First America, The Course

INDIGENOUS HISTORY FOR COLLECTIVE LIBERATION

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an online course from Comrades Education

with special guest Rebecca Nagle, author & host of the First America Podcast

US democracy and empire were built together. If we do not know the Native history of this country, we cannot understand the present moment we are in. With knowledge comes the power to act. Decolonization is a precondition for all life on earth … including yours, whether you are Indigenous or not.

This past summer, the so called United States of America celebrated the 250-year anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Rebecca Nagle’s First America podcast coincided with this anniversary to tell the true story of this country’s founding and how our current political moment is 250 years in the making. Bringing together Indigenous experts and historians to unveil how the founders’ treatment of Indigenous nations is the root of authoritarianism in the United States, the story that First America tells is of vital interest to all of us.

First America, The Course, is an offering from Comrades Education intended to support listeners with an immersive experience, and supportive learning community, that helps you more deeply integrate the podcasts materials into your understanding of yourself and the world around you. Each session of this six session course will frame podcast episodes with additional study, analysis, discussion and reflective practices designed to help participants develop a political framework for action.

Throughout the course, emphasis will be placed on social engagement, Indigenous sovereignty, and solidarity-based organizing for meaningful, social change. Decolonization will be prioritized within this solidarity framework in alignment with the following analysis, articulated so eloquently by Indigenous historian and Red Nation co-founder, Nick Estes:

“Decolonization is a necessity for life on this planet. This settler colonial system, whether it is in Tel Aviv or Washington, holds the future hostage for the rest of the planet. It is not an Indian problem. It is not a Palestinian problem. It is a problem for everybody.”

With gratitude for the Indigenous clarity and leadership that Rebecca Nagle has brought out through the First America podcast, let’s get to work solving this dangerous problem together and commit to decolonization everywhere, for everyone.

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Rebecca will be joining us live on Oct 25 and Nov 7. Additional guest teacher line-up is in development, but you can read the full session outline on the course website!

Course Details

Six live Saturday sessions:

Oct 10, 17, 24 and Nov 7, 14, 21

3-5:30pm eastern / 12-2:30pm pacific

Live attendance is not mandatory.

Sessions will be recorded.

Learn more & register today!

Suggested registration fee: $160-320 | No one will be turned away for lack of funds. A portion of all proceeds will be donated to Indigenous language revitalization efforts.

Full course details available linked above. You can jump to straight to registration page here.

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We could not do this work without your participation and support! Regardless of whether or not you are able to participate in this course, you can help sustain this type of political education programming by making a donation.

We are quickly approaching the third session of the Palestine and a Changing World Order course, and I wanted to share here the set of resources I just put together for the course participants. I’ll be honest … I feel a bit sheepish about just how many there are! Lol. But these resources represent my own journey, earlier this year, of searching for sources of information that I could trust to better understand the culture, the people, and the anti-imperialist nature of Iran's just fight against the US and Israel.

Many of these materials are short form social media posts, and the overall organization is designed to make it easy for you to select the resources that would be most meaningful or helpful for you. If you’d like to go a little deeper than self study, sign up for the course and join us live this Sunday (or catch the recording afterwards) as we work with anti-imperialist Iranian guest teacher, Joubin Khazaie. Joubin is a returning guest from the SUDAN: Confront Empire Together course, and I’m super excited to have more time with him!

Learn more & sign up!

Iran: A Fortress Against Imperialism

Abbas Araghchi on Israel and the United States enforcement of permanent inequality, which Iran is fighting against (for the benefit of all) - Al Jazeera (YouTube short)

Iran Sets Negotiation Terms | Jeremy Scahill - The Majority Report (recommended: first 15-20 min of conversation)

Propaganda

Short form resources:

• Cultural colonization of Iran - Sara in Iran (short IG reel)

• There are few political movements more controversial than segments of the pro-Shah Pahlavist Iranian diaspora. - Sovereign Media (short IG reel)

• Young Iranian woman responds to Iranians in diaspora celebrating bombing - IG reel / March 19, 2026 (@alwatanpress)

• Gabriel Rockhill on an anti-imperialist approach to Iran - clip from “Who Paid the Pipers of Western Marxism?” DC Book Launch (short IG reel) / Note the caption on this clip: “As anti-imperialist Marxists we cannot apply an idealistic and perfectionist lens to global struggles against the primary contradiction of imperialism.”

• How the Progressive Left Manufactures Consent for Regime Change - Popular Front Canada (IG slide deck)

• The Problem with Imperial Nuance - Black Myths Podcast (short IG Reel)

Long form resource:

“Our destiny is shared with Palestinians” — Helyeh Doutaghi on how war is uniting Iran - The Electronic Intifada (56 min video)

January Protests

The violent hijacking of legitimate protests in Iran - Dr. Helyeh Doutaghi speaking with Vocal Politics (short IG reel) / See also:

• “Listen to the Iranian”: Sina Rahmani from The East is a Podcast - Fredshetsarna channel, 1 hour episode (Jan 22, 2026) / the first half hour of this conversation includes a harrowing, from-the-ground account of the hijacked January protests in Iran

• Bogus claims, fake sources: Who ignited the flames of unrest and sedition in Iran - ​​​​​Shabbir Rizvi for Press TV, reprinted in Sovereign Media / Jan 19, 2026 (10-15 min read)

• Atrocity propaganda - IG reel, March 27 (@socialista.champagne) / summary of this Jan 31, 2026 article in Al Jazeera: Appropriating the death count: Manufacturing consent for an attack on Iran

Women in Iran

Let’s remember what Iranian women fought for without bombs - March 8, 2026 message to Iranian diaspora / IG reel (@socialista.champagne)

Iranian Women Graduate in STEM at Nearly 3× the Rate of U.S. Women — and Has 5× More PhD Students Per Capita - HR News (short read)

