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Everything You Need to Know – How to Vote in the 2024 Elections

We envision a New South—Pro-Black, Pro-Queer, Pro-Trans, Pro-Immigrant. Electoral participation is one tool in our toolbox, a tool for shaping the terrain on which we fight so that we can build the South we envision and deserve.

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Return to City Hall! The People Will Decide the Fate of Cop City!

Last year at this time, we achieved the impossible together. People from all walks of life united to collect signatures, insisting the Atlanta City Council place Cop City on the ballot to let the people decide if Cop City should be built. Thanks to the hard work and dedication of people like you, we collected over 116,000 signatures as part of the Vote to Stop Cop City coalition. That’s more than double the number of city officials required to enact the referendum. So what happened?

One year later, the boxes full of petitions are still sitting in the clerk’s office where we left them. When we first launched this effort, Atlanta Mayor Dickens promised he wouldn’t intervene and would allow democracy to prevail. In reality, his administration has impeded our efforts at every turn, silencing the voices of thousands. They are hoping that we will forget about it and move on. Not on our watch!

On Monday, September 16, we’re calling on the people throughout the Atlanta area to join us at City Council once again to demand that our voices be heard. At any time, the mayor’s office can drop its appeal, or the Council can just pass a resolution to place it on the ballot themselves. We need to make clear that we won’t stand by as they subvert democracy right before our eyes – especially as election season approaches.

Register to come out to City Council on Monday, September 16, 2024, at 11:00 AM here.

Not Another Bomb! Kamala Harris, Pledge to Enact an Arms Embargo

We know that in order to achieve a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, the U.S. must stop arming Israel’s war and occupation against Palestinians. That’s why we are joining the call for an immediate embargo on US arms to Israel. Join us in demanding presidential candidate Kamala Harris distance herself from Biden’s disastrous policy of arming Israel’s ongoing genocide and occupation in Palestine.

Not another bomb!

Sign the petition

Already signed the petition? Check out other actions you can take, including phone banking, art builds, or attending/planning an action in your city for the Not Another Bomb Day (weekend) of Action August 16th-18th.

About the Not Another Bomb Day of Action

The Not Another Bomb Day of Action is a series of peaceful rallies and marches across the country to push the Biden-Harris administration and the Democratic Party to support an arms embargo for Israel’s war and an end to the occupation against Palestinians. Actions will take place from August 16-18, before the start of the Democratic National Convention (DNC). 

Since October 7th, Israel has launched an all out bombardment of Gaza destroying schools, hospitals, and homes. Over 40,000 people have died, including more than 15,000 children, and over 89,000 people have been injured. This is only possible because of the blank check that the US government has provided to Israel – providing them with bombs, ammunition, and political cover. 

In order to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, the U.S. must immediately stop arming Israel. This will reduce Israel’s capacity to continue to enact genocide and pressure the government to change course.

As Israel’s bombing of Gaza continues to escalate and the presidential election marches on, the movement needs to come together as a multi-racial, anti-authoritarian coalition to work together and demand: “not another bomb” and work to reshape the status quo of US foreign policy. 

The Democratic National Convention (August 19-22) is the movement’s last major opportunity before the November election to collectively push the Democratic Party away from its immoral and unpopular stance on Palestinian human rights and push forward the demand for a weapons embargo as the path to a ceasefire. We will pressure every corner for the Democratic Party from the Biden/Harris administration to Congress to DNC delegates to take a side.

The media frenzy around the DNC will provide a key intervention point, and we want to capture the spotlight for Palestine. We will take action to make the arms embargo the front-of-mind demand from the movement. 

At the same time, we also know that a Trump presidency would roll back the progress we have made and commit further violence against Palestinians, likely escalating the war in the region even further. Our task is to align the Democratic Party with the majority of the Democratic base and ensure that we win in November with the anti-war platform required to save lives and democracy.

This effort is being spearheaded by Not Another Bomb, a campaign of the Uncommitted National Movement. This day of action is in tandem with other strategies our movement is employing to push for an end to this war. 

All eyes on Rafah! Hands Off Rafah!

As Netanyahu and the Israeli state furthers their campaign of ethnic cleansing in Palestine by bombing the city of Rafah, we demand that President Biden call for an immediate and enduring ceasefire and to stop funding the war against Palestine. 

