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- Havdalah #34: Wyatt Detention Center, the World to be Won, & the Good Seats
Havdalah #34: Wyatt Detention Center, the World to be Won, & the Good Seats
21 Kislev, 5785 / December 21, 2024
White Rose RI
December 21, 2024
Shavua tov, neighbors.
Here we are: our last issue of the year. And what a fucking year it was.
Not all of us made it through, and those of us who did will have still harder trials in the year to come. Thank you for choosing to spend this one with us, tumultuous as it was, and we hope that you’ll continue to let us fight by your side as we all turn to face what 2025 has in store. Thank you for everything this year, really. If there’s one thing, just one thing, that has given me heart through all of this, it’s knowing that I am far from the only one doing the work. There’s Katherine, there’s Lee, and most important, there’s all of you. A community, an organization, a bloc, a neighborhood thrives collectively, and liberation will be won collectively. And it will be won.
The world is scary right now, yes. It always was. We owe it to ourselves and to those who come after us, and above all, to those who have just arrived, to make it a home. Not by taming it, but by gentling it. No matter how daunting, how intimidating, how impossible that feels. We will get there together, by welcoming more and more of us into the fight for it. Katherine writes more about that for our Sidebar this issue. I hope that you will heed her words as 2024 fades into that liminal, moth-eaten veil.
I will be carrying my own bundles of borrowed words into the new year. I’m sharing three quotes here, in the hope that they might also fortify some of you.
There’s the classic, of course, one of Judaism’s staples:
You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.
There’s a monologue that lives close to my heart, from the first season of Andor. It sits framed above my bed, a gift from one of my best friends:
There will be times when the struggle seems impossible. I know this already. Alone, unsure, dwarfed by the scale of the enemy. Remember this. Freedom is a pure idea. It occurs spontaneously and without instruction. Random acts of insurrection are occurring constantly throughout the galaxy. There are whole armies, battalions that have no idea that they’ve already enlisted in the cause. Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward. And then remember this. The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that. And know this, the day will come when all these skirmishes and battles, these moments of defiance will have flooded the banks of the Empire’s authority and then there will be one too many. Remember this. Try.
And finally, there’s these lines, from one of the best Act One finales in all of Broadway:
There’s a new world for the winning / There’s a new world to be won / Do you hear the people sing?
And that world will be won.
Bella ciao.
James
New Year’s Eve Noise Demo at the Wyatt
When: Tuesday, December 31, 4:30pm-6:00pm
Where: Wyatt Detention Center, 950 High Street, Central Falls, RI 02863
From the Wyatt to Palestine, end U.S. imperialism! Join AMOR as they mark the end of this year by demanding an end to all cages from Palestine, to the U.S. border, to Central Falls.
Things to Bring:
Posters / signs
Noise makers of any kind!
Water
Cough Drops
Some friends!
The Womxn Project’s Bodily Freedom Forever Index
When: Up now, updated every Tuesday
Where: Online
The Womxn Project has put together an index of politicians in RI, showing how candidates did in the 2024 election compared to their stance on bodily freedom. TWP will post weekly reports on Tuesdays, highlighting some of their findings from the BFFI.
They’re also welcoming people to come join them as they organize in each district, creating small hubs. With volunteers, they will keep building a more transparent political landscape with data-informed action and strategy. Check them out if you want to get involved!
ACLU Firewall for Freedom
When: Up now
Where: Online
The ACLU Rhode Island has been strategizing around RI’s strengths and weaknesses to create a Firewall for Freedom page. It covers issues including free speech, reproductive freedom, LGBTQ+ rights, and immigrants’ rights. They lay out some context for where Rhode Island stands, what rights are safe for now, and protections we need to push for. It also explains some of our priorities for the upcoming Rhode Island legislative session. Check it out!
Office Hours with The Womxn Project Team
When: Every Tuesday, 3:00pm-5:00pm
Where: Zoom
Need a little support or just want to know what’s going on? The Womxn Project team will be on a live Zoom to answer your questions or point you in the direction of where to turn.
Continuing Actions for Palestine
Jewish Voice for Peace Weekly Flyering
When: Every Wednesday, 5:00pm-6:00pm
Where: Providence Train Station, 100 Gaspee Street, Providence, RI 02903
JVP RI invites all to join them in their efforts to spread the word about their work and simple actions people can take to demand an end to the genocide in Palestine. They meet on the Statehouse side of the train station.
Weekly Kaddish
When: Every Sunday, 1:00pm-1:30pm
Where: Michael Van Leesten Pedestrian Bridge, Providence, RI 02903
Jewish Voice for Peace RI and allies will be hosting a weekly gathering on Sundays to recite the Mourners Kaddish and communally grieve the Palestinians murdered by the Israeli military. You need not be Jewish to attend; all are welcome to participate.
Power Half-Hours for Gaza
When: every day, Monday through Friday, 3:00pm EST
Where: online
Jewish Voice for Peace is holding Power Half-Hours for Gaza every day — join us as we channel our fury and sorrow into collective action to stop genocide.
Ceasefire Today Toolkit
This toolkit has a variety of links, including call scripts, groups accepting donations, phone banks, petitions, and more
News Coverage
As always, especially when getting news from social media, be aware of who is sharing information and why they’re doing it.
Al Jazeera Coverage of the War on Gaza has continued to be a reliable source
Mondoweiss has also provided excellent context and deep dive pieces.
Community Needs Pantry at the West Warwick Public Library
The West Warwick Public Library has a “take what you need, give what you can” community needs pantry near the front entrance. Please stop by to take something or to donate.
