I am glad to see increased interest of non-native people in the work of Indigenous peoples. When non-native people would like to know how to build such relationships, they usually don't know how. One of the best ways to do that is by showing up at Indigenous-led events, such as the Spring Equinox Celebration: Hub Blessing and Land Liberation March 21st at the Great Plains Action Society' s Urban Resilience HUB on March 21.
Category: colonialism
Decolonized Peace Testimony
This is all rooted in the European colonization of this land. Thus, our Peace Testimony must be rooted in decolonization. That is why, for example, I plan to return to the Great Plains Action Society's Urban Resilience Hub in Iowa City. This decolonial work is my peace testimony today.
Economic draft and NewCO
he economic draft is the silent mechanism of Christian Colonial Capitalist Violence (CCV) that weaponizes the existential necessity of survival to compel labor for the military.
The NewCO: What, Why, and How?
The NewCO (New Conscientious Objector) framework provides a comprehensive strategic blueprint for the immediate cessation of systemic sin within the Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative) tradition. The NewCO is about a faithful response composed of three integrated pillars: LANDBACK, Mutual Aid, and Abolition.
We are called to take away the occasion of all wars and empires
Responsibility is the ability to respond to fused violence with a fused resistance. It is the understanding that we cannot peacefully coexist with a system that requires the destruction of the earth and the erasure of its people. Our task is to build a new world in the shell of the old. We are called to live 'in the virtu of that life and power that takes away the occasion of all wars-and all empires.
Why Indigenous Leadership is Essential
One of the main lessons I've learned is the necessity of having Indigenous-leadership for this work.
Spiritual condition now
We Friends opposing war should refuse any kind of military service; Friends opposing conscription should refuse to cooperate with the Selective Service System....Holding CO status "blinded us to the evil of the draft itself." 1968 Richmond Declaration on the Draft.
Two Paths to Justice
This dynamic is at work today as I try to get people to adopt the NewCO (new conscientious objector) framework for justice work. Immediately, not gradually.
Mind on Fire
This action aligns with the New Conscientious Objector (NewCO) call for material repair, specifically addressing the legacy of the Indian Boarding School system, which represented a "catastrophic moral failure" for Quakers. By supporting work related to the trauma inflicted by assimilation policies, the IYM(C) advances the Abolition pillar of the NewCO, which requires Investment in alternatives and healing to dismantle the structural violence of the colonial state.
Demolition
When Indigenous folks steward, Land heals, When matriarchal values guide, Communities thrive. When mutual aid replaces monopoly, Justice blooms. - Sikowis Nobiss