Transformative Justice: The 2014 Left Forum
A Recap
A Recap
This year’s forum was interesting to say the least. From an impromptu protest, over 4,500 attendees, and a theme that spoke volumes through the walls of John Jay College, the weekend was exciting and inspiring. For me, it reaffirmed why I do community work. It let me know I was in the right place, surrounded by like minds - 4,500 of them! It is the largest attendance in the 10 years of the Left Forum. This let me know that there are a lot of people in this fight for a better society.
My forum experience started with attending a great panel “Alternative Media and Political Activism.” An informative documentary was shown about community work happening around the world and also shown was the 90s Hip Hop video “It's Like A Jungle Sometimes” from Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. We were asked what we gathered from the video, which showed images of inner city life, from violence to police harassment to the survival through hardships. Participants took turns speaking on the messages the video presented. It was great to see alternative media at work in the roots of Hip Hop. For a young blood like me that hadn’t seen the video before, I was surprised how raw it was. I know when the video first hit the media circuit it had a profound effect on those living through those hardships. To see your plight displayed to world, to know people could feel your pain, to know that the message was getting out there must have filled them with hope. I truly love to see Hip Hop at its political and community roots. Alternative media is a powerful tool that can shed light on issues and increase awareness around world. It has the ability to cultivate political activism, especially in the youth.
I attended the panel with my colleague and mentor Dr. Michel Vington, who also enjoyed the panel and the displays of alternative media. We then held our panel presentation “Functioning from the Core – Towards a Human Technology for Community Empowerment and Global Unity.”
My forum experience started with attending a great panel “Alternative Media and Political Activism.” An informative documentary was shown about community work happening around the world and also shown was the 90s Hip Hop video “It's Like A Jungle Sometimes” from Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. We were asked what we gathered from the video, which showed images of inner city life, from violence to police harassment to the survival through hardships. Participants took turns speaking on the messages the video presented. It was great to see alternative media at work in the roots of Hip Hop. For a young blood like me that hadn’t seen the video before, I was surprised how raw it was. I know when the video first hit the media circuit it had a profound effect on those living through those hardships. To see your plight displayed to world, to know people could feel your pain, to know that the message was getting out there must have filled them with hope. I truly love to see Hip Hop at its political and community roots. Alternative media is a powerful tool that can shed light on issues and increase awareness around world. It has the ability to cultivate political activism, especially in the youth.
I attended the panel with my colleague and mentor Dr. Michel Vington, who also enjoyed the panel and the displays of alternative media. We then held our panel presentation “Functioning from the Core – Towards a Human Technology for Community Empowerment and Global Unity.”
With a small group of participants, the discovery was made that community work is being done in the least most effective manner. Let me explain. Dr. Vington’s methodology sheds light on motivation science, or the art of motivating people in a way that is both meaningful and sustaining. According to this school of thought, there are four ways to motivate people: one way is to motivate them with giving them a positive reward, another way is to give a punishment, another is to take away a reward and the last is to take away a punishment. Dr. Vington explains that when you try to motivate people outside of the realm of giving a positive reward - and more specifically a random positive reward, based on the merits of centeredness - then you are motivating them in fear. With the fear of consequences and creating a reactionary consciousness, movements are failing. This is the main factor why movements have been lacking sustainable organizers to reach goals of progress and change. When you motivate someone in a positive way and help them want to be motivated in a positive way, then you are creating a strong conscious person that will continue movement work despite challenges, despite setbacks and despite how big the problem is.
Motivating someone in fear is doing the same thing that oppressors are doing, making people feel they have no choice. Making people feel powerless. When people are positively motivated, they come to understand their power. This happened in the case of Malcolm X. He wasn't beat down for the situation he was in. He came into a positive way of life in prison. It didn't matter to the people who were motivating him. They instilled in him a powerful consciousness; that he could do anything he put his mind to. Malcolm X went on to change the world. Current movement work has been using fear as the primary motivator and this is why no sustainable change has arisen. There has been progress, then there has been setbacks. There has been more progress, standstills, backwards slides yet again, more progress but no sustainable progressive change in which we have seen a transformed society.