Cultural themes

DEFIANCE: Millions Gather to Mourn Ali Khamenei with Iran at the Crossroads — Vali Nasr Discusses - Drop Site News (40 min watch)

Additional Cultural Resources / short form:

• All I saw was beauty - Raiha Zainab personal story (IG reel)

• Iranian constitution stand w oppressed requirement - Kyan Oberas / informational IG reel

• Iranians honoring Black martyrs - (IG reel)

• Iran is home to one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world - George Galloway at the Haim Synagogue in Tehran (IG reel)

• “Iranian Jews inspect site of destroyed Tehran synagogue” - Middle East Eye (Youtube short)

• Over 115 of Iran’s historical sites have now been hit - (IG reel)

Additional Cultural Resources / long form:

• Max Blumenthal reports back from Iran - The Grayzone (50 min video)

• How Orientalism Creates Information Asymmetry About Iran - Seyed Mohammad Marandi on Endgame w/ Gita Wirjawan (1 hr 20 min extended interview; includes Marandi sharing his personal story)

Moral of Iranian People

• Air attack strikes Tehran during al-Quds Day rally (soon to be martyred Ali Larijani leading one of the crowds) - Al Jazeera (YouTube short)

• Hey American People! “Ala Akbar” - Fereshteh Sadat Rahimi (IG reel)

• Iranians Occupy Bridges and Power Plants in the face of Trump’s Genocidal Threats - Code Pink (YouTube Short)

Additional Talking Points & Encouragement

All short form:

• “American audacity knows no bounds …” / satirical analysis - @pissedmagistus (short IG reel)

• “Do not be fooled by mainstream media about Iran” - Bisan Owda (short IG reel)

• “Iran is not fighting the American people. It is fighting for the American people to be liberated from Zionism. Iran fighting for whole region whole world to be liberated from their Zionist hostage-takers” - Ali Alizadeh, reposted interview clip (short IG reel)

• “I still want Iran to win” - American filmmaker & organizer Merawi Gerima at the gas pump (short IG reel)

• Marandi: I am optimistic about the future. In order to end this evil empire, there has to be resistance… - Glenn Diesen, March 22, 2026 (link takes you to Marandi’s closing words; 2 min of video)

Palestine & a Changing World Order online course runs through Aug 30. Sign up anytime we are in session to access recordings, course materials, and attend upcoming sessions live! For more information and to register visit: comrades.education/palestine-and-a-changing-world-order

If you would like support this type of programming, and ensure that Comrades Education is resourced for the long haul, please considering making a donation on our site. We could not do this without you!

Sincerely,

Eleanor Hancock, Director, Comrades Education

Below are two short clips from the last Sunday’s launch of the Palestine & a Changing World Order online course. Joined by an intimate and highly engaged group of participants, we focused on the broad themes of geopolitics, oligarchic ideologies, and grassroots struggle for self determination at home and abroad. Palestinian Youth Movement organizer Mohammad AG joined us in the second portion of our time for a focused discussion around grassroots tactics and strategies for achieving liberatory change. Sign up to join future sessions and catch the recording of the full session!

Join the course!

First, a portion of my opening remarks:

Next, a clip from PYM organizer Mohammad AG’s discussion:

If you cannot attend the course, but want to help support this type of work, you can make a donation on our site and/or become a paying subscriber here on Substack.

Make a donation

If you are already registered for the course, consider passing this along and inviting someone you to know participate alongside you.

Thank you for who you are and everything that you do for a better world!

In solidarity,

Eleanor

We launch the Palestine & a Changing World Order course this Sunday, and if you are not already signed up I hope you will consider joining us! Adalah Justice Project and the Palestinian Youth Movement are co-contributors to the course, which is also co-sponsored by Catalyst Project and the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights.

Full details & registration

Sunday’s session will focus on broad themes of geopolitics, oligarchic ideologies, and grassroots struggle for self determination at home and abroad. We will be joined by Palestinian Youth Movement organizer Mohammad AG for a presentation and conversation on tactical methods of grassroots struggle that enable us to leverage our collective power for change during these volatile times.

This mailing includes notes and resources that are part of the first session of the course. Enjoy!

PALESTINE, RESISTANCE & A CHANGING WORLD ORDER: Asserting our vision for an equitable future

with Palestinian Youth Movement organizer, Mohammad AG

Sunday, July 19 | 4-6:30pm ET | Register for the course to participate live

Materials for the session include: 1) an essay by Naomi Klein & Astra Taylor on “End Times Fascism”; 2) a statement by The Red Nation on the centrality of solidarity with Palestine in the struggle for decolonization everywhere; 3) an Upstream Podcast interview with Tunisian-American economist Fadhel Kaboub who not only discusses the decline of US hegemony, but also outlines a vision for what an end to colonial domination might look like in economic terms (to be treated as one, specific example of what we might each join with others to aspire for!)

The rise of end times fascism - Naomi Klein & Astra Taylor (Guardian, 2025) / 15-20 min read

Solidarity is a Bridge: The Red Nation speaks about the struggle for a free Palestine and decolonization everywhere - The Red Nation (The New York War Crimes, 2025) / 10-15 min read

The Rise (and Fall) of the US Dollar w/ Fadhel Kaboub - Upstream Podcast, 2026 / 90 min listen

The End of the Old Economic Order Is an Opening for the Left

I’ve borrowed this title from a Jacobin interview with economist Ha-Joon Chang to use for our opening discussion in the course because it summarizes so well one of the core themes of this program. Palestine has become a lightening rod for a global awakening, particularly in “the West”, and represents core global demands for an end to the terrorist regime of the Eurocentric imperialists who have been wrecking havoc on the world and it’s peoples for over 500 years. It seems that, perhaps, we are living at the end of this reign of terror.

