Whew, intense week.
Recap of the past week
In last week’s post I chronicled my failure to do something every day that contributes to local and global movements for survival and liberation. This week my goals were to keep working on that by reaching out to the people who I know locally and have some kind of activist relationship with, explaining where I’m at and where I want to get to, and asking for help; doing some more searching; being open and seeing what comes up and not spending all my time on the computer (i.e., making time for actual engagement).
I started the week by sending friends the following message (via email and Facebook):
Hello friends. I am slowly and stumbling-ly getting back into grassroots activism after many years away and am struggling to reconnect. So, a question to those of you who do amazing work that I have been inspired by over the years as well as new friends who are involved in grassroots work – any suggestions for people doing good work here that might want volunteer/$ support? I’m particularly interested in anti-racism & anti-colonial organizing. Thanks for any suggestions you can offer! And thank you also for keeping me hopeful about grassroots work even during my most bleak, cynical, and unhappy times.
Am very grateful for all of the suggestions and ideas, thank you. It seems that there is nothing to instantly plug into but much that can be done to nurture old and new relationships and see what emerges. This week I was really happy to visit with a friend-of-a-friend who has been doing local organizing for a while, and next week will be reconnecting with an old friend who I worked with on anti-colonial organizing 8 or 9 years ago. It makes such a difference to spend time with other people who are committed to social and environmental justice, principled solidarity, and actual organizing (as well as wrestling with some of the same questions as the ones I have about how to use race & class privilege to be of maximum benefit).
While continuing to build relationships I have been wanting a framework to help me keep perspective on what well-rounded activism looks like and not go down an overly narrow, unproductive path (e.g., endless social media). The Commit to Racial Justice pamphlet produced by participants in an activist camp outlines 11 anti-racist commitments that I found useful in thinking about how, as a white person, to educate myself in order to see racism and then take action to end it.
- I commit to viewing mistakes as opportunities for learning.
- I commit to disrupting patterns of domination.
- I commit to working on my own defensiveness.
- I commit to including the interests of oppressed groups while making decisions that affect them.
- I commit to respecting the complexity of issues in my community.
- I commit to disrupting the status quo in order to share power and privilege to all.
- I commit to reflecting on topics that might feel uncomfortable.
- I commit to promoting cooperation over self-interest.
- I commit to serving the interests of people over my own personal objectives.
- I commit to recognizing the legitimacy of people’s concerns.
- I commit to educating myself and working to address the issues that contribute to oppression.
Thus far I’ve mostly been educating myself. Having been away from activism for a while it’s been pretty obvious as I take tentative steps back in that I’m out of touch with what is going on, and need to educate myself. And, that is not where it stops – as I’m well aware from Zen practice, reading about something is not the same as doing it; in the list above “educating myself” is half of one of 11 commitments white people need to make. But it is a place I can start.
So, I spent 3 days nursing a wheezy drippy cold and spending massive amounts of time online – reading articles and collecting future reading materials relating to decolonization and anti-racism and anti-colonial organizing, as well as specific things white people need to learn, challenge, and practice with respect to our own racism. Grateful for a public library system that makes so much accessible; it was great to read Sistah Vegan: Black Female Vegans Speak on Food, Identity, Health, and Society (edited by Dr. Amie Breeze Harper) — totally re-inspired me around food — and am looking forward to reading Tsawalk: A Nuu-Chah-Nulth Worldview and Principles of Tsawalk: An Indigenous Approach to Global Crisis (both by Umeek – E. Richard Atleo), Lighting the Eighth Fire: The Liberation, Resurgence, and Protection of Indigenous Nations (edited by Leanne Simpson), Black Girl Dangerous on Race, Queerness, Class and Gender (by Mia McKenzie), and The Comeback: How Aboriginals Are Reclaiming Power And Influence (by John Ralston Saul). Also looking forward to reading online resources Unsettling Ourselves: Reflections and Resources for Deconstructing Colonial Mentality (compiled by Unsettling Minnesota), Catalyzing Liberation Toolkit: Anti-Racist Organizing to Build the 99% Movement (compiled by Catalyst Project and Chris Crass), the Victoria Sexual Assault Centre’s core training resources, and the Anne Braden Anti-Racist Organizer Training Program 2015 Reader, and the archived articles on the Buddhist Peace Fellowship and Meta-Activism sites.
With all this reading material now piled up I have been trying to move away from obsessively looking for more resources (although your suggestions are always welcomed) and balance reading with practising taking action. Thus far it has been all spontaneous actions as things arise, for example practising “calling in” when white loved ones say things I feel are racist, getting the word out about RCMP and industry harassment of the Unist’ot’en Camp, sharing public support/solidarity requests from the Madii Lii camp and the Lax Kw’alaams Lelu Island camp, and contributing money where I can. Thus far all of these actions are pretty small and not world-changing, but through these small actions I am practising old skills that I’m rusty at, learning new skills, doing something that hopefully is of bigger picture use, and also taking tiny steps to build relationships with other people who also care about these issues.
This week there were also opportunities for other actions:
- Completed “Story of Stuff” Citizen Muscle Boot Camp
- Helped my sweet spousey set up a drying rack for indoor clothes drying during rainy/colder weather (their engineering system for our cloth wipes is genius)
- Harvested drying beans and had a mini-shelling party
- Learned about the history of prisoner rights to vote in Canada as part of discussion about women’s voting rights
- Started a discussion with my Zen teacher about a climate change-focused initiative within our sangha as my project for the upcoming One Earth Sangha EcoSattva Training
- End of month is bus pass time – reminded of the insanity of throw-away monthly plastic passes I sleuthed transit systems in Canada to look at alternatives to disposable monthly plastic bus passes, then contacted BC Transit to request & suggest alternatives
Looking ahead to the next week
As this Challenge progresses I am struggling with how to do all the things I want to do, as many of the activities that I’ve started doing through this Challenge are ones that I want to continue to do for the long haul (for example practicing from the 11 anti-racist commitments listed above is a long-term commitment, and my volunteer work with a local farmer will continue till the work winds down for the winter). Because there are so many longer-term actions already on the go, this week I decided to go back to my list of more contained, one-off actions so I’m still stretching myself to try something new every day. Planned actions are:
- Mark the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and learn more about the rebuilding of New Orleans by watching 10 Years After Katrina: ‘Resilience’, ‘Recovery’, and REALITY
- Promote local food – talk with the farmer I’m volunteering with about ways to raise her profile and encourage community-supported agriculture (CSA) sign-up for next year, e.g., local “farm feast” event, neigbourhood flyers; contact friends who might be interested in CSA
- Look into rain barrel setup for roof runoff: check gutter/downspout options for barrel placement, and source non-plastic rain barrels
- Excursion with my sweet spousey to a local organic food store to try to source plastic-free alternatives to food that our usual grocery store only carries in plastic packaging (e.g., tamari, seaweed)
- Finish reading The Pet Poo Pocket Guide and sort out what to do with critter poop (other than sending to landfill, which is what we currently do)
- Mental health: Attend first session of BCALM’s Art of Living Mindfully course (an 8 week course that “provides participants with a firm grounding in mindfulness based strategies useful in navigating stress and in recognizing patterns of thought, speech and behavior that may be contributing to stress and suffering”)
- Spiritual health: Attend trans* Buddhist virtual meditation and participate in post-sit video chat
And what about you?
I would love to get feedback from you. What do you think of all of this rambling? What resonates with you, and what doesn’t? Are you trying your own sustainability initiatives and if so what are you learning?
Have a great week!
stand up eko 