Black, Indigenous, Muslim, Jewish, ESEA (East and South East Asian) and Trans lives matter.
So much of our current experience in Anglophone countries, Europe, the Americas and beyond, was built on value systems created to divide the non-owning, rural, oppressed and enslaved populations from coming together to challenge the ruling class.
This history, introduced to me most notably in Resmaa Menakem’s My Grandmother’s Hands, looks at how the history of violence on peasant communities, the working class and other oppressed Europeans was transferred into racial violence towards Black and indigenous people and later migrants. Menakem suggests this could be interpreted as an attempt by the oppressed and working classes to distance themselves from their own fear and histories of being exposed to violence, poverty and loss of land.
Books such as Caliban and the Witch and The Many Headed Hydra are insightful into these histories and in my opinion, useful for understanding that the behaviour of those in power has more often than not, broken agreements, sought to loot, murder, overtake food production, destroy alternative ways of living, reduce opportunities for community bonding, idle and leisure time, and of course, claim land while keeping other people fighting each other and labouring so they didn’t have to.
These systems still hold so much power today and according to Menakem, it will take us nine generations to dismantle anti-Blackness and internalised ideas of white body supremacy. It brings us to overwhelming questions such as; what can be done now, what do we need to unlearn and what do we pass on?
For anyone who hasn't already worked through it; Layla F. Saad's book "Me and White Supremacy" is brilliant and a challenging place to get face to face with our own internalised racism. It’s a great starting point for anyone curious about what white supremacy is and how it operates.
The book holds a series of exercises, which are an essential part of the process, as it forces us to switch out of a self-proclaimed 'I'm not racist' identity, and instead, challenge ourselves to find our racism within. This process has helped me to understand how these ideas do live within us, which ones we personally need to watch out for, how harm has been caused and where to go from here. A link to additional racial justice resources and readings can be found here.
For anyone based in the North of England, I’d also highly recommend the Unlearning Racism course which is offered a few times a year and accountable to the Racial Justice Network.
Palestine
With regards to extreme escalation of ongoing violence by IOF in Palestine - I uplift, echo, align and am in full solidarity with the Migrant and Anti-Racist Communities in Britain’s demand to Stop the Ethic Cleansing in Palestine and end Britain’s Colonial Complicity in crimes against Palestinian people along with their demands to call on:
* Civil society to unite in a focused campaign to end the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, and to end British state support for Israeli crimes.
* Trade unions and workers to heed the call by Palestinian trade unionists to stop and hinder the trade of arms with Israel and take concrete action against arms companies and other companies involved in implementing Israel’s brutal and illegal siege.
* Black, brown and migrant-led organisations and communities in Britain to unite in a campaign for anti-colonial justice, and create shared demands for apologies, reparations and an end to British imperialism overseas, and criminalisation at home.
And:
*That the British Government calls for an immediate ceasefire and protection of medical facilities, lifting the siege and ensuring unrestricted humanitarian access to save lives in Gaza.
* That the British Government withdraws all diplomatic, military, economic and material support to Israel as it commits crimes against the Palestinian people, and that it imposes sanctions and a two-way arms embargo on Israel.
* That the British Government takes active steps to promote the rights of Palestinians to freedom, self-determination and return, as enshrined in international law.
How to talk about Palestine at Work Resource
"How to talk about Palestine at work" is a live (growing) resource to support people-centric, thoughtful, complex conversations and brave action in the workplace as part of your Diversity, Equity, Belonging and Inclusion practices.
Raising awareness, solidarity and breaking the fear barrier around talking about geo-political issues is not easy but recent times have shown us how significant it is to carefully and courageously raise issues affecting us and our colleagues, clients and collaborators; past, present and future.
This resource centres the Palestinian experience under occupation while also highlighting the importance of being able to differentiate anti-zionism from antisemitism. While this not a conversation suitable for all workplaces, this does not mean that this work cannot be engaged with personally, or behind the scenes within leadership, people and DEIB teams. The hope is that this resource can provide a framework or process for starting to think about what that would look like and if it is suitable for your organisation or business. Antisemitism is increasing as is Islamophobia, it’s important that the disruption these harms is centred and that actions are taken to move beyond paralysis, silence or fear.
Statement on Sudan, Congo and other territories.
Coming soon.
Dreaming Movements - Pay what you feel acupuncture supporting mental health, general wellbeing the imagination and sleep.
Dreaming Movements support general wellbeing, organ detoxification, deeper sleep and mental health using the NADA protocol, a five point auricular (ear) acupuncture technique developed by a coalition of community activists including the Black Panthers and Young Lords in the South Bronx in the 1970’s whose communities were battling a heroin epidemic.
Since it’s inception, the NADA protocol has been used around the world to support people in a range of crises including war zones, cancer wards, cartel hotspots and homeless shelters.
I qualified as a NADA practitioner in 2022 after seeing this incredible film. A pay-what-you-can clinic was set up for people in June 2023. Weekly, bi-weekly and fortnightly clinics for people in social justice movements and their pods/ communities at House of Annetta in East London and Pelican House (Bethnal Green/ Cambridge Heath) has been running since then and is now resting for a few months over winter while we build our fundraiser launching in 2025.
For more details please visit our website.
If you’d like to find out more or support this work, please get in touch.
Accessible and Pay it Forward/ Mutual Aid Sessions
I pledge to always offer at least one ongoing pay it forward/ mutual aid coaching working agreement to racialised people holding intersecting marginalised identities for as long as needed.
I currently offer four reduced rates coaching sessions to people holding historically marginalised identities.
I also offer discounted consulting rates to underfunded or flat-rate organisations where possible.
Personal note
As a white-bodied bi-cultural cis-het person raised in the global north, I am very much on the non-linear journey of dismantling internalised oppression myself. Personal practices that support building solidarity and maintaining accountability practices include:
Ongoing training and development
Self-directed learning from the works of global majority leaders
Participating in politicised somatic practice groups
Accountability journaling
Project specific mentorship from anti-racist leaders where appropriate
Coaching & peer coaching
Offering direct and anonymous feedback channels to all clients
My commitment to dismantling oppression in the long-term is ultimately supported by being in community, maintaining connection to others, the land, non human beings and cycles of life, collective and multi-generational healing, imagining and world building, visioning, art, dancing, cooking, nesting and celebration.
Land acknowledgements
Coming soon.
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The above statement is evolving and will hopefully improve over time as I personally, and we collectively, continue the process of undoing harmful internalised viewpoints and embodying new ones.
If anybody has feedback or comments on anything written here please do not hesitate to contact me.
Latest update: Dec 2024