Category Archives: Abolition Of Work

One by one, red roses gently floated towards the ocean from Birchtown Bay, past the national historic site and burial ground commemorating the Black Loyalist landing in 1783.

The rose laying ceremony was part of a service of remembrance hosted by the Black Loyalist Heritage Center on Aug. 23, which was also the United Nations International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition.

This day is recognized by the United Nations for the 1791 uprising in Santo Domingo which played a pivotal role in the abolishment of the transatlantic slave trade, said Darlene Cooper, during the service. Cooper is a board member with the Black Loyalist Heritage Society.

Slavery existed in what we know as Canada for nearly three centuries. The first record we have of enslaved Africans in Canada is the sale of a young boy named Olivier, who was sold in New France in the 1600s, said Cooper.

The same ships that carried thousands of free Black Loyalists to Nova Scotia and other parts of British North America in 1783 also carried enslaved people being forcibly transported by their white Loyalist masters, she said. "By 1790, records show there were approximately 2,000 people enslaved in the Maritimes alone, said Cooper.

Even with the promise of freedom in Nova Scotia, re-enslavement was a very real fear for the Black Loyalists. One such person was Mary Postell, who had escaped her master and worked on British lines during the American revolution," said Cooper. "Before she could be brought to Nova Scotia, or another British port, her certificate of freedom was taken from her.

"She was then re-enslaved and sold multiple times before being brought to Shelburne. She tried to prove her freedom to the courts, with residents of Birchtown testifying her service to the British during the war, but it was no use. She was sold once again, this time for a hundred bushels of potatoes.

Cooper said while Canada is often associated with being the land of freedom at the end of the Underground Railroad, what has been ignored is the harsh reality that slavery existed in Canada.

"Even in the earliest days of the Underground Railroad, after the Act to Limit Slavery in Upper Canada has passed, there were still people living in situations of forced servitude and enslavement in our country," she said, explaining it would not be until Aug. 1, 1834, when the Slavery Abolition Act would come into effect across the British Empire that those enslaved were finally free.

Known as Emancipation Day, it has been celebrated by the African Canadian community for years, said Cooper, but it wasnt until this year that the Canadian House of Commons voted unanimously to recognize the day.

The Black Loyalist Heritage Center partnered with the Municipality of Shelburne to create a learning trail on the Black Loyalist heritage site trail during the month of August; taking visitors through a brief history of slavery, emancipation and the ongoing efforts to fight racial discrimination and intolerance.

Council and staff of the municipality recognize our responsibility to provide education within our organization and we support the community initiatives that will continue to establish and sustain an inclusive society and we will continue to actively seek out opportunities to learn, support and stand against racism and racial profiling in our communities, said Coun. Sherry Thorburn Irvine in her address during the service. We must continue to reflect on past wrongs and learn from them; we must seek opportunities to educate ourselves about the impacts of anti-Black racism and systemic racism in our society.

The Black Loyalist Heritage Society is committed to sharing the history and legacy of the Black Loyalists with visitors from around the world, added Cooper, who said a pivotal part of this story is the history of the transatlantic slave trade.

"We must acknowledge that slavery was part of our past and despite emancipation being achieved in 1834, people of African descent have continued to face systemic marginalization and oppression across Canada, said Copper. So, this month, this day, and every day we ask Nova Scotians Canadians and people across the world to reflect, educate and hold open discussions about our past and work toward a future that is equitable for all.

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Victims of slave trade remembered in Birchtown during special ceremony | Saltwire - SaltWire Network

In 2019, the UN General Assembly declared August 22 as the International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief to honour the victims and survivors of heinous acts who often remain forgotten. While indeed, only in the last few weeks, we have witnessed several cases of atrocities based on religion or belief, such as the attack on a Hindu temple in Bhong, the abduction of a 15-year-old Hindu girl in Tharparkar, and the attack on an Imambargah in Karachi, on the third anniversary of this day, let us pay tribute to Iqbal Masih.

Born just outside of Lahore in 1983, Iqbal belonged to a Christian family of low socioeconomic standing. At the age of four, Iqbal was forced to start working at a carpet weaving factory to pay off his familys debt. Iqbal and the other bonded children were required to work for at least 14 hours a day, six days a week in a small hot room as the windows could not be opened to protect the wool. If the children talked back to the guards, ran away, or were sick, they were punished with severe beatings, being chained to their loom, extended periods of isolation in a dark closet, and being hung upside down.

Six years went by and Iqbal was still working at the carpet factory as the interest on his familys loan kept increasing every day. Iqbal had realised by then that his debt would not be paid off anytime soon. One day, Iqbal heard about a meeting of the Bonded Labour Liberation Front (BLLF) which was working to help children like Iqbal who had been sold into bonded labour. After work, Iqbal snuck away to attend the meeting and learned that the Pakistani government had outlawed all forms of forced labour in 1992 and cancelled all outstanding loans to these employers. This news that he has a chance at freedom brought hope into his life and he rushed to the police station to report his employer. But the police brought him back to the factory to collect a finders fee for returning escaped children. However, Iqbal managed to escape again and this time he ran to a BLLF school in Lahore. Finally able to access education, Iqbal promised himself that he would become a lawyer so that he could help others like him. At the school, Iqbal participated in multiple demonstrations against bonded child labour and also helped free over three thousand children from factories just like the one he worked at.

However, Iqbals growing popularity meant that he received numerous death threats from the carpet mafia. He was fatally shot while visiting his family for Easter on April 16, 1995.

In Pakistan, any form of bonded or forced labour is illegal under the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act 1992 and the Employment of Children Act 1991 prohibits the employment of anyone under the age of sixteen. However, according to a report by Al-Jazeera, almost 70 percent of bonded labourers in Pakistan are children. These children often inherit their parents debts and become bonded themselves. Additionally, because they are forced to work all day, they dont have access to education, repeating the cycle of violence. Moreover, a 2016 study by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination notes that the practice of bonded labour disproportionately affects Dalit Hindus in Pakistan and debt-forgiving is often used as a tool to forcefully convert them to Islam.

It is important to remember that while many of us celebrated Pakistans Independence Day with zeal and passion earlier this week, our enthusiasm should not end there. While non-discriminatory laws do exist, they are often not effective, and while various civil society organisations are working to prevent acts of violence, it is every individuals responsibility to strive for equality every day.

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Remembering Iqbal Masih - The Nation

Estia Health achieved a respectable 94% bed occupancy outside of COVID-19 hit Victoria, yet made just $1 million profit before the one off top-up of Federal Government temporary funding and grants of $21 million.

The $612 million revenue Sydney-based provider revealed in its 2021 annual report how hard running aged care facilities is with COVID-19 lockdowns, insipid Government funding increases and expensive workforce strategies.

To put this in perspective, the $1 million profit is after 12 months provision of services by 7,900 employees and assets of 6,224 beds across 69 facilities.

With the $21 million Government money it reported a profit after tax of $16 million for the year ended 30 June 2021, which included an asset sale of $9.5 million.

11 of Estia Healths 27 homes in Victoria experienced COVID-19 outbreaks, with 110 residents testing positive and 36 dying from the virus. There was around 9,800 work weeks of sick and/or quarantine leave during the financial year, which equates to 208 staff. Estia Health said the COVID-19 outbreak cost them $24.3 million.

A bright spot for Estia Health was its net RAD balance, which increased to $863.9 million, with net inflows of $30.6 million during the 2021 year.

However, the Federal Government is reviewing the role of the $33 billion Refundable Accommodation Deposits (RAD) scheme, which only clouds the future for an operator like Estia.

Estia Health said what many boards in the sector are well aware of: older lower quality assets do not perform as well as new homes. The Aged Care Financing Authority estimates 25% of homes in the sector are old, poor quality and requiring significant investment.

Estia commented: Quality homes achieve good results: the Groups new homes which opened in the last four years all perform at near full occupancy. Blakehurst opened 21 February 2021 and at 20 August 2021 was 71.4% occupied.

Its 110-bed facility at Southport, Queensland, opened in May 2018, was at 100% occupancy at 20 August and the Maroochydore, Queensland, facility which opened in August 2019, was 99.2% occupancy at 20 August 2021.

Estia Health believes it will benefit from the abolition of the Aged Care Approvals Round (ACAR) to a system where residential care places will be allocated directly to care recipients from 1 July 2024.

