Social justice activist

So you want to address racism, colonialism, and other forms of systemic oppression within your activist groups, community, or other social settings? And you're wondering how to do so in generative ways, in spite of the very delicate nature of this topic?

Here are four quick insights I can share with you from this research project:

  1. Learn more about the art of “calling in” and “calling out” - and the difference between the two - with veteran educator Loretta J. Ross;
  2. Explore the inspiring work of the arts/research collective Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures, and Vanessa Machado de Oliveira's deeply insightful book Hospicing Modernity;
  3. Grow new capacities to live with discomfort and uncertainty - the world is only going to get more and more complex to figure out, so let's find our peace with this, and embrace a state of maplessness instead of being adamant about being "right."
  4. Explore decolonial forms of solidarity. How could you leverage your comforts and privileges to be in solidarity with those living through high-intensity struggles, right now?

For more learning and details on the Deep Adaptation Forum Diversity and Decolonising Circle (D&D), a self-organised group addressing systemic oppression, which took part in this research with me, see this summary; you may also want to dive deeper into the work of D&D by reading Annex 5.3. And on decolonial solidarity, check out this other summary, about bringing decolonial forms of change within the online community of DAF. This 30-minute video presentation presents the gist of these ideas.

Some other resources you may want to check out: