Practicing Change. Shaping Futures.

The power of fear to hook our attention and hijack our efforts is real and dangerous. From the anti-mask movement (in response to a runaway pandemic) to anti-trans ‘feminism’ (in the aftermath of Roe), unprocessed fear and grief is not only taking over our bodies and minds, it’s compromising over our movements.

The lessons of our interdependence are coming at us fast and furiously. Collective survival depends on our ability to build strong movements of solidarity and healing. Solidarity in how we draw the connections between our movements and understand that our liberation and wellbeing are bound. And healing in how we tend to our feelings, process our fear and grieve what has been lost so that we can show up centered and skilled for the work ahead.

As we navigate a wounded past and an uncertain future, we will need the depth of our courage and the breadth of our collective. And so we’re coming together to do just that. "Practicing Change, Shaping Futures” is a collective gathering of shared practice and action to explore how to meet this moment and show up for the future that we all deserve. Join us for the 2022 CTZN Summit September 1 - 4 in Northern California.

Kerri (she/her)

1. In the wake of Dobbs, a toxic narrative is emerging that women are losing their rights is because no one knows what a woman is anymore. Get ready for the next Great Replacement Theory. [click to tweet]

2. The protests in every city rallying against police killings and racialized violence are inseparable from the economic conditions that Black communities are facing. How to fix the racial wealth gap, end plutocracy, and build Black power. [click to tweet]

3. How attacks on abortion rights and trans rights fit into a larger fascist agenda. And how our fight to protect bodily autonomy is connected. [click to tweet]

4. Transformative Justice is not just replacing the cops. It’s a completely different worldview. Ejeris Dixon and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha on reimagining how we live, work and be free. [click to tweet]

5. The world will unravel, you will not. In a world unraveling due to climate change, an environmental scientist looks to Indigenous stories of resilience. [click to tweet]

In a recent interview, Andrea Ritchie, author of Invisible No More asks “how are you going to fight patriarchy by reinforcing the power structures & gender binaries that fuel and make patriarchy possible??? HOW???” She encourages us to study the things we are fighting instead of playing into them. When we recognize how our fight is connected. we can organize collective power towards the future that we all deserve. Bodily autonomy is a human right, not a single issue.

Here’s a powerful tool to help you draw connections between our movements and fight in solidarity with trans youth towards the broader vision of collective care and dignity for all. Heres what organizers can do to support transpeople and resist attacks on gender affirming care.

• Build strong movements with unbreakable solidarity

• Shift discourse and share information

• Build practices and structures of care and defense

• Divest from criminalization, banishment and stigma

• Invest in gender self-determination through vibrant, interdependent communities. 

• Take action where ever you are.

Art by @interruptcrimm. Interrupting Criminalization is an initiative led by researchers Mariame Kaba and Andrea J. Ritchie. You can support their work by donating to the Bluestockings X Project NIA “free store” which is providing resources to people recently released from jail/prison.

We believe that practicing change and shaping futures is how we meet this moment and show up for the future that we all deserve. And that’s why it is the theme for our 2022 summit on September 1-4 in Northern California. We'll be inspired by thought leaders like Dr Jasmine Syedullah, Nicole Cardoza, Dr Sara King, Rae Leiner, Kennae Miller, Kerri Kelly and more we explore themes like unlearning cultural conditioning, the science of social justice, abolition practice, rest as resistance, possibility through magic, relational organizing and more.

CTZN SUMMIT is for those of us who think we can and need to do better for ourselves, our communities and our society. It is a place for us to gather in practice, build political muscle and harness our collective power to confront systems of oppression and create more possibilities for a future of wellbeing that works for everyone. 

Join us for a powerful gathering of shared practice and action. September 1-4, 2022 in Northern California. Financial assistance available.

None of us made it all by ourselves. We’re supposed to need help.

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