The abolition of ACAR removes anti-competitive supply constraints and opens up all areas with attractive demographics and poor quality of existing competitor supply, it said.

The business, whose share price is still below its value of five years ago, is looking to spend $65 to $80 million on new capital after allocating $49 million in the 2021 financial year and $80.6 million in 2020.

It has a Greenfield site at Mount Barker, South Australia, with an existing pipeline of 339 licenced beds at three new sites already held. It is at an advanced stage of expanding its facility at Burton, South Australia, and Toorak Garden, South Australia.

It is also significantly refurbishing nine homes with 787 beds and looking to similar work with eight others.

At this stage, it is too early to make any statements or guidance about the consequences or impacts on the FY22 financial performance, said CEO Ian Thorley.

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Resilient Estia Health achieves 94% bed occupancy but makes just $1M in FY21 - The Weekly SOURCE

Mr. Kalyan Singh the twice ex Chief Minister of UP and later Governor of Rajasthan breathed his last on Saturday 21st August 2021. Since then rich tributes have been paid to him by BJP cabal. He was its OBC face. He will be remembered for his tenure when under his watch Babri mosque was demolished. He was the chief minister of UP and in a meeting of National Integration Council; (incidentally this body is not revived during BJP rule), promised that the mosque will be protected. He also gave a written affidavit to the Courts that all will be done by the state to protect the mosque. When the demolition began, he instructed the police forces to take it easy when the Kar Sevaks were on rampage and from stage Advani, Joshi and Uma bharati were giving speeches.

Later he was sentenced to one day jail for contempt of the Court and he wore it as a badge of honor and many coined the word Hindu Hriday Samrat for him. He proudly said that in the cause of Lord Ram he is willing to do anything and he has no regrets.

While BJP for long time had an upper caste image, it was the likes of Kalyan Singh, Uma Bharati and Vinay Katiyar who brought in OBC component within it. Kalyan Singh was the major leader who had contacts not only with Lodh community but other non-Yadav OBCs like Bind, Mallah, Kumbhars, Kashyaps and Kurmis to name a few. While he was in BJP most of the time; at the crucial time of 2014 General elections he played a crucial role and evolved Kalyan Singh formula of incorporating the Non Yadav OBCs in BJP-RSS scheme of things, giving rich dividends to the electoral results in favor of BJP. He was trained in RSS shakhas and was picked up by Nanaji Deshmukh and later Lal Krishna Advani for bigger political role.

His major journey began with Ram Rath Yatras, which became more intense after the Mandal Commission report was implemented. As RSS worker he was opposed to this report. For electoral reasons RSS Combine did not want to appear to be opposing it. He met RSS Sah Sarkaryavah Bhaurao deoras and Mr. Deoras told him the RSS thinking on the matter. Deoras told him The more intense Ram Temple movementgetsthe lesser would be the implications of Mandal Report implementation. The same was famously articulated by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who said, They brought Mandal: so we had to bring Kamandal.

That was the first response of RSS combine to give a message to its upper caste voter base that yes, we are opposed to reservations, but we are doing it subtly and more effectively through Ram Rath yatras and Ram Temple campaign. The agenda of RSS is visible as anti minority one, but surely that is just the superficial part of the whole. Its core is also to retain the birth based hierarchies of caste and gender. Its birth was also in the backdrop of education for women on one hand and beginning of dalit movement on the other. We recall that Jyotirao Phule began his campaign for education of dalits, encouraging them to escape the land slavery and to go to cities to become workers. The Non Brahmin movement in Vidarbha area was inspired by the teachings of Phule and then Ambedkar. This movement was against the landlord Brahmin hegemony.

This is where the likes of Hedgewar began this organization glorifying the past of pristine Hindu society. The second Sarsanghchalak Golwalkar upheld the teachings of Manu which are in short the manual for caste and gender hierarchy. RSS first consolidated itself through the vast network of Swayameevaks- Pracharaks indoctrinated in the ideology which upholds these hierarchies. There were many great things in the past, many writers are correctly highlighting that but they keep mum about the plight of women and dalits. For them the values of equality put forward by Lord Gautam Buddha or the teachings of Bhakti saints are a small footnote on the great Hindu civilization.

RSS is very dynamic and the language of Golwalkar cannot be spoken today while retaining its core teaching of hierarchical society. The idea is to achieve Hindu unity while keeping internal inequality intact. So at theoretical level all castes are presented to be as equal and strength of Hindu society. While these castes do require affirmative action for marching for substantial equality, that is something which is an anathema for Hindu nationalist politics. So there are multiple strategies to co-opt these communities in the grand scheme of Hindu nationalist society. This is through social work, Seva and promoting Hindu-ness, Hindu sentiment.

These communities dalits and OBCs have been the major arena where the swayamsevaks and pracharaks of RSS combine have been working. Many sociologists think that RSS is changing as its work in these communities is attracting them towards this organization. No doubt the type of work and strategies among these communities has yielded rich dividends at electoral level; in 2019 elections Congress could garner 15% of OBC votes while BJP bagged 44%.

The core reason of the success of this Combine lies in appropriating marginalized and subaltern identities. This appropriation is given anti Muslim or anti Christian slant depending on the area of their work. Acts of abolition of reservations whenever the opportunity comes is very much there. While Ambedkar was talking of caste annihilation the organizations like Samajik Samrasta Manch are talking of harmony between castes, as they are where they are.

Even Narnedra Modi has taken advantage of his birth in an OBC family while his politics is totally the one of Hindu nationalism. The likes of Kalyan Singh and Uma Bharati added the crucial aspect of giving a political space to some OBC communities within the umbrella of Hindu nationalism. Identifying these marginalized communities and working among them with their agenda is the dominant aspect of their work today. What Kalyan Singh began has been supplemented by the grass root work of giving them respectable identity (not rights or affirmative policies), and that is the strength of BJP and company.

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Kalyan Singh, RSS and OBC Politics - The Siasat Daily

A major part of the Animal Agriculture Alliances work to safeguard the future of animal agriculture and its value to society is monitoring animal rights activist organizations. While animal rights proponents make up an incredibly small percentage of our population, they are aggressive, strategic and unfortunately can be effective at making consumers hesitant about the animal agriculture community based on misinformation about animal welfare, sustainability and other key topics. We believe its important to keep an eye on the activist movement so we can inform everyone in animal agriculture about what tactics might be coming next and how we can respond and, more importantly, be proactive.

Once again, most animal rights activist conferences have been held virtually this year due to concerns with COVID-19. Weve compiled reports for our members from several major conferences, including PETAs Not Your Usual Animal Rights Conference, the Rancher Advocacy Projects Summit and the Farmed Animal Conference E-Summit, all held this summer. As has become tradition on this blog, Id like to share some of the most remarkable quotes from these conferences to help demonstrate just what all of us in animal agriculture are up against.

Tactics/strategies We need to go toe-to-toe with big ag.

One tactic we use is to buy stock so we can submit shareholder resolutions and attend annual meetings. This helps us get a foot in the door because companies hate it when we speak at their yearly pep rallies. Even the mere threat of attending such meetings has opened doors.

I believe that the animal rights movements would be decades behind where we are right now, if there werent these undercover videos, these images of animals in pain those images are what get people to pay attention and see that theres a problem.

Push the envelope wherever we are to confront what is destroying our planet.

Personification of animals [Fish] are not just alive. They have lives. Theyre not just biology. They have biographies.

We grew up being told that animals are not people. Well, animals are not humans in the same way that you could say a woman is not a man.

We must challenge the ridiculous notion of human supremacy. All we are is different, and the differences never, ever justify the prejudice.

Im not interested in peoples feelings. Im not interested in people all that much. I want one thing: to create a world where animals live their own lives according to their own will.

Need to eliminate all animal agriculture We are opposed to any exploitation of animals. Not just bigger cages, no cages. Not just less domination but no dominating. Not just making sure they are anesthetized before being killed for a shoe or a steak but not being killed for either.

Theres always going to be this effort to do the wrong thing a little bit better. The sad part is our government is subsidizing those efforts while killing legislation that would provide grants to transition to plant-based agriculture.

[Animal agriculture is] the big target were going after in our own way.

Every morsel of meat we eat is slapping the tear-stained face of a hungry child.

The only humane choice is vegan.

