ICYMI : This week's roundup!
Hello powerFULL community! Here is this week’s in-case-you-missed-it (ICYMI) where we share some of the highlights of our Substack share-outs. They are separated by theme; each theme is written in CAPITAL BOLDED letters. There are a couple of short essays under each theme; separated by italicized bolded headings.
Feel free to scroll through the headings and read what you feel called to! We do want to quickly highlight that the first section “On Liberation in Action” has some reflection questions to help you explore the ways in which you can respond to the rising fascism we’re seeing in the Americas and around the globe (should you be needing some anti-oppression homework).
Lastly, if you aren’t already, this is a REALLY IMPORTANT time for you to PLEASE consider becoming a paid member!!!! We will send out more info soon, but we are trying to secure enough paid members (at the $5.55 level) so that we can start offerings our workshops, peer support, & bruja services FOR FREE! We are feeling very strongly called to start more healing justice centered work this fall & we would love to ask community for the support to make that happen! We’re ALL going through a lot of shit right now, and we would love to offer our advocate, healer, and facilitator skills to contribute to the collectives healing & liberation. Thank you so much for whatever way you contribute through funds or helping to spread the word.
ON LIBERATION IN ACTION
Doing self-risk assessments
We cannot “call our representative” ourselves out of fascism & violent Euro-colonialism. Keep doing those things,BUT ALSO folks need to have very serious conversations with themselves & those in their family/community about what they are willing to risk to RESIST oppression.
And this is true for whoever is the primary leader of the United States. EVERY president has been complicit to bombing black & brown countries, tearing families apart, fostering antiblack slavery, intentionally denying citizens food & housing, and so much more. Y’all are scared of Trump, rightfully so, but we need to keep that fear & dedication to human rights towards ANY leader who uses their position to harm; so far that has been EVERY president of the so called United States since they introduced “democracy” in this country.
To dismantle oppression will mean most of us risking the loss of close relationships, losing jobs/financial stability, getting arrested, risking our safety, or other things that feel EXTREMELY intense or scary. It is COMPLETELY NORMAL to feel terrified of the consequences when facing such massive systemic & cultural violence. But our inaction will lead to much more pain & loss in the long run.
How much more suffering & loss do we really need to bear witness to before we feel compelled to take ACTION? We can’t risk waiting or being complacent or function from a “change takes time” mentality. We can protect our comrades & loved ones much faster than we may give ourselves credit for! So it’s time for a RISK ASSESSMENT!!! What are you willing to LOSE for you and the collective to GAIN freedom?
Face-masks as community care & resistance
People think I’m obsessed with face masks & always try to catch me with a “what…are we going to have to wear masks FOREVER!?!?” And honestly, I hope fucking not. HOWEVER….
I cannot, in good conscience, stop wearing one while our government & culture refuse to take the spread of air-borne illnesses seriously. I can’t stop wearing one until violent capitalists stop polluting our air. I can’t stop wearing one until the government & those who are co-conspirators to racist/sexist fascism stop surveilling people who dare to dream of new worlds where we’re all as safe as possible & provided for.
No I don’t want to wear a fukkin face mask forever. But I will if it means it keeps me & community safe from the daily neglect, abuse, & death our oppressors enact EVERY minute of EVERY day. And for y’all to belittle, mock, and shame those who are trying to protect themselves and others, instead of using that energy to hold our leaders accountable to a higher standard, are truly EMBARASSING.
We could demand better but you choose bullying vulnerable people & in-fighting instead? Fuck outta here 😒
Responding to fear with ACTION
We know there is a lot of scary policy & systemic abuse being pushed right now. But PLEASE let this fuel & inspire you to engage in more ACTION! There are WAY more of us than those in power. Some things to think about:
Where can you & your community withhold labor AND boycott exploitative companies? This economy doesn’t run without us. Money (and the lack of it) talks.
Where can you & your community make politicians and corporate leaders lives more difficult & uncomfortable; disrupting their peace until they make genuine change for human rights.
Where can you withhold funds to politicians? They’ve created this capitalistic pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps culture, so let them live in it; they can work for those election funds just like they make Americans break their backs for scraps.
Where can you barter services & goods so we can decrease or disappear our reliance on government & corporations to make those entities power/control obsolete?
Where can you build community safety practices to keep cops & soldiers out of your neighborhood? What deescalation & preventative measures do you want to put in place to keep all comrades as safe as possible?
How can you challenge yourself to take bigger risks for the sake of the collectives safety & freedom from oppression? What world are you hoping to leave behind, and what are you willing to risk to bring those dreams to life?
Reminder: when trump was first president, we had protests in ALL 50 states at one time! Democrats make so many folks go to sleep politically. For some reason people wake up during republican presidencies and decide to resist again. So let’s use this momentum! If people are scared then let’s leverage that to our advantage and manipulate that fearful energy into people power!!!
