Miscellaneous Files From Racial Justice Activists Around the World
The coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated existing crises in our systems, making the work of activists more urgent than ever. At the same time, concerns about public health and the resulting changes in behavior and regulation have forced many to reimagine the way they conduct their work. In this series of interviews, Miscellaneous Files asks activists and organizers around the world to share screenshots, videos, and other files on their digital devices for insight into how they’re navigating this time of momentous change.
The first edition of this series features interviews with organizers fighting for racial justice. Below, you’ll find my conversation with Sylvana Simons, who in 2016 founded BIJ1, a political party in the Netherlands fighting for an anti-racist and de-colonial agenda. As one of the most visible Black voices in Dutch politics, Simons discusses the challenges she faces in political organizing and how her former career as a TV host informed how she engages with the media as a politician. I also speak with an Ugandan journalist, editor, and feminist activist Rosebell Kugamire about the connection between movements in the US and on the African continent. Finally, we hear from Amanda Adé, a Black-Irish podcast host and Black Lives Matter activist, about the overwhelming support the movement has received in Ireland and how her generation is defining what it means to be Black and Irish.
This week I also spoke to two racial justice organizers in the US, Cat Brooks and Eric Ward . These conversations revealed how the struggle against racist violence is shared around the globe, and also highlight the creativity that fuels the work of these organizers in a changed and changing world. In conversations over the next months, Miscellaneous Files will imagine a shared conversation between those fighting different,
