights to defend her family, she couldn’t wrap her mind around how to continue. But then community showed up.

Siwatu was showered with love. Fellow activists, co-workers, and friends poured in. They showed up at her house asking what they could do to help. There were so many people coming to meetings that were organized on her behalf that they moved gatherings to the larger home of a friend.

At one point in The Practice of Freedom, Siwatu's mom remarks that what was truly notable was how many of the people that came to support were women with children. 

They formed the Siwatu Freedom Team and have not only accompanied Siwatu on her journey for full freedom and justice, but also collaborated with a broad coalition on several campaigns including: developing a set of bills to fight for the rights of incarcerated pregnant and postpartum mothers, parents, and caregivers in Michigan; working to end the felony firearm mandatory sentences that disproportionately criminalize Black people in Michigan; and continuing to support and work in solidarity with women Siwatu met inside prison as they return home. 

Finding a way through madness

From the moment that charges were brought against Siwatu—through her court case and eventual sentencing, right up to her release and the reversal of her conviction, and now as her legal team works to put this case to rest completely —countless people have poured enormous dedication towards supporting her, spreading the word about her case, raising legal funds, writing letters, and organizing meetings. In prison, however, she was alone, facing close walls and prison bars. The letters that poured in from community across the country were like beacons of light in the darkness. 

In the isolation of her experience, she stumbled across a book called Deep and Simple, by Bo Lozoff, who had co-founded the Prison-Ashram Project and worked for 20 years guiding people behind bars to reach their own inner peace. “He was able to steer men and women who were inside of a prison to that oneness,” Siwatu says in The Practice of Freedom. “My community, Bo, my mom, literally saved my life in prison.” 

“I remember reading this book and being just so blown away...it was answering the questions I had, the why me, the what do you want, what am I supposed to do?” Then one day she noticed a copy of Deep and Simple on her pregnancy counselor’s office desk; the counselor offered her all the Bo Lozoff books she had in her office. 

Siwatu reflects that in prison, a person is stripped of everything and anything that could offer them comfort. Reading Bo Lozoff helped her reach a place of peace inside herself despite the deep sadness all around her. “If anybody walks out of a prison...who is enlightened,” she says, “it is the work of themselves, and it is despite of the prison. Bo helped me take advantage of that hell.” 

She also witnessed the spirit of fellow inmates around her. They inspired her. She said in a recent interview with Earth First! “You normally see women on the frontlines fighting, and you saw the very same thing inside the prison: women fighting to hold on to some of their dignity and humanity to say, ‘This is not how we will live.’” 

She says there were women working on so many issues—from trying to get treatment for the yellow water coming out of prison pipes to making sure the food on their plates was sanitary.

When Siwatu learned that her challenge getting a hijab, a Quran, and the meals she required for the daily practice of her faith was not her challenge she faced alone, she led other Muslim women prisoners in organizing for religious rights that legally should have been accommodated by the facility. Her efforts attracted attention from the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Michigan, which filed civil rights complaints on a number of the prison’s practices regarding religious freedom.

Disheartened by the ways in which life behind bars was designed to cut down a person’s humanity, Siwatu also created a poetry group and fostered close bonds with the women around her as they co-created a space of beauty, where poetry offered gateways to emotional freedom.

Finally, her harrowing experiences of pregnancy and birth in prison led her to inform herself of her rights as a parent and mother, which she then shared with other prisoners. At the time of Siwatu’s delivery, the Michigan Department of Corrections did not allow loved ones to be present at labor or delivery although Siwatu’s family, community, and other activists and organizations made every effort to get the MDOC to humanely shift its position. 

In early October 2019, as a direct result of this organizing, the Michigan’s House Appropriations Subcommittee on Corrections added new language to the budget bill that states that anyone in prison due to give birth in prison can consent to one visitor being present during labor and delivery. The language states that person must be an “immediate family member, legal guardian, spouse, or domestic partner.” It’s a signal that change is happening. 

A more humane and discerning system of justice

For every person that is able to have a protest, or national news attention, or a community of devoted people call out that a wrong be brought to light, there are hundreds more sitting in a jail cell without any of these options. 

Siwatu, speaking to Earth First!, said that knowing she was innocent only made it easier for her to see how many more women were likely in prison unjustly. 

“...You have a large population of women who will be returning citizens who have literally been face to face with the very beast we’re fighting,” she said. “They are walking out of that prison cell, out of custody, with much knowledge, so resilient, and so beautiful. I encourage that everybody support women and men coming out of these prisons because they have seen so much. They know what it will take to win this.” 

When asked how being incarcerated changed her perspective on environmental issues, she explained how it strengthened her belief in looking at how different issues are connected.

“It took me to literally be taken away from my family and taken away from my children and placed in a prison cell to understand we have to step away from... self-identified work and dedicate our entire selves to a better world.”

“You have to look at everything,” she said, “and take everything into consideration of how all these injustices are interconnected and feeding off one another.”

