Conscious Questions
Today our conversation circle gathered our scattered selves and sat ourselves down to talk about violence. We talked about violence in our personal lives and in our world. We talked about nature vs. nurture. We talked about violence against women and the long term effects of mass violence. We also talked about love, respect, care, healing and generations.
After, some of us watched a documentary brought to my attention by A New World in our Hearts event. The documentary is called The Interrupters (http://interrupters.kartemquin.com/), a doc about ex-gang members that work together to mediate and diffuse conflicts and decrease the amount of senseless killings of youth between gangs in Chicago. The documentary shared the story of some of the brilliant people of our time, doing transformative grass-roots work in their communities.
After this, we attended an event TAMARA BERNARD: "Decolonization of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women". Tamara and others spoke about the reality of the thousands of indigenous women who are either murdered or who go missing in this nation. They reminded us that indigenous women are murdered or go missing 5x more than other women in this nation and that the majority of these cases are cold-cases, leaving families with no answers and no justice. Women remain vulnerable and have to face a Prime Minister and a Conservative Government that claims that these cases are unique and individual, rather than a sociological phenomenon. Women continue to fight for the right to safe spaces and shelters as men continue to be incarcerated and communities continue to fight to have their basic needs met. Tamara asked us if we forgot this, or if many of us don't know this or really allow it to settle into our knowing. I think about the voices that have been shared tonight, the conversations had, the deeper calling in of my self and what it means for right now, and tomorrow. A friend and I walked home, navigating drunk students half-dressed as bunnies, celebrating "humpday", I heard.
I thought about friends who have been on strike every single day in Toronto, speaking to their communities and spreading awareness about affordable tuition, inclusion and debt. I thought about the thousands of people continuing to stand up and fight austerity in Montreal. I thought about the people standing up to speak out against bill c-51 and recognize their rights as human beings. I thought about the land defenders across this entire nation, creating blockades and using their bodies to protect the well-being of all of us. I thought about how McMaster BDS just passed, with over 600 students saying they reject Israel's on-going war crimes and demand that their University takes action to join the international BDS movement. I thought about movements across this entire earth- big and small. I thought about all of the incredibly hard-working, visionary and beautiful people I know and don't.. and I am reminded that the power of the spirit is alive and well and people are waking up, organizing and walking forward