Behind all of the military might in the world lies economic power, and the US is quickly loosing its economic stranglehold on the world. This change has been coming for a long time. China’s long game of economic development, dramatically raising the standard of living of their population and steadily building up their capacity as a technological and industrial powerhouse, is a key element of this changing world. The establishment of BRICS, direct trade between Global South nations, and numerous alternative economic institutions (alternative to the IMF and World Bank) are also key elements laying the foundation for the transformations we are seeing today.

With this groundwork laid, the war on Iran has capitulated us into a new global order at lightening speed. Iran has been preparing for this war for decades. Their ballistic missile system is strategic and powerful. They’ve proven themselves more than capable to take on enemies that are technically stronger and win. The Islamic Republic of Iran is the modern day expression of an ancient civilization, and the Iranian people live in a homeland that is literally fortified by mountains. In addition to all of this, Iran is positioned in a way that allows them to control the entire world’s economy by simply asserting control over the Strait of Hormuz.

By launching an illegal, ill-advised and immoral war of aggression against Iran, Donald Trump has shaken an already crumbling empire at its core.

Dying empires are dangerous, horrible things. But it is also at the time of death that opportunities for new life are possible.

The veil is off, and it seems that the majority of the citizens of the United States (and other “Western” powers) are finally joining with the rest of humanity to reject the shockingly immoral, utterly destructive nature of the imperialist economic system our world labors underneath. The genocide in Gaza has woken up the American public to the realities of not only what and who Israel is, but also what and who the United States is, including the grotesque wealth inequality at home and the horrible ways our money is being spent. We don’t want any of this, anymore.

In the midst of these awakenings, the opportunity for grassroots education, action and organizing are ripe. This course is designed to help you develop the insight, knowledge, analysis and skills you need to take effective action as part of a global, collective effort to shift the balance of power for good.

There is no good reason why the majority of the world’s population - not to mention vast and completely innocent the more-than-human-world that we all rely upon for our own survival - should have to live in fear, deprivation, suffering and terror. The tiny handful of people who are destroying life on earth should be isolated and stripped of their power so that the rest of us can create a world that works for all.

I’ll close with the words of Fadhel Kaboub, a small portion of what he shared at the end of his recent interview on Upstream Podcast:

It’s one interconnected big beast that we are trying to overcome. No single silo of our movement is going to be able to do it alone. It has to be a mass movement, or movement of movements, across North and South of this globe, in order for us to overwhelm this system … overwhelm it in a good way! To be able to give this new world order the right to exist.

May it be so!

Yours in the struggle,

Eleanor

Learn more & sign up!

Have you already registered for the course? Please pass this mailing along to someone you know! Ready to sign up? You can jump straight to the registration page here.

If you are not able to attend this course, but want to support the ability of Comrades Education to produce this type of programming, please make a donation on our site.

I put together the following collage-based visual “descriptions” of each session of our upcoming course, and I thought I’d share them here along with full notes on each element of the collage. Enjoy! If you’d like to boost the post on IG you can find it here.

“Palestine & a Changing World Order” begins July 19. All sessions recorded; live attendance is not mandatory. Adalah Justice Project & the Palestinian Youth Movement are making significant contributions to the creation and delivery of this project. Hope to see you in one of the sessions soon!

Full details & regsitration

Session One / July 19

Palestine, Resistance & a Changing World Order: asserting our vision for an equitable future

Imagery clockwise from top left: Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania holds a picture of Hind Rajab on the red carpet during arrivals for the screening of The Voice of Hind Rajab at the Venice Film Festival, on September 3, 2025 | graph title “Purchasing Power of the US Dollar” | map of the Straight of Hormuz | exterior shot of a large data center | bottom portion of US Dollar graph, showing it’s in decline

held with Mohammed AG, Palestinian Youth Movement organizer

Session Two / July 26

Recontextualizing the “Middle East”: understanding West Asia & North Africa through the lens of sovereignty

Imagery clockwise from top left: still from Iranian lego video; US citizens sit around a TV on which the word “Enemy” is written in bold letters over the image of Iranian people | Iranian woman, draped in an the Iranian flag, mourns the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei | a map of the Strait of Hormuz | Sudanese women walk alongside a Sudanese flag under a bright blue sky

held with Yosef H, Palestinian Youth Movement organizer, & Suad Abdel aziz of Decolonize Sudan

Session Three / Aug 2

Iran: a fortress against imperialism

Imagery clockwise from top left: beautiful interior shot of the Broujerdi House, built during the Qajar dynasty | Iranian schoolchildren hold up photographs of Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei and one of the martyred students of Minab | relief map of Iran, emphasizing the mountains that encase it | excavation photograph documents rows of mass graves being dug in Minab | an Iranian woman raises her voice as part of a larger street protest against the war, and in support of the resistance against it; she is draped in a keffiyeh, adorned by an image of the Ayatollah, and accompanied by an Iranian flag | Iranian mountains under a cloudy sky

held with anti-imperial Iranian activist & advocate, Joubin Khazaie

Session Four / Aug 16

Lebanon: a legacy of resistance

Imagery clockwise from top left: Lebanese flag held out over a massive celebration of “Lebanon Liberation Day” May 25, 2000, when Israel was expelled from Southern Lebanon after two decades of occupation | 2026 image of Israel spraying white phosphorus onto southern Lebanon farmland | cedar tree of Lebanon | another celebration of May 25, 2000 Liberation Day; people are gathered in a procession, with many riding on a large truck that displays images of resistance fighters and flags | 2026, invading Israeli military troops approach Beaufort Castle (a 900 year old fortress against European Crusaders)

guest teacher line-up forthcoming

Session Five / Aug 23

Palestine: sumud & a global awakening

Imagery clockwise from top left: Gazan children, youth and adults celebrate with drums and flags when the most recent “ceasefire” was announced | large, old Palestinian olive tree | painting of a Palestinian mother holding and mourning her martyred child, who is wrapped in a white shroud (credit: Sunny Dawn Freeman) | Jewish protester holds sign “Real Jews Denounce Israel’s War Crimes” | the Madleen freedom flotilla in route to Gaza | video still of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya from an Israeli court proceeding; bearing obvious signs of abuse, this is the first of image of Dr. Abu Safiya after 17 months of arbitrary detention | protesters hold pictures of the ‘Filton 4’ activists outside Woolwich crown court in the UK

held with Diana H., independent researcher, popular educator and organizer with PYM