And then what could justice look like? Life-valuing structures that value healing more than they value practices that dehumanize, and where deeper understandings of history and social problems are incorporated, so that there are sustainable options for actual accountability, wellness, and growth in communities. 

Showing up to speak, listen, learn, share, and organize wherever and whenever possible is essential for this shift to take place. We can learn from and build upon cases and experiences like Siwatu’s.

ACTIONS:

Support Siwatu’s legal fees as her hearing approaches on November 15, 2019, help sustain her family throughout this arduous process, or support continued organizing Siwatu’s freedom and policy changes, by donating here. 

Go to FreeSiwatu.org to learn more, stay posted, and find more ways to get involved.

Host a house party or community gathering to share Siwatu's story, have discussions, process the impact of this and similar stories, and brainstorm organizing ideas.

Get involved with local groups in your area fighting for prison abolition, environmental justice, and supporting people directly impacted by the prison and criminalization industrial complex who are working for liberation.

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Caring for the Children in Our Movements: NYC's Regeneración Childcare Collective

A childcare collective that sees childcare as a form of intergenerational activism.

About 12 years ago, a group of mothers came together to build and organize for their communities and realized something crucial: their organizing efforts could only be sustained if they were supporting each other and the needs of their families. Activists and community organizers were also mothers, fathers, uncles, aunts and grandparents who needed help with childcare. And their children, undoubtedly, were also deep parts of their movements. This is how Regeneración Childcare NYC began.

Based in New York, the group partners with grassroots communities, providing precious free childcare at meetings, conferences, workshops, and community events. They work with organizations like the Audre Lorde Project, the Center for Immigrant Families, and the Raha Iranian Feminist Collective, building childcare right into movement building spaces.

Sometimes the kids are painting imaginative murals and growing gardens. Other times they are playing games and making exciting crafts. But the Regeneración crew isn't only committed to the health, well-being, and creative engagement of the children while the adults are busy organizing – they believe the inclusion of children and families in organizing spaces is an integral part of envisioning healthy political systems.

Photo: The Regeneración Collective

Organizations that build children and families into their organizing work reflect more wholesome movements and ones where children are also engaged in the mutual care, respect, and responsibility of a growing, blossoming community.

Regeneración runs on the love and fuel of a dedicated all-volunteer team of childcare workers who dialogue, build connections, and share skills with other childcare collectives across the country, like the Detroit Childcare Collective, the Philly Childcare Collective, and the Bay Area Childcare Collective.

The group continues to network and build partnerships each year, and is always creating and sharing resources that can help organizations, parents, families, and caretakers find regenerative childcare solutions for their communities.

ACTIONS

Want to volunteer with Regeneración? The collective is always looking to expand and deepen their pool of amazing childcare-ist@s who do childcare with them and their partner groups. They are especially excited about working with people of color, people who speak Spanish, and male-identified folks. Volunteers help the team provide childcare and children's programming for partner groups. The collective also holds skills-building workshops and social events with their volunteer and community networks. If you’re interested in getting involved, you can contact Regeneración at childcarenyc@gmail.com, or fill out the volunteer interest form here.

Have you or your community been looking for sustainable, community-based childcare solutions? How can Regeneración and other childcare collectives serve as models for you and your community to replicate?

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The Push for Jail Reform and Greater Civilian Oversight, LA's March 2020 Ballot

We're spotlighting an initiative that is poised to disrupt harms that exist within the nation's largest jail system.

In September of this year, Reform LA Jails submitted 240,000 signatures to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors -- 100,000 more than what was required -- to ensure that in March of 2020 the Reform Jails and Community Reinvestment Initiative would appear on the ballot. 

Voters in Los Angeles County will not only have the opportunity to say with one voice that their loved ones who struggle with mental illness deserve treatment, not incarceration, but also that the Los Angeles County Civilian Oversight Commission be granted subpoena power, allowing it to independently investigate deputy misconduct and be empowered to develop a plan which will investigate how to reduce jail populations and invest in alternatives to incarceration. More, it could set precedent for jail systems across the nation.

The effort to secure the signatures needed to move the needle on healthcare, human rights, and dignity for some of the County's most vulnerable and targeted residents was led by Patrisse Khan Cullors and Jasmyne Cannick -- and bolstered by the community organizing work undertaken by Dignity and Power Now, which Khan-Cullors co-founded, and Justice LA, a broad coalition of organizations dedicated to reforming Los Angeles's criminal justice system. It was the first time in the County's history that a ballot initiative had been successfully advanced by two Black women and a stunning gathering of family members and survivors who bore painful witness to harms that had been visited upon their loved ones.

“I do this work not only as a woman who has been a community organizer and strategist for two decades, but as a sister,” said Patrisse Khan Cullors. "My brother Monte has lived with psychiatric illness and has never hurt another human being. But he was brutalized in the LA County Jails and no one was held accountable. No one should have to go through what he went through, what my parents went through. What I did,” she continued.   

