[Pnews] Certain Days Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar 2018 — Back from the Printers!
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Tue Oct 10 11:27:59 EDT 2017
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Certain Days Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar 2018 — Back from
the Printers!
October 9, 2017
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To see thumbnails of the artwork in this year’s calendar, scroll down —
The following is this year’s statement from the CD collective:
*CERTAIN DAYS 2018: AWAKENING RESISTANCE*
This year’s theme has been a bit of a moving target. We wanted to
showcase different groups and movements who are Awakening Resistance to
the current political climate, the one brought to the fore by Trump’s
entry into office, though it clearly goes beyond that one person and has
deep roots that precede his election. When we put out our call for
submissions in March, many of us were working to understand the changes
in tone and substance of the political establishment, and to
respond—both personally and as a movement—to the increased blatancy and
viciousness of far-right attacks, as well as increased state repression.
In the intervening months, much analysis has emerged to explain this
political moment, and to help understand the history that brought us
here. On both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border, though the context
differs, organizations and campaigns have formed to fight back. But much
remains to be done.
The contributions we received for the 2018 calendar range from
confronting the far-right to building resistance inside prisons. Many
highlighted campaigns and projects began well before Trump ran for
office, underscoring the fact that this “new” political reality is
simply an outgrowth of processes that extend far back in time. In the
face of increasingly bold racism and xenophobia, people are stepping up
to challenge Islamophobia, anti-immigrant measures, and attacks on
reproductive justice. Important dialogues have opened up—or been
revitalized—on the role of antisemitism in upholding white supremacy,
and on the relationship between the far-right and the mainstream
capitalist establishment. We invite you to use this edition of Certain
Days as a tool to further these efforts. Discuss these articles with
fellow organizers. Use the calendar to fundraise for your project, or as
a conversation-starter in your community around these issues. Get in
touch with our contributors to continue the conversation.
David Gilbert’s essay below describes the landscape we find ourselves
in, and the task ahead. We encourage you to read it as a preface for the
rest of the articles.
As we work to build the calendar, Certain Days is also growing our
collective. This year, we have added the category of “supporting
member,” and welcome several people aboard in that capacity—some of whom
have already been helping to make this project possible for many years.
– the Certain Days collective: Sara Falconer, Helen Hudson, Daniel
McGowan, Amy Schwartz
– supporting members: Josh Davidson, Aric McBay, Tasha Zamudio
*The Decline of Imperialism: Dangers and Opportunities, by David
Gilbert
*
Trump’s election has set off an exciting eruption of protests; at the
same time, the challenges we face are daunting. To fully grasp the
dangers and opportunities ahead we need to look at the decline of
imperialism, which is the context for the rise of this loathsome
demagogue. Increased divisions, confusion, and strategy ip- ops within
the ruling class are further signs of decline. “Decline” does not mean
“collapse,” far from it. The convulsions of world capitalism have been
in process for 45 years and still have a ways to go. The predatory
beast, now wounded, can lash out in even more vicious ways, but that
vehemence stems from its vulnerability.
Imperialism brutally beat back the revolutionary challenges of the
1960s, globally and within the U.S. But the system failed to achieve
well-functioning stability. Indeed, since 1971 the economies of the U.S.
and other rich nations have been mired in stagnation (chronically slow
growth) and have been teetering in and out of crises. The responses
typically have entailed even greater concentration of wealth at the top
and expanding the balloon of speculative nance—temporary “solutions”
that pave the way for more severe problems in the future. We can expect
them to race even faster down this dead end road now that Trump’s
“populist” billionaires are in the driver’s seat.
In the Global South, international nance imposed a ruthless regime of
debt peonage, which they call “structural adjustment programs,” to
extract even more wealth from the wretched of the earth—wreaking
devastating damage on the peoples and environment there. At the same
time, the CIA fostered reactionary sectarian forces to undermine the
unity needed for national liberation. A range of military interventions
turned whole countries—Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, Syria,
Sudan—into killing fields of chaos and suffering. On top of the
disruptions of wars, droughts made terribly worse by global warming
threaten the lives of tens of millions of human beings with famine.
At home, imperialism has preferred to rule by keeping the majority
loyal, or at least placated, with a rising standard of living. But since
1971, what had been decades of rising wages levelled off and job
insecurity got worse. The rulers have deflected (with various ups and
downs rhetorically) white working class frustrations toward racially-
coded scapegoats: “welfare queens,” “criminals,” immigrants, Muslims.
This despicable approach has a strong foundation in a U.S. built on
white and male supremacy and on imperial expansion. Repression, both
state and extra-legal, is likely to get worse. Our movements need to be
prepared—psychologically, with support and legal networks, and by
building communities of solidarity across issues and identities.
At the same time, Trump’s more naked exposure of the obscenities of
capitalism has created wider interest in anti-racist education,
organizing, and mobilizations. The range of people under attack can be a
basis for forging unity and promoting an understanding that the problem
is the system as a whole.
Imperialism’s great strength from global exploitation is also,
potentially, its downfall in that the vast majority of people in the
world have a fundamental interest in revolutionary change. For those of
us in the Global North, critical tools for hewing a path toward unity
entail a sorely needed anti-war movement and an environmental struggle
that has a deeply global perspective. Such developments could also
provide a basis for showing at least a sector of white workers the
potential, the more viable alternative, of developing a cooperative
economy that prioritizes equality and environmental recovery, and that
learns from, as well as gives back to, the Global South and to people of
colour communities within the U.S. and Canada.
We face the fight of our lives, with the very survival of humanity and
countless other species at stake. History calls on us not only to be
creative and courageous but also to operate fully with love in our hearts.
*Some Artwork from the 2017 Certain Days Calendar:*
by Jesus Barraza
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by Serena Tang
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by Roger Peet
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by Sophia Dawson
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by EE Vera
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by Fernando Marti
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by Billie Belo
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by Marius Mason
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by UB Topia
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by Design Action Collective
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by Annie Morgan Banks and Mutope Duguma
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by Zola
--
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863.9977 https://freedomarchives.org/
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