Session Six / Aug 30

Resisting Empire at Home: Zionism, Big Tech & the voice of the people

Imagery clockwise from top left: Vanessa Rios shouts during a 2025 ICE protest in Paramount, Calif | African American woman holds Palestinian flag aloft during International Workers Day demonstration | composite graphic displays US and Israeli flags atop an Israeli occupation outpost tower | still from Iranian lego video; small lego figure holds a sign that says “We Are Not Your Enemy” | petitioners react as the Box Elder county commission announces approval of a large datacenter in Tremonton, Utah | image of Elon Musk (embellished with “devil horns”) is overlaid upon an image of an AI data center

co-lead with Izzy M. of Adalah Justice Project

Course Details

Six live sessions:

July 19, 26 and Aug 2, 16, 23, 30

4-6:30pm eastern / 1-3:30pm pacific

Live attendance is not mandatory.

Sessions will be recorded.

REGISTER NOW!

Suggested registration fee: $160-320

In order to maintain Comrades Education’s ability to offer courses like this one, please pay according to your ability. Our work is almost entirely funded through registration fees, and revenue has been dangerously low this past year. Ty! We’re all in this together.

Full course details can be found on our site here.

Palestine and a Changing World Order

RESISTING ZIONISM, GENOCIDE & THE BILLIONAIRE CLASS

an online course & community of engagement

Facilitated by Eleanor Hancock of Comrades Education

with contributions from Adalah Justice Project & the Palestinian Youth Movement

Palestine and a Changing World Order highlights the centrality of the Palestinian liberation struggle within a larger context of competing forces. Comrades Education has offered a series of Palestine courses over the past two years, however this summer’s course has an expanded focus that corresponds with the intensity of current events, evolution of grassroots political awareness and growing working class rejection of the abominable nature of the oligarch’s vision for our lives and our world.

Learn more & register today!

Are you concerned about the devolving state of the so-called US “democracy”? Do you want to better understand Iran and sort out truth from propaganda in the midst of a US-Israeli war on that country? Are you curious about the opportunities that a multi-polar world could bring to our social movements for dignity and equality for all? Do you want to go on a journey of political education that unites action with analysis and connects the dots between Palestine, Lebanon, Iran, Israel, US imperialism, domestic state violence, Big Tech and your life? Join us!

Palestine & a Changing World Order is an online course about resistance to Zionism, genocide & the billionaire class. Deepen your understanding of Iran, Lebanon and Palestine while joining with others to resist the horrible plans the billionaires have for all of us.

The course consists of six live sessions that include time for: community grounding and sharing around study materials & session themes; guest teacher interviews with participant Q&A; small group, break out discussions and share back; topic and skill based learning.

Learning goals will prioritize: 1) knowledge & understanding; 2) political analysis & theory of change; 3) engagement in grassroots action & campaigns

This course represents a collaboration between Comrades Education and contributors from Adalah Justice Project and the Palestinian Youth Movement. Co-facilitator and guest teacher line-up is in development, but you can read the full outline of session topics below! For additional descriptions of session themes, see the course informational page on our website here.

Session One / July 19

PALESTINE, RESISTANCE & A CHANGING WORLD ORDER: Asserting our vision for an equitable future

to be co-led with Palestinian Youth Movement contributor

Session Two / July 26

RECONTEXTUALIZING THE “MIDDLE EAST”: Understanding West Asia & North Africa through the lens of sovereignty

This session will consist of a Palestinian Youth Movement led teach-in on the history & politics of West Asia within the framework of sovereignty, followed by a conversation with Suad Abdel aziz of Decolonize Sudan about the role of the UAE as a sub-imperial power.

Session Three / Aug 2

IRAN: A Fortress Against Imperialism

Guest teachers to include anti-imperial Iranian activist & advocate, Joubin Khazaie

Session Four / Aug 16

LEBANON: A Legacy of Resistance

Guest teacher line-up forthcoming

Session Five / Aug 23

PALESTINE: Sumud & a Global Awakening

Guest teachers to include Palestinian Youth Movement representative

Session Six / Aug 30

RESISTING THE EMPIRE AT HOME: Zionism, Big Tech and the Voice of the People

co-lead with Izzy Mustafa of Adalah Justice Project

Course Details

Six live sessions:

July 19, 26 and Aug 2, 16, 23, 30

4-6:30pm eastern / 1-3:30pm pacific

Live attendance is not mandatory.

Sessions will be recorded.

REGISTER NOW!

Suggested registration fee: $160-320 | No one will be turned away for lack of funds. A portion of all proceeds will be donated to on-the-ground mutual aid efforts in Gaza. |

For full course details, see the course informational page on our website. We could not do this work without your participation and support! If you are not able to participate in this course, but would like to make a donation to fund this type of political education programming, you can do so here.

Suad Abdel aziz and I have been hosting an incredible array of guest teachers in the ongoing course, SUDAN: Confront Empire Together. This email is your invitation (whether or not you are currently enrolled) to join us this coming Sunday, May 17 for a very special conversation about the imperial machinations designed to prevent us from understanding and acting in solidarity with the people of Iran, Venezuela and Sudan.

You can join the session by signing up for the course (paying any amount), which will also give you access to all course materials and recordings from past sessions.

