After many years and lots of sweat and tears, Lisa’s book about the power of nonviolent direct action and people power movements is hitting the shelves on September 3, 2019!   Stories range from the Pledge of Resistance in the 1980’s to Justice for Janitors, the Global Justice Movement, Common Ground Relief after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, the Gaza Freedom March, OCCUPY, the Ferguson Uprising, to Standing Rock in 2016 with much more woven through.  I included tool boxes for some simple HOW TO’s and a bit of theory as well!   To learn more about the book you can go to www.shutitdownnow.org

Hope you will buy the book and spread the word!


ura trainingUndoing Racism Austin is a collective effort by a group that includes artists, lawyers, community organizers, educators, and neighborhood activists. We are committed to Austin’s strong and equitable future by eliminating the very real and painful racial inequities in our City and in people’s lives. Undoing Racism Austin is a new initiative supported by ACT that is focused on organizing trainings with the Peoples Institute for Survival and Beyond on how we can undo racism and build a city rooted in racial equity.   November 8-10, 2013 was the first training. We’re growing fast. Learn more here: undoingracismaustin.org.

 


austin floodOn Halloween 2013 in Austin, TX, the waters of Onion Creek rose at an alarming rate.  The creek rose 23 feet in 3 hours when the flood gauge stopped working. It was a few hours later that the first 911 calls started coming in, and another hour and ½ before the police responded.   This was after the creek crested at 45 feet with almost 1000 homes flooded. 600 had major damage. Within Travis County, 5 areas where hit, with the Onion Creek Park/Yarrabee Bend area being one of the worst.   This community also happens to be very multi-racial and lower income.  Five people were killed, along with 44 horses from an Equestrian Center, dozens of goats and around 1000 chickens. Like all disasters, the recovery will take a long time. With close to 300 homes uninsured, many with children, rebuilding when you have lost everything can be overwhelming.

It is funny how things happen in one’s life. I started a Tai Chi class this September with Dr. Gu. He was the acupuncturist that helped me reclaim my body from a few years of chronic pain. So now that I am doing better I thought this could be really good for me so have jumped in. A women named Ruth supports the beginners and I learned that she lived in Onion Creek. When the floods happened, I was concerned she might have been hit, and she was, but fortunately not so bad. She can still live in her home.

Because we had a connection to a resident, we were able to get into the neighborhood to begin providing the immediate support of cleaning out homes. We began to organize together, and to make things easier we adopted the name Austin Common Ground Relief and we have been organizing ever since. ACG has been provided hot food everyday through the Thanksgiving holiday and we continue every weekend. We hosted a neighborhood party where we cooked 30 chickens, set up a free store, and had live music, a kid’s bouncy house, games and more! We gutted a number of homes and did daily distribution of food or donated supplies.  We have been doing what we can to access as much stuff as possible to re-distribute as much as possible as soon as possible. Many families continue to live in gutted homes with no gas, oven, or refrigerator. We have prioritized homes with kids, elderly and single parents.

The other day as I distributed food, a young girl in her early teens came over with her little dog.  As a car neared she was super concerned about her dog. She told me he was the only one of their 7 dogs that survived. She had been in her bed when her house flooded and is still not really able to sleep well. So many young ones had their worlds turned upside down.

Like many disasters, people want to help, and lots of money goes to Red Cross. Within a week or so after the flood, the Red Cross was gone from the area, and now without a federal disaster declared for individuals, people without insurance are in trouble. ACG is supporting the residents in organizing their neighborhood in order to support the Long Term Recovery work that lies ahead. While it is only a few isolated neighborhoods that were hard hit, many in Austin are oblivious to what has happened. ACG will do what we can to insure that justice prevails in the recovery of these communities.


rise up tx

On June 25th, Wendy Davis engaged in a filibuster to stop the ALEC-backed Republican drive to strip the people of Texas of their access to abortion and other reproductive health care.  I was in the Capitol Extension when the Republican’s third attempt to shut her down succeeded and women spread throughout the building surged toward the Senate Chambers.  We began to roar.  Over the next few minutes, history was made. The proceedings struggled to continue, stymied by the noise. Though a vote was finally taken, it was after midnight and the session was technically over.  Confusion arose, so the Republicans changed the clock to say the vote was complete by midnight and the Second Special Session was closed. This is how it goes down in Texas.