“But with 25 percent of the people incarcerated in the LA County jails living with psychiatric disorder, it won't end unless we demand that it end. This is the concluding arc of work begun in 2016 with the establishment of the Civilian Oversight Commission that was led by community efforts. And it's also part of a larger moment of reckoning with our law enforcement community given that the voters will also be voting for the next D.A.”

In March of 2020, as voters make their voices heard about how they want to see people receive an expanse of care, not the breadth of our ability to bully, so too will they have the chance to make their voices heard about what they expect from their local D.A., Jackie Lacey. Lacey has come under significant criticism for her failure to prosecute even one member of law enforcement who used lethal force against unarmed people -- despite the hundreds of civilians that have been killed by Los Angeles police during Lacey's tenure.

Earlier this year, Lacey refused to file manslaughter charges against LAPD officer Clifford Proctor for killing Brendon Glenn, an unarmed Black man, in 2015 -- as even LAPD Chief Charlie Beck recommended that she do so. Her inaction prompted a statement from the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, with staff attorney Melanie Ochoa saying, "[Lacey's] decision suggests that no matter how egregious an officer's conduct is, no matter the evidence she has before her, she does not intend to hold any officer accountable for unnecessarily and inexplicably shooting a member of the public.”

“Ultimately,” said Khan Cullors, "these are all public servants who voters have trusted with the responsibility of safeguarding all of our health and safety. They have violated that trust. They have to answer for that failure.”

Lamia El-Sadek, managing director of Dignity and Power Now, agreed and added, “At a time when there is an increase in psychiatric illness throughout California and the nation, one would think that we would seek to be compassionate, proactive and just, plain smart in our decision-making. We know that investing in care upfront decreases harm to all and is, frankly, fiscally responsible. The cost of not caring for our people is not something Californians can afford -- physically, spiritually, or economically. The people of California have already led the way in compassion and evidence-based policies with initiatives like Proposition 47. We should continue to be a beacon for all our residents -- and the nation,” Sadek concluded.  

Martin Luther King once called on us to act in the fierce moment of now. That moment, that fierce moment of now, called forward by survivors is upon the residents of Los Angeles County. They have the power to demonstrate before the nation a powerful truth: if compassion and fiscally sound public health and safety measures can be centered in a county that is home to the largest jail system in the U.S., then it can take hold anywhere.

ACTIONS:

Read the full text of the Reform Jails and Community Reinvestment Initiative.

Learn more about the work being done in Los Angeles by visiting the sites for Reform LA Jails and Dignity and Power Now.

Investigate and support jail reform initiatives in your own city.

If you're an LA resident, get out in March 2020 and vote! 

Thank you to Patrisse Khan Cullors and Lamia El-Sadek for their comments.

Feature image via Reform L.A. Jails.

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Construction of the Bayou Bridge Pipeline Halted

Image via L’eau Est La Vie

With enormous courage and perseverance, Water Protectors have been gathering for more than a year now at the Atchafalaya Basin, ancestral land of the Gulf Coast Atakapa-Ishak tribe, to protest construction of the Bayou Bridge Pipeline. The final frontier of the now infamous Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), the Bayou Bridge Pipeline is being constructed to ferry crude oil from fracking sites on Native land in North Dakota to refineries in predominantly Black towns in Louisiana. If completed, it would run across private property and through a portion of the country's largest river swamp, destroying about 940 acres of vulnerable wetlands, old growth trees, and the natural buffer for storm surges in the Louisiana Gulf. 

The L’eau Est La Vie (Water Is Life) activist camp, led by a council of indigenous women, has successfully planned and staged dozens of direct actions, repeatedly putting their bodies in the way of construction of the pipeline, rowing up in kayaks to remote swamp construction zones, carrying out tree sits, and chaining themselves to pipeline equipment. 

Image via L'eau Est La Vie

After months of settling into the swamps, eating donated beans, and showering under a tarp, the Water Protectors are celebrating a small but mighty victory. Construction on a section of the Bayou Bridge Pipeline has been temporarily halted after an injunction that was filed against the pipeline builders was supposed to be heard in court on Monday, September 10. The builders, Energy Transfer Partners (a Fortune 500 company who also built DAPL), instead came to an agreement to cease construction for a few months.

The injunction against ETP was filed in July by both private landowners and environmental groups. ETP had not sought or received permission from landowners to begin construction on their land and cited the right of expropriation, a law which allows companies to seize private property for public benefit -- ironic, in light of the concerns that the pipe will pose threats to the Atchafalaya Basin ecosystem and drinking water sources. ETP has agreed to halt construction at least until November, in order to complete the official expropriation process.

With new laws drafted after Standing Rock making trespassing near "critical infrastructure" a felony carrying several years in prison, several activists of L'eau Est La Vie have already been arrested and are facing potential charges.

With so much risk involved, Anya Kamenetz, reporting for The Nation, asked the activists -- why? Why do they risk so much of their personal lives for this cause? The answers are resolute, clear and critical, amounting to this one truth: because in the face of the accelerated assault on the earth and communities most vulnerable to climate chaos, what does it mean to not be accountable?

And the better question might be: Why is it NOT a felony to construct a pipeline that poses enormous threat to the vital ecosystem and human communities nearby without permission from the land owners, the tribes whose territory it runs through, or the people who will inherit the unnatural disasters and toxic backwash in its wake, but a felony to do everything in your power to stop it?

ACTIONS:

Follow L'eau Est La Vie's Facebook group for updates on what's happening on the ground. Share and amplify the news!

Send critical supplies to support the organizing efforts at the camp.

Donate to the legal fund to support Water Protectors facing charges.

Apply to join the camp on L'eau Est La Vie's website.

Organize or join one of the many solidarity actions taking place.

Join the StopETP campaign and organize with your community!

[solutionspotlight]

The Workers Cooperative Transforming Equity in the Deep South

We love this Jackson, Mississippi organization and its bold plan to address cycles of poverty in its city by building a transformative solidarity economy. With deep roots in struggles for self-determination and economic justice movements of the Black South, Cooperation Jackson pulls from the rich inspiration of historic cooperatives like civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer’s Freedom Farm Cooperative and the Federation of Southern Cooperatives Land Assistance Fund.

Cooperation Jackson envisions a future for Jackson where low income does not bar people from access to good food, health, or quality of life, and where communities with a history of disenfranchisement exercise their self-determined  rights to improve their lives.

Jackson’s population is about 80% Black. About one-fifth of residents are “food insecure” – they lack access to the quality of food and type of nutrition necessary for an average person to maintain good health. Jackson’s working class faces chronic unemployment, unsurvivable wages, and barriers to healthcare, housing, and workers rights. Cooperation Jackson’s goal is to change the underlying structure that causes and reinforces these critical gaps.

The idea of a “solidarity economy” is that businesses empower their workers, share social responsibility, and cooperate towards the equity and total health of each individual and the community. The economy works in such a way as to permit the thriving of all its citizens, not just a select few. Through a network of co-ops and worker-owned businesses, the community’s laborers would be employed in work that they themselves manage or make decisions in and which dignifies them and empowers them towards the transformation of their own lives and environment.

Cooperation Jackson’s part in helping to alleviate the city’s current hunger issue is its developing Freedom Farms, an urban farming cooperative that grows watermelon, squash, cabbage, tomatoes, kale and other fruits and vegetables. Freedom Farms is one part of the group’s ecosystem of planned cooperatives that address the community’s wealth, health, and stability. A waste management and recycling cooperative, housing cooperative, child care cooperative, and arts and culture cooperative are also in the works.

Working with progressive institutions from across the country, Cooperation Jackson’s goal is to become a radical model for other cities and communities that want to create better lives for their working class citizens.  

ACTION:

Does your city or community have a cooperative? Consider joining one to learn more about sustainable economics in practice, while also accessing important resources for you and your family.

Image: of co-founder and co-director Kali Akuno; via Cooperation Jackson.

[solutionspotlight]

Two Grassroots Hurricane Relief Efforts in Puerto Rico & What It Means to Have a Just Recovery

Art by Francis Mead, via AgitArte and CultureStrike

In the few months since Hurricanes Irma and Maria raged across the Caribbean and left Puerto Rico swirling in a humanitarian crisis, Puerto Ricans on the island and United States mainland have been taking the lead in mobilizing grassroots relief efforts that directly tackle conditions on the ground: providing people-to-people relief, distributing food, coming up with power solutions, and creating ease and access to communities in whatever ways possible. Casa-Taller and the #JustRecovery #OurPowerPR national campaign are two such examples.

While people are still dealing with the devastating impact of the hurricanes, the storm has also revealed the tightly woven webs between historic economic disenfranchisement in Puerto Rico and the United States’ colonial control of the island, and how such fragile and disempowering relationships can exacerbate a population’s vulnerability in the circumstances of natural disaster. The U.S. federal government’s lackluster response to the crisis has been compared to the kind of neglect Americans witnessed in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Casa-Taller, founded by the working class artists and cultural solidarity organizers of AgitArte, has been a cultural, artistic, and community hub in Santurce, Puerto Rico for 10 years. Since the hurricane landed, community members have been working on making sure the space also functions as a hurricane relief center. They raised almost $100,000 in funds so far that expands Casa-Taller’s community kitchen and allows the group to distribute free meals and food and much-needed supplies to members of the community locally and beyond. With support, grassroots workers in Casa-Taller and AgitArte’s network are currently spreading out as self-managed Centros de Apoyo Mutuo (Centers of Mutual Support), spread across the island, that can respond to communities’ most urgent needs while creating spaces for people to come together, discuss their options, and begin to dissect the political nuances that impact recovery and livelihood. The group has also toured a cantastoria, an old storytelling form using art and music, at the centers that engages people in political thinking and dialogue.

The #JustRecovery #OurPowerPR initiative is a national U.S.-Puerto Rico campaign organized by Climate Justice Alliance, UPROSE, It Takes Roots, Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, LEAP, and Grassroots International. It comprises a vision of environmental justice and labor organizers that sees just transition in Puerto Rico as having a regenerative economy -- one that also creates jobs, protects the environment, and promotes resilient communities.

