Showing posts with label organizing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label organizing. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Dreaming of an alternative

I'm up pretty late/early however you want to look at it. I am a pretty active person when it comes to organizing within the community but after hearing Andrea Smith speak at the Living Without Borders encuentro I've been challenging myself on a whole other level. How can I build coalitions in my community, how can I turn my activism into something that I can actually get something out of. I find myself obsessing to finish the next project (marcha, conference, org) that will hopefully bring me closer to my vision of social justice only to find myself in an activist fatigue. I feel no closer but further away from what I want and it can get depressing. So how can i use what "Andy" said and live the revolution?
There was another presenter as well. She goes by the name of Flor and she challenged me on multiple levels. This mujer spoke to me about letting go of the privileges I have in the western world. She asked us (those who are documented living in the US) to visualize ourselves letting go. Would we do that in order to create this "borderless world" or this "el mundo zurdo". I feel like she was asking all the question we have been avoiding to answer, consciously or unconsciously.
I have to change the way I organize.

Monday, August 2, 2010

Action against SB1070

STOP SB1070
The picture to the right is a picture of the demonstration MEChA de UNLV did on the Las Vegas Strip on July 29, 2010. This went on along with many other actions around the nation that wanted to voice their opinion about the hateful migration laws in Arizona. The shirts spell out "STOP SB1070" and on the back of the shirts it reads "END RACISM". My group walked through the strip and stopped every five minutes to explain what SB1070 is and how it is affecting marginalized communities and further privatizing the land. These are the kind of actions that get attention in Vegas. Our group has done similar actions that get some press but are usually forgotten and doesn't reach public eyes. We made the casinos, the tourist, the workers see our message. Laws like SB1070 is what is full of hate. These are the kinds of laws that uphold and create systems of oppression.