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Trying to be “normal” in a world that is collapsing is intolerable. Scrolling through instagram, my feed alternates between horrific and unimaginable images from Gaza and the anti-aging benefits of ice baths. It is a brutal paradox made worse by the likelihood that these poly-crises are culminating to a disastrous future.
I feel the dissonance in my own body. The seduction of getting distracted and buying into the familiarity, comfort and convenience that fascism is selling us.
But when I’m rooted in remembering - I can see how oppression and apathy have the same rotten root. But so does liberation and with-ness. And if we can learn to be with one another during this time and trusted in our true nature and inherent interdependence, then anything can bloom.
Angela Davis reminds us “During this coming period, our primary job will be to build community, to create community…in ays that allow us to understand that the work that we do now does matter, even if we cannot see in an immediate sense the consequences of the work we are doing. It will matter eventually.”
This week’s WELLREAD is full of really good questions. Answers, not so much. But I am learning that questions are so much more generative than answers. Questions often breed more questions, better questions, whereas answers cut us off from what lies just beyond our knowledge and limited imagination. Here are some questions that are inspiring us this week:
Bayó Akomolafe asks “What do we do about a world in peril?”
Robin G. Kelley asks “Why is colonialism not a crime against humanity?”
Hala Alyan asks “What is the task of the diasporic witness?”
Arundhati Roy asks “Does extreme suffering always kindle cruelty? What hope does this leave the human race with?”
May we living into these questions with curiosity and compassion as they reveal to us what is needed and where to go next.
Kerri she/her
NTK (need to know)
“Our chants of “Cease-fire now” should ring in every conflict zone, and the lessons of Palestine, South Africa, Namibia, Vietnam, Algeria, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, India, the former Yugoslavia, and others ought to be remembered”. Robin G Kelley on how colonialism is what got us here. [ [link removed] ]
“We do not act upon the world. We are the world in its unspeakable tensions, contradictions, experimentations, creativities, and messy alchemies. It is not left to us to save the day”. Bayo Akomolafe invites us to consider a Politics of the Third Way. [ [link removed] ]
“No amount of commentary about the cruelty, no amount of condemnation of the excesses committed by either side — and no amount of false equivalence about the scale of these atrocities — will lead to a solution”. Arundhati Roy on why we must stop this slaughter in Palestine [ [link removed] the sake of Palestine and Israel, for the sake of the living and in the name of the dead, for the sake of the hostages being held by Hamas and the Palestinians in Israel’s prisons, for the sake of all of humanity ] (for the sake of all of us).
There’s no denying the grief that permeates everyday life. It’s in the news, in our communities, and in our personal lives. The thing is - we never really talk about how much this grief connects us. Malkia Devich-Cyril on it’s ok if you’re not ok. [ [link removed] ]
The violence of modernity has cut us off from ourselves and each other. Which is why in order to win, we must feel. Reclaiming the language of sensation for times of polycrisis [ [link removed] ].
Solidarity
Art by Just Seeds
A terrifying new report [ [link removed] ] from Louisiana shows just how dangerous and disruptive the abortion ban is to pregnancy care. The report finds pregnant women have been denied timely treatment for miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies, given risky, unnecessary surgeries, and forced to wait until their life is at risk before getting an abortion. Here’s what you need to know:
VOTEPROCHOICE: Protecting abortion means electing candidates up and down the ballot who will increase access to reproductive health care, especially in states and areas where reproductive freedom is most on the line. Follow VOTEPROCHOICE [ [link removed] ] to get the latest on what’s at stake in your state.
State Ballot Initiatives: Since Dobbs, 6 states – California, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Vermont, and Ohio – have voted on abortion related constitutional amendments, and the side favoring access to abortion prevailed in every state. There are efforts underway in 13 additional states. Find out what’s happening in your state. [ [link removed] ]
Digging Deeper
Art by Dylan McGarry
I’ve spent a lot of time with this powerful article by Hala Alyan [ [link removed] ] this week on what it means to be a witness. Dylan McGarry writes: “To be witness is to be with. Wit(h)nessing is where most of us find ourselves, being present with and holding vigil. For many of us, it is within the most horrific moment for humanity to witness -to become with - in our lifetimes.” The spirit of being-with vs by-standing is more active. It says that we are both implicated and impacted by what is happening all around us. Therefore, it is not enough to be moved by it, we must move with it towards collective healing and action.
We-ness
We love this reminder from @disssgrace.
Check out this special workshop happening THIS WEEKEND for white people who are ready to reckon with white supremacy and explore what it’s going to take to heal. REGISTER HERE. [ [link removed] ]
Thanks for subscribing to WELLREAD. For the last six years we’ve been providing folks with the need to know (NTK) news, calls to actions and resources for how to stay engaged and resourced along the way. But now, we’ve added an option to “upgrade to paid” to help sustain our work. While we will never put our content behind a pay wall, we depend on the support of our community to keep us going. 💛

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