In this op-ed, Elizabeth Yeampierre and Naomi Klein describe the core thrust of the campaign: “The work is rooted in the belief that the underlying reason behind all of Puerto Rico’s intersecting crises is the fact that the island’s people and land have been treated like a bottomless raw resource for the mainland to mine for over a century, never mind the devastating economic consequences.”

A just recovery would be one where Puerto Ricans have a solid chance at sustainable, autonomous recovery that puts people first and includes calls for debt relief, lifting laws and bureaucracies which incur more burdens and restrictions to growth, and making sure aid goes directly to Puerto Rican organizations and communities.

In the long-term, just recovery would also entail constructing a renewable energy grid that would be more resilient and reliable that could deal with the impact of a hurricane like Maria and still bounce back quickly enough to sustain recovery efforts and minimize trauma and fatalities.

The campaign has gathered support and supplies which mostly goes to Organización Boricuá de Agricultura Ecológica in Puerto Rico, and has launched several brigades which work with agro-ecologists and labor movement members on the island who are spearheading a just recovery. The brigades work to get farms going again, repair damaged structures, and create accessibility to distant farms among other actions. The first OurPowerPR Brigade went to the island in November 2017. Upcoming brigades will happen again in January.

ACTIONS:

Support Casa-Taller’s fundraiser.

Centros de Apoyo Mutuo network map.

Get involved with #JustRecovery and the #OurPowerPR campaign.

Learn about and support Finca Conciencia, another grassroots and community group of small farmers in Vieques, Puerto Rico, restructuring after Maria.

Stay in touch with friends with relationships in Puerto Rican communities and keep your ear to the ground on how to support those communities directly.

[solutionspotlight]

Honoring Diversity, Grieving Extinction on Lost Species Day

via Megan Hollingsworth, writer & creative director at Extinction Witness

Image: Lasting Impressions I by Gloria Gypsy in Toughie

A group of artists, scientists, educators, writers, and museum curators based mainly in the U.K. are building awareness of the mass extinction of species happening across our planet with International Remembrance Day for Lost Species, held on November 30 every year since 2011.  On Remembrance Day, communities and individuals are invited to creatively honor, grieve, and memorialize species that have become extinct while committing to actions we can take to protect the precious remaining biodiversity of our planet.

Rabb’s Fringe-limbed Treefrog* and Bramble Cay Melomys are two among too many species thought to have passed in 2016. Species extinction, like all death, is naturally part of life’s cycle. However, the current rate of species extinction exceeds that of the past five known mass extinctions. Ecologists estimate that, without radical shifts in human behavior, 95% of existing terrestrial species, likely humans among them, will vanish in the course of this 6th mass extinction.  

The philosophy behind Lost Species Day is that embodied grieving uplifts healthy responses to the chronic loss that we’re witnessing and, ultimately, forwards resolution to unnecessary, untold violence. Grappling with an estimated 75-200 species lost each day is daunting. Thus, International Remembrance Day for Lost Species was initiated as a day for mourning and celebrating while telling stories of individual and habitat or community loss. (For thoughts on habitat as community, please read Insects on the verge.)

Lost Species Day 2016 remembrances included species eulogies, death cafes, Joy Giving practice, parades, and theatrical performances. Artists collaborating at Extinction Witness, a U.S. based art project among the growing coalition forwarding Lost Species Day, produced a 2:27-minute tribute to Toughie, the last known living Rabb's treefrog.

The theme for Lost Species Day 2017 is pollinators. Queries, ongoing submissions to the Lost Species Day blog, and/or plans to participate November 30th, 2017, can be directed to Persephone Pearl of O N C A at persephone@onca.org.uk. O N C A,  an organization central to the advancement of Lost Species Day, is a community art gallery in Brighton, U.K., that seeks to inspire positive action in response to ecological change.

Join the Mass Extinction – Grieving and Creativity Facebook group here.

*Rabb's Treefrog is officially listed Critically Endangered on IUCN Red List. “Species are listed as Extinct when there's no reasonable doubt that the last individual has died. Surveys for this have likely not been exhaustive enough to remove any reasonable doubt that it could be hanging on in the wild.” - Robin Moore, author of In Search of Lost Frogs.

[solutionspotlight]

Tambourine Army of Jamaica: Cutting and Clearing “the Unwanted Things That Hover This Land”

A powerful women-led movement has risen up in Jamaica with a vow to stamp out sexual violence in the country. With tambourines in hand, the Tambourine Army marched through the streets of Kingston on March 11, setting a powerful and collective intention to end rape, brutality, and sexual predation on children and women in Jamaica, and to nurture, heal, and renew the bodies, minds, and spirits of those who have survived.

The movement has the potential to shake Jamaica at its roots and help heal a transgressive history.

