ITR presents: Shaping Change Together Call Series - Grassroots Global Justice Alliance

We step into this moment with the collective and political clarity that no matter how each day unfolds, nothing will ever be the same. Our movements, our communities, our families, our realities, and our work will undoubtedly encounter deep shifts as we redefine, reassess and reorganize in this critical moment. The COVID-19, or the Novel Coronavirus, pandemic has already brought tremendous loss and illness to many members of our global family—from China to Korea, Iran, North Africa, much of Europe, and now here across the Americas.

Read GGJ’s Full COVID19 Response Statement Here

GGJ is deeply committed to being a part of the collective response to how we navigate this new terrain and leverage our collective power toward the survival needs of our people and our movements globally.

We are in a historic moment that, through radical transformative organizing, could break the back of neoliberalism as we unite across different fronts. This is a moment where radical demands and programs have new relevance as real concrete responses within this global pandemic.

It is up to us to utilize the energy of this moment to disrupt and defeat neofacist and neoliberal agendas, take back our stories, sharpen our assessments and strategy to demand and organize for the radical changes we know are not only quite possible but absolutely critical for our survival.

Along with our sister alliances at It Takes Roots, GGJ is hosting a series of 3 calls weekly to connect with our folks, assess this political moment together, and hear more from organizations and movements globally that are responding to this crisis.

Call 3: Beyond Recover, Beyond Borders- Long-term Political Impacts and Lessons from International Social Movements

In response to the COVID19 pandemic, GGJ along with our sister alliances at It Takes Roots, hosted a series of 3 calls weekly to connect with our folks, assess this political moment together, and hear more from organizations and movements globally that are responding to this crisis.

For our third and final call in the Shaping Change Together Series, It Takes Roots collaborated with Madre and Grassroots International under the theme Beyond Recovery, Beyond Borders. This call brought together over a hundred members, partners, and friends to hear from 4 social movement activists and organizers from Brazil, Canada First Nations, South Korea, and Iran to share the shifting conditions of organizing their communities and regions are facing during this pandemic moment.

We held an energizing and fruitful conversation with the goal to

first– generate deeper understanding of global neoliberal capitalism and its function/dysfunction during this pandemic,

secondly–share diverse organizing strategies,

and lastly–build grassroots international solidarity that can advance collective struggles post pandemic.

Speakers:

Sussan Tahmasebi-FEMENA, promotes women’s rights in the Mena region, Iran
Ana Cha– Landless Workers Movements, MST Brazil
Anele Yawa– Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), South Africa
Dae-Han Song– International Strategy Center, South Korea
Priscilla Settee– Cumberland House Swampy Cree First Nations, Indigenous Environmental Network, North America

This webinar is apart of our Shaping Change Together series hosted by It Takes Roots to connect with our folks, assess this political moment together, and hear more from organizations and movements globally that are responding to this crisis. This webinar is also co-sponsored by MADRE and Grassroots International. This is fertile ground to collectively reimagine and restructure the systems of support and care for ourselves, our communities, our movements, and the economy.

Call 2: Collective Care and Healing Justice

Our hearts are full from our time together in the ‘Shaping Change Together’ calls. We are feeling the deep love and care that exists within our movements and are honored to be in struggle with you all. We will continue holding critical discussions, sharing resources and co-learning from one another, making sharp assessments and uplifting the radical demands and vision necessary to shape our collective futures in this moment.

Last week, on the Collective Care and Healing Justice call, we shared with one another how we practice collective care during our breakout group discussion and heard from frontline healers and organizers on how to support ourselves and one another through these challenging times.
We thank you for being vulnerable, we thank you for showing up, and we thank you for Shaping Change Together with us.

We are including the English and Spanish recordings of the call, the abundant resources and links that were shared by speakers and participants, and more information on how to plug into It Takes Roots alliance and movement families upcoming actions and webinars.

“ Let a million flowers bloom in this moment. The immigration crisis birthed a new wave of organizers, just how Ferguson birthed a new wave of organizing. We should look out for what beautiful creative things are blooming in this moment and what we can expect from that.” – Francisca Porchas, Resilient Strategies

Listen to the Spanish Translation HERE

Information and Resources shared by Speakers:

Francisca Porchas from Resilient Strategies

Linda Black Elk –

Thrive website – can also email holyelk@thriveunltd.com for questions or suggestions on how to work together
https://www.mniwiconiclinicandfarm.org/

Jordan (Jordi) Phillips-

Tips and Resources Shared on Call:

On strengthening our immune system from Spenta

Generative Somatics

BOLD (Black Organizing for Leadership and Dignity)

Immigrant families in crisis from MUA

RTTC Collective Care Calendar; email collectivecare@righttothecity.org to get plugged in

Teaching, Learning and Wellness Resource List– shared by Zolboo

Resource Generation’s Young People of Color with Wealth  list of resources- Hoi-Fei, APEN

Pandemic healing images and coloring pages

Asian American Feminist Antibodies (care in the time of coronavirus) [Cynthia]

Resource that AARW compiled – [Kevin Lam]

COVID-19 Resource List Initiated by Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality (AACRE) – Bay Area, CA focused

Click Here to RSVP to Register to Join the Call Series

Call 1: Opportunities for Radical and Visionary Demands

We are so humbled, thankful, and inspired from our time together on the first call of the Shaping Change Together call series. We look forward to continuing building and sharing with one another throughout the series. Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for showing up in your brilliance, in your strength, and in your revolutionary vision.

Thank you for Shaping Change with us.

Here are some highlights of what was shared by our speakers on turning crisis into collective movement action:

” This is a moment to coordinate and push together for a paradigm shift, moving from concessions to demands for long-lasting transformation.” – Cindy Wiesner, GGJ

“I believe in mutual aid, we gotta help each other out. But we are not going to “do-it-yourself” out of this. The government needs to take some action. We can’t let them off the hook, and they owe us. I’ll be damned if I’m going to let them give $50 billion to corporations and not support our communities.” – Barbara Ransby, The Rising Majority

“People shy away from universal healthcare because we are told it is impossible. But if we don’t have a practice of demanding things that seem impossible, we won’t know that they actually are possible and be ready to demand them when we need them.” – Drew ChristopherJoy, Southern Maine Workers Center

“We need to build a movement, not another non-profit. How do we not go back to what was before? We need to Dream Beyond Bars, and organize for relocation and return of our resources.” – George Galvis, CURYJ

“We are in a revival moment for anti-war movement building. Trying to make sure that what we are building is grounded in working-class, Indigenous, black, brown, queer, trans folks, disabled folks, most impacted by a system rooted in power. There is a real opportunity to build a new center of gravity. As we grow momentum for near term goals, we see them as one stepping stone in a larger field of goals to demilitarize.” – Brittany Ramos de Barros, About Face