8 billion reasons

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What do you do when you political orientation has been to fight for the many, and the many just became 8 billion people? Thats right, as of yesterday, the global population hit 8 billion people. To give you some perspective, there were about 2 billion people in our grandparents time.

Many will say that 8 billion is a sign of “progress” - people are living longer, maternal mortality rates are dropping (for some), there is more/better disease prevention and treatment, more people have what they need to survive. That’s true.

But 8 billion is also becoming increasingly unsustainable. Not because population growth is bad, but because extreme inequality is. It is not the most populated nations that are putting the most stress on our planet, but less populated western nations who continue to accumulate, over-consume and exploit our shared resources. Meanwhile, the global majority (countries of the global south) face the disproportionate environmental impacts of our greed.

(Side note: while researching this I came across a plethora of ridiculous memes pondering what would be possible if 8 billion people meditated or if 8 billion people were grateful or if 8 billion people recycled. 🙄

The reality is if we don’t learn to share there will be no world for any of us. Fighting extreme inequality is the mandate of our times (check out “Only Class War Can Stop Climate Change”). We, in the western world, need to ask “what is enough” and “how can we be a part of the radical redistribution of wealth, power and resources?” and “how do we ensure everyone has what they need to survive?”.

We now have 8 billion reasons to do something different for our shared future. And I hope we do.

Kerri (she/her)

Art by @lisakongan

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1. After the midterms, more left-wing insurgents are going to the House, Bernie Sanders has two strong allies in the Senate, and progressive ballot measures passed everywhere. Election night was a good night for the (non-mainstream) Left. [click to tweet]

2. A new report shows that the world’s top 1 percent is responsible for double the emissions of the entire bottom half of the planet. The message is clear: to fight climate change, we have to fight the ruling class. [click to tweet]

3. America still can’t figure out how to memorialize the sins of our history. Clint Smith on what can we learn from Germany? [click to tweet]

4. At the heart of border-craft is the mass production and social organization of difference. There is no migrant crisis. [click to tweet]

5. To survive this pandemic and the next one, we need to recognize that we all have a stake in transforming this extractive system, and together we have the power to shut it down. So why Has the Left Deprioritized COVID? [click to tweet]

What is happening in Iran is horrific. We should be outraged and moved to act. But there is so much confusion and misinformation over what the people of Iran want. Please listen to the people of Iran. Share their voices. Follow their lead. Here are some calls to solidarity from those on the ground:

• Demand your government calls for no executions of protestors/ They are threatening to start executing protestors. Demand that their sentences are annulled.

• Demand your government shuts down the Islamic Republic of Iran’s embassy in their countries. They are actively assisting in the violation of human rights of people inside and outside of Iran.

• Demand no agreements between your government and the Islamic Regime. This includes any agreements around nuclear deals.

• Demand the expulsion of Iranian diplomats from your country.

• Demand a travel ban and freezing of assets of regime officials and diplomats.

• Insist on no foreign intervention

• Contact your local newspapers and ask them to keep covering events in Iran (and reporting accurately)

• Follow people FROM Iran for the most accurate and essential ways to show up in solidarity including @beiransvoice @raeekayassie @elicalebon

Calls to action from @raeekayassie and @beiransvoice

Art by @oliverjeffers

In the most recent midterm election, Kenneth Mejia, Los Angeles candidate for city controller, ran on a #DefundThePolice platform and not only won, but turned out more votes than any other candidate!!! The moderate gripe that #defundthepolice is not a winning strategy is simply not true. @interruptcrim offers this tool for reflection or conversation around the role of the state in abolitionist futures:

As movements to defund and divest from policing and invest in community safety expand in the wake of the 2020 Uprisings, abolitionist organizers are increasingly grappling with questions around the role of the state in abolitionist futures, including:

• What do we imagine/advocate for instead of police and policing?

• What actions and behaviors do we think should be regulated by the state? How should they be regulated - who should be involved? What should they be empowered to do?

• How do we think resources should be distributed? By whom and how?

Our answers to these questions profoundly shape our organizing objectives and strategies, and the context in which they unfold. This Discussion Tool provides room for readers to ask and explore generative questions that open up a multitude of possibilities both drawing from and moving beyond existing analyses and frameworks.

Download the guide by By @interruptingcrim

Art by @noahjodice

“Do not be dismayed by the brokenness of the world.

All things break. And all things can be mended.

Not with time, as they say, but with intention.

So go. Love intentionally, extravagantly, unconditionally.

The broken world waits in darkness for the light that is you.”

L.R. Knost

Art by Tijana Lukovic @tijanadraws

CTZNWELL is community powered and crowd-sourced. That’s how we keep it real. Please consider joining us on Patreon for as little as $2/month so that we can keep doing the work of creating content that matters for CTZNs who care.

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