Claiming Our Power in a Collapsed Democracy
How are you doing? I am still reeling from the reports out of Al Shifa medical complex after a 2-week seige. At least 400 civilians were executed, including medical staff and children, bodies run over by tractors and left decomposing, and the hospital completely destroyed. The same day these reports came out, Israel targeted and killed international aid workers and announced shutting down Al Jazeera, one of the few international news networks on the ground.
In six months over 30,000 Palestinian civilians have been killed, and this is may be extremely undercounted— Ralph Nader estimates over 200,000 Palestinians have been murdered. Aaron Bushnell, the active duty air force member who set himself on fire and died in protest, said it well: “This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal.”
U.S. democracy is not backsliding, it has already collapsed. I have been dancing around this realization since January 6th 2021, and the last six months have made it undeniable. I don’t have the energy to fully break this down, but just look at our presidential options: one old white dude who attempted a violent coup, and the other unconditionally backing a genocidal state despite polls showing 55% of Americans and 75% of democrats disapprove. Plus the reality of dark money in politics & special interests (including pro-Israel lobby). Plus the hijacked supreme court, cop cities (Atlanta is one of 47), rollback of rights (abortion, LBGTQ), endless mass shootings, ughhhh this list is painful…
We need to stop hoping the next election will somehow save us, or some magical savior will fall from the sky. We are not doomed to fascism, but we have to claim our power. I won’t pretend to have answers, but I have thoughts about our path forward:
Connection— will always be our path forward. Keep building truly value-aligned community, mutual aid networks, and ways to connect with your whole self and heal (including our gathering Friday night). Keep connecting to purpose, to ancestry and dreams for future generations. We are in a very uncertain time and need to be at our strongest.
Disrupt the Money—the most effective protests in a capitalist system directly disrupt $$$. Consider these ways of engaging:
Boycott, divest, sanction— so far Starbucks has lost $11 billion in market value. Countless universities have active divestment campaigns you can support as a student, faculty/ staff or alum, often led by Students for Justice in Palestine
April 15th—global coordinated economic blocade
For educational purposes only… Palestine Action’s work to shut down weapons manufacturers; started in the UK
Donations— whatever you do, don’t give to Shaun King :-)
Baitulmaal—there are a lot of reports of aid being sold at high prices or being horrible food, this is anecdotal but I was excited to see this video by a chef in Rafah showing an aid box from Baitulmaal with proper food, free of charge.
send eSims—with repeated internet blackouts and infrastructure destruction in Gaza, for many people esims are the only way of communicating with the outside world. This effort is led by Mirna El Helbawi, and the website includes information for anyone concerned this may be a scam. Over six months I haven’t seen complaints of fraud, and have seen many reputable organizations and individuals share this
Sending wishes for whatever you need to keep expanding your view, beyond all of the conditioning that disconnects us from our power. We do not need a savior, we just need our whole wild selves and each other.
~to liberation together