Transforming Solidarity
Session Objective: to appreciate the interconnectedness and interdependence of justice for all while questioning the role of allyship
Our class discussion this week focused on theories of solidarity and various takes on ‘allyship’. What does it mean, to do anti-racist work? How can we support marginalised communities? How do the answers to these questions differ, depending on our various positionalities.
We also spent time in peer brainstorming to prepare for our Community Campaigns, which will be due Monday 13 December.
Review: our class slides from today and be sure to be working on your Community Campaigns!
Class Slides - 1 December.pdfAppreciate: the connection between struggles, and possibilities for meaningful allyship, through Shirien’s illustrations – which include iconic portraits of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd.
Shirien Damra is an illustrator and designer committed to using art and creativity as a tool to uplift social justice movements and campaigns, to amplify marginalised groups, to visualise that better world we’re striving for, and to heal.
Growing up in a working-class Palestinian refugee family, Shirien had a sense of what injustice and racism looked like early on. As she got older, she began learning and understanding more about how structural oppression functions and the interconnectedness between struggles of many different marginalised communities. She channeled that knowledge into actively challenging systemic oppression through years of organising and now more distinctively through illustration and design.
She is currently based in Chicago, where she was born and raised.
photo courtesy of Carla Carrasco Ocampo
