Excited to be able to witness this today. May live tweet but not sure what to expect, so stay tuned!
https://twitter.com/IENearth/status/1317445402241736707
Karissa Lewis starts off the afternoon with inspiring words about what is challenging for her, but what also inspires her. This will be a day of testimony from those on the front lines. #TheFreedomSide #risingmajority
Barbara Ransby explains what a tribunal is and does. @BarbaraRansby: Tribunal and congress against white supremacy and terror. Testimonies of the problems will be heard today and tomorrow will be Solutions Sunday, come back to learn more about what you can do.
Ransby: From the testimonials, we will get to put a human face to abstract ideas such as settler colonialism, white supremacy, capitalism, patriarchy and more. These are big ideas but they are real and affect millions every day. #TheFreedomSide
Ransby: Speakers include Tom Goldtooth, Angela Y. Davis, Arundhati Roy, and Raquel Willis. Tribunals have been held after Vietnam, on Indigenous land rites, on genocide. Why this tribunal against white supremacist terror?
Ransby: Because white nationalist militia are on the rise and we are in danger. Nothing can be changed until it is faced. #TheFreedomSide answers the movement song "Which Side Are You On?" which has been sung during coal miner strikes, the Civil Rights Movement, and more.
Ransby: Which side are YOU on? This is a provocative question. Will you be on the side of fear, racism, and oppression or will you be on #TheFreedomSide and fight to build a better future? #risingmajority @BarbaraRansby
Arundhati Roy is up next from India: British colonialism ended in India in 1947 and white racism was more or less removed from daily life. But instead, there was a crueler form of colonialism: the Hindu caste system.
Roy: In India, violence is rampant in the caste system. But many remain silent about the problems. This is similar to US: the nationalism, xenophobia, capitalism is violent, destructive, oppressive.
Roy: The only was to enhance our understanding of suffering is to understand the lattice work of that suffering across genders, countries, classes, landscapes. Only after we understand it will we be able to change it and fight for freedom for all. #TheFreedomSide
Raquel Willis speaks on her concerns about the terror we are experiencing in the US right now due to white supremacy. We cannot let the facts of this violence and terror go unnoticed. There are gross harms done due to colonialism and capitalism.
Willis: Bringing her whole self to these discussions as a Black, queer, trans woman from GA. These identities inform her perspectives and how she navigates the world. Honors Black trans and gender nonconforming people because they show us what can be.
Angela Y. Davis is the next juror in this tribunal. White supremacist terror is a growing national and global problem. We must make this moment matter and the tribunal is part of the process of reckoning and truth-telling.
Davis: Tribunal compels us to recognize that there are real humans at risk here. We must consider the effects of racial capitalism on the world. Names ICE detentions, police brutality, solitary confinement practices, etc. as examples.
Davis: The systems of colonialism and slavery that caused capitalism are still with us. Still define the present and future of this country and its bodies. This tribunal is necessary to document where we've been so we can figure out how to move forward.
Tom Goldtooth is now speaking: This tribunal is needed. The current rise in white supremacy, the violence, climate crisis, etc. was foreseen by Native peoples. This is the awakening of our true human nature. Capitalism wants to keep POC and others powerless and without dignity.
Goldtooth: Capitalism causes violence against Mother Earth. It is based on Eurocentric male concepts of dominion and objectification of women and Mother Earth. Militias are growing and the President only encourages them.
Goldtooth: Indigenous peoples are here once again to call out the tactics used to neutralize and delegitimize the truths told of violence and oppression.
Goldtooth: Fascism is gaining ground in the US right before our eyes. We must all step up to build the "movement of movements" to fight for justice, truth, accountability, civility, equality, and peace. #risingmajority #thefreedomside
Barbara Ransby is now in conversation with Dr. Linda Murray about COVID and capitalism. #thefreedomside #risingmajority @BarbaraRansby
Murray: Pandemics begin because of how capitalism has functioned in the world. Capitalism drives exploitation of nature and animals. This climate change really drives this and other pandemics.
Murray: Public health pros are not surprised by the increase of pandemics and have tried to prep for them. In COVID the response in the US was not what it should have been. The fact that we falsely pit the health of the economy against the health of the people is absurd.
Murray: US didn't handle it well and public health was not prepared as it could've been. 45 is a diversion from what is really going on; he has done real damage but the infrastructure wasn't prepared before his admin.
Ransby: But 45 made it much worse. Stirred up resentment, division with lies and misinformation, all for political, selfish reasons.
Murray: He is exploiting existing problems. A demagogue like him can much more easily exploit an already damaged system. Structural racism is baked into health systems in the US. Proof: POC have the worst numbers, affect the most.
Murray: The real problem is POC occupy a different place in the economy and so are forced because of circumstance to expose people to virus. Then when they get it, they are challenged with lack of access to services.
