Root Shock

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

An invitation from Rev. Dr. Edgar Rivera Colon, reposted from his social media account.

Beloved Comrades:

These are confusing and chaotic times in the US and across the globe. Please consider coming to this class on “Confluence of Crisis: Understanding and Deploying a Root Shock- Informed Approach” directed by Mindy Fullilove, Molly Kaufman, & Bob Fullilove. These folks have been dealing with the problems of dispalcement and the consequences of structural violence over four decades. We need their wisdom and practice-based learnings more than ever.

There is a suggested scale of donations for UofO to meet the increasing demands for consolidating our community bases and broadening our resistance. But no one will be turned away for lack of funds. Please share this post widely.

I’m a board member at UofO Free People’s University and one idea we always emphasize is that all of us can things to learn and to teach. In that spirit, come and learn as well as teach with us.

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Cruelty as National Policy

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Subverting Empire1 Comment

By Will O’Brien (above, right, in DC earlier this month)

The outrages of the Trump Administration are legion, but in recent days I have been especially distressed by one aspect: the brazen cruelty coming out the of the White House.  I am not talking about the policies, which are arguably cruel in themselves, but the intentional and insistent PR campaign of using social media and other public outlets to gleefully mock and degrade immigrants. 

Not that it’s new: In March, the White House X account featured an image of a handcuffed and weeping Virginia Basora-Gonzalez, who had been violently seized on the streets by ICE agents – cartoonized in the style of Japanese Studio Ghibili animation.  In April, the White House posted a video showing men in shackles preparing to board a deportation flight – to the music accompaniment of the old pop song  “Na na hey hey (kiss him goodbye).”  The Department of Homeland Security infamously circulated the photo of “ICE Barbie” Kristi Noem at the El Salvador prison, the detainees shaved and in nothing but underwear while she flaunted her flowing hair, a tight-fitting white shirt, bounteous make-up, and a $50,000 Rolex.

This campaign of orchestrated public cruelty has reached a new level – starting with the offensive name – with Alligator Alcatraz.

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The Holy Spirit Roars

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Subverting EmpireLeave a comment

An excerpt from the Substack newsletter of Dr. Farah El-Sharif (above), a professor of Islamic history at Stanford University. Radical disciples have so much to learn from Muslims fearlessly resisting empire. Read her entire love letter to Jerusalem here.

The Holy spirit—ruh al-quddus—isn’t “moderate” in the face of tyranny. It doesn’t act “nice” with tyrants. It does not “obey” religious rulers who are more afraid of creation than they are of the Creator. Holiness does not bend to the sinister will of powerful “peacemakers” who only sow mischief in the land (Baqarah: 11). The Holy Spirit roars. The Holy Spirit fights back darkness with light. It is so imbibed in Divine love, it becomes a fearless tsunami with a tide so powerful, that it drowns both idols and demons in its wake.

Jerusalem carries herself like a “sitti”, like a wrinkly, beautiful Palestinian grandmother who was has witnessed the ongoing nakba of her people for far too long. Her eyes are lined with the kohl of sadness from witnessing far too many children gunned down and the torching down of her childhood grove’s favorite millennia-old olive tree.

The Efficacy of Protest

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By Jonny Rashid (above), re-posted from his Substack newsletter

I was one of the organizers for the Interfaith Action for Palestine protest of the CUFI convention. CUFI is a Christian Zionist lobbying group that believes that Israel needs to be restored in order for Christ to return, and God judges the Jewish people they are supposedly advocating for. It is deeply harmful eschatology and also deeply antisemitic. We were organizing for Palestine, against Christian Nationalism and Zionism, and against antisemitism.

We had many meetings, exchanged thousands of Signal messages, and held trainings in person to make sure that our protests went as seamlessly as possible. Our goal was to be organized, effective, and kept everyone as safe as possible. This weekend, hundreds of us gathered with power, enthusiasm, and confidence that we would make our voice heard.

On the evening before our protest, our team left DC proper and went to the National Harbor to do some reconnaissance. Our plan was the enter the hotel hosting the CUFI convention, sing songs, lead chants, blow horns, and drop and display banners that reminded the attendants of the conference that CUFI kills, that God doesn’t bomb children, that Christian Zionism is antisemitic, and that God loves Gaza. But when we got to the hotel, we learned that in order to enter, one needed a room key or a lanyard. We felt defeated at that prospect; it felt like months of organizing just went down the drain.

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Behind the Scenes

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Subverting Empire, Theological AnimationLeave a comment

By Tommy Airey, re-posted from his Substack newsletter. Audio version available here.

Two weeks before Donald Trump bombed Iran under false pretenses to protect an apartheid state’s right to commit genocide on Palestinians and then (true to form) tweeted “now is the time for peace,” the Waymos were burning up in Los Angeles.

Watching that scene from 2,000 miles away brought me back to a Saturday in early Spring, when my friend Sheldon and I drove to downtown LA to march with staff and faculty from UCLA demanding the protection of their international students who have publicly demanded that the university divest from occupation and genocide.

We parked and walked a dozen blocks to the corner of Broadway and Temple. On our way, we were stunned to see our first Waymo, the uber that runs on a Silicon Valley algorithm, now operating in a handful of cities. We struggled to come up with adjectives as we watched this moving car, in the middle of downtown, with no one at the wheel. 

After we drove back to Orange County and had dinner, I was cleaning the kitchen when I heard a horrible crash in front of my mom’s house. Sheldon and I ran outside to find a car up in the bushes of the front yard right across the street.

There was a human driving this car. While we were trying to figure out how he got up there in the bushes, he was revving the engine to the limit, trying to get out. We could see that he hit a parked car next door and then demolished the electric box.

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no kings, all bricks

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Art as Resistance, Subverting Empire1 Comment

By Kyle “Guante” Tran Myhre, a poet and activist cultivating a deeper engagement with social justice issues, one based in both empathy and agency. Re-posted from his website here

I don’t have time/energy right now to share very much commentary; hopefully people are aware of the news here in Minnesota. Our No Kings rally went forward, and even with authorities telling people not to gather, thousands of people showed up. I shared a poem.

Actually wrote and memorized it last week, but because it ended up being about grief, how we carry it, and what we might do with it, it felt appropriate to share today too. Full text below, for the folks who have been asking for it.

ALSO: please check out the latest post in my FREE email newsletter: What’s next? Things to do after a big march

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The ancestor on my shoulder doesn’t tell me to put the brick down, or that the weight isn’t worth it. I’m sure many of you are familiar with that… heaviness, whether guilt, or grief, or just the daily shipwreck of the news, all this information we already know:

How things are bad. How they’ve always been bad for some of us, and how shining a light on the bad thing doesn’t change it… but can be a first step. How a big march like this can be a first step, but is never a destination. How going “back to normal” is going backwards. And how desperately the cowards in power want you going backwards, want you to put that brick down, want you to focus on your job, make money—focus on your family.

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