Theres simply no such thing as humane meat, dairy and egg production. Dont be misled by quaint farm names and claims.

Animal rights as a social justice issue When you buy from animal agriculture, youre supporting environmental racism.

[Speciesism is] every bit as unjust as racism, sexism and any other ism.

This is not just about animal rights. Its also about human wrongs. Animal rights is now the greatest social justice issue since the abolition of slavery.

These quotes may have you feeling pretty frustrated. I encourage you to channel that frustration into setting the record straight about animal agriculture and making sure these voices are not the loudest ones that our consumers and customers are hearing from, as well as upping your farm security game. The Alliance has many resources available to help you in both efforts.

More from Farm Journal's PORK:

When Events Return, So Will Protests

Nutrition: The Next Activist Battleground?

Things Animal Rights Activists Say: 2020 Edition

Get Ready to Step Up Sustainability Efforts This Year

More:

Things Animal Rights Activists Say: 2021 Edition | Pork Business - Pork Magazine

Image source: Skip Dickstein / BetMakers

The introduction of fixed odds betting for horse racing in New Jersey presents the industry with an opportunity to change the game BetMakers COO Jake HensonEventually, I believe more states will follow in the footsteps of Garden.

Talking to SBC Americas, Henson outlined the benefits of being able to offer both fixed odds and parimutuel betting and how this presents a new way to engage with bettors.

SBC Americas: Fixed odds betting in New Jersey has been locked in. How did this happen?

JH: BetMakers interest in the US market has existed even before the successful abolition of PASPA, but the recent wave of legalization of sports betting in the United States and the clear desire for sports betting with fixed odds in non-gaming states It provided a great opportunity to actively pursue. Fixed odds for betting on horse racing.

We at BetMakers are complementary products to fixed odds betting and parimutuel (or tote) betting, and in other markets such as Australia, by introducing fixed odds betting into the race with parimutuel. I know that I can make a positive profit.

The legalization of fixed odds betting on racing in New Jersey, known for its game innovation, will eventually trigger the legalization of fixed odds in other states, the first truly game-changing opportunity the industry has seen over the years. I believe in presenting.

SBC Americas: Can you outline some of the key benefits that the introduction of fixed odds betting brings to the industry?

JH: With the introduction of fixed odds as a complementary product, the racing industry can open up new revenue streams and get the product in front of a larger audience. Unlike other forms of games that have no organic connection to sports, fixed odds betting takes advantage of the large investment the industry has made in racing. As a result, stakeholders in all industries, including jockeys, operators, regulators and consumers, benefit from the growing interest in sports and the positive revenue outcomes it can drive.

By offering both tote and fixed odds betting, racing enthusiasts will have access to new options and alternative pricing models that allow betting to be diversified within the sport of racing.

In addition, the strong consumer interest in sports betting in the United States, combined with the wide availability of racing around the world and the wide daily schedule of events, positions racing as an attractive alternative to other betting sports. It also helps to attract new fans.

Finally, fixed odds market betting operators and racing authorities have access to monitoring and reporting tools that help ensure transparency and integrity. Bringing these tools to the tote betting market provides regulators, consumers and other stakeholders with a way to build and maintain confidence in the industrys products.

SBC Americas: Do you think it can coexist with parimutuel betting?

JH: absolutely. BetMakers sees fixed odds and tote betting products as a complement, and the recent acquisition of one of the worlds leading parimutuel technology providers is a testament to its belief.

Licensed operators offer both tote and fixed odds betting through an integrated system and take advantage of BetMakers fixed odds and tote solutions, extensive coverage, and well-established operations to implement effective programs. increase.

Consumers enjoy seamless presentations of both products across betting devices and digital platforms, creating a rich and engaging experience in handicap, betting and racing.

Thoth offers a choice for winning and place / show betting consumers, but accommodates a large audience of exotic bettors such as Trifectus, who can return large payments with small spending. In the United States, exotics are estimated to account for about 70% of tote betting. Both options allow bettors to combine winning and place / show betting fixed odds options while betting on the popular exotic parimutuel pool.

For example, many Australian fixed-odd panthers play exotic on totes, making bet types such as Trifectus, Kinella, Exastus, Quadrella and Trio very popular.

Operators will find new markets for racing products in the rapidly evolving global betting market while offering consumers new betting products.

From a regulatory perspective, fixed odds bets can sit side by side with Thoth within the current monitoring framework supported by BetMakers integrity and reporting tools.

SBC Americas: And finally, how can BetMakers technology help both operators and regulators to successfully deploy fixed odds bets?

JH: Having completed the acquisition of the new Global Tote division, BetMakers has the unique qualifications to bring a new unified model to the race.

BetMakers is currently all the leading technology providers needed for licensed operators to provide a seamless and integrated horse racing betting experience. This includes tote services, retail terminals, digital platforms, race day controls, fixed odds systems, data and trading solutions, integrity and reporting systems.

Our data, technology and trading solutions ideally position BetMaker as a leader in transforming the US racing environment through innovation and investment. It integrates the new Global Tote Platform with its existing enterprise platform to provide US clients with a wide range of data, content, and betting feeds currently available to BetMakers customers.

We are also investing in new technologies for the US market, including new bespoke terminal lines and new web and mobile betting platforms.

Especially in the emerging US market, we bring clients around the world a wealth of experience implementing turnkey fixed odds betting solutions. We work with our partners to outsource new services, educate and inform staff and consumers, deploy devices and online betting platforms, and implement appropriate integrity monitoring and reporting tools.

New Jersey Law Changes the Game That Causes a Transforming Growth Stage for Betting on Horse Racing Nationwide

Source link New Jersey Law Changes the Game That Causes a Transforming Growth Stage for Betting on Horse Racing Nationwide

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New Jersey Law "Changes the Game" That Causes a Transforming Growth Stage for Betting on Horse Racing Nationwide - Floridanewstimes.com

Many of the worlds leading universities were established using money generated via the slave trade and, as such, should get more involved in the reparations process.

That view was shared by Vice Chancellor of The University of the West Indies (UWI), Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, as he addressed the fourth annual celebration of the UNESCO Day for Remembering the Atlantic Slave Trade and its Abolition, put on by the Mayor of Londons office in the United Kingdom.

Speaking during the session, which for the second year was partially held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sir Hilary said: While some universities, such as the University of London, have been doing more research into the history of the slave trade, they seem to have adopted a research and run policy, whereby they do not acknowledge the fact that slave traders financed them in the first place. They have not checked out how they have benefited from the slave trade over the years and to my mind, a university cannot be excellent if it is unethical. Instead of research and run, they should have a research and restore or research and repay approach.

The noted historian commended British benefactor, Bridget Freeman, whose ancestors were slave owners in the Caribbean, for making a substantial donation to The UWI recently.

The UK philanthropist has bequeathed her properties worth US$500,000 (BDS$1 million) to the regional university.

It is good to see members of civil society and some private individuals making an effort, even though governments continue to refuse to acknowledge their role in the slave trade, he said.

Earlier, Sir Hilary stated that London was the most fitting place to hold such an event, since that city, more than any other in the world, gave direction, shape, form and sustainability to slavery and the slave trade. He added that it was also important to see that the Mayor of Londons office was involved in the activity, since for many years it supported the work of the slave traders and indeed built monuments to them.

Citing an example, Sir Hilary noted: Following the 1816 Bussa rebellion in Barbados, Colonel Codd, the British military officer that put an end to that revolt, killing thousands of enslaved Africans in the process, was the guest of honour at a banquet hosted by the Mayor of London, funded by the city as well as the biggest slave owner in the Caribbean who had plantations in Barbados, Jamaica and other colonies.

The current Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, who spoke before Sir Hilary, said the reality of slavery was still very much present in modern society.

He noted: While we must never forget the oppression and tyranny imposed on the slaves and their battle for freedom, history can also be a source of hope. After all, we put an end to the Middle Passage and the apartheid system of racial segregation in South Africa, so if we continue to raise our voices instead of staying silent, and fight for what is right, we can achieve a fairer, more equal and just society for our children regardless of their colour.

In her contribution, Director General of Social and Human Sciences with UNESCO, Gabriela Ramos, said her organisation is making a determined effort to stamp out institutionalised racism.