Our panel attendees clearly understood this message. Several of them had “light bulb” moments, understanding that the consciousness of their work had to progress. We must move away from trying to scare people into movement work. And I must admit I had been guilty of this in my work especially when I was organizing around against police brutality - but I understand so clearly now, that it was not effective. Telling people they could possibly be harassed, killed, and or wrongfully imprisoned by police was not a strong enough motivator to get community members involved in the fight. This is especially true for inner city youth that feel as if they have nothing to live for - me telling them to fight so that they can have a good life meant nothing because they feel their life may be over at any moment. They are not living in a state of hope - for themselves or for their future of their community. Telling them that their life may be compromised is not telling them anything new. What would be new is that their life has meaning, their life has value and it's worth fighting for. Helping them to understand that they have the power to make changes, changes that would give them the most beautiful life experience they can ever imagine; motivating them in a positive direction so that they know they can live a full, happy, successful, prosperous life would shift this current paradigm of oppression.
Motivating someone in fear is doing the same thing that oppressors are doing, making people feel they have no choice. Making people feel powerless. When people are positively motivated, they come to understand their power. This happened in the case of Malcolm X. He wasn't beat down for the situation he was in. He came into a positive way of life in prison. It didn't matter to the people who were motivating him. They instilled in him a powerful consciousness; that he could do anything he put his mind to. Malcolm X went on to change the world. Current movement work has been using fear as the primary motivator and this is why no sustainable change has arisen. There has been progress, then there has been setbacks. There has been more progress, standstills, backwards slides yet again, more progress but no sustainable progressive change in which we have seen a transformed society.
Our panel attendees clearly understood this message. Several of them had “light bulb” moments, understanding that the consciousness of their work had to progress. We must move away from trying to scare people into movement work. And I must admit I had been guilty of this in my work especially when I was organizing around against police brutality - but I understand so clearly now, that it was not effective. Telling people they could possibly be harassed, killed, and or wrongfully imprisoned by police was not a strong enough motivator to get community members involved in the fight. This is especially true for inner city youth that feel as if they have nothing to live for - me telling them to fight so that they can have a good life meant nothing because they feel their life may be over at any moment. They are not living in a state of hope - for themselves or for their future of their community. Telling them that their life may be compromised is not telling them anything new. What would be new is that their life has meaning, their life has value and it's worth fighting for. Helping them to understand that they have the power to make changes, changes that would give them the most beautiful life experience they can ever imagine; motivating them in a positive direction so that they know they can live a full, happy, successful, prosperous life would shift this current paradigm of oppression.
My day continued with reconnecting with my dedicated colleagues of the Stop Mass Incarceration Network (SMIN). Preparations are being made for a month of resistance. October 2014 will be a month-long organized effort to call national and global attention to the fact that this country has an alarming rate of imprisonment. The U.S. is 5% of the world’s population but it accounts for 25% of the world’s prison population. The incarceration of women has increased by 800% over the last 30 years. 35% of Black men between the ages of 20-29 are in prison or on parole or probation on any given day. Staggering numbers and the second hand effects are immeasurable. This month of resistance is necessary on many levels: economically, socially, spiritually, and morally. There are more than 80,000 people in prison held in solitary confinement under conditions that fit the international definition of torture. Each one of us that is aware of this crisis has the ability to confront it. Taking on a huge systematic issue like this, is the epitome of empowerment and SMIN has it in the works. How would you feel if this situation was systematically and fundamentally changed? Wouldn’t you be elated that so many problems in the country would start to move towards a positive outcome? How would you feel knowing that you had a part in that? I encourage each and every one of you to join SMIN and bring your ideas on how the month of resistance can be even more effective and powerful. The future generations will thank you for your contribution.
