Carving out space for Kashmiris to exist authentically has been difficult. Even in the safest and most welcoming of spaces, I have found myself cornered by a community I supposedly share so much common ground with. By Shabana Shaheen Whenever I’m in South Asian spaces, I always prepare myself for the onslaught of tokenizing and...
Category: Social Justice
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Profit Over People: US Slave-like Labor and Human Trafficking Still Exist
The truth is profit-driven exploitation and trafficking of people of marginalized identities is not only state-sanctioned, it is foundational to the US. State-sanctioned labor exploitation, slavery, and human trafficking are bedrock institutions of the colonial US nation-state, to this day. The trafficking and enslavement of millions of people of African descent was abhorrently abused by...
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What Do We Do When Social Justice Language is Weaponized in the Service of our Oppressors?
Language is malleable, yes—but we cannot allow social justice language, particularly the type of language specifically invented to empower victims of abuse, to work against us, to re-silence us, again and again. [TW- Mention of sexual assault] A couple of weeks ago, when the #MeToo campaign was making its way across the social media landscape,...
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How Callout Culture Can Become Toxic
Callouts can be used to bring attention to important issues, but with any callout there needs to be context. By Mari Ramsawakh If you’re an activist or online often enough, you’re familiar with callout culture. You’ve probably called someone out yourself— in and of itself, a callout isn’t a bad thing. Sometimes when someone says...
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Companies that Employ the Formerly Incarcerated
Swap one of the current brands you buy from for one of the companies featured below. Ironically nicknamed Land of the Free, the United States is the world’s #1 jailer. The U.S. represents only five percent of the world’s population, but 25 percent of the world’s inmates are here. By the close of 2010, America...
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A Black Woman’s Labor for Harvey Victims Was Overlooked By NPR
The labor that Black women contribute to the world and to movements for Black liberation is often condensed to supporting roles, or erased altogether. NPR just ran a story about GiveDirectly, an organization that has been based in Africa since 2008 and gives money directly to those in “extreme poverty.” Now, they are coming to...
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Corporations Will Not Save Us
Support may come in various forms, but no matter what, we must remember that corporations will not save us. In the last two weeks alone, the news has been filled with nothing but tragedy. Hurricanes Harvey and Irma has wrecked havoc in Texas, Florida, and the Caribbean. Social media and mainstream publications has been littered...
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This Labor Day, Don’t Forget About Incarcerated People.
This Labor Day all activists, organizers, advocates, and progressives need to remain cognizant of the plight of the incarcerated, whose labor often is left out of the discourse. By Devyn Springer While Labor Day has become synonymous with simply being known as the long weekend filled with barbecues, cheap cocktails, and laughs with friends, it is historically much...
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Anti-Fascism: A Comprehensive User’s Guide
Below is a short user’s guide to anti-fascism that we’ve developed, based on our personal experiences in attending and disrupting white supremacist rallies. [This piece includes Anonymous contributors] As anti-racist organizers, we frequently talk with people who wonder why we who oppose fascism, white supremacy, and other forms of organized violence feel compelled to show...
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Five Ways to Redistribute Social Capital in Activist Spaces
As people who are committed to the collective liberation of the oppressed, here are some explicit ways that we can try to disrupt the flows of social capital within our QT/BIPOC activist spaces. “Social capital” is a term that’s been getting thrown around a lot these days within QT/BIPOC activist spaces. What is this term, and...