Support Charlottesville and activists fighting racism

My Fellow Resisters,

Here are new updates and recommended actions from PAGE (Progressive Action Global Exchange) followed by inspiring reading/watching/listening suggestions from our own Kathy Sherretts (STOP, LOOK, LISTEN) 

In solidarity,
Sage
​

PAGE Update

This week, the United States president sided with white supremacists, Nazis and the KKK, when he said there was “blame on both sides” for the violence in Charlottesville last weekend. His comments make it clearer than ever that our leadership is morally abhorrent, and it’s up to all of us to do the hard work of fighting racism - both the extremist racism we saw in Charlottesville last weekend, the more subtle versions that show up in our everyday lives.
This week, we continue to support Charlottesville and activists fighting racism across the United States, and we take action to defund the hateful immigrations policies funded in Trump’s budget. You can also take some photos for the upcoming #NotTooFarAwayToCall campaign, and prepare to recruit members into your PAGE group this fall.

Priority Actions

Keep Showing Up for Charlottesville. After the events of last weekend, many have made new commitments to fighting racism and dismantling white supremacy. Below, we share some immediate actions you can take; it’s also important to think about how to integrate this work into your long-term routine.

• Support your hometown #BlackLivesMatter chapter. If you’re from the USA, a quick search on Google or Facebook should help you find your local BLM chapter. Like them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter, and thank them for the important work they are doing during this time. If possible, give directly to them; you can also give directly to BLM Charlottesville.
• Read-up. Watching the events in Charlottesville, some US Americans reacted by commenting “this is not who we are!” While the events at Charlottesville were tragic and shocking, the kind of racism on display last weekend is woven into the fabric of the USA. Read this short piece in Harper’s about the history of racism in the USA. See more resources in PAGE'S Anti-Oppression Guide; and if you're a white person who wants to learn to be ally consider signing up for Safety Pin Box.
• Write and Publicize a Statement about your group’s commitment to fighting racism and fascism. Here’s an example from the Coalition Berlin.
• Reach out to groups fighting racism and fascism in your country of residence, and look for opportunities to learn and collaborate with them.

Take action to defund hate. Trump wants to use your tax dollars to finance his anti-immigrant agenda in the government’s fiscal year 2018 budget, all while making devastating cuts to health and education. Stopping the flow of money is critical to stopping Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda, and this week, we follow the lead of Detention Watch Network to do that. It’s time to stop wasting taxpayer dollars on the abusive and deadly immigration enforcement system.

• More about the budget (learn even more here)
• Trump’s budget contains funding to hire 500 more CBP agents and 1,000 more ICE agents, continuing an extreme expansion of the deportation force which has already grown from 2,710 agents in FY 2003 to 7,995 agents in FY 2016.
• Trump’s budget massively increases immigration detention to over 51,000 people in detention every day. This means locking up the equivalent of the entire population of New Orleans over the course of a year.
• Trump’s budget seeks a whopping $1.6 billion to build more of the border wall, and another billion for military hardware and surveillance technology.
• Take Action:
• Congress can and should act as a check on Trump’s runaway deportation machine. Call on your member of Congress to say no and vote against wasting taxpayer dollars on an abusive and deadly immigration enforcement system.
• Join the social media campaign to #defundhate! Here is a social media toolkit you can share with your groups.
• Sign this MoveOn petition to defund hate.

Extra Actions:

• Start planning your #NotTooFarAwayToCall picture to help get US-Americans Abroad engaged from afar. Action Together Zurich and Americans Resisting Overseas are organizing a social media campaign called #NotTooFarAwayToCall that will launch on Sept. 6. This social media campaign will feature photos of US-Americans abroad calling their Members of Congress from locations around the world. Photos will be shared on social media with a one sentence description of the call, e.g. "Calling Senator Chris Murphy from the Great Wall of China to thank him for supporting increasing the number of overseas refugees resettled in the U.S."
• Share photos between September 6th and September 14th under the hashtag #NotTooFarAwayToCall - but start taking photos now!
• Questions? Get in touch with Alexandra Dufresne at Action Together: Zürich, CH.
• Recruit new members. This season might be a great time to find some new members to join the resistance.
• One idea: see if your local university, English-language bookstore, or American cultural center is having a fall open house, and stop by with information about us..
• This is also a great time to reach out to local organizations and activists and see if there are opportunities to collaborate later this year.

STOP, LOOK, LISTEN! by Kathy Sherretts

My vacation in the US included visits to several museums and national parks. In more than one I noticed signs reminding visitors of the federal funding that allows them to operate, and asking us to contact our elected representatives to express our support for these spaces. It's easy to forget that there are serious budget decisions coming up—and cabinet appointees who are already planning for big cuts to arts funding and exploitation of protected land. So yes, drop your reps a line; remind them that we are paying attention to their actions and their statements—and the next time you are in the states, visit an art museum, go to see a dinosaur exhibit, hike in a national park.
—Kathy Sherretts

Article:
The Guardian: White House Ends Ban on Selling Bottled Water in National Parks by Jessica Glenza
National parks will no longer be allowed to ban plastic bottled water, after Trump administration officials ended a six-year-old policy put in place to curb pollution. The policy change came after just a few months of lobbying by the International Bottled Water Association.

Article:
Washington Post: Why those Confederate soldier statues look a lot like their Union counterparts by Marc Fisher. 
Many of the South’s Silent Sentinels turn out to be identical to the statues of Union soldiers that decorate public spaces across the North, but for one detail: On the soldier’s belt buckle, the “U.S.” is replaced by a “C.S.” for “Confederate States.” 

Article:
The Medium/The Mission: This is how your Fear and Outrage are Being Sold for Profit by Tobias Rose-Stockwell
Every time you open your phone or your computer, your brain is walking onto a battleground. The weapons are the apps, news feeds, and notifications in your field of view every time you look at a screen. Your captive attention is worth billions in advertising and subscription revenue.