We are developing an anti-racism road map, and part of this process includes doing greater research on the history of slavery as well as the psychological impact on people descended from slaves. Part of this will involve developing a school curriculum highlighting Africas great contribution to the world and removing stereotypical images, she said.(DH)

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Sir Hilary: International universities have role to play in reparations - Barbados Today

BIDEN YOU COWARD FIGHT FOR US, the sign blared. A few hundred members of the Sunrise Movement had gathered near the White House late last month to protest the Biden administrations proposed compromise with Republicans on infrastructure legislation, jettisoning most of the climate provisions from an already inadequate bill. Speeches were made, songs sung; many Sunrisers sat down in the road before being dragged away by the police.

For long-time observers, these scenes have become a familiar sight. Such tactics are Sunrises bread and butter. The organization focuses on direct action and coordinating national media blitzes, most famously their late 2018 sit-in at Nancy Pelosis office. Actions like these use multiday trainings which erupt in carefully calibrated protests meant to ignite moral conflict between climate action heroes and fossil fuel villains, move public opinion, and recruit more members into the organization. By tying climate action to economic security and racial justice, Sunrise believes the Green New Deals message can call a multiracial, working-class climate coalition into being.

This strategy has yielded dividends. Since 2018, Sunrise has effectively popularized and refocused public discourse around the Green New Deal (GND). While the GND is demonized by conservative media and shunned by centrist Democrats, many of its core policies receive majority support among the public. The other plank of Sunrises efforts mobilizing a small army of volunteers to knock doors and make calls for progressive local and Congressional races has contributed to a rising crop of new electeds loyal to GND-style messaging and legislation.

Yet Sunrises tactical repertoire is running up against hard limits. In contrast to the generous and relatively favorable media coverage the group received early on, attention to Sunrise direct actions has waned. Multiday marches through California and the Gulf Coast in May and June, for example, received little to no media coverage. The June 28 action earned some attention, but the reception by journalists, commentators, and on social media was mixed. Many observers criticized the action for targeting Biden instead of Congress, which presents more serious obstacles to significant climate spending.

The blogosphere pounced, accusing Sunrisers of engaging in pageantry that stands no chance of improving, and perhaps could damage, the prospects for meaningful climate action. While some of the criticisms offered ring hollow contra Matt Yglesias, who argues Sunrises only accomplishment is fooling gullible journalists, Sunrise has moved latent public opinion and moved climate change onto the political agenda it is true that despite their best efforts, Sunrise and its allies seem powerless to stop the watering down of climate legislation at the hands of Joe Manchin and company.

A number of warning signs have emerged over the past year that American politics is moving in quite a different direction than the vision of multiracial populism which anchors Sunrises long-term strategy. Voters of color shifted away from the Democratic Party in 2020, compounding the issues presented by the long-standing departure of white working-class Democrats. The decline of trade unions, the black church, and other mass organizations means most Americans have no personal experience participating in politics beyond casting an occasional ballot, or even organized social life more generally.

Right-wing attacks on state capacity, police brutality, and mass incarceration have convinced many Americans that the government is necessarily incompetent at best and malevolent at worst, undermining the public faith in the state required for any Green New Deal project. Meanwhile, the relatively affluent, college-educated segment of the Democratic Party base seems wholly uninterested in any but the most modest demands of social movements like Black Lives Matter. While the Bernie campaign showed that there is a significant hunger for social-democratic politics, it wasnt enough to push Sanders to victory, and workers across the country are not engaged in significant amounts of organizing and class struggle on the job.

This is the moment we find ourselves in. What kind of political shift can Sunrisers and other Green New Dealers actually effect in the next ten years? And how do we navigate the political terrains current openings and constraints to accomplish it?

In the case of Sunrise, we offer a simple diagnosis. While Sunrise has significant potential, it stands at a remove from the vast majority of people the organization wishes to mobilize. Sunrise is socially dis-embedded from American society. In order to succeed, Sunrise must develop an ideological analysis that clarifies what the group wants and why its strategy will accomplish it; penetrate a much broader cross section of the population beyond its largely affluent, highly educated, and metropolitan membership; and focus on developing a mass base of support at local levels.

Our analysis draws from dozens of interviews with Sunrise members across the country over the past six months, as well as our combined twenty years of experience studying and organizing within the American climate movement. Our critique is meant to be constructive and friendly: we hope that it meaningfully contributes to the conversation on the direction of Sunrise and the collective Green New Deal project.

In order to understand why Sunrise has stalled, we first have to ask a basic question: What is Sunrises ideology? The organization sends mixed signals.

Early on, the organization self-described as [looking] neither left nor right, but forward. In the years since, Sunrise has become more comfortable affiliating itself with left-wing ideas and groups, and frequently critiques capitalism on social media. Still, the guiding principles for Sunrises agenda to stop climate change and create millions of good jobs in the process and fight for the liberation of all people are so broad as to include many incompatible political commitments.

For example, a Green New Deal could mean nationalization or buyout of the nations energy system, or a series of federal investments that encourage further private sector participation. Collective liberation per one definition could mean grants, contracts, and discounted loans to minority-owned businesses, or the abolition of privately owned corporations and natural resources, prisons, and police. With a stated ideology this broad, its difficult to assess what compromises are worth making, or how to measure success.

We dont believe Sunrise and the GND have to be an explicitly socialist project, but we do believe that a deeper ideology would clarify the direction of the policy battles that Sunrise prioritizes. The organizations list of legislative priorities this year is nearly two dozen items long, yet its not clear how Sunrise assigns these relative weight, or why.

The Civilian Climate Corps might make sense from an organizing perspective, but, from our interviews, this hasnt been communicated effectively to Sunrises members, making buy-in more difficult. And this is just at the national level: there are always strategic dilemmas regarding GND-inspired policies to lead with or support at the state and local levels, which would be easier to navigate if Sunrises ideal policy aims were defined.

For example, earlier this year, Sunrise New Haven faced a choice about whether to fight for more local government stimulus-sourced investment in GND projects, higher taxation of carbon-greedy mansions at the state level, a greater contribution by company town overlord Yale University to the city budget (in order to build rapport with local unions and other progressive groups), or to prevent the construction of a new pipeline elsewhere in the state. The local hub put some effort into a few of each of these battles but didnt have the ideological depth to prioritize a particular goal and has fallen back on doing whatever people in the room (largely untrained) are most energized about.

The result has been the fragmentation of energy across different projects, decreasing the probability that any will be successful, in addition to taking too much time to decide on every subsequent project.

More generally, Sunrise has been criticized for bringing in a hodgepodge of left causes ranging from Palestinian liberation to policing into its messaging and programming, leading to a sense that the group lacks direction and coherence. While many of these critiques are made in bad faith by those who do not support such causes, they raise a useful question: How should limited time and resources be allocated, given Sunrises largely correct but wide-ranging political commitments on a variety of issues? The choice may not be easy without a more clearly defined ideology.

Ideology is useful not just because it articulates a political vision, but because it provides an idea of how the world presently works and, by extension, how we might successfully intervene in it. The concepts that Sunrise typically deploys to describe this part of its ideology people power and political power, for instance are too abstract to be useful. Why and when are the people powerful?

After all, many social movements with both majority public support and an intense core of activists fall short (like the Arab Spring or recent protests in Hong Kong), while others with minority support succeed (like the Civil Rights Movement). Even those movements which get a taste of political power are often unable to effectively use the state to achieve their goals, as shown by left-populist Syrizas capitulation to the austerity-minded European Union in 2011, as well as countless socialist governments in the Global South constrained by economic sanctions and capital flight.

For insight into these questions, we can turn to the organizing model behind Sunrise: Momentum.

Momentum is a self-described training institute and movement incubator influenced by nonviolent resistance thinkers and practitioners such as Gene Sharp, Erica Chenoweth, and Mark and Paul Engler. Momentum attempts to use tactics from myriad twentieth- and early twenty-first-century social movements the Civil Rights Movement, the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, the Indian independence movement, Occupy Wall Street and synthesize them into a single model.

That model consists of a virtuous cycle of tactics: first, a small group of activists stage a series of (often theatrical) protests, hoping to attract media coverage and thus public attention. The protests will involve a polarizing demand that provokes a sense of crisis, forcing onlookers to feel like they have to take a side. Those that favor the protests will then join the movement, replicating its tactics, symbols, and slogans at mass scale with minimum coordination, like Black Lives Matter.