Select resources on Iran, Venezuela & Sudan are posted at the bottom of this email - but you’ll want to sign up today to access the full set of materials and join us live! Full event details, below:

Have you had questions about how best to support “the people” of Iran, Venezuela and Sudan? Have you been confused by contradictory narratives? Or are you a member of a diaspora population that has been displaced by imperial aggression, and you have questions about how to best support your family and community back home?

Join us this coming Sunday, May 17, for the fifth session of a Sudan solidarity course from Comrades Education & Decolonize Sudan, where together we will be:

• demystifying layers of propaganda that may have been troubling you in recent months

• bringing clarity to the nuanced, challenging landscape of diaspora politics

• engaging in a discussion that brings Iranian, Venezuelan and Sudanese perspectives together.

Guest teachers GEO MAHER (abolitionist, Venezuelan-American author) and JOUBIN KHAZAIE (Iranian-American lawyer & activist) will be be joined in conversation with SUAD ABDEL AZIZ (Sudanese-American lawyer & educator, director of Decolonize Sudan and co-facilitator of the course) to discuss some of the nuances and challenges of diaspora politics in relation to Empire and their respective countries of origin.

The conversation will be further enriched by award-winning, independent journalist AARON MATÉ (who you may know from the Grayzone, Democracy Now!, The Real News Network and/or as co-host of Useful Idiots alongside Katie Halper), whose insight and depth of experience can help us cut through the narratives of imperial propaganda that often derail our movements.

We expect the conversation to be enlightening and, honestly, out of the ordinary. These topics are under-addressed yet vital to our collective efforts to confront and dismantle Empire. You don’t want to miss it!

REGISTER NOW

Payment optional. No one turned away for lack of funds. Registrants will have access to all materials from the course. The session will be recorded and live attendance is not mandatory.

Resources on Iran, Venezuela & Sudan

related to May 17 event themes of propaganda & diaspora politics

Diaspora Politics

“But listen to Iranians, listen to Venezuelans” - March 2, 2026 IG reel (@isitcapitalism)

SESSION 5 HANDOUT: On the Weaponization of Diaspora in Empire - Decolonize Sudan resource (5-10 min read)

Ahmed Kaballo on diaspora politics - clip from SUDAN: Confront Empire Together (Session Two conversation)

Venezuela

The Truth About Chávez: Bernie Sanders is wrong — Hugo Chávez was no dictator. - Gabriel Hetland for Jacobin (2015) / (15 min read)

The Bias of Human Rights Watch - Garry Leech for Critical Legal Thinking (2013) / (15-20 min read)

Iran

There are few political movements more controversial than segments of the pro-Shah Pahlavist Iranian diaspora. - Sovereign Media IG reel

Young Iranian woman responds to Iranians in diaspora celebrating bombing - IG reel / March 19, 2026 (@alwatanpress)

Cultural colonization of Iran - Sara in Iran IG reel

The violent hijacking of legitimate protests in Iran - Dr. Helyeh Doutaghi speaking with Vocal Politics | IG reel (Jan 10, 2026)

Sudan

Understanding Sudan’s reality on the ground:

These sources center perspectives from within Sudan that challenge dominant Western narratives framing the violence as a “civil war.” On the ground, Sudanese people are clear about what’s happening to them, describe the RSF not as a domestic political actor, but as a UAE-backed militia functioning as an occupying force there to destabilize, annihilate and terrorize. While there is opposition to living under military rule, there is an understanding on the ground that the Sudanese military (“SAF”) is the only armed resistance to the RSF, which presents an existential threat to Sudanese people and sovereignty. Testimonies from RSF occupied areas point to widespread destruction and civilian targeting, consistent with organized campaigns of destabilization, while Sudanese people overwhelmingly celebrate the Sudanese military recapturing land.

‘We’ve come back from hell’: Sudanese jubilant after army retakes Khartoum from RSF- Middle East Eye (5-10 min read) / see also: Sudanese celebrate as army chief declares Khartoum “free”!

Sudanese Army shattered a brutal, two-year siege on Deleng - Sovereign Media IG reel (providing context and background)

Alaa Salah’s testimony - Sovereign Media IG reel

Understanding Abdalla Hamdok and his Sumoud Coalition- the faux “Civilian” face behind the RSF in Sudan. - Decolonize Sudan resource (5-7 min read)

Hopefully you are already aware of the upcoming collaboration between Comrades Education and Decolonize Sudan. Suad Abdel aziz and I are building out a six session, online intensive course in which you can build that awareness and solidarity you know you are missing with the people of Sudan! And, given the incredible guest line up, we can hold space together in this learning community to deepen our understanding and resistance to Empire together during these dangerous times.

Most guests will be joining us live in their respective course session, though there three notable pre-recorded contributions: Suad & my conversation with Noura Erakat; Suad’s conversation with Ahmed Kaballo (creator of African Stream and Sovereign Media); and a recorded contribution from the Gazan creator of the No Thanks boycott app, Ahmed Bashbash. These three guests alone are worth joining the course for … but the line-up does not stop with them!

I know these times are overwhelming. I am looking forward to learning from our Sudanese siblings, and holding space with our diverse guest teachers, in ways that help us focus our attention on US-sponsored genocide and US imperial aggression abroad as well as state sponsored terror at home (ICE in Trumps’ America) through the prism of Sudan.

This course is a unique and powerful experience that we will not be able to replicate in the future. I hope you will take advantage of Suad and my collaboration and sign up today!

SUDAN: Confront Empire Together online course & community of engagement

All sessions recorded. Live attendance not required. Sliding scale registration fee with no one turned away for lack of funds. Register today!