My second day was even more invigorating than the first. I began with chairing a very informative panel “Haiti and the Caribbean in the Western Imperial Storm.” Colia Clark of the Green Party and the Guadeloupe-Haiti USA Tour Committee organized the panel. Ms. Clark has worked to raise awareness around the unjust practices faced by Haiti and the rest of the Caribbean by developed nations and institutions. She opened the panel discussion with background information on the Security Council of the United Nations and their role in placing UN troops in Haiti, essentially occupying the fragile nation. Clark touched on the various reports of abuse on the vulnerable people of Haiti by UN troops with no disciplinary action or any form reconciliation. The floor was given to Kim Ives of Haiti Liberte Newspaper, who spoke candidly about the current state of Haiti. With 10 billion in funds raised to help Haiti after the earthquake in 2010, many are still living in extreme hardship conditions and there has little sustainable progress of the country’s infrastructure. Mr. Ives revealed the many points of corruption in the current administration, which has the support of the international community. As a Haitian living in the U.S., this
highly upsets me. The Haitian people have endured so much, and again the
leadership of the country has failed to put the needs of the masses
first. As Ives pointed out, Haiti has a long history of fighting for a
better society - one that ensures every man, woman, and child has
liberty, justice, and the opportunity to live a full and prosperous
life.
From its own revolution to assisting with revolutions in other parts of the world especially in the Caribbean area and South America, the Haitian consciousness has defined the human will for freedom. It is unnerving to see the descendants of such strong warriors suffering with seemingly no clear end in sight. The panel attendees were empathic and eager to follow up with new young political movements that are budding in Haiti that Ives made a point to highlight. It was a positive response in solidarity with the Haitian people and others in the Caribbean facing similar challenges.
I picked up a Falafel sandwich for lunch and went back to the forum for my second panel of the day. As I reentered the college, there was a picket line! A bunch of forum participants organized a protest because childcare is not provided to forum participants. They chanted “Provide childcare at the Left Forum, let caregivers participate too!” It was the ultimate display of the consciousness of the Left: if you don’t like something, make noise! It worked; other forum participants joined the effort. It had the air of sweet irony because everyone knew that the demonstration would be taken seriously. I have no doubt that there will be childcare at the next forum; either formally, organized by the Left Forum or by an independent body, who will undertake addressing this very clear need.
I picked up a Falafel sandwich for lunch and went back to the forum for my second panel of the day. As I reentered the college, there was a picket line! A bunch of forum participants organized a protest because childcare is not provided to forum participants. They chanted “Provide childcare at the Left Forum, let caregivers participate too!” It was the ultimate display of the consciousness of the Left: if you don’t like something, make noise! It worked; other forum participants joined the effort. It had the air of sweet irony because everyone knew that the demonstration would be taken seriously. I have no doubt that there will be childcare at the next forum; either formally, organized by the Left Forum or by an independent body, who will undertake addressing this very clear need.
I headed to my panel, also organized by Colia Clark “Woman Power Unlimited and United.” We discussed woman’s role in movement work and the hard choices that need to be made in times of struggle. We broke into groups and worked on an activity. We focused on aspects of women’s empowerment and how the current system of patriarchy compromises the progression of women. There were various views but the central idea that emerged, articulated by Basiymah Muhammad Bey of UNIA/ACL Black Cross Nurses Association, was that each person must focus on strengthening their community first, before systematic issues can be addressed. Whole communities, with whole individuals, are the best equip to fight a systematic enemy. If a community’s family structure is splintered or its economic framework is weak, challenges can easily override the need to stay focused on movement work. Focusing on making your resolve strong with the intent of it benefiting your community is the first step to creating the type movement that can dismantle even the most deep seated forms of oppression. I was humbled to be in the presence of my fellow panelists and attendees who created an open, safe space for this sincere discussion to take place.