1.3 million Palestinians, many who have been displaced multiple times are trapped in what was once a safe zone. Since Sunday, occupation forces have been bombing the city leaving Palestinians with nowhere else to go.

In the U.S. South, it was Black and brown people, working people, queer and trans people who organized and mobilized to put Biden in office in 2020. This was a calculated decision made in order to shift material conditions towards our peoples’ best interests, not out of trust that he shared our justice agenda. Biden owes us — all of us, all oppressed and marginalized people who united in coalition to elect him — to immediately muster the spiritual and political courage to stop this ethnic cleansing.

From the US South to the Global South, we stand united against policing, incarceration, and militarization. Israel and the US facilities trade militaristic policing tactics and contract the same private prison companies, who profit off of Palestinian and US prisoners. The “terrorist” label has been used to promote Islamophobia and to justify the creation of criminalized categories like “Black Identity Extremists” and “Eco-Terrorists.” We know that if it were to be built, Cop City would facilitate the exchange of methodologies of domination used against Black and brown communities. 

We stand against authoritarianism. With the full support of Western powers, an extremist hard-right Israeli coalition is propelling Israel’s current escalation of genocidal rhetoric and deeds. In the actions of Israel and the repression of Palestinian Solidarity Movements, we see a window into possible authoritarian futures here at home. Authoritarianism is a slow creep. We cannot allow rampant media disinformation, aggressive censorship, the dehumanization of Palestinians, and the suppression of US-based groups like the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, Jewish Voice for Peace, and Students for Justice in Palestine to be normalized. 

Anti-Zionism is not antisemitism. Anti-Zionism is opposition to the colonial political project to create a state with special rights and privileges for Jews. There have been anti-Zionist Jews organizing in resistance to Zionism for as long as Zionism has existed. Anti-Zionism is not antisemitism (discrimination and bigotry towards Jewish people). Our vision of safety for ourselves and our kin, who are Jews, Muslims, people of faith, and secular, is found in solidarity and resistance to all forms of oppression. 

All systems of oppression reinforce one another, and Israel’s origin has always been intertwined with both the imperial and antisemitic aspirations of Western powers. Today, we know that we cannot fight antisemitism, Islamophobia, homophobia, transphobia, or any number of other oppressions here at home without combating the unholy and mutually supportive alliance between US Christian Nationalists, themselves violently antisemitic, and the Israeli state. 

We stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people in resistance to Israeli colonial aggression and with all oppressed people struggling for self-determination. Since October 7, millions have taken to the streets across the globe to stop the genocide in Gaza. We must strengthen our strategies for resistance by learning from each other and building connections between our movements against authoritarianism and state violence. 

As a community of queer and trans people in the US South, we demand:

  • An immediate and permanent ceasefire 
  • An end to the $3.8 billion/year in U.S. military funding given to Israel
  • Delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza and an end to the siege
  • Guarantee of the right of return for all Palestinians who are fleeing Gaza
  • An end to genocide in Palestine, Sudan, Congo, and Haiti 
  • An end to the occupation and the liberation of all oppressed people in and beyond the Global South

Our righteous indignation and our grief are sacred. We honor it by catalyzing our emotions into courage as we lean into connection with others in our community who are willing to resist injustice at home and everywhere. Organizing with loyalty to what it takes to win means experiencing discomfort, humility, and endurance. We know that the work is not only to rally those who agree with us but to find, connect, push, and move increasingly more people to work with us. By joining or organizing local solidarity actions, divesting from systems and companies that further imperialism, and raising our voices against oppression, we can realize our vision of liberation in our lifetime.

Further resources to take action today!

A LOVE LETTER FOR TRANS DAY OF RESILIENCE

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This is a love letter for trans people, for everyone out there gender-bending—experimenting with and embodying radical possibilities for existing in this world. You are radiant in your truth, glorious in your power. 

Today, on Trans Day of Resilience, we are sending love in the midst of an onslaught of hate. In the last three months, lawmakers have introduced over 400 anti-LGBTQ bills. As usual, the South is the primary testing ground. 