☀️SESSION TOPICS & GUEST TEACHER SCHEDULE☀️

April 5 ➡️ Sudan, Palestine, and the Politics of Solidarity

with guest teachers:

Noura Erakat (human rights attorney and legal scholar)

Ahmed Bashbash (Gazan creator of NoThanks boycott app)

April 12 ➡️ Economy of Genocide: Gold, Arms, Tech & the UAE–RSF Axis

with guest teachers:

Mutasim Ali (chair of the international inquiry into RSF breaches of the Genocide Convention in Darfur)

Ahmed Kaballo (Sudanese activist, political analyst & media entrepreneur)

April 26 ➡️ Resistance, Revolution & Sudanese Women at the Heart of Survival

with guest teachers:

Alaa Salah (Sudanese activist & community leader; iconic representative of 2019 revolution)

Sarah Ahmed (co-founder, Rise Up for Sudan)

Mastoria Bakhiet (founder & ED, Darfur Women Network)

May 3 ➡️ Borders As the Second Battlefield: Sudan, Deportation, and Empire in Trump’s America

with guest teachers:

Sara Louis-Ayo from VOTE (Voice of the Experienced) to speak on refugee resettlement

Abraham Paulos (Black Alliance for Just Immigration)

May 17 ➡️ Sudan, Iran, Venezuela, and the Role of U.S. Diaspora Inside Empire

with guest teachers:

Geo Maher, P.h.D (abolitionist educator, organizer & writer)

Aaron Maté (independent journalist & author)

Joubin Khazaie (Iranian American attorney and activist)

May 24 ➡️ From Education to Action: Processing, Strategy, and Solidarity

with course facilitators:

Suad Abdel aziz (human rights attorney & founder / ED of Decolonize Sudan)

Eleanor Hancock (antiracist educator & founder / Director of Comrades Education)

SUDAN: Confront Empire Together begins April 5.

Register today and invite others to join!

In order to attend all sessions live, you will need to register by April 4. However, registration will remain open the entire duration of the course (through May 24.) Registrants wil have access to all course materials regardless of when you join.

Read more & sign up on our site!

A note about my collaborator, Suad Abdel aziz:

Suad Abdel aziz is a Sudanese-American lawyer and is the founder and executive director of Decolonize Sudan. At Decolonize Sudan, Suad documents abuses, files human rights complaints on behalf of victims, creates educational materials and leads advocacy trainings throughout the U.S.

Born and raised in Hasahisa, Sudan, Suad has supported human rights defenders across the Global South and has worked with organizations such as the Southern Center for Human Rights, the National Lawyers Guild and Palestine Legal, advising activists facing repression for their advocacy. Read more about Suad and her work here!

If you have any questions about the course, please be in touch! info@comrades.education

I hope to see many of you soon. Meanwhile, strength and solidarity to you all as we navigate these dangerous times together.

In solidarity,

Eleanor

The occupation of the Rapid Support Forces, at the behest of the United Arab Emirates - an entity that is itself enmeshed with Israel and the United States - has led to devastating consequences for the Sudanese people with over 12 million forcibly displaced, nearly half the population experiencing starvation conditions and tens of thousands slaughtered.

And yet, despite being the largest humanitarian disaster on the planet, there is always something more important to focus on. It seems that Sudan is always overlooked.

I know that there are thousands of anti-racist, anti-imperialist organizers and activists, within the US and abroad, who are hungry to correct this imbalance and to learn from, and stand alongside, our Sudanese siblings. I also refuse to participate in the type of zero-sum narratives that have at times (in psy-op fashion) weighed down our movements, treating social justice as a competition for the scarce resource of our collective attention.

Understanding and uplifting Sudan can only enrich all of us and can only strengthen our diverse movements for the liberation and justice.

Several months ago, as we were hosting our third Palestine solidarity course, I began looking for a collaborator to help Comrades Education offer the same type of course on the crisis in Sudan. Earlier this year I was introduced to Suad Abdel aziz, ED and founder of Decolonize Sudan, and it was a match made in heaven.

Decolonize Sudan and Comrades Education have just opened a six session, intensive course on Sudan that I am so excited to share with you. The guest teacher line up (eleven guests in total) is incredible, and a direct result of Suad’s powerful network of relationships. I have also been blessed by Suad’s loving generosity of spirit, which you can experience as well in her leadership throughout each session of this course, given that we will be co-facilitating it together.

Understanding and aligning ourselves with Sudan, including not only the fact and causes of the genocide itself but also the survivance strategies and self-determination struggles of the people (including their 2018-2019 revolution,) is a missing piece in our movements for fundamental social change. Sudan itself holds an ancient heritage that is of universal value to humanity, and the steadfast leadership of Sudanese in their home country, and throughout their diaspora, is too often an undervalued resource within our global struggles against imperialism, white supremacy and war.

Sudan is a prism through which we can better understand the catastrophes of our time, and the Sudanese people an undervalued resource in our movements for collective liberation.

There is a wide swath of immediate crises that we will be critically examining in this course through the prism of Sudan and the incredible network of guest teachers that Suad has brought to the course. Areas of focus include the economics behind the genocide; Sudanese survivance and self-determination struggles; and both the impact on and role of Sudanese women throughout this most recent holocaust. Alongside these vital matters, we will also be discussing intersectional themes and struggles, including:

• Connections between Palestine and Sudan and the solidarity between these peoples, including a conversation between Suad and Noura Erakat on these topics and a sharing from Ahmed Bashbash, the Gazan software engineer who created the No Thanks boycott app and recently unrolled a Sudan Campaign within it;

• The abuses of ICE and the ways in which border becomes another weapon of war as Sudanese refugees in the US, many of whom have deeply established lives and careers here, are targeted by the Trump administration’s escalating assaults;

• The weaponization of diaspora populations within imperialist propaganda, including a robust conversation with anti-imperialist Iranian, Venezuelan and Sudanese leadership on these topics.

SUDAN: Confront Empire Together is going to be an incredible journey.

Six Sessions. Eleven guest teachers. Begins April 5. Join us!

All sessions recorded and no one turned away for lack of funds.