Where: 1043 Main Street, West Warwick, RI 02893
Katherine (she / her)
There is a moderately slighting term in Catholicism, C&E Catholics (a similar term, I’m sure, exists for any number of other denominations, but I speak from my own experiences). Unpacked, Christmas and Easter Catholics; that is, Catholics who only attend Mass on Christmas and Easter, instead of the 52+ days of obligation (every Sunday in the year, plus a handful of odd-men out feasts of which Christmas, usually, is one). The degree of derision with which it is used varies, from amusement to judging to scorn, but it is never flattering. Even when used on oneself, it’s usually self-effacing. It’s judgement, for those who are seen as less devout, less dedicated; irritation that they don’t know where to sit, how the hymnals work, when to start proceeding for communion. It is none of it kind; none of it is useful.
Part of it comes from the fact that in many churches, the Christmas and Easter masses are filled to bursting by the sudden influx of twice-a-year attendees, with special venues or overflow rooms having to be used. At my college, the Easter Sunday morning mass had to be celebrated in the campus concert hall, with a dozen ushers to keep track of empty seats to try and fit everyone in, and this at a not-particularly devout university. A resentment develops, from weekly attendees pushed into seats with poor visibility, bad acoustics, away from their habitual location. It’s a resentment I understand, but feel is overindulged.
If these people are only coming twice a year, why not give them the good seats? We had them last week, and we’ll have them next week. We’ve seen the Christmas decorations already, we know all the hymns. And if we resent them for only coming twice a year, and then make that experience as unpleasant as possible, force them into the overflow room where they can’t see the priest, the back seats where they can’t hear the homily, decline to share the hymnal so they don’t know what’s happening, well then, why would they ever want to come back? We want them to show up every week? Want them to be part of the church, so that they’ll help with the nursery room and Sunday school, put their charity in the basket, volunteer as a lector? Then we better fucking make them as welcome as we can, not just grumble that they took our favorite seat. Nevermind Christian charity and love, that’s just pragmatism. Our seat will still be there next week. Give them a smile and tell them what hymn we’re singing.
However, while I’m sure you’re all deeply interested in the petty politics of the American Catholic laity, that’s not why I’m writing this Sidebar. If you’re reading this newsletter, you’re probably already plugged into the activist space; you already know how the bills are passed through Congress; you know all the buzzwords and the history and have very strong opinions on bail reform and prison abolition and gun safety and foreign policy. And in the coming months — if we’re lucky — there will be a lot of new people coming into activist spaces, having just woken up and realized how bad things have gotten and are going to get. And they won’t know how the legal system works, they won’t know the correct terminology, and they’ll have bad opinions, or uninformed opinions, or simply no opinions at all on subjects we know far too much about. They’ll be kind of flaky; they’ll have never been to a protest before; they won’t know how Signal works, or Zoom. And the impulse will be to be annoyed, to be aggravated, to be impatient, at the Johnnies-come-lately, showing up to close the barn door after the horse is back in the fucking hospital, as opposed to six months ago, a year ago, a decade ago, when we noticed how bad things were. To be irritated at having to walk them through topics, at having to hold their hands at actions, at having to accommodate their schedule.
That impulse is understandable. And it is wrong.
Wrong in two ways. First, the pragmatic. If we’re impatient — if we’re rude — if we’re dismissive — they’re going to be insulted; confused; hurt; angry. And most of the time, that means they won’t come back. It takes a lot of resilience, a lot of drive, to show up to a place to do something hard, where the people there are unfriendly and unwelcoming. Some of them will do it. A lot of them will not. And to be crass about it, we’re gonna need the numbers. We’re going to need the cash. We’re going to need the signatures. We’re going to need people who aren’t up for red team actions but will watch kids during a meeting. We’re going to need people who aren’t up for being arrested but will stump up for bail. We’re going to need people who can’t commit to sitting through eight hours of hearings or going to DC but can phone bank. And they won’t be there if we’re dicks to them when they first show up.
Second, the moral. It is important not to be cruel to them, because it is wrong to be cruel. Because it damages ourselves to be so. Because part of the world we are working for is one where everyone deserves to be treated as a person of worth. Even if they sometimes drive us up the wall. It is not our job to educate them, no (though it might help), nor is it our responsibility to endure company that is hurting us (although sometimes hurt is just annoyance). But part of doing great work, important work, community work, is treating the people who show up with as much grace as you can, no matter who they are, so that the work can continue.
It’s going to be a hard few years: Many hands lighten the load, but only if they’re there.
Mind how you go.
Needle Drop: “One Tin Soldier Rides Away” from The Legend of Billy Jack, Coven
News Round-Up: Local
With a change of leadership, the Middletown School Committee goes off the rails (Steve Ahlquist, December 14, 2024)
I just filed an Open Meetings Act complaint against the Middletown School Committee (Steve Ahlquist, December 17, 2024)
There were shenanigans at the latest Chariho Regional School District meeting (Steve Ahlquist, December 18, 2024)
AMOR - Statement against conditions at the Wyatt Detention Center (Sophia Wright for Steve Ahlquist, December 20, 2024)
The Womxn Project Education Fund condemns anti-trans provisions in U.S. Defense spending bill (Steve Ahlquist, December 20, 2024)
Pod Recs: It Could Happen Here
Occupied America and the Primal Father (December 2, 2024)
The Real Dangers of Abortion Under Trump (December 6, 2024)
The Moral Economy of Inflation or Why Trump Won (December 12, 2024)
The Madison, Wisconsin Shooter Was A Columbine Copycat: Here’s What That Means (December 18, 2024)
We Are The Ones We Have Been Waiting For
The Future as a Contested Space (Margaret Killjoy in Birds Before the Storm, December 11, 2024)
You Already Know How to Organize (Mia Wong and James Stout for It Could Happen Here, December 13, 2024)
Some Actions That Are Not Protesting or Voting (Unknown, a list adapted from Frontline Medics)