The Tambourine Army began coming together in January when activists gathered at a church to protest a pastor accused of sexually assaulting a minor. The confrontation resulted in the pastor getting knocked on his head with a tambourine. He was later charged with sexual abuse of minors.

This, coupled with a surge of brutal incidents and the country’s ineffective policies on sexual violence, sparked many collective responses amongst Jamaicans to finally root out a deep-rooted problem.

In a teach-in with the Tambourine Army, Professor Verene Shepherd discussed the fact that gender-based violence has had “a long genealogy in the [Caribbean] region…” and described the multiple ways the bodies of women in the Caribbean have been brutalized from the time of European conquest, through the Middle Passage and enslavement, and into the period when decolonization first began in the Caribbean.”

The Tambourine Army holds healing spaces and circles for empowering sexual-violence survivors. They’ve also launched strategies for educating youth and adults on rape culture to reverse the thinking and attitudes that have sustained sexual violence in Jamaican culture.

Co-founder, Latoya Nugent, was arrested recently under charges of cyber crime when she reportedly took to social media listing the names of men whom survivors have accused in their communities. Many recognize her arrest and the charges as another form of violence by silencing. She was released on bail and the group prepares to stand by her in court and continues to hold space as activists throughout the Caribbean show solidarity.  

Describing what “holding space” is, Taitu Heron, another Tambourine Army co-founder and a Gender Specialist with UN Women Jamaica, said in a powerful invocation in a facebook post:

“Reclaiming the Divine Feminine grounded in our ancestral heritage, we called several intentions into being [...] to shift the energy of stagnation that keeps Jamaica from moving beyond the status quo that we inherited from the colonial situation.”

“In holding space to these intentions, we recognise that we will stir up resistance, conflict, backbiting, grandstanding, harsh criticism and paralysing fear.

In holding space to these intentions, we recognise that it will stir up privilege and entitlement and all that that means in a classist, politicised and racist Jamaica.

Sexual violence has become norm and thus all of these intentions that we holding space for will buck up on resistance and push back.

We know. We hold space that it is necessary for us to push and go tru anyway.

We hold space that the emergence of what we hold in our space, will continue to spread.

The unwanted things that hover this land – injustice, classism, wanton sexual abuse of women and children; will dissipate as the energy of change shifts and spreads.”

Check out the full post here.

ACTIONS:

Follow Tambourine Army on Facebook for more news and information.

The group welcomes volunteers and has a GoFundMe page if you’d like to support financially.

Reflection: What are ways you can also hold space for breaking cycles of sexual violence in your own families and communities?

Photo: Taitu Heron with a flag at the Survivor Empowerment March in Kingston, March 11, 2017. Courtesy of PRiDE JA Magazine.

[solutionspotlight]

“A new fellowship seeks to provide reentering artists with resources and opportunities to achieve stability and contribute to the art world.

Mic reported on the launch of the Right of Return USA Fellowship yesterday (March 23). The fellowship offers five artists a $10,000 prize and additional $10,000 for materials and production costs, as well as a three-day retreat with sessions on criminal justice reform and political art history.”

Read more about this important fellowship on Colorlines.

Apply until April 21, 2017.

[solutionspotlight]

South Africa’s First Climate Action Lawsuit and the Activists Behind It

We’re shining light on South Africa’s first climate lawsuit victory that occurred on March 8 when the North Gauteng High Court ruled in favor of environmental justice organization, Earthlife Africa Johannesburg (ELA), and put the brakes on plans for a coal-fired power plant until a full climate change impact assessment could be done. The Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) had previously approved the project without any climate assessment.

The Thabametsi power plant is proposed for Limpopo, a region currently facing severe drought, and which has been battling drought-prone conditions for several years, due to little rain and extreme heat waves. The water shortage has affected the livelihood of farmers and local communities.

ELA is a volunteer-run organization aligning itself with peoples struggles and has been actively pushing action on many campaigns for a safer environment for several decades. The group had appealed the DEA’s original 2015 authorization of the plant; the department rejected ELA’s appeal but did add a climate report that acknowledged that climate change would intensify the water crisis in Limpopo, contribute to rising temperatures, and cause social discontent about the power plant, which would need an enormous and continuous supply of water to operate. The report also showed that the plant would produce 8.2 million tons of CO2 a year towards greenhouse gases. Despite the data it attached to its authorization, the DEA still upheld its approval of the project.

ELA then took the case to court, arguing that the DEA and Thabametsi needed to complete a full assessment and suggest measures to address these impacts both on the environment and communities before being authorized to go through. The court’s judgment backed this argument and ordered the DEA to follow through.

One of DEA and Thabametsi’s arguments is that they are not required by law to produce a climate change impact assessment. But South Africa signed on to the Paris Agreement last year with an international commitment to lower its greenhouse gases, and although specific guidelines may not have trickled down to internal government, environmentalists are holding government to task, which makes this case particularly salient.

Both ELA and the Centre for Environmental Rights (the activist lawyers who represent them) are part of the Life After Coal/Impilo Ngaphandle Kwamalahle Campaign, along with environmental justice group, groundWork. The campaign discourages investment in new coal-fired power stations, the top sources of South Africa’s greenhouse gases; the pollution caused by the plants is also shown to increase the risk of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and lung cancer, based on several reports.