SUDAN: Confront Empire Together

an online course & community of engagement

Facilitators: Suad Abdel aziz & Eleanor Hancock

Guest Teachers: Alaa Salah, Noura Erakat, Mastoria Bakhiet, Aaron Maté, Ahmed Bashbash, Mutasim Ali, Sarah Ahmed, Geo Maher, Joubin Khazaie, Abraham Paulos & Sara Louis-Ayo

Cosponsors: Adalah Justice Project, Rise Up for Sudan, International Human Rights Law Institute & Muslim Students Association National

This course is a partnership between Comrades Education & Decolonize Sudan.

Learn more & register for the course

Session Themes & Guest Teacher Schedule:

April 5 ➡️ Sudan, Palestine, and the Politics of Solidarity

with guest teachers:

Noura Erakat (human rights attorney and legal scholar)

Ahmed Bashbash (Gaza-based creator of NoThanks boycott app)

April 12 ➡️ Economy of Genocide: Gold, Arms, Tech & the UAE–RSF Axis Overview

with guest teacher:

Mutasim Ali (chair of the international inquiry into RSF breaches of the Genocide Convention in Darfur)

and presentation by Suad

April 26 ➡️ Resistance, Revolution & Sudanese Women at the Heart of Survival

with guest teachers:

Alaa Salah (Sudanese activist & community leader; iconic representative of 2019 revolution)

Sarah Ahmed (co-founder, Rise Up for Sudan)

Mastoria Bakhiet (Darfur Women Network)

May 3 ➡️ Borders As the Second Battlefield: Sudan, Deportation, and Empire in Trump’s America

with guest teachers:

Sara Louis-Ayo from VOTE (Voice of the Experienced) to speak on refugee resettlement

Abraham Paulos (Black Alliance for Just Immigration)

May 17 ➡️ Sudan, Iran, Venezuela, and the Role of U.S. Diaspora Inside Empire

with guest teachers:

Geo Maher, P.h.D (abolitionist educator, organizer & writer)

Aaron Maté (independent journalist & author)

Joubin Khazaie (Iranian American attorney and activist)

May 24 ➡️ From Education to Action: Processing, Strategy, and Solidarity

with Suad & Eleanor

What is happening in Sudan is more than a “humanitarian crisis.” It is a crisis of capitalism, white supremacy, imperial violence and neocolonialism. The root cause of this crisis is not tribalism or rivalry but the violent scramble for Sudan’s resources by foreign powers. The ongoing genocide and colonial siege that began in 2023 unfolded in the wake of the Sudanese people’s 2018-2019 revolution, yet the mass’s demands for self-determination endure in ongoing resistance at home and in the diaspora.

Education and research are tools of resistance, and knowing the forces behind this violence is critical to building solidarity and action.

SUDAN: Confront Empire Together is a six session online course and community of engagement designed to build awareness and solidarity with the Sudanese people’s struggle for self-determination. Learn more and register today!

Hello friends!

Our Study Solidarity with Venezuela course kicks off Thursday evening, and we have a few updates for you about the program.

First off, we are delighted to have the program cosponsored and endorsed by Friends of Latin America and Code Pink.

Next, we have booked a fabulous guest teacher for session two: Ricardo Vaz, a writer and editor for Venezuelanalysis who is based out of Caracas and has years of experience countering the corporate media propaganda against the Bolivarian Revolution and giving a voice to leftist and grassroots movements in Venezuela.

I want to also highlight my co-facilitator’s background in Latin American solidarity movements and grassroots Venezuela connects specifically: Juliana Barnet is an anti-imperialist educator with decades of participation in Latin American solidarity movements and close ties to grassroots Venezuelan society. If you head over to the course information page on our website, you can read about some of the specifics of Juliana’s allyship and long-time solidarity contributions in her bio!

Other updates include a break down of session topics and learning goals, as well as a couple of paragraphs about the context within which we are offering this program - including the relevance of imperialist aggression against Venezuela to the Trump administration’s intensified, criminal and genocidal strangulation of Cuba*.

*If you would like to learn more about, support and or participate in a people’s flotilla for Cuba, you can fill out this form on Code Pink’s website.

Read on for some of these details about our upcoming Venezuela Solidarity course. Or jump straight to the course information page on our website:

Learn more & register today!

Context and Intentions for the Course

The Trump administration’s recent assault and kidnapping of President Maduro is an escalation of longstanding imperialist aggression towards the Venezuelan people and their Bolivarian Revolution. It is also part of this administration’s efforts to revive the Monroe Doctrine and destroy Cuba. The majority of the people of the US do not support these grotesque colonial adventures. We want housing, healthcare, jobs and dignified lives ... at stake is the question of sovereignty throughout the region, and self determination for all of us.

This course creates the opportunity for you to join with others in the midst of a critical juncture in U.S. imperialist policy, form a community of concern and engagement, cut through the propaganda that prevents us from understanding and appreciating the Bolivarian Revolution and bolster our ability to take action in solidarity with the Venezuelan people ... action that we take for the benefit of all, including ourselves, at this high stakes moment in history.

Session Topics and Learning Goals

The format of the program is an interactive study group, with a curated group of materials (written, audio, video, etc) shared ahead of each live session that the group can then “unpack” together with the support of course facilitators. Study materials will include a variety of sources, and will prioritize Venezuelan perspectives.

SESSION ONE: Overcoming Propaganda

In this session, Juliana and I will lead the group in analyzing and breaking down imperialist propaganda while understanding, respecting and taking a solidarity stance with the Venezuelan people’s socialist project. Highlights will include hearing about Juliana’s experience as an elections observer in 2025!

SESSION TWO: US Empire & the Bolivarian Revolution

Together with guest teacher Ricardo Vaz, our focus in this session will be applying a critical analysis of US imperialism and white supremacy to the Venezuelan context, and developing (or deepening) our understanding of and appreciation for the Bolivarian Revolution.

