Hey John,
Depending on legislatures to save us from climate catastrophe isn’t working. After living and mutual aid-ing through the Hurricane Ida disaster here in Southeast ‘Louisiana’ (Bvlbancha) and as a 2spirit member of the United Houma Nation in Bvlbancha, I know that community care and mutual aid are what helped people the most. Considering the damage being done to poor communities of color across a multitude of sectors, this will be a powerful first donation for you to make to bring us closer to our collectivity winning. When it really comes down to it, we only have each other to depend on, we keep each other safe— something I work to constantly do for my Indigenous community.
Power must come from below, from the people, like you and me. The systems that be are not here to give us true self autonomy of our own bodies, finances, or land sovereignty, as political leaders have promised us before, time and time again.
I’m from Bvlbancha, the belly of the beast that is dying from a thousand cuts. We know that federal action isn’t coming soon, if ever, which is why we need you involved in bringing youth power at the forefront of the climate movement. Power Shift Network and the youth organizers we support are tired of the false promises and false solutions, of business as usual vaguely hidden under vigorous greenwashing, or the ongoing blatant petrochemical worship by bought-and-sold area politicians. As a Network Support Team member at PSN, I hear this every day.
We’re giving young people the reins to build power because our political system has never worked for us. Young folks are here to guide us all towards thriving in communities, like Bvlbancha, where the climate crisis is very real.
We’re ramping up to take action for Power Shift 2023 and we need the resources to build capacity to support the youth climate movement. Three new fellows will be part of our team to help lead us towards an incredibly accessible and diverse Convergence, with a jam-packed schedule of political education programming . Money is needed fast to hire these dope folks to ramp up this radical dream of ours, and I hope that you’ll help us with this need.
Love and Rage,
Ida Aronson, Network Support Team Member & Bvlbancha Collective member