Finally, those who enter the movement are absorbed into a preplanned organizational structure which allows for the staging of increasingly large and dramatic protests which recruit even larger numbers, and in turn enable mass acts of non-cooperation. The cycle of protest, absorption, and training continues until it results in victory.

What victory entails depends on the movement in question and this is precisely the problem. In its attempt to provide a universal template for left-leaning activists in the twenty-first century, Momentum raises more questions than it answers. Do the social movements they aim to replicate really have anything in common?

Each succeeded or failed under very different historical conditions, with their own ideas and goals. The underlying theories of change expressed by these movements often conflict significantly with each other.

For example, while Mahatma Gandhi embraced an absolutist course of nonviolence going so far as to forbid cursing or insulting political opponents Nelson Mandela came to embrace tactics such as bombing campaigns and guerrilla warfare, arguing they were indispensable for compelling the apartheid regime to negotiate with the African National Congress (ANC).

Whats more, these men and the tactics they symbolically represent do not exhaust the full repertoire of tactics used by the movements they belonged to: the Indian Independence movement, for instance, involved riots, sabotage, and mass strikes, which Gandhi abhorred but to which many historians attribute the movements ultimate success.

The differences between movements extend well beyond tactics. For much of its apartheid-era history, many ANC leaders embraced Marxism and maintained warm relations with the Soviet Union and Cuba, a development that leaders of the anti-Soviet color revolutions in Europe (also cited approvingly by Momentum) would surely detest.

While the great campaigns of the Civil Rights Movement were orchestrated by a constellation of groups exercising organizational discipline, a class of publicly known leaders, and a recruitment model deeply rooted in traditional institutions such as the black church, labor unions, and social clubs, Occupy Wall Street eschewed a leadership cadre, embraced participatory democracy, and relied on social media networks for quick mobilization.

These movements attempted to reach different populations at different times for different purposes. Even if it wanted to, Occupy couldnt draw upon the social base that was available to civil rights organizers in mid-century American South. Nor could the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) use the internet.

Ideology that served some movements well failed others. Mandelas embrace of guerrilla tactics after the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre was motivated in part by a disillusionment with the Gandhian brand of nonviolence, which had seemingly delivered independence from the British thirteen years earlier and inspired ANC partisans to adopt a similar strategy. Revolutionary Marxism-Leninism delivered the Bolsheviks victory in 1910s feudal Russia, but not so much the Weather Underground in mid-to-late century America.

Gilded Age populism and WWII-style Keynesianism with a green twist have both been advanced as ideas that would make climate policy more popular, but polling shows these are among the least compelling pitches for the GND to the American public. Left parties pursuing Third Way neoliberal politics saw tremendous electoral success in the 1990s, yet now in many countries are struggling to maintain political relevance.

These instances of variation are understandable: each successful movement, in both its tactics and messaging, astutely captured and articulated the realities of its own time and place in a way that resonated for that moment. Having an ideology outfitted for its unique historical context was critical to each movements successes. In its ambition to be objective-neutral and ideologically agnostic, the Momentum model overlooks this critical insight.

Even if twentieth-century social movements did succeed for the same reasons, do they necessarily apply to the contemporary climate movement? Of the myriad movements Momentum draws upon, perhaps the most influential is Otpor, which ended the rule of Slobodan Miloevi in Serbia at the turn of the twenty-first century. But deposing a dictator is quite a different task than equitably decarbonizing a national economy something that, it should be noted, has never been accomplished anywhere and a theory of change that applies equally to both is unlikely to be useful.

What ideological orientation might resonate for our time and place, retaining the interest and commitment of new members long after the exhilaration of initial success has worn off? What sort of noncooperation might be necessary to win a Green New Deal, whenever we decide it might be?

Sunrise has yet to fill in the gaps. For example, a youth strike of some kind to demand climate change action is now frequently entertained in Sunrise circles. Why is this the best tactic for America in 2021, especially when most of our youth have never heard of Sunrise, and most of those who have are not prepared to endure the legal consequences of striking?

Reasons Sunrise and adjacent climate movement leaders give for striking evoke abstract concepts such as disruptiveness that could or could not apply in any given time and place, and risk conflating a school strike with a labor strike. The Fridays for Future climate strikes of 201920, led by school children around the world, were certainly disruptive, yet so far their effort has fallen short of winning ambitious climate policy. This outcome should be enough to cast doubt on any one-size-fits-all axioms plucked from social-scientific literature.

Even as children were exempted from school for strike days and encouraged by their parents, only a fraction participated, even in the most active countries far fewer than would be needed to grind society to a halt. What strike numbers for how long a period of time are necessary to force the government into action? How can Sunrise achieve and sustain this level of strike participation, especially given the sacrifices required?

If these questions are not taken seriously, precious years may be wasted on pursuing tactics which bear little fruit. Yet answering them requires a serious analysis of American society and the specific opportunities it presently offers and, just as importantly, the ones it does not.

Perhaps Sunrises leadership has conducted such an analysis behind the scenes; however, actions like the Generation on Fire marches in California and the Gulf South make us worry that the organization is simply copy-and-pasting from the Civil Rights Movement playbook. Over the years, hundreds of left-leaning causes have attempted their own version of the Freedom Marches, or held a rally on the National Mall near the Lincoln Memorial. None have been a tenth as effective as the original.

For this reason, we call on Sunrise to turn away from the idea of a singular craft of social movements which can be distilled and applied from the past, and instead be more inventive in its analysis, tactics, messaging, and goals. Additionally, we call on Sunrises ideology-as-strategy to be less moralist and more materialist that is, cognizant of how peoples position in the economy and society affects their worldview and ability to exert power.

Momentum relies on the idea that protests drive a wedge into the publics moral conscience. But whether such protests do drive a wedge depends not only on what language is used, but also whether the audience is in a position to be receptive to any message.

This is not just the work of messaging: it is the work of organization, especially at the local level.

Sunrises organizational structure currently employs a self-defeating mix of centralization and decentralization. Despite Sunrises design as a decentralized mass movement, in practice, a national core team based in Boston and DC sends out movement directives to the four hundredplus hubs across the country. This process is anything but democratic: the hubs have no institutionalized say in the direction of strategy, which is formulated by the national team before being sent to the local hubs for implementation usually without their input, often without advance notice, and always without a vote.

The effect is a set of dynamics that work at cross-purposes: decentralized strategy implementation without much decentralized strategy development, and centralized leadership without much centralized power.

The potential benefits of centralized command such as improved coordination and organizational discipline are undermined by the fact that hubs are not actually required to follow any directives from the core. One Sunrise local leader told us, Many hubs simply formulate their own strategies on their own time and resources, because the national strategy wont work for them.

The team which produces this strategy and serves as the face of the organization nationally, meanwhile, is hyper-focused on federal politics in particular, via actions designed to grab national news media attention putting community organizing in the back seat. This focus put the GND on the national political agenda, but has stalled since. Given the difficulty of winning Congressional majorities that can pass meaningful legislation and get through the courts, keeping state and local politics in main sight is crucial for movement victories. No power can even be exerted at the federal level without local, deep-seated, organized power bases in cities, towns, congressional districts, and states.

Yet the unidirectional flow of information within Sunrise prevents the national core team from being able to meaningfully assist with local base-building. A frequent complaint in interviews was that directives from above often display a one-size-fits-all approach ill-suited to local conditions.

New organizers are left without the tools required to assess their surroundings. What is the basis of the local economy? What are the demographics and local political institutions, the civil associations and social networks? Where are the bases of political power? Sunrise trainings include a power-mapping exercise, but in our experience it focuses too much on pressuring particular individuals without explaining how to identify these individuals, why influence might flow in a particular direction, and when and how to exert pressure accordingly.

Without an ideology, its hard for local organizers to make sense of their surroundings. It also leaves them stranded when events take an unexpected turn say, an election delivers a surprise result, popular opposition to a campaign materializes out of nowhere, or an opponent (say, an employer, mayor, or presiding police captain) retaliates without warning.

The absence of movement democracy can also lead to disinvestment from a groups rank-and-file members. This has been demonstrated by Big Green groups in the US, whose budgets have grown while mass participation is minimal. Signs such as the ongoing conflict between the Sunrise Black Caucus and national leadership over the organizations funding and lack of democracy indicate that Sunrise is in danger of following this route.