As the day came to a close I attended the closing plenary with moderator Amy Goodman. The theme of this year’s conference “Reform and/or Revolution: Imagining a World with Transformative Justice” had been discussed through out the weekend. Revolution took the forefront. Why reform a system that is clearly broken? Only revolution and participation of all community members can transform society. As vice-president of Freedom Through Knowledge, working to empower the next generation of leaders of the movement, I was elated to know that movement work was pushing the boundaries. We no longer will have to whisper revolution. Revolution is the admission that the system in place not useful to the people and therefore needs to reexamined, dissected, and then put back together with new, original parts. Barbara Bowen the last speaker on the plenary said to look to the labor movement for this to be carried out. She pointed out that this has already begun. There is organizing happening around the country and serious legislation being discussed in the Senate. I believe Ms. Bowen is correct. Economic stability reduces many social challenges and ensures the masses a place in the development of society.
My 2014 forum experience left me feeling hopeful and charged. There is a lot of work to be done and I am glad that there are 4,500 other community members just like me who are dedicated to a just society. I am looking forward to following up with the people I met at the forum and to next year’s forum which is sure to be just as inspiring and meaningful.
Thanks for reading ~
Pojanee Fleury (PJ)
CEO/Publisher
Brown Eyez Company: Media, Travel & Community Relations
Brown Eyez Publishing Group
www.browneyezpubgroup.com
Email: PJ@browneyezmag.com
Phone 646-481-4414 (call/text)
Facebook: Pojanee Fleury ~ Twitter & Instagram: @browneyezpj
For more information:
Freedom Through Knowledge
https://www.facebook.com/FTKMovement
Check out footage from the FTK Panel at the Left Forum 2013
As the day came to a close I attended the closing plenary with moderator Amy Goodman. The theme of this year’s conference “Reform and/or Revolution: Imagining a World with Transformative Justice” had been discussed through out the weekend. Revolution took the forefront. Why reform a system that is clearly broken? Only revolution and participation of all community members can transform society. As vice-president of Freedom Through Knowledge, working to empower the next generation of leaders of the movement, I was elated to know that movement work was pushing the boundaries. We no longer will have to whisper revolution. Revolution is the admission that the system in place not useful to the people and therefore needs to reexamined, dissected, and then put back together with new, original parts. Barbara Bowen the last speaker on the plenary said to look to the labor movement for this to be carried out. She pointed out that this has already begun. There is organizing happening around the country and serious legislation being discussed in the Senate. I believe Ms. Bowen is correct. Economic stability reduces many social challenges and ensures the masses a place in the development of society.
My 2014 forum experience left me feeling hopeful and charged. There is a lot of work to be done and I am glad that there are 4,500 other community members just like me who are dedicated to a just society. I am looking forward to following up with the people I met at the forum and to next year’s forum which is sure to be just as inspiring and meaningful.
Thanks for reading ~
Pojanee Fleury (PJ)
CEO/Publisher
Brown Eyez Company: Media, Travel & Community Relations
Brown Eyez Publishing Group
www.browneyezpubgroup.com
Email: PJ@browneyezmag.com
Phone 646-481-4414 (call/text)
Facebook: Pojanee Fleury ~ Twitter & Instagram: @browneyezpj
For more information:
Freedom Through Knowledge
https://www.facebook.com/FTKMovement
Check out footage from the FTK Panel at the Left Forum 2013
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Humanity Evolution Movement
www.humanityevoltuionmovement.org
info@humanityevolutionmovement.org
1-855-210-KÒE (1-855-210-5673)
Stop Mass Incarceration Network
stopmassincarceration@gmail.com
347-979-SMIN (7646)
Colia Clark ~ Guadeloupe-Haiti USA Tour Committee
coliaclark@gmail.com
www.humanityevoltuionmovement.org
info@humanityevolutionmovement.org
1-855-210-KÒE (1-855-210-5673)
Stop Mass Incarceration Network
stopmassincarceration@gmail.com
347-979-SMIN (7646)
Colia Clark ~ Guadeloupe-Haiti USA Tour Committee
coliaclark@gmail.com