ON VOLATILE AMERICAN PRIVILEGE
Hoarding resources during crisis
Watching the documentary Trainwreck: Poop Cruise (about a 2013 Carnival cruise ship losing all power & stranding passengers in the middle of the ocean) had some eerie & disheartening similarities to how people handled the first year of the pandemic here in the US.
People on the cruise were hoarding food, chairs, and other materials even if it meant others went without. Sharing would have benefitted EVERYONE, but that cruise was full of entitled Americans who literally refuse to feel any discomfort, even if it means thousands or millions struggle just for their personal individual benefit. Just like Americans who were fukking punching people out over fucking TOILET PAPER. As if paper towels, baby wipes, or SHOWERS didn’t exist.
The Americans were also making such a big deal about having to poop in hazard bags (because toilets were not functioning) and some of them even took medicines to constipate themselves cuz they saw pooping in bags as too gross. Are you kidding!? Y’all that bouggie and entitled that you will go DAYS without pooping, hurting your fukkin body cuz you think you’re above pooping in a bag in a state of extreme emergency???? Americans literally wouldn’t be able to survive a lot of the countries the American government spends so much money to bomb and terrorize 😑
May Goddexx help Americans if war or other tragedies hit their land. We are so fucked. Americans will turn each other so fast.
Choosing cruelty over care
I’ve seen commentary from folks saying that people are much more cruel & aggressive since the pandemic started. Many say it’s because the collective has unaddressed grief. That MAY be true for SOME, but I call bullshit.
Americans are so rooted in their individualism that they took the government & society asking them to care about others as a personal assault. Spoiled Americans acted as if they were being oppressed when being asked to mask. And if asking you to give a shit about others is considered oppression, then baby you have a rude awakening coming to you as fascism continues to take its hold on this country.
Americans have been so indoctrinated into only caring about themselves, fuck everyone else, that they see community care as a burden rather than something we can ALL benefit from. So they left quarantine doubling down on their individualism, even if it means harming other people. But how could we expect them to act any different when that’s the way it’s been since colonialism hit the americas?
Americans are not grieving. They’re power hungry & trying to snatch up any bit of power they can because they feel like they lost it during quarantine. Instead of walking away with better community care practices, they walked away with more anger-induced entitlement.
Let’s stop blaming peoples grief & name what’s ACTUALLY going on in this country. Americans are so spoiled they literally don’t care if they disable or kill people; even their own loved ones. Cuz at the end of the day America is just a power hungry country and Americans will continue to put power/resource hoarding over people 🫤
ON CULTURAL ABLEISM
Using ableism to fight with fascists
We are seeing these disgusting trends (especially on TikTok) of people making fun of MAGA supporters who are fat, visibly disabled, or living with mental/learning disabilities & illnesses. This fatphobia & ableism needs to stop!
Like, yeah, obviously fuck MAGA 🖕🏼 But your comrades who ARE trying to build new liberated & safer worlds with you are seeing your trash comments to shitty racist MAGA supporters. They see you making fun of those assholes bodies & disabilities. And they’re recognizing how you really feel about people who are fat/disabled. That shit fucking SUCKS.
If you’re gonna punch, you punch UP not down. There is so much more to be critical of with MAGA folks that going straight to making fun of their bodies or intelligence shows that your approach to social justice is to be a bully rather than an advocate. This is replicating abusive & carceral colonial American culture! If all you can do is body shame them, are you really about liberation or just trying to find outlets to do the same shitty behaviors that people critique conservatives and republicans for doing?
We’re not saying you have to be nice to MAGA folks. We would never say that shit! But if you’re going to engage with them (which, honestly, you shouldn’t even waste your time) then fight them on their values systems & behaviors, not their bodies. Y’all running to make memes and shitty comments making fun of fat & disabled MAGA peoples puts you at middle school maturity level for approaching community building/organizing/advocacy. Let’s do better than that!
At the end of the day, we encourage y’all to not even engage with MAGA folks. They cannot be moved. They do not WANT to be moved. They are perfectly fine stewing in their bigotry and hatred. Every time you wanna go off on a racist MAGA troll, turn to community instead. Use that fueled up energy to connect with values-aligned community, build systems of care, provide & trade resources, share fact-checked news, support marginalized artists & organizers, the list goes on and on!
There’s SO MANY things better you could be doing with your time instead of arguing with racist demons!!!!
Privileged people & ableism
Whenever I am pushing my partner in their wheelchair at events or doing errands, I’m ALWAYS reminded how fucking DISGUSTING American white privilege is. I have lost count on how many times these people have hit or almost fell on my partner for the sole reason that they literally pay zero attention to their surroundings. OR because they try to hurry up and cut my partner off because walking behind a wheelchair user apparently is too fucking inconvenient for them 😑.