Institutionalizing a more democratic national structure of decision-making similar to that of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), where elected delegates from each chapter meet to decide on nationwide strategy and goals would increase the legitimacy of national leadership, open vital channels of deliberation, and allow for hub autonomy when necessary to embed Sunrise more deeply within community life. DSAs structure isnt perfect in fact, the organization would benefit from a more binding strategy decided at the national level but democratizing Sunrise would make it more likely that local hubs accept and implement a centrally decided national strategy, improving upon coordination and cohesion overall.

The tensions between the national core and local hubs bring us to the hub model itself in particular, its pattern of recruitment. College-bound high schoolers, college students, and recent college grads in metro areas with somewhat lefty inclinations and climate anxiety are drawn to meetings by their immediate networks. These recruits are disproportionately affluent, highly educated, and likely to hail from a handful of selective high schools and universities.

Sunrise has taken some strides toward improving the groups racial diversity, but has still fallen short of substantive multiracial representation, as evidenced by repeated claims that national leadership has not engaged with Sunrise Black Caucus demands about movement strategy, structure, and funding.

While this recruitment pattern can be efficient, it presents two structural obstacles to embedding Sunrise meaningfully and durably within society writ large. First, the predominance of upwardly mobile college and high school students in Sunrises ranks means that most of its members are transients. Rather than putting down roots in the given community, they will move to a different part of the country within the next few years.

This compounds the town-gown issue endemic to most youth-centered organizing: despite living in close proximity with each other, universities and the communities who host them often maintain hostile relations. College students are among the least socially embedded members of their community, frequently resented by locals for their privileges and afforded little social authority or respect, making them less-than-ideal community organizers. Second, the reliance on peer-to-peer recruitment results in an organizational base that is demographically cloistered along lines of race, class, and education and does not reflect the local youth more broadly.

Adjacent movement groups, YDSA included, also struggle with making their membership more representative of the communities theyre trying to mobilize. A recruiting strategy that explores and maps out the social networks of youth in the local community who are not likely to be reached through traditional Sunrise peer recruitment is essential.

The Sanders presidential campaigns did this successfully in California, tapping into enthusiastic but previously neglected subpopulations such as attendees of community colleges, trade schools, and alternative high schools. We also suggest implementing more rules or at least guidelines about who can start Sunrise hubs, such as requirements about planning to stay in the region long-term, as well as recruiting beyond immediate peers.

Sunrise is unquestionably the most successful political venture the American climate movement has ever produced. The emphasis on media attention-getting stunts a textbook application of the Momentum model was perfectly suited for the pre-Biden era.

Yet as the action turns from setting the political agenda to winning and implementing policy over the long term, Sunrises existing model has clear limitations. It remains largely dis-embedded from American society, unable to form the mass organization and ideological assent required to structurally transform the economy within ten to fifteen years which we absolutely need to do to realize a livable future.

We know that activists at the center of Sunrise and adjacent climate movement orgs are already rethinking movement strategy. The task ahead is enormous. A new phase of the struggle is here. How will Sunrise and the rest of us change to win it?

Here is the original post:

What the Sunrise Movement Can Do Better - Jacobin magazine

TheatreFrozenLet it go Stephanie McKeon (Anna) and Samantha Barks (Elsa). Photograph: Julia Kennedy/Disney

The postponed Disney production finally touches down in Britain from Broadway, directed by Michael Grandage and mixing action adventure with the story of sisterly love and loyalty. Elsa and Anna will no doubt reignite the Frozen fever that surrounded the films. Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London, 27 August-3 April.

Since premiering at Birmingham Rep in 1996, Ayub Khan Dins comedy drama has sold out three London runs and been adapted for a Bafta-winning film. The story of George and Ella Khans brood negotiating life, love and identity in 1970s Salford returns to Birmingham for its 25th anniversary. Birmingham Repertory theatre, 425 September; then National Theatre, London, from 7 October.

Aleshea Harriss award-winning drama sounds full of fire and fury: avenging twins set off on a journey to California after receiving a letter from the mother they thought dead. The theatre gives viewers the option to see it on the same night as What If If Only, Caryl Churchills play, which may be just 14 minutes long but is still sure to be an event. Royal Court, London, 10 September-23 October.

Following her dynamite debut, Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner, Jasmine Lee-Jones performs her own play about a drama student who comes across a life-changing nugget of forgotten history. Set in London, it excavates the lives of two young black queer actresses and spans centuries. Soho theatre, London, 16 September-16 October.

The final novel in the celebrated Wolf Hall trilogy is adapted for the stage by its author, Hilary Mantel, and Ben Miles, who is returning to his role as Thomas Cromwell. Directed by Jeremy Herrin, the trilogy charts Cromwells sensational rise and fall in the court of Henry VIII (Nathaniel Parker). Gielgud theatre, London, 23 September-28 November.

A group of women discover their love of punk rock band the Slits inside a prison mental-health unit. Seeing the rebellious and revolutionary potential in punk, they form their own group. Written by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm, it is described as part gig, part play. Directed by Risn McBrinn, joint artistic director of Clean Break. Crucible theatre, Sheffield, 24 September16 October.

Roy Williamss audio play is delivered as a series of monologues in the aftermath of seismic events: the Brixton riots of 1981, the September 11 attacks of 2001, as well as the more recent Black Lives Matter movement, Brexit and Covid all seen through the eyes of one extended black British family in London. Part of the Sound Stage series. Pitlochry Festival theatre and Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh, Online, 24-26 September.

The lineup at the Young Vic this autumn looks little short of sensational: first, the delayed opening of Hamlet, starring Cush Jumbo. Directed by her long-time collaborator, Greg Hersov, Jumbo is to play a new kind of Hamlet with a supporting cast including Adrian Dunbar. Then comes James Grahams new political play, Best of Enemies, set against the US presidential campaign of 1968. Young Vic, London, 25 September13 November.

Imitating the Dogs adaptation of Bram Stokers vampire classic is told from the point of view of Mina, fiancee to the more central figure Joseph Harker in Stokers novel. Relocated to the London of 1965, it uses digital technologies and combines graphic novel features with live performance. Leeds Playhouse, 25 September-9 October, then touring until 13 November.

This civil rights era drama received a digital reading during lockdown as a response to the Black Lives Matter movement. Now comes a full stage revival of Katori Halls Olivier-winning play, which imagines Martin Luther King Jrs brush with a maid at a Memphis hotel, the night before his assassination in 1968. Royal Exchange theatre, Manchester, 25 September-27 October.

Ifeyinwa Fredericks exploration of mental health among young men from issues around masculinity to depression and therapy sounds searing. Directed by Philip Morris, it looks at how men can open up and show vulnerabilities in a world that often demands the opposite of them. UK tour starting at Selby Town Hall, 29 September and ending at Soho theatre, London, 8 November-4 December.

A story of climate crisis told through the lens of a young black British activist, this was conceived, written and performed by Fehinti Balogun, who recently starred in Sonia Friedmans Walden and the hit TV series I May Destroy You. It is filmed theatre along with hip-hop and spoken word performance, and is produced by Complicit in association with the Barbican. Online, SeptemberNovember.

Andrea Levys acclaimed novel, set in Jamaica during the last days of slavery and early years of freedom, is adapted by Suhayla El-Bushra. It tells the story of Miss July, born on a sugar plantation and forced apart from her mother, as well as those around her (from the formerly enslaved to plantation owners) in the unsettled early days of abolition. Chichester Festival theatre, 1-23 October.

This highly anticipated account of the life of the reggae legend, shown in the bigger political context of his time, is backed by his daughter, Cedella Marley, and glitters with talent, from Lee Hall as its writer to Clint Dyer as director and Arinz Kene as Marley. A must-see for the music alone. Lyric theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, London, 1 October-3 April.

This European premiere by the Pulitzer prize-winner Suzan-Lori Parks features a close-knit group of liberal thirtysomethings who reach a point of crisis after one of them is assaulted by the police. Directed by Polly Findlay, it addresses issues around race from both white and black perspectives, and contains renewed urgency following George Floyds murder. Bridge theatre, London, 5 October-13 November.

Last years lockdown sits at the heart of Tim Prices new play. A technophobe forms an unhealthy relationship with a virtual assistant after his daughter gives him an electronic device. Directed by Tamara Harvey, the drama explores the value of AI, and whether technology liberates or confines our lives. Theatr Clwyd, Mold, 16 October-6 November.

