Settler-/Colonial Realities: Some Notes on Organizing between Activism and Academia

Abstract

Abstract:In December 2019, we participated in an international conference surrounding the Palestinian struggle, settler colonialism, and international solidarity. Our own hopes and frustrations organizing between academia and movements led us to write on how to organize international solidarity events between academia, activism, public intellectuals, and global politics. We address certain topics that we repeatedly find to be of great importance when it comes to issues such as (international) solidarity, "activism and academia," issues of gender, race, and class, but also disinformation campaigns and social media policies and politics in times of techno-colonialism—issues that keep coming up no matter where we are. International solidarity is necessary to the liberation of Indigenous and colonized people all over the world. We encourage comrades and relatives to travel internationally to engage in solidarity delegations, organizing and revolutionary praxis from a queer, Indigenous, feminist perspective. We aim to draw parallels between the struggles in other autonomous communities including those who do not have the means to travel internationally due to their immigration status. This is also important because those who seek to organize in authentic ways get to learn and exchange knowledge with and from people, organizers, and communities that are directly impacted. We aim to outline navigating settler colonial realities within capitalism and offer insights on how to move forward for future international and solidarity events.