Murray: Race, gender, class exploitations set up POC and other marginalized people to the virus more than others. Murray advocates for single payer health care. This is not a radical idea. It doesn't address systemic racism or other major issues. But it is the first step.
Murray: Also need to pay attention to equitable distribution of health care, including a COVID vaccine. We will end up paying tons to big pharma for vaccines that may not even work. If we don't eliminate profit from health care, it will continue to be oppressive. #thefreedomside
Monique Verdin talks about Another Gulf which is part of the Climate Justice Alliance. anothergulf.com climatejusticealliance.org
Verdin: Describes the injustice of health issues like Cancer Alley due to climate destruction, prisons, oil spills, chemical plants, and more. While we double down on fossil fuel industry, look to Southern Louisiana which is disappearing.
Verdin: Must recognize, respect, and invest in regenerative relationships built on collaboration with earth's intelligence and her interconnected systems.
Glewna Joseph is from St Lucia and is a domestic worker in NYC. She regularly faces discrimination; her work is undervalued. She is always at risk; she is overworked and underpaid. Capitalism is a block to her dignity. #thefreedomside
Joseph: Undervaluing of domestic work is connected to racism, capitalism, and patriarchy. Working WOC are among the ones who suffer the most from the pandemic. You can't call yourself an ally and allow these human rights violations to continue.
Now Coya tells her story of eviction as a single mother. Low income renters remain sacrificial lambs. Must choose between rent & food. Rent & clothes for kids. We need to treat housing as a human right. We need social housing that is guaranteed. Working families deserve security.
Now @DrSamiSchalk is up! [I know her and didn't know she would be a part of this - yay Sami!] Dr. Schalk talks about ableism as systemic oppression. Speaks about her internalized ableism. Ableism is connected to racism, homophobia, sexism.
Schalk: Healing from trauma requires fighting back against ableism. It's been used in collusion with white supremacy throughout history. Ableist beliefs are used to justify racism, violence, and oppression.
Schalk: White supremacy relies on ableism to function and there's no way to dismantle one without the other. Must do so to care for, accept, and love the bodyminds we have right now as they are. Black disabled lives must matter too.
Now M. Adams also from Madison: Adams charges racial capitalism for violence against all Black genders. Uses her own life as evidence. Born in 53206, Adams faced poverty, unemployment, poor health, more.
Adams: The same capitalist logic of control, domination, sexism and being forced to fit inside a binary is the same one that ravages the environment, people, lands. Discusses the incarceration of her father and untimely death of her mother.
Adams: In many ways, Blackness is queer. No Black person neatly fits into the binaries. All experience misgendering. This is even more complex as a trans or gender nonconforming person. "Gendered racial capitalism has destroyed my family." #thefreedomside
Text FREEDOMSIDE to 90975 to help.
The website: therisingmajority.com
#thefreedomside #risingmajority
The website: therisingmajority.com
#thefreedomside #risingmajority
Rachel Gilmer of Dream Defenders is up now: dreamdefenders.org
Gilmer: Challenges the current state of our "democracy". Our ability to organize in the current conditions are under attack under the threat of increasing fascism and authoritarian rule. What we do now will have huge implications.
Glimer is joined by Cathy Cohen and Alex Rojas of Justice Democrats. JD helped get AOC elected. justicedemocrats.com
Rojas: AOC represents so much more that one individual. Reps the entire social justice movement. She's working to translate the fight in the streets into legislation and policy, along with Omar and others. They are new types of politician.
Cohen: There are so many issues surrounding the crisis of democracy we are presently in: voter suppression, rising white supremacy, threatening occupation, carceral state, etc. The crisis we face shapes the organizing happening now.
Cohen: We must find many ways to challenge all of this. The black radical tradition as well as new ways. But also locate this as a history and system of democracy that was always designed to fail Black and Brown communities.
Cohen: A Black queer feminist framework should help us think about the repression inherent in democracy, new ways of transformation of democracy. There are systemic ways we have to think about power in democracy so that it can better function for us all.
Cohen: A Black queer feminist framework reminds us that struggle, protests, movements, etc., especially for poor and oppressed people, are often the best tools we have in our arsenal.
Cohen: Use a Black queer feminist framework to hold elected officials accountable, to reimagine who sits at the center of our democracy, to empower people instead of police people.
Cohen: Yes, we are in a crisis but we have a history of struggle we can draw upon and while we must have an immediate response, we must reimagine a longer term vision of democracy. #risingmajority #thefreedomside
Rojas: Yes, we must balance sober assessments of the present with a hopeful outlook in the face of voter suppression and other oppressions. These are really distractions meant to scramble us, so we must stay focused and prepare for whatever happens next.
Rojas: There's a resurgence of people protesting and successes across the Midwest, even in Texas and Nebraska. Must focus on collective solidarity. We must be ruthless in our approach as we protect our values, our democracy, our families, our freedom.