They often act either 1. So oblivious to their surroundings like they own the whole place or 2. feel so entitled to any space they’re in that they scoff or stare down my partner as if they are doing something wrong just for existing as a disabled person. THE SHIT IS FUCKING MADDENING 😡
It’s also super fucking frustrating because as a trans, latinx, disabled person, I do not have the luxury to not be super hyper aware of my surroundings. My life literally depends on it. So when I see cis hetero white people just walking into people or cutting them off because they’re just not fucking paying attention to anything else but THEMSELVES, I think what a nice life that must be. To walk care free without a fear in the world all because you KNOW this world was made for you. And the fact that even the “well-meaning” white people don’t understand this when it’s named they are inherently privileged because of their race, just makes everything a hundred times more exhausting. It’s almost like white people can’t imagine that, even when they’re not trying, they are causing or benefitting from harm towards non-white folks. They continue to center their needs and feelings above all else AND ITS FUCKING EXHAUSTING 😤
Centering & prioritizing accessibility
Organizers REALLY need to make event accessibility info more accessible! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to go to an event page & hunt down accessibility info like I’m some mother fukkin Sherlock Holmes or whatever. It shouldn’t be this hard!
With EVERY event you should be including:
info about accessible entrances & bathrooms for mobility devices
whether there will be any captions or language interpreters
if it’s mask required
whether there will be any type of foods or scents in the air
Is there going to be any flashing lights, fog machines, or other special effect things
and honest & CLEAR about pricing structures.
Lastly, this info needs to be legible & easy to find! It only takes a few minutes & this small practice will help MORE people be able to attend and support your events! It’s a win-win for all so please get on top of this practice ASAP!
ON THE VIOLENCE OF PERFORMATIVE POLITICS/POLITICIANS
Dems are just as bad as republicans
The same resistance energy y’all are bringing to the republicans right now, you need to do when democrats are in charge as well. Y’all can’t not keep going to sleep every time a democrat is in office.
Democrats are still bombing the global majority of Black & Brown countries. They’re kidnapping “undocumented” folks and shoving them into cages. They’re endorsing & fostering racist antiBlack prison slavery. Theyre creating the conditions for homelessness and criminalizing it. They’re using fascist suppression tactics on folks who are anti-genocides & ethnic cleansings.
All parties endorse the same shit (don’t even mention Bernie please 😑). So when the likes of AOC or Corey Booker (or whichever other dem y’all will make a celebrity icon) becomes the next president REMEMBER that there is still A LOT of work to do!
Dems are just as bad as republicans , continued
We are deeply saddened & tired of seeing memes & protest signs that say things like “If Harris won, we’d be at brunch.” Y’all, she literally bragged on the campaign trail that her immigration policies would be harsher than Trumps. She mocked pro-Palestine community & refused to commit to ending a WHOLE ASS GENOCIDE HER COUNTRY IS FUNDING.
We don’t understand how & why millions of people continue to live in this binary of Democrat = Good and Republican = Bad. We don’t understand why millions continue to ignore when Democrats do mass deportations, bombing countries who disagree with them, spoiling the rich at the risk of everyone else going without, and so much other violence. They continue to get the benefit of the doubt, or even applauded for doing less than the bare minimum.
We can’t tell you how many liberals & leftists have attacked us & other values-aligned friends/community for saying fuck the dems TOO. We refuse to settle for anything but freedom. And we’re begging you all to do the same. Slow incremental change & trying to work a system that never was meant to work for ANY of us is abusing & killing SO MANY around the whole ass globe. American imperialism doesn’t only impact Americans, it literally impacts every spot of this planet because that’s how much the US government has leached its forced control.
PLEASE see these politicians for what they are. Go based off their CONSISTENT actions, not just their words. Please don’t let these people finesse and bamboozle you. The collectives survival literally depends on it.
Queer fascism is a thing
GOAL New York (a collective of gay NYPD officers) are going to be protesting pride this year cuz parade organizers asked them to not carry guns as part of their uniforms 😑 The privilege & hypocrisy is GLARING.
These officers need to remember two important things.
1. Pride was born as an act of resistance AGAINST police violence!
NYPD are so fucking gun happy that they’ve literally shot THEIR OWN OFFICERS when trying to shoot down someone who jumped the train turnstiles. Cops are willing to shoot someone for skipping out on a less than $3 fare, why the fuck would we want you at pride!?!?
The fact that so many cops continue to make themselves the exception as one of the “good guys” when cops around the country AND the globe continue to be pawns for politicians and corporations to harm the same people cops say they supposedly are there to protect.
Cops need to stop being big crybabies & acknowledge the immense privilege that they have and the violence they have been complicit to. If cops actually spent more time trying to connect with their communities rather than protest them, maybe there could actually be some bridges built to help dismantle the violent fascism that they’ve helped facilitate. But instead, they wanna do shit like blue lives matter and act like people who are critical of fascism are the bad guys. No cops at pride!