On Monday, February 27th from 6pm – 9pm, at Christ Church in Cambridge (map), members of the Decolonize to Liberate Working Group will host an Occupy Boston Community Gathering. The Working Group invites the rest of Occupy Boston and members of the public to join in an ongoing discussion of how the goals and roots of the Occupy movement are related to the history of ongoing indigenous resistance to colonialism and corporate exploitation. Please join us to learn what it means to “Decolonize Occupy” and how we can better create a global movement that works for everyone.
“Unless we each decolonize our minds, and together decolonize this movement, unless we dismantle the deeply-ingrained systems of oppression that we inherited with colonialism, we risk merely creating a new version of an unjust society,” said Martin Dagoberto, a member of the working group. The Decolonize to Liberate Working Group has been hosting weekly discussion meetings since it formed and introduced one of the first proposals passed by the Occupy Boston General Assembly, the “Statement of Solidarity with Indigenous Peoples.”
Working group member Laurie Leyshon emphasized that the Community Gathering will not only provide a movement-building experience, but also present “a renewed call to action for the benefit of all people and all Life.” The gathering coincides with “#F27 Occupy the Food Supply and attendees will also have an opportunity to join in on this international day of action. Added Leyshon, “The privatization, control and manipulation of our food supply is the ultimate form of conquest. What Monsanto and the like are doing is a continuation of a long history of colonialism – the commodification of life.”
To learn more about the meaning of “decolonization,” people are encouraged to listen to a recent radio broadcast produced by Decolonize to Liberate working group member Ukumbwa Sauti: “Ancestral Continuum – Decolonization. The working group has also assembled a collection of articles and materials at decolonizeboston.org.
If you are a dedicated catalyst at Occupy Boston, a supporter, or just curious or completely new to the movement, we invite you to please join us for a unique community learning experience. This will be a great opportunity to connect, share food, words, and build. If you would like to take advantage of free child care during the event, please email decolonizeboston@gmail.com.
Occupy Boston’s Community Gatherings are held every Monday evening and are free and open to the public. The Gatherings are designed to build and strengthen the Occupy Boston community through ongoing dialogues, presentations, workshops, and facilitated conversations, in order to build a resilient, widespread and inclusive social movement.
4 Responses to “This Monday’s Community Gathering: “Decolonize our Minds, our Movement & our Food Supply””
on February 24th, 2012 at 6:00 pm #
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***Update: We have learned that we will be joined by a special guest, Ramona Peters, of the Mashpee tribe of the Wampanoag Nation. She is one of the seven traditional chief’s councilors and a member of the tribal council board.
We are honored to have Ms. Peters at our event and to facilitate this connection with the Decolonize/Occupy movement!
Awesome! One more reason to attend.
Thank you for reminding us that this IS the work of Occupy: to decolonize. This is the unifying principle. There is no freedom; there is no transformation; there is no creating anything different from what we currently have without decolonizing ourselves and our culture.