Right now, ELA and CER are among those resisting new proposals for nuclear energy. South Africa has seen a rise in renewable energy projects over the last few years, like the Khi Solar One project in Upington, which can power 65,000 homes, and the wind farms spotting the southern coast. The projects have been helping to fill gaps in the country’s energy production. Supporters of renewables cite dropping costs and the prospect of new technologies on the horizon, and doors for investment are opening.

Environmental groups like ELA are working to help turn the tide. The case against the DEA is one of several examples of recent climate litigations, where people are holding governments accountable in court for their inaction on climate change. Here in the States, a group of youth is suing the U.S. government and fossil fuel companies over climate change negligence. As the current administration moves to discount the case (just as the former did) we're confident that people will continue to nurture, build, and grow alternatives.  

ACTIONS

Learn about ELA's campaigns regarding nuclear energy, biodiversity and toxics, fracking, and renewable energy.

In January we talked about climate action being unstoppable. As the momentum grows towards the People’s Climate March planned for April 29, we encourage you to think about ways to tap into the movement and spark, support, and magnify solutions you’re witnessing across the globe.

The image above is a derivative of this photo by Meraj Chhaya

[solutionspotlight]

“Berta Lives On, COPINH is Strong!” - Calls for a Month of Actions for Indigenous, Environmental Justice in Honduras

One year after her life burst into millions of seeds planted, Indigenous nations in Honduras are gathering together this month seeking justice and healing, and to celebrate the life of Berta Cáceres.

Lenca, Pech, Garifuna, Maya-Chorti, and Quechua nations convened in Honduras last week to mark one year since the assassination of Berta Cáceres and call for a month of actions. International delegations arrived in large numbers to march on the capital city of Tegucigalpa in a call for justice in the case of this indigenous sister’s death.

Berta was murdered in her home in March last year while fearlessly resisting a hydroelectric dam project in Lenca territory and on a river sacred to Lenca people, Río Gualcarque.

Ceremony and prayer permeated this gathering for the upliftment of Berta’s family, the Lenca people, COPINH, the organization that she co-founded, and the indigenous community who love and remember her.

Please read below COPINH’s call to the world for action in this time:

On March 2nd, 2016 they assassinated our sister Berta Cáceres. They thought they would get rid not just of her as a leader recognized throughout Latin America and around the world, but also would end a struggle, a political project, that they would destroy the organization of which she was both founder and daughter, COPINH (the Civil Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras).

One year since she spread her wings, since the crime that tried to steal her clarity and leadership from us, the peoples of the world who recognize her legacy are here, walking in her footsteps, confronting the patriarchal, capitalist, colonial and racist system that is imposed upon our peoples. We have been and will continue confronting the deadly projects of transnational corporations and imperialism in every corner of the planet.

In March we won’t just painfully remember that horrendous crime, above all we will celebrate life: the life of Berta, who was born on March 4th and the life of COPINH, which was founded 24 years ago on March 27th.

For all of these reasons, we invite you to use every day of March to multiply:

-Actions of protest, resistance and struggle against the deadly policies of transnational corporations…

-Actions to defend the bodies and lives of women in the face of the patriarchal and colonial system...

-Actions against the criminalization of grassroots movements, against militarization and commodification of the lands and all dimensions of life...

-Actions to denounce the Honduran State in front of its embassies in every country of the world...

-Actions of solidarity with COPINH and with the organizations of the grassroots Honduran social movement...

-Actions to spread the thinking and example of Berta’s life…

-Moments of reflection and spirituality...

We call for these types of actions to be developed and spread through every corner of Abya Yala and the world. As movements, organizations and people, let’s accompany COPINH, embody it, multiply its march.

In all of these potential proposed actions, and all others that your creativity gives rise to, let the world shake with the cry of: “Berta lives on, COPINH is strong!”

In the face of militarization and criminalization, more struggle and organization!

With the ancestral strength of Berta, Lempira, Iselaca, Mota and Etempica, we raise our voices full of life, justice, liberty, dignity and peace.

To date, the authorities of Honduras continue to justify their inefficacy for capturing those in high posts who ordered Berta’s assassination with the capture and subsequent hearings of 4 young assassins and 3 intermediaries who were paid to do the job. Activists warn that this case is being manipulated from high spheres and that the accusations presented do not support a moderate and responsible analysis of this case. Everything surrounding the investigation points to impunity.

Berta’s followers call this 2nd of March, 2017, one year since she was returned to the earth as a seed, that the world vibrate with the sound of: “Berta Vive, COPINH sigue”, “Berta lives, COPINH is strong.”