Luckily, some trusty photographers had photos of the vote and the clock and were able to prove that David Dewhurst was lying.  So the Republicans were forced to call a Third Special Session that would require hearings and action by both Houses again.

It was here that a new phase of work began. ACT initiated a meeting with close to 70 people from many groups who agreed to form an anti-racist, anti-oppressive, reproductive justice direct action initiative. Rise Up Texas was born and quickly began to organize to include those voices previously left out of the debate and to prepare for nonviolent action.

Rise Up worked hard to coordinate and collaborate with all the various forces, but found ourselves marginalized again and again. What a shame. Opportunities like this do not often arise and when they do, it is so important to pursue them. In the end it became clear that our goals were different.  The more mainstream groups saw the filibuster itself as the victory and began working to position Wendy Davis to run for Governor.  Our goals were to make sure that the Legislators and public new about the impact on poor, rural, and marginalized communities, and show that the people of Texas were not going to take this lying down but that we were rising up and fighting back.

The stories go on and on about all the hearings and testimonies, the all nighters, the great actions – shoes, drums, letters and more, singing “We’re Not Gonna Take It” as an anthem, tampon-gate, Dewhurst lying about protestors smuggling in shit, that they completely missed the chains that allowed some brave young women to lock down with painful images of the consequence of illegal abortions.  Then there was the nonviolent sit-in, dispersed brutally by police, several were tased and two were taken to the hospital, one needed for stitches in his head.  There has been no consequence yet for any of this. Despite the brutality Rise Up mobilized when the Governor prepared to sign the bill into law – we silently held the space for those who could die as a result of their actions and then we wailed and wailed so he could not sign the bill in peace.

Our work made international and national news with stories and images in major dailies and new station.  The women of Texas did not take this lying down and we are continuing to organize to turn this around.


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Community embraces RiseUp activists released from Travis County jail.

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Go to the RiseUp Texas web site

Sunday 15 September 2013
Preventing & Healing Trauma:

How to Build & Sustain Healthy Activist Communities

(Please note: this workshop is now concluded–many thanks to all supporters and attendees)

–Registration at the venue only please at 12:45pm, workshop at 1pm.
–Participation by sliding scale donation $0-$50
–Presented by the International Center for Health & Human Rights

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?
-Activists & Community Leaders
-Counselors, social workers, body workers, spiritual mentors and other healers who want to support activist communities

WHY THIS WORKSHOP?

Healthy, vibrant, functional, productive, effective communities are possible when members are aware enough to speak and act from their deepest selves and support each other to do the same. Unhealed trauma obstructs our access to clarity and compassion and ultimately undermines our work.

It is the nature of activism that workers are constantly exposed to the overwhelm that results from hearing about, witnessing or directly experiencing powerlessness in the face of brutality and ignorance. Yet, those activists who allow themselves to be supported and healed through their communities come back even stronger. They serve as an inspiration for all of us.

WHAT WILL WE LEARN?

-What is trauma? How does it work? How does it undermine our ability to work effectively?
-How do we recognize trauma in ourselves and others?
-How do we build a trauma-informed culture into our communities?
-How do we support each other to prevent and heal trauma?

Question? Email [email protected] or call Elizabeth at (512) 887-2340.

Heal-TX formed in 2013 to provide healing support to activists traumatized during and after the protests around women’s reproductive rights. We are dedicated to educating activists about the effects of trauma, providing healing support for traumatized activists and promoting healthy activist communities.

The International Center for Mental Health and Human Rights (ICMHHR) works directly with communities that have experienced the trauma and heartbreak of war, natural disaster and human rights violations to train community leaders and health care workers to implement trauma recovery programs. Their projects include work with Tibetan exiles in India and with school districts responding to the Texas wildfires of 2011.

 




EAT began in late 2000 when author and activist Starhawk and permaculture designer and master teacher Penny Livingston-Stark asked some new questions: “What can permaculturalists and activists learn from each other that would make each more effective? What skills do people need to know in order to really ‘save the planet’? How can we teach these skills in ways that ripple out to others?” Penny and Starhawk combined their many years of knowledge and created the first Earth Activist Training, held the following spring in 2001. EAT took root and flourished.

For more information, visit earthactivisttraining.org