Cohen: We are confronting a lot right now. We must get people to the polls now but ALSO reimagine the electoral process and change the situation so we are not back in this place in 2 and 4 years. We must think of the systems in the long run.
Cohen: We need to face voter suppression, but we also have to think about voter empowerment. Must think more broadly about a system that would empower people in the future.
Cohen talks about her work w GenForward and the outlooks of young people currently.
genforwardsurvey.com
genforwardsurvey.com
Cohen: Young people know we need systemic change and support the ideas of radical futures. The data say young people are primed to move. They want an expansive state that provides support so people can survive and thrive.
Rojas: Young people want to vote but there are so many barriers. Lots of individuals and organizations are working to get people to the polls. Need to create a narrative of hope and popularize these ideas for next gen leaders. We must plant seeds for the future.
Rojas: Not just about the importance of one party or the other but more importantly, a country that is civically engaged and that reflects the people and their values.
Cohen: Young people are energized because they hate the fascism of the current administration, not necessarily because they like the neoliberalism of Biden-Harris. Often its the local races that have more impact on people.
Cohen: People can vote locally for someone in whom they believe as opposed to against people they hate. They can see real change locally & hold real people accountable. Must hold Biden & other elected officials to their words; press them to operationalize our values and changes.
Cathy Cohen has the best line of the day so far: "Vote against Trump, organize against Biden." #thefreedomside #risingmajority @cathyjcohen
Rojas: Must promote humanity and connection with each other so people can flourish and have the lives they deserve. These administrators (45, McConnell, etc.) are the last gasp of this archaic, oppressive guard.
Cohen: This moment allows us to dismiss this division between the electoral process and movement work. Electoral arena is another we must conquer. We must bring the electoral power back to communities.
Now Lara Kiswani of the Arab Resource and Organizing Center discusses her experiences with oppression and organizing against it. She describes just naming her identity as an act of resistance. araborganizing.org
Kiswani: Palestine is used as a laboratory for experimental weaponry, crowd control tactics, etc. that are then exported and used elsewhere like the US-Mexico border.
Kiswani: Iraqi, Muslim, Palestinian, Arabic people are exploited by imperialism. They are assaulted and then unable to send help to those suffering. "We are bombed and then banned."
Boycott and divest from Israel and challenge US aid to Israel.
Boycott and divest from Israel and challenge US aid to Israel.
Pass Cariol's Law: cariolslaw.com #cariolslaw
Two Bulls: White supremacy is an individual thing but most POC experience it systematically. It's enforced by military, border patrol, police. The enforcers are innately white supremicist because of the foundation on which they were built.
Two Bulls: The Doctrine of discovery allowed people to steal land on which there were no Christians. The colonization of the land and peoples is then the template that is used then to take land and resources overseas.
Two Bulls: Military is still the mechanism to do this under the guise of democracy. Mostly it is white men who benefit from this, financially especially. They then put money in pockets of legislators to pass laws and create systems that benefit this small minority of people .
Two Bulls: Systems such as education, law, healthcare are built against us. Those few people who benefit will fight to continue to maintain their status and wealth. To truly dismantle white supremacy we must go all the way back to see what this nation was founded.
Brittany Ramos Debarros testifies as a veteran against militarism and war. Military allows sanctioned violence under the guise of keeping people safe. Soldiers are used by politicians and the people are lulled into complacency about war. #risingmajority #thefreedomside
Debarros: We are taught that bodies outside US borders are less than, that Black and Brown bodies are less than, we are taught to begrudge the poor. We're given bullets instead of books. The military industrial complex is corporate greed weaponized.
Debarros: Communities are safe when we invest in the health of communities. Militarism doesn't keep up safe. The system isn't broken, it is working as designed. Racist capitalism only invests in violence and militarism for the benefit of the few.
Keep your eyes on Portland, they are in need of help and support against the militarization and violence of police. dontshootpdx.org
#thefreedomside #risingmajority
#thefreedomside #risingmajority
Now Daylin Borrel discusses her experiences and the work of United We Dream: unitedwedream.org
#thefreedomside #risingmajority
#thefreedomside #risingmajority
Christopher Colin Reyes, senior at Miami HS and organizer with Florida Student Power Network, discusses his family's oppression by ICE, deportation, discrimination, depression. #thefreedomside #risingmajority
studentpower.us/florida/
studentpower.us/florida/
Cesar discusses the school to prison pipeline, the underfunding of schools, and the increased funding of school police forces. How mental health investment is necessary for students, not increased police presence. #risingmajority #thefreedomside
poweru.org
poweru.org
Cesar: Community engagement in use of school funding is necessary. Police don't solve problems, fully resourced schools do. Right now schools are not set up for students to succeed. #risingmajority #thefreedomside
Sevonna Brown from Black Women's Blueprint is speaking on reproductive health inequities for Black women.
blackwomensblueprint.org
#risingmajority #thefreedomside
blackwomensblueprint.org
#risingmajority #thefreedomside
Lewis: Jurors have testified and we are now putting US white supremacist systems on trial. Now will have closing statements. #risingmajority #thefreedomside
Roy: Honors the jurors and their testimonies. When heard collectively, they teach us a vital lesson. It tells us about the strength of the organizers but also how the ghosts of genocide, bigotry, slavery have not been exorcised but take up residence in people and communities.
