[IPSM] deadline August 31: Partner abuse in activist communities zine

[nora butler burke]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	[colours] deadline August 31: Partner abuse in activist 
communities zine
From: 	Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha <brownstargirl at riseup.net>



Dear beloved ones,

I hope this email finds you shining.   Myself, Ching-in, Dulani and
Sham-e-ali have been working on this zine  for over a year, and the
deadline is now a month away. I am writing to urge folks to consider
submitting work.  In this zine, we're hoping to provide multiple tools and
roadmaps to justice and healing for survivors of partner abuse- methods
that actually work to hold people who perpetuate violence in our
communities accountable.

I know many people who want to submit but who are scared of reprecussions.
Please think about what you can do to make things safe emotionally and
physically for you to submit- including using pseudonyms, changing
identifying details, and creating rituals of safety for yourself before
and after you write. I know this shit is hard to voice because I've been
there, but I also believe that, when it's possible, us breaking silence
and talking about our survival strategies will be what makes our
communities true safe zones, the free places we want and need.

Our plans for the zine are to edit, design and produce it this fall. Our
long-term plans include touring different cities to launch it with
workshops  around community accountability strategies, and to make it
available for free download as a PDF on the internet.

Please see the call for subs below, and email me with any concerns or
questions you have.  Please also feel free to foward the call on to folks
you know.

Lusting for justice,
Leah

Call for Submissions:
Have you experienced partner abuse/intimate partner violence within an
activist community?

Want to break the silence and change our communities forever?

The Revolution Starts At Home Collective is creating a zine to break the
long-held silence about partner abuse in activist communities.  We are a
collective of activists and writers of color, women and genderqueer/trans,
who believe that it's time to create communities that are true safe zones,
where people who perpetuate violence are held accountable and those who
speak up are not further isolated, invalidated, or deemed crazy/trouble
makers/ airing dirty laundry/ a drama queen/king/ taking energy away from
the "real problems" for speaking up about surviving abuse.

What have your experiences been like? Was your abusive girlfriend's best
friend working on the DV hotline? Were you able to successfully kick an
abuser out of your group? Were you able to find a solution where
accountability didn't mean isolation for either of you? Was your partner a
high-profile activist? Did your anti-police brutality group fear
retaliation if you went to the cops? Was the "healing circle" a bunch of
bullshit? Was the trans community so small that you didn't want you or
your partner to lose it? We want to hear about what worked and what
didn't, what you learned, what you wish folks had done, what you never
want to have happen again. We want to hear about folks' experiences
confronting abusers, both by using the cops & courts and by methods
outside the criminal justice system.

Please send submissions and a short bio both attached and cut and pasted to
revolutionathome at riseup.net by August 31, 2006. Writing, poems, visual
artwork, sticker designs and stencils are welcome.

Please include contact info: name, email and print address. We promise
your words will be held in confidence. Anonymous contributions and those
using a pseudonym are fine, but please include a name we can reach you
under. Both survivors and supporters are welcome to contribute. This call
is open to all, but we are especially interested in submissions by people
of color and queer/trans folks.

Peace,
The Revolution Starts At Home Collective:
Ching-In Chen, Dulani, Sham-e-Ali al-Jamil, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha


-- 
Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
www.brownstargirl.com

q: Do you have words of wisdom for other lesbian/bisexual/transgender
artists struggling to make their art and have it seen?

Bridgforth: focus on the work. do the work. create a Life that supports
the work. produce your own work. find and nurture a support system of
artists and art lovers. don?t get caught in a cycle of being a starving
artist. keep your debts low and be creative in thinking through ways to
bring in income so that you don?t end up #@! your art. Love yourself...

-Sharon Bridgforth