Behind the success story of the mega doo-wop and soul band is the lesser-known tale of the American groups manager, Faye Treadwell, who moulded them. Beverley Knight plays Treadwell and the score is stuffed full of hits. Newcastle Theatre Royal, Newcastle upon Tyne, 923 October, then at the Garrick theatre, London, 425 November.

Eddie Redmayne takes on his first West End role in 10 years, playing the Emcee opposite Jessie Buckley as Sally Bowles in Rebecca Frecknalls production of Kander and Ebbs musical. Designer Tom Scutt turns the Playhouse theatre into the debauched Kit Kat Club. Willkommen! Playhouse theatre, London, from 15 November.

The first major London revival of the Tony and Olivier-winning musical, based on Frank Wedekinds once-banned 19th-century play about censorship, freedom and adolescent anarchy, all set against an almighty score. It stars Amara Okereke and Laurie Kynaston, among others, and is directed by Rupert Goold. Almeida theatre, London, 30 November22 January.

Rosalie Craig stars in this musical inspired by the 17th-century story of Sleeping Beauty. Billed as a thrillingly dark new version of the folktale, it has a book by Tanya Ronder, music by Jim Fortune and lyrics (and direction) by Rufus Norris. National Theatre, London, 4 December-22 January.

Amstells Spirit Hole offers comedy fans their first chance since 2019 Netflix offering Set Free to see the neurotic, oversharing comic back in his natural habitat: the standup stage. Expect material on his recently turning 40, and some characteristic fretting on whether or not to have children. Margate Theatre Royal, 8 September, then touring.

Its always a highlight in the comedy calendar when Christie unleashes a new show. Information about the new one titled Who Am I?, and now touring after Covid delays is thin on the ground. But if its a patch on the occasional sets she delivered between lockdowns, it will be another must-see from an act who fuses clowning and campaigning into something absolutely unmissable. Sherman theatre, Cardiff, 18 September, then touring.

This autumn sees the highly political Dane Baptiste take to the road with Chocolate Chip so named, he says, because if you make any comments about racial or economic inequality, people say you have a chip on your shoulder. The tour was rescheduled after Covid postponement, allowing the Londoner to capitalise on the modest success of satirical 2020 BBC3 pilot Bamous. The Crescent, York, 23 September, then touring.

Canadian Mae Martins career has gone nuclear since her Edinburgh Comedy award nod for 2017 show Dope. Now, after the success of her semi-autobiographical Netflix smash Feel Good, comes its follow-up. Sap, runs the publicity, looks at the uphill battle of trying to do the right thing in a world that seems to have lost its moral compass. Ritz Manchester, 5 October, then touring.

For live comics, the Covid era has been unremittingly grim. For online comics well, things have looked a little sunnier. Stellar US sketch/character act Meg Stalter broke out in 2020 with a string of hit viral videos, followed by her well-received Netflix special, Little Miss Ohio. Excitement duly surrounds this live UK debut. Soho theatre, London, 30 November-11 December.

There are three Romeo and Juliets dancing on to the stage this autumn. The Royal Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet offer more trad versions, but this one by contemporary choreographer Rosie Kay comes with a different slant, setting Shakespeares tragedy and its rival gangs in the hot Birmingham summer of 2021. Birmingham Hippodrome, 8 September.

A new show from Matthew Bourne takes inspiration from the grimy booze-soaked novels of Patrick Hamilton, who chronicled low life in the streets of 1930s Soho. Bourne conjures up the Midnight Bell, the pub at the centre of Hamiltons 20,000 Streets Under the Sky, and the chequered lives of its denizens. Everyman theatre, Cheltenham, 9 September, then touring.

Choreographer Drew McOnie acclaimed for his work in musical theatre, including Jesus Christ Superstar and most recently Carousel makes his first major ballet. McOnie takes the myth of the wizard Merlin and turns it into a story about outsiderdom and alternative families, with adventure, romance and dragons along the way. Presented by Northern Ballet. Tour begins Nottingham Theatre Royal, 25 September.

A ride through heaven and hell (and the land in between) led by choreographer Wayne McGregor in this major new three-act ballet inspired by Dantes Divine Comedy, scored by Thomas Ads and designed by artist Tacita Dean. The first section, Inferno, premiered in LA in 2019, but its taken two years to make it all the way to paradise. Royal Opera House, London, 14-30 October.

A season celebrating 20 years of the Akram Khan Company, featuring the UK premiere of Outwitting the Devil, based on the Epic of Gilgamesh; Khans final appearances in the solo Xenos, about the experience of colonial soldiers in the first world war; and a childrens version of the same show, Chotto Xenos. Sadlers Wells, London, 23 November-4 December.

Read more here:

Hamlet, Cabaret and a fistful of Romeos: the best theatre, comedy and dance of autumn 2021 - The Guardian

This story is part of Parents Are Cool!, the third issue of Image, which explores the myriad ways in which L.A. parents practice the craft of care. See the full package here.

When Melina Abdullah mentions a forebear in the struggle for civil rights and freedom in this country, she often applies a familial honorific Mama Harriet Tubman or Mama Sojourner Truth. This feels apt, given that Abdullah, who was part of the original group that convened to form Black Lives Matter, serves as a kind of matriarch for the current movement in Los Angeles. She is frequently pictured with a microphone in hand, leading crowds in their demand for justice for a victim of police violence or for accountability from elected officials. At the start of these protests shes known to call on her ancestors for guidance and protection, extolling those gathered to claim a lineage that is broader than their own direct bloodlines.

In addition to her organizing work with BLM-LA, Abdullah is a scholar. She works across platforms the way an artist works across disciplines. Shes currently a professor and the former chair of Pan-African studies at Cal State L.A. She also hosts or cohosts three (yes, three) local radio shows: Move the Crowd and Beautiful Struggle on KPFK-FM and This Is Not a Drill on KBLA-AM. She does all of this while single-mothering three children, which is not to say that she raises them alone. In a 2012 essay on womanist mothering, Abdullah ascribes to a style of parenting that challenges the confines of the nuclear family, embracing extended familial and communal bonds, an approach that enables mothers to develop as full and complete human beings.

I caught up with Abdullah to talk about this approach, her intellectual journey and her efforts to challenge the status quo in Los Angeles.

Angela Flournoy: So Im really excited Im able to talk to you. Ive been thinking about finding a reason to speak to you for several years now, probably since I first learned about the Jackie Lacey must go rallies. One thing Im really excited to talk to you about is motherhood. Ive been thinking particularly about my own mothers work and how she described that work to me throughout her life. How do you describe the work that you do to your children?

Melina Abdullah: You know, I dont describe it to my children. Im a single mom. Me and my kids are a team. Were tight. My kids are involved in everything I do. Sometimes Ill say Im one of the original members of Black Lives Matter and theyre like, We are too. And they are they were there from the beginning. Theres not a lot of describing, theyre just present. Who I am as an organizer is also part of who we are as a family of organizers.

(Bethany Mollenkof for The Times)

AF: Thats wonderful. Not just sort of witnessing you and your activism but being a part of it. How do you think that impacts the way that you think about hope and optimism?

MA: I have a lot of hope because of the kids. The kids are much more courageous than adults are. Kids are born into the world, anything is possible. Thats the way that they talk and think. They are audacious and visionary and courageous. And theyre not invested in the system at all. It gives me tremendous faith that they can do anything. The one thing that they my oldest daughter in particular warn me about is that we have faith in them, but they dont want us to give it all to them. They dont want us to offload the movement say, You got it. They want us in the struggle too.

AF: That really seems to be sort of a central kind of tenet of the way you live your life. The concept of Ujamaa everybody in the community sort of having a part.

MA: We talk about it as having a leader-full movement, and that really comes from Mama Ella Bakers concept of groups and leadership. To be a part of the movement, to be an activist or to be an organizer, doesnt mean you have to be the one speaking on the megaphone. It means whatever your gift is, you bring that to the movement. I think its really important that we reconceptualize what movement is so that every talent and gift and resource and passion can be part of movement building. You dont have to develop skill sets that are outside of your comfort zone or interest area, you can bring your passion and thats whats most important.

AF: In the past year, it seems as if a lot of people are using phrases that I never really heard in common parlance before. One of them is the Black Radical Tradition. How would you define the Black Radical Tradition, and how has it influenced your own life?

