Thank you...for being able to fight for my freedom. But what's more important than that is that you continue to fight for your land and to continue to fight for your people and all people.
Kordia was arrested in 2024 during the Gaza solidarity protests at Columbia University. The charges against her were dropped the next day, but she was detained in March 2025 by ICE during a routine immigration check-in.
"We have a great opportunity in our movements to learn how to be opponents without being enemies," says Tanuja Jagernauth. This perspective emphasizes the importance of maintaining respect and understanding even amidst conflict.
Today every senator, every single one, will pick a side: Do you stand with the American people who are exhausted of forever wars in the Middle East? Or stand with Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth as they bumble us headfirst into another war?
The labor of this kind of organizing was invisible and deeply exhausting. In a precarious workplace, where a so-called 'performance review' could amount to job loss, organizing meant building a bridge while standing on it.
In an Instagram post, Equal Rights Oregon announced that "after thoughtful consideration," it was moving forward with the "difficult decision" not to pursue Initiative Petition 33, known as the Equal Rights for All measure. The measure would have let Oregon vote on adding a constitutional amendment stating that equal rights "shall not be denied or abridged" based on "a) pregnancy/pregnancy outcomes and related health decisions; b) gender identity and related decisions; c) sexual orientation, including the right to marry."
According to Fast Company, businesses across the country - including in Portland, Maine; Denver, Rochester, New York; Omaha, Nebraska; Las Vegas; and Los Angeles - have said they will be closed today in support of the strike. Local NBC affiliate 9News reports that multiple school districts in Colorado are canceling classes due to teacher and student participation in the strike. And while it remains to be seen how widespread the national shutdown will be, this is likely only the tip of the iceberg.
"Are you okay?" These were Alex Pretti's last words, said to a woman after ICE agents had tackled and pepper-sprayed her. Videos from bystanders show Pretti holding up a phone, attempting to document what was happening before he himself was pepper-sprayed, wrestled to the ground, and killed by those officers. He lost his life not for committing violence, but for documenting it, and stepping in to protect someone facing it.
The U.S.'s political landscape - and our daily lives - are increasingly shaped by repression and violence, amplified by a media cycle designed to keep us fearful in the present, uncertain about the future, and depleted. Exhaustion is not a side effect of this system. It is one of its core tools. Last year, I wrote that Donald Trump's attacks were designed to exhaust us. Over the past year, I've watched communities build movements and adapt their organizing under this reality.
There's a myth in our society that real change requires force, strength, and domination. We celebrate athletes, CEOs, and politicians who crush their opponents. But history tells a different story. Lasting social change has often been triggered by humble people whose weapons were passion, principle, and an unwavering commitment to justice and the truth - not the truth we see on TV or read in print media, but rather the truth that we feel deep inside ourselves.