Many of these bills target trans youth—our babies, our futures, and our promise of liberation. They attack books and drag shows as cover to strip us of our rights and our humanity. They are coming for our people locked up inside and our people on Medicaid. They are coming for our most vulnerable because they are gearing up to come for all of us. 

It is hunger for power, not transphobia, that is the primary motivator for the people who are behind these bills. They are exploiting deep-seated cultural fears around gender to make an opportunistic power grab. Our rights and bodily autonomy are being gambled with to fuel rising authoritarianism. The impacts will not just be on trans people.

Their laws seek to write us out of existence, but these hate tactics aren’t new, and neither are we. We are birthed from a rich history, a legacy inherited from the trans elders and ancestors who came before us. Our existence is a birthright, passed down through generations who have learned to survive and thrive.

Our Black and brown, queer, and trans elders threw bricks that sparked a revolution. They built bonds of kinship and kept each other safe. And that is just what we’ll continue to do. We’ll take care of each other. We’ll speak up. We’ll fight for one another. We always have, and we always will. Our very existence is resistance, and we will exist long after the structures that oppress us have crumbled. 

They cannot erase us. We will continue to fill the world with our sweet, sparkling trans magic. We will continue to dream of a world beyond the binary. Of liberation from all forms of oppression. Of a world where visibility isn’t tempered with fear but with power and love. 

So today, on Trans Day of Resilience, remember, we will not stop loving you; we will not stop fighting.

Una carta de amor por el Día de la Resiliencia Trans

Esta es una carta de amor para las personas trans, para todxs quienes andan por ahí transformando el género, experimentando con, y encarnando, las posibilidades radicales de existencia en este mundo. Ustedes son radiantes en su verdad, gloriosxs en su poder. 

Hoy, en el Día de la Resiliencia Trans, estamos repartiendo amor en medio de una avalancha de odio. En los últimos tres meses, lxs legisladores han presentado más de 400 proyectos de ley contra la comunidad LGBTQ. Como siempre, el Sur es el principal laboratorio de ensayo. 

Muchos de estos proyectos de ley tienen como blanco a la juventud trans: nuestrxs bebés, nuestros futuros, y nuestra promesa de liberación. Atacan libros y shows de drag, utilizándolos como excusas para quitarnos nuestros derechos y nuestra humanidad. Vienen por nuestra gente encerrada tras las rejas y por nuestra gente que tiene Medicaid. Vienen por lxs más vulnerables de nosotrxs porque se preparan para venir por todxs nosotrxs. 

La principal motivación de las personas que están detrás de estos proyectos de ley es la sed de poder, y no la transfobia. Están aprovechando temores culturales profundamente arraigados en torno al género para acumular más poder de manera oportunista. Están apostando con nuestros derechos y nuestra autonomía corporal para alimentar el creciente autoritarismo. Los impactos no los sufrirán sólo las personas trans.

Sus leyes pretenden borrarnos de la existencia, pero estas tácticas de odio no son nuevas, y nosotrxs tampoco. Nacimos de una rica historia, del legado que nos dejaron las personas mayores y antepasados trans que nos precedieron. Nuestra existencia es un derecho de nacimiento, transmitido a través de generaciones que aprendieron a sobrevivir y a prosperar.

Nuestrxs mayores trans, queer, negrxs y de color lanzaron ladrillos que desataron la chispa de una revolución. Construyeron lazos de hermandad y se protegieron mutuamente. Y eso es precisamente lo que seguiremos haciendo. Nos cuidaremos mutuamente. Levantaremos nuestras voces. Lucharemos lxs unxs por lxs otrxs. Siempre lo hemos hecho, y siempre lo haremos. Nuestra existencia misma es resistencia, y seguiremos existiendo mucho después de que se hayan derrumbado las estructuras que nos oprimen. 

No pueden borrarnos. Seguiremos llenando el mundo de nuestra dulce y brillante magia trans. Seguiremos soñando con un mundo más allá de lo binario. Con la liberación de todas las formas de opresión. Con un mundo donde la visibilidad no sea forjada con miedo sino con poder y amor. 

Por eso, hoy, en el Día de la Resiliencia Trans, no dejaremos de amarte, no dejaremos de luchar.

SONG Power