MA: When we think about the Black Radical Tradition, we traditionally go back to the 60s. But I think that we actually want to go back further we want to go back to the moment that we were stolen from Africa. If we think about the freedom struggle from chattel slavery, Mama Harriet [Tubman] wasnt saying, Just end slavery, she was saying, Lets get to freedom. Thats the Black Radical Tradition, not just freeing ourselves from conditions but freeing ourselves from an entire system thats built on our exploitation and our un-freedom. When you talk about the anti-lynching movement, Ida B. Wells and Mary Church Terrell, they were intent not just on ending lynching but also building a world where Black people could grow and prosper. The Black Radical Tradition is abolitionist. Its about upending unjust systems. But also, theres another side. Angela Davis reminds us you have to upend unjust systems and you have to envision and build towards new ones. You have to have the vision to build towards a new world.

AF: That is a much more useful framework being accountable to that future we cant yet see.

MA: I also think that when we talk about the Black Radical Tradition, theres an urgency to it. It is thinking about future generations, but its also wanting it now. Im not talking about freedom for my children once Im dead. Im talking about freedom for my children now. Im not talking about abolishing jails, prisons and police in 50 years or 100 years. Im talking about next year.

Angela Flournoy

(Bethany Mollenkof for The Times)

AF: I want to turn toward your scholarly work which, since you have such a large presence here as an activist, people dont really talk about as much. What were some of the seminal texts that shaped you as a scholar?

MA: All of Angela Davis work, especially Women, Race & Class. Robin Kellys work. Freedom Dreams completely transformed me. When we talk about what it is to be an abolitionist and see the world you want to live in and work towards it, Freedom Dreams was really pivotal. The first book I have any student read is Black Power by Kwame Ture and Charles Hamilton. I always warn them, Do not start highlighting because the whole book will be yellow. I love Kimberl Crenshaw, Derrick Bell. My mentor, Michael Preston. He wrote the book The New Black Politics. That was really important for me. I know Im forgetting people who are really important to my work. bell hooks.

AF: Paula Giddings

MA: I love Paula Giddings. When and Where I Enter. There are texts like theory, but theres also the awakenings. Toni Morrison, Alice Walker and Octavia Butler are my three favorite authors.

Embedded in the Black Radical Tradition is the Black radical imagination. Whats in Kindred the text is Black radical imagination. What art has a capacity to do, what fiction has a capacity to do, is bypass. It doesnt start with the intellect; youre drawn in from your soul. You experience it rather than just thinking about it.

AF: Im curious about other formative experiences. How has maturing as an activist in L.A. shaped you?

MA: Ive always had a kind of radical leaning thats core to who I am. When I moved here for my PhD, I was also being groomed by the Black political establishment. I think stepping fully into who I am as a radical organizer made me realize I cant have both. I dont really want both. I think that question is being posed to a lot of Angelenos now. Like, what side are you on? I want to make sure we dont lose the moment. Because it seems as if people are being lured back into finding a comfortable place in oppression. Its important that we realize that. We always say, When we fight, we win. We need everybody in the fight.

There was a moment in 2015. We were protesting outside of Garcettis house for Ezell Ford. And I remember thinking to myself, Well, I guess youll never run for office now! I remember feeling like, thats OK. Because this is my calling. I thought about how Im a completely single mom. I have three kids who are only dependent on my salary. I do have tenure but I also know that its not foolproof. So I said, Well, what if you get fired from your job? That came up. And as quickly as I had that anxiety, God said: So what. Your mama has a couch. We need people to recognize that your mama has a couch. There are some sacrifices that are worth it.

AF: Do you think that comfortability in oppression is a particular temptation in this city? Or do you think that it is just part of being a person trying to navigate capitalism in this country?

MA: I think its everywhere. But I think its more intense here. L.A. is the place where you see everything. You see fancy things, and theyre not that far from reach, just on the other side of the freeway or whatever. If you saw a Lamborghini in Oakland, youd think about it for a year. Here, youre used to seeing celebrities. I dont really know anybody who hasnt ever been on TV. Every other person has been an extra on a show.

AF: That sort of relates to another thing. You do have celebrities who want to be involved in the movement. They know what it is to have the material comfort. How has it been working with them?

MA: Im encouraged by the way in which a lot of celebrities have engaged. Last summer, we had tons of artists at all our stuff. There are artists who are coming out because they feel pulled, but also because it becomes acceptable. There was a time, in 2013 when we were born, nobody would even say Black lives matter. They thought it was too radical to say Black lives matter. But now everybodys like, of course, were gonna say Black lives matter. There are artists who did that. Many of them also gave money. Many of them will post on their platforms. But then theres also the people who were in it before, and who continue to be in it now.

I wanted to say something else about L.A. I think that theres the glamour that, you know, is the lure into comfort. But also, I think theres tremendous potential in L.A. for mass uprising, and thats what you saw in 65 and 92. And this year. Its the reason Black Lives Matter was birthed here. Theres a tremendous potential in Los Angeles because we see the contrast constantly. So in 65, you got the Voting Rights Act passed. Now Black folks are free. But then you got Marquette Frye and his mama and his brother getting beaten in Watts by the police. In 92, you have [the popularity of] Bill Cosby, with all that comes with it, right? But then you have the beating of Rodney King, right after the murder of Latasha Harlins. So these uprisings are always just beneath the surface, because we know that that veneer is also not true.

Melina Abdullah and Angela Flournoy.

(Bethany Mollenkof for The Times)

AF: I wanted to get back to this idea of womanist mothering. Weve covered some of this already: birthing hope, birthing possibility, birthing the promise of revolution. I wonder if youll just let me read a paragraph from this essay you wrote in 2012.

In my moments of exhaustion, overwhelmed by work, home, marriage, and motherhood, I sometimes fantasize of a life of greater freedom. I imagine the world of a public intellectual, who churns out book after book each more brilliant than the last, attends lectures and workshops almost nightly, and appears regularly as a talking-head on television newscasts. I think of how I would indulge my insatiable desire to read ... staying up until the wee hours of the morning devouring each text at the moment of its release. If I werent the mother of three, my strong brown legs (toned from my nightly African dance class) would carry me across the sunlit campus of the most esteemed Historically Black University in the nation, where I was the campus star. Colleagues and students would stop and nod, admiring my meticulously coifed hair and the exquisite jewelry (that I picked up during my seventeenth trip to Ghana, where I was conducting my most recent research). I would spend my weekends running a community program for Black girls, attending concerts, practicing martial arts, and tending my garden where Id grow mangos, tomatoes and avocados ...

MA: Why does that still sound good to me?

AF: Nine years later, Im wondering if a life of greater freedom still sounds like this to you? Or if it sounds different now.

MA: So Im not married anymore. I have greater freedom because of it. After I got divorced, there was one moment when I took my kids out after school on a school night; we went to the Grove. There used to be this Mexican spot on the Farmers Market side: Lotera. They had the best quesadillas. We were there till like 9 oclock. When we got home, it was like 10 oclock on a school night. [I had one of] these moments of revelation. I was like, I get to raise my kids how I want to raise my kids. Theres nobody there to get mad. I think a lot of times like were fed this idea that thats sad. Its not; it was really great.

I have been to Ghana not 17 times but once. Ive been to South Africa. Ive been to Morocco. Ive been to all of these places. Ive had lots of experiences. I dont get nods on campus all the time. But the Black folks love me. Im not in an HBCU because Im not going to leave L.A. right now. But the beauty of it is embracing my kids as my partners. And the point of the essay was also figuring out how to bring in community and make real that African teaching of it takes a village.

I do remember the part in the essay where I talked about Alice Walker and her saying, You should have kids, but just one. More than that and youre a sitting duck. I think that when you raise your kids to be your comrades, to be your crew, you got an army. Youre not a sitting duck. If somebody comes for me, they come for us. And if somebody comes for them, they come for us.

(Bethany Mollenkof for The Times)

AF: What do you want now?

MA: Freedom for my people. But for me, I want a clean house. I havent gotten my hair done since before the pandemic. Little stuff. I love my life. Theres nothing I really want. I feel very fulfilled, like very fulfilled. The movement fulfills me, my kids fulfill me. I have great people around me who I love. I have a lot of laughter. You know? I dont really want anything for me.

Continued here:

Melina Abdullah on BLM, motherhood, and abolition - Los Angeles Times