Social Justice Resources for COVID-19 Response

A pandemic during a major political year. None of us were prepared for such an enormous threat to the safety and health of our communities, challenge to mental and emotional health in our homes & organizations, and total game-changer for the political realities we’re facing as we build power in these wildly changing conditions.

Irresistible responded to the pandemic with timely perspectives from the frontlines on our podcast, as well as a weekly support space called Care Circle. Over 1,000 social justice leaders participated in our weekly circles, with themes like Honoring Our Pain, Sensing Rest, and Let Us Sing.

Check out some videos and sing and practice along on our Care Circle page.

 
 

See our COVID-19 response episodes below, and click through to access transcripts, links to listen on various podcast platforms, and the robust resource lists associated with each episode. Stay safe, and stay organizing.

 

Adapting Strategy & Building Power in Crisis

Published May 5, 2020

Emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic create the conditions for accelerated political realignments. This creates an enormous threat for bold moves toward authoritarianism, but also creates major opportunity for our movements to put forward our vision for the future and shape a new common sense about what we deserve.

In this episode, we face the reality of what is happening politically. We engage with how our power building strategies need to adapt to our current conditions, and also pace with our needs and limitations as humans living in a traumatizing time.

You'll hear from Ejeris Dixon and Dove Kent, organizers with 4 decades of combined experience in grassroots organizing, political education, and movement building. This conversation was partially inspired by Ejeris' recent article titled "Fascists are Using COVID-19 to Advance Their Agenda. It's Up to Us to Stop Them."

 
 

Grief in a Time of Not Knowing

Published April 28, 2020

Let’s go together into the big grief, loss, intimacy, and possibility available in the unknown - all the time, and especially now as this pandemic forces great transitions. How may we engage with this time as a rite of passage? Because we won’t be able to return to the landscape that we left, but to a landscape that is yet to be revealed.

You'll hear from Roshi Joan Halifax; a Buddhist teacher, Zen priest, anthropologist, and pioneer in the field of end-of-life care; along with Reverend Jennifer Bailey & Carinne Luck of Faith Matters Network.

 
 

#ShareMyCheck:
Redistributing Stimulus Money for Justice & Mutual Aid

Published April 17, 2020

We speak with Yahya Alazrak (Campaign Director at Resource Generation) and Dara Marquez (volunteer field organizer with Movimiento Cosecha) about the #ShareMyCheck campaigns they're running to move stimulus money to mutual aid funds and grassroots movement organizations during this crisis, especially to undocumented workers who are on the frontlines of essential work right now but did not qualify for any stimulus support.

 
 

Organizing in a Pandemic: Disability Justice Wisdom

Published April 14, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic is bringing real and significant disruptions to our lives, our communities, and our organizing. The scale of this shift in our social fabric is new, but these are questions that disability justice organizers have been grappling with for years. How can we organize in a state of constant uncertainty and limitations on physical movement? How can we protect people with compromised immune systems as we work to build people power? How do we get the work done while leaving no one behind?

This episode shares stories and insights from disability justice organizers that all of us can learn from and apply to organizing in our current conditions. Thank you to Allegra Heath-Stout of JOIN for Justice, Patty Berne of Sins Invalid, Lydia X. Z. Brown, & Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha.

 
 

You're invited to a Care Circle

Published March 23, 2020

We're joined by facilitator & circle keeper BJSTAR to hear about Irresistible’s new offering to support each other in community during this intense time. Organizers, facilitators, parents, artists, teachers, therapists, hearts dedicated to personal & collective liberation: come as you are. Expect rest, honesty, song, ritual, and sharing in this gently-held space.

 
 

“Should we cancel?” Coronavirus, travel & organizing

Published March 12, 2020

Should we be cancelling our events and travel due to COVID-19?

In this mini bonus episode, Maryse Mitchell-Brody brings you advice about how to adapt your travel and gatherings. We share from the perspective of organizers and folks participating in social justice movements, and the decisions we need to make about our own plans and plans for our groups, teams, and campaigns. Hear Maryse’s recommendations about how we move responsibly and with care during this time, and check out the accompanying guide as you navigate your decisions. (Note: this episode published under our previous name, Healing Justice Podcast.)

 
 

Coronavirus: Wisdom from a Social Justice Lens

Published March 10, 2020

This episode brings you medical information, invocations, grounding practices and dialogue from The Cranky Queer, Crissaris Sarnelli, MD,  PeoplesHub, Dori Midnight and friends.

Unlike much of what we’re seeing in the media and public discussion, this conversation centers the wisdom and life experiences of people who live with chronic illnesses and disability. (Note: this episode published under our previous name, Healing Justice Podcast.)