Roy: Thinking of natural resources as only things to exploit is just an extension of the idea of stealing land and extermination the people who live on it.
Roy: It then extends across borders to colonial violence around the world, usually under the guise of spreading peace and democracy. How many Black and Brown countries have been destroyed?
Roy: The challenge for us is to understand how the testimonies fit together. The shine a light on the lattice on their experiences and suffering. They reveal the superstructure of the system that causes them.
Roy: In facing the systems, the pain and suffering can be isolating experiences and people tend to build thick walls. It can make us suspicious of empathy and help. But if young people fight alone, they will never win. That is what the system wants.
Roy: If they fight together with solidarity and understanding, they will be considered dangerous. Making connections between white supremacy and power is dangerous. This tribunal is dangerous business and we must now act quickly, cleverly, and furiously.
Willis: We have the tools together, even on the margins, to save ourselves and each other. We must be empowered and resourced to be our own saviors. We need to continue to communicate, listen, share experiences and then build solutions together.
Willis: Stories of trauma and healing are individual and personal but they are also universal. They are connected to larger systems of oppression and people are making these connections.
Willis: Some people never get the space to discuss these experiences and issues. This also keeps us from finding solutions. We need more political and personal education about these experiences. This is difficult, sacrificial work. esp when you are already on the margins.
Willis: The oppressive system forces marginalized people to continually share their stories but this work is necessary. We have heroes to look to who have shared their experience, with authenticity and vulnerability. We won't get to liberation without listening to each other.
Davis: There are lots of examples of people excusing their oppressive actions by claiming they didn't know. No one who attending this tribunal can say that again. "We are each other's harvest. We are each other's business. We are each other's magnitude and bond." - G. Brooks
Davis: If you are one who hasn't personally suffered poverty, incarceration, etc. you have now been exposed to the realities. You are now aware of the fatal intersection of transphobia and racism, for example. These are no longer abstract observations.
Davis: Many of these stories move me to tears but they are representative. They each rep hundreds of others that remain to be told. This representativeness calls upon us to make sense of them, to discover the underlying logic, the violence, repression, racism.
Tom Goldtooth: The role of countries using institutional policing has a long history. Interactions between Indigenous nations and the US police/military began in the 1860s with reservations.
Goldtooth: Police tried to impose rules outlawing suppressing traditions, government, language, etc. Incarceration of Indigenous peoples affects us all. Escalation of police violence used to delegitimize people and speaking the truth of oppression.
Goldtooth: Example of Standing Rock action. People are removed from tribal justice systems and restorative processes. Indigenous people must reestablish their own justice systems and cultural frameworks. US needs to be held accountable and not interfere in this process.
Goldtooth: Taking of land continues in policies of exploitation and requires cheap labor and extreme poverty to sustain it. Commodification of nature s contrary to traditional knowledge.
Goldtooth: Way forward requires commitment by countries and corporations and laws to prevent them from unethical practices.
Goldtooth: Dehumanization of women can be seen in MMIW. This is a remnant from racist colonialism. The role of patriarchy must be challenged inside and out. The ways women are silenced and marginalized must become a rallying cry against patriarchy.
Goldtooth: Systemic anti-Indigenism runs rampant through what is known as the US. It occurs when abuse occurs towards Indigenous people, especially when they are asserting a customary right.
Goldtooth: We are ethnically distinct but we also have a dual existence. We have a responsibility to unite. Our sovereignty doesn't come from the government, it is inherent. Respecting Indigenous and tribal sovereignty is imperative for visibility and respect.
Goldtooth: These testimonies cause us to seek out our collective, common truths so that we create a more caring and just society. The role of systemic racism cannot be ignored. It's through our diversity of resistance to a common goal that gives us hope. #thefreedomside
Goldtooth: We must understand the role of policing as a tool of oppression and silence. Restoration is powerful; be cautious of false solutions. #risingmajority #thefreedomside
Lewis: If you are exhausted by the condition of our lives, the violence enacted on our bodies, then come together. We are on an ordained path; people have faced worse, organized, and resisted. I invite you into a stance of power and resistance.
THANK YOU to all of the participants, jurors, organizers, planners, workers who put this tribunal together. It was powerful. Tomorrow is "Solutions Sunday" and discussions will be had about what we can do to fight and rise. #risingmajority #thefreedomside
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