Dear ROPnet,
How are you doing? We are reaching out to you all to connect, take a collective deep breath together, and lean into the strength of the incredible ROP network in this moment. We’ve been making sure to slow down and check in with each other, too. Here are some clips of Emma and Hannah’s recent conversation processing the bombing in Iran and how we can use the different pathways of resistance to authoritarianism to respond strategically.
As we work to advance our progressive vision of a thriving rural Oregon, founded in an inclusive democracy, human dignity, and justice, we are faced with the threat of more wars abroad, ICE terrorizing immigrant communities at home, and the US military being used against peaceful protestors. The cost of war is financial, human, and moral. It is even more cuts to vital services, the fear of lives lost and damaged by war, and the risk of increasing attacks towards the Muslim community. The stakes have never felt higher as we face these stacking perils that hurt our neighbors, community, and loved ones.
What gives us hope are rural Oregonians working to slow down, jam up, and build power against authoritarianism and the billionaires in power who are systematically destroying our constitutional rights, funding genocide, and viciously targeting transgender and immigrant communities. We reject the notion that bombs abroad and kidnappings at home make us safer, and know that true safety and security look like our basic needs being met.
What we can do:
- Check in with each other: We are all holding down a lot. Never underestimate the power of asking, “Friend, how are you holding up?”
- Protect targeted communities: Human dignity leaders are organizing to respond to ICE raids and anti-immigrant agendas. Reach out to your ROP organizer if you need support in building your local rapid response team and other systems for keeping each other as safe as possible in this moment.
- The Co$t of War Campaign: Rural Oregonians have shown up in similar moments to say that what we value is a reasonable standard of living, adherence to the Constitution, and the self-determination to have a say in the decisions their government is making at home and abroad. In 2006, rural Oregonians gathered facts, figures, and stories about the financial and personal cost of the war in Iraq. Perhaps your group wants to explore this strategy? The Cost of War counter from the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights is a useful starting place.
- Broaden perspectives through intergenerational conversations and organizing: The bombing of Iran took some of us back to 2003 when Bush flew in on an aircraft carrier with a “mission accomplished” banner. For younger generations of organizers, that wasn’t part of our political consciousness, and we’re experiencing this moment through a different lens. Who’s someone in your community of a different generation whose insight you could benefit from in this moment? Reach out to them!
- Subscribe to Rural Community Media: Mary Geddry, Coos County independent journalist and long-time friend of ROP, authors a daily newsletter with spot-on political analysis and a touch of satire that we all need in unprecedented times.
- Endorse: The Rising Majority Call to Action as a group or individual to say NO to war on Iran and genocide in Palestine.
- Lastly, reach out to your ROP organizer and let us know how you are doing and how we can support you. We are stronger together!
Do you have other tools or resources your group is finding useful? Share them with us by emailing Sidra at sidra@rop.org, and we can add them to our resources.
Warmly,
Sidra and the ROP Team
