A Critical Resistance Donor Call, December 2016
As we reflect on, organize and prepare to fight against heightened repression of our communities during a Trump administration, we look to the current global context to inform how we must act, as well as to find, bolster and create solidarity across borders.The United States government and leaders continue to position themselves in connection to paramilitary forces in the Philippines, the rise of populism and fascism in Europe, increased repression of Muslim and Arab people worldwide, the complexities of endless war in Syria and Iraq, and ongoing colonialism and genocide within the US. In order to combat these struggles, war, and political oppression, we must analyze and organize with an internationalist framework.
In this donor call, we explore what work is happening locally and nationally to challenge US imperialism and how the current political context has the potential to impact or shift these struggles.
ABOUT OUR SPEAKERS:
We enthusiastically brought together these powerful, veteran anti-imperialist organizers to infuse our conversation with internationalist energy
Charlene A. Carruthers
Charlene A. Carruthers is a Black, queer feminist community organizer and writer with over 10 years of experience in racial justice, feminist and youth leadership development movement work. She currently serves as the national director of the Black Youth Project 100 (BYP100), an activist member-led organization of Black 18-35 year olds dedicated to creating justice and freedom for all Black people. First politicized as an 18 year old while studying abroad in South Africa, her passion for developing young leaders to build capacity within marginalized communities has led her to work on immigrant rights, economic justice and civil rights campaigns nationwide.
Fahd Ahmed
Fahd came to the United States as an undocumented immigrant from Pakistan in 1991. He has been a grassroots organizer on the issues of racial profiling, immigrant justice, police accountability, and national security over the last 13 years. He is currently the Executive Director of DRUM – South Asian Organizing Center in New York City. DRUM works to mobilize and built the leadership of thousands of low-income, South Asian immigrants to lead social and policy change that impacts their own lives- from immigrant rights to education reform, civil rights, and worker’s justice. Fahd is also a Critical Resistance Community Advisor.
Katie Joaquin*
Katie is an organizer with ICHRP (International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines). Philippine-born and Philadelphia-raised, Katie became a Bay Area transplant in 2005 and has been organizing migrant women workers for over a decade. She has been a lead organizer with Filipino Advocates for Justice (FAJ) and campaign director of the California Domestic Workers Coalition Muejeres Unidas Y Activas (MUA). She worked with thousands of household workers and supporters to win the Domestic Worker Bill of Rights and is coordinating 2016 efforts to ensure that the rights won become permanent. Katie is currently fighting the violence of policing, militarization and imperialism alongside Critical Resistance in the Stop Urban Shield Coalition.
*Berna Ellorin, chairperson of BAYAN-USA, presented in Katie’s place due to illness.
Nadine Naber
Nadine is an Associate professor in Gender and Women’s Studies and Global Asian Studies and Director of the Arab American Cultural Center at University of Illinois, Chicago. Nadine’s research interests lie at the intersections of transnational feminisms; women of color and queer of color theory; de-colonizing feminisms; empire studies; critical race studies; and Middle East Studies; and Arab American Studies. Nadine is author of Arab America: Gender, Cultural Politics, and Activism (NYU Press, 2012). Based in Chicago, Nadine is active with the Arab American Action Network and Rasmea Odeh defense campaign.
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