Post your event here: Acción Global: A Un año de su Siembra:  Berta Vive, COPINH Sigue (Spanish FB Event)

Post on media networks with the following hashtags:  #FueraDESA #1AñoSinJusticia #BertaVive #COPINHsigue

Share your photos, videos and audio to the following email address: copinh@copinh.org

Follow COPINH’s posts and reports here:

FB: @Copinh.Intibucá

Twitter: @COPINHHONDURAS

Live community radio: http://a.stream.mayfirst.org:8000/guarajambala.mp3

Image via Centro de Medios Libres.

[solutionspotlight]

Rallying Around Trans Youth, Awesome Work You Can Support

Last week, the Trump administration removed school guidelines that suggested protections for transgender students. In response, there’s been an outpouring of rightful anger and concern for trans youth who may receive the news as an attack on their very being. On the other hand, many have shown that they’re ready and defiant as ever to affirm that their right to exist is bigger and something beyond any one administration.

We wanted to help give love and visibility to trans and LGBT organizations that have been working for years within policy and education to secure access, safety, and civil rights for transgender people and youth.

Transgender Law Center - a collective working “to change law, policy, and attitudes so that all people can live safely, authentically, and free from discrimination regardless of their gender identity or expression.” TLC has a really strong history of groundbreaking trans advocacy and legislation. It recently represented Ash Whitaker against his school district over bathroom access. TLC, jointly with GSA Network, also facilitates the TRUTH Storytelling Project, run and developed by trans youth.

Sylvia Rivera Law Project - a New York-based organization that seeks “to increase the political voice and visibility of low-income people and people of color who are transgender, intersex, or gender non-conforming. SRLP works to improve access to respectful and affirming social, health, and legal services for our communities.” SRLP has worked to help change policies that affect transgender youth in New York City, such as affirming trans youth health care and securing rights for youth in foster care and juvenile jail.  

Lambda Legal - a national organization committed to the rights of LGBT people “through impact litigation, education, and public policy work.” They’ve brought successful defenses on behalf of LGBT students challenging their school districts’ discriminatory actions or policies.

National Center for Transgender Equality - “For over a decade, NCTE has been at the forefront of changing laws, policies and society to improve the lives of transgender Americans.” Their efforts to represent trans issues on Capitol Hill have helped lead to crucial federal legislation like the Hate Crimes Prevention Act, the first federal hate crime law to specifically include transgender people.

Trans Student Educational Resources - “Trans Student Educational Resources is a youth-led organization dedicated to transforming the educational environment for trans and gender nonconforming students through advocacy and empowerment.” TSER trains teachers, offers leadership training for trans youth, supports trans-inclusive policies at schools, and teaches trans activists organizing skills. They uphold an intersectional framework of activism as key to liberation and host the Trans Youth Leadership Summit, “the only national fellowship program for young trans organizers of its kind.” TSER is also the creator of the widely-distributed Gender Unicorn.

Image: “Dance Protest Celebrating Trans Youth, Washington, DC USA.” February 24, 2017. Via Flickr by tedeytan.

[solutionspotlight]

DAPL Divestment and the Deeper Momentum Inspired By Standing Rock

Despite the green-lighting of the Dakota Access Pipeline recently and the removal of water protectors from the Sacred Stone Camp beginning on February 22, 2017, the #noDAPL movement has deepened unity across people, brought attention to the historical cycles of trauma, solidified connections between Standing Rock and other groups facing similar struggles across the globe, and sprung strategies and ideas for upholding environmental protection, freedom, and sovereignty. One of those strategies includes a divestment campaign that continues to build momentum.

On February 7, the Seattle City Council voted to divest more than $3 billion in city funds from Wells Fargo, one of the banks invested in the project. The Davis, California city council followed on Seattle’s heels just hours later with another unanimous vote to find a new bank for its accounts of over $124 million. Santa Monica decided to divest about a week later.

Nordea, a Swedish financial services group, recently divested from bonds from Energy Transfer Partners, Sunoco Logistics, and Phillips 66, three companies with stakes in DAPL. Odin Fund Management, a Norwegian firm, announced back in November that it sold $23.8 million in DAPL investments and Yes! Magazine reported on the many tribes that have been divesting, including the Nez Perce tribe in Idaho and the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe in Minnesota, in addition to the Standing Rock Sioux. There is also a reported total of $70,639,277.90 divested by individual consumers at the time of writing (and the number increases daily).

The motivation to take a stand in the way it matters is spreading, with New York mayor, Bill de Blasio, feeling inspired by Seattle’s move and the city of Alameda contemplating a decision. (Update: Alameda has divested from Wells Fargo.)

“There’s momentum, and we can keep it there regardless of what happens," Standing Rock Sioux chairman, David Archambault, said to an audience at Cornell University on February 16, while speaking about the historical struggles of the tribe and the need to instill hope for the future. "The only way we’re going to make a change is if we get the United States to change, because it’s powerful when we unite.”

ACTIONS recommended by DefundDAPL.org:

Divest your personal finances.

Divest your city or community.

Contact the banks. Address your concerns. Ask them questions.

Learn how we can all support climate action and social equality with these alternatives to our current financial system.

Image: Missouri River at sunrise. Via Flickr by vwcampin.