SESSION THREE: Venezuelan Communes & Taking Solidarity Action

In our final session, Juliana will share about her experiences visiting with and supporting Venezuelan Communes, where everyday people are building institutions for self governance and self reliance as part of the Bolivarian Revolution project. We will also focus on immediate actions we can take, and long-term commitments we can make, in order to support Venezuelan resistance to imperialist/capitalist threats as part of our own ongoing work for collective liberation.

Thanks for reading, and I hope that you can join us and/or pass this invitation along to someone you know!

Learn more and register for Study & Solidarity with Venezuela on our site here.

All sessions recorded. Live attendance is not mandatory. Registration will remain open the entire time the course is in session. No one turned away for lack of funds.

In solidarity,

Eleanor

“The United States death machine is at war with the world. It has no regard for human life or planetary well-being. In fact, it disdains these things.”

Della Z Duncan, Upstream Podcast

Comrades Education upcoming three session Venezuela Solidarity course begins Thursday, February 19. All sessions recorded. No one turned away for lack of funds. Learn more on our site here.

*A collection of resources for self study is included near the end of this post.*

I’m not completely sure what it is that has me feeling so shut down. There is, of course, the cold, the frozen world around me that just won’t let up. I’m also going through yet another life transition, living alone for the first time in over 25 years. This is a positive thing, as my daughter is moving into her adult life, but it’s still shocking at times. Then there is a recurrence of financial insecurity, housing insecurity - a reminder of darker times in life. And, at the same time, the mounting horrors, the unavoidable mirror of my own traumatic experience of “remembering” abuses that seem impossible and can never be fully known or proven, as the results of the latest batch of Epstein files are just everywhere.

My work for socialism and an egalitarian society these days mostly takes place in front of a computer, crafting political education experiences with beloved collaborators. But sometimes it all feels a bit empty, sometimes I feel overwhelmed. I’m guessing I’m not the only one.

In the midst of it all, how are you? What heaviness weighs on your soul? What bad memories are awakened? What fear or dread is lingering over your future?

I pray you find balm, inspiration and connection to sustain you. And if you’ve also been living inside of a polar vortex these last several weeks, I hope that you are staying warm! There is a beautiful Gillian Welch song that I think about as the snow and ice lingers on:

The fairest bloom the mountain knows

Is not an iris or a wild rose

But the little flower of which I’ll tell

Known as the brave agony bell.

Just a simple flower so small and plain

With a pearly hue and a little known name

But the yellow birds sing when they see it bloom

For they know that spring is coming soon.

Well it makes its home mid the rocks and the rills

Where the snow lies deep on the windy hills

And it tells the world “why should i wait

This ice and snow is gonna melt away”

And so I’ll sing that yellow bird’s song

For the troubled times will soon be gone.

Who sings that yellow bird’s song in your world? As I see it, in the world at large, that song is sung by people’s movements fighting for the self-determination, fighting for a different way of organizing our lives that prioritizes life itself. Whether these are rapid response systems in Minnesota, mutual aid networks in Sudan, or the exhausted people of Gaza who continue to care for their children and their neighbors in the face of a slow-burning genocide, the people of this Earth soldier on in the face of an absolute disdain for life, clearly stating clearly: We are here! We matter! And we will not stop fighting.

We are each, in our own way, inundated by a multi-pronged attack of right wing forces that are swarming the globe. Before one attack ends another has begun, the news is impossible to keep up with, and there seem to be no consequences for the multitude of unspeakable crimes, past and present, that daily assault our bodies and our senses.

There is a people’s movement, however, that is under sustained attack and yet - even among the most left-wing circles - rarely gets the kind of attention it deserves. And that is the “messy and imperfect but inspiring and profoundly important” Venezuelan project of participatory, socialist transformation.

Venezuela’s Bolivarian revolution, and it’s most prominent leaders, have been so demonized within Western media that it can feel overwhelming to discern fact from fiction. But if you take the time to do your homework, it’s actually not that difficult to find solid information coming in from the ground. And this information tells us that - while, yes, we should oppose illegal and immoral kidnappings, sanctions and bombings wherever they take place - there is also something deeper going on within Venezuela, something to learn from and to protect.

So, in the midst of “everything else” that is going on, in our little corner of the independent media and political education landscape, Comrades Education is highlighting Venezuela through an accessible, three session course that begins in just under two weeks.

José Luis Granados Ceja, in a recent episode of Upstream Podcast, addressed the aim of the imperialists and the counter-balancing force of the Venezuelan people’s fight for self determination like this:

“We know what their aim is. It’s not just to undermine, but to put into question the viability of independent republics.

We’re talking about an attitude, actions, by US imperialism, that wants to convey this message:

‘You actually aren’t allowed to be independent and sovereign.’

Those are the stakes … and now, once again, the entire world is depending on the Venezuelan people to resist. And they are doing an incredible job of it.”

Everything is connected. Venezuela is a prism into the competing forces of imperialism, capitalism and socialism. Let’s take the time to understand and support the Bolivarian revolution at this critical moment with the full knowledge that - in fighting for their own sovereignty - the Venezuelan people are also fighting for the world. Learn more and sign up on our site.

Study & Solidarity with Venezuela

I hope that you can join us! And I want to thank you, wherever you are, whatever challenges you are confronting, for your courage and persistence during these times.

In solidarity,

Eleanor

A few recommended resources (that we’ll also be working with in the course):

Venezuela Pt. 5: Monroe Doctrine 2.0 w/ José Luis Granados Ceja - Upstream Podcast (Jan 3, 2026) *course participants will be provided with direct access to an edited version of this conversation, though we recommend subscribing to Upstream if you can!

[TEASER] Venezuela Pt. 6: The Empire Strikes w/ José Luis Granados Ceja and Andreína Chávez - Upstream Podcast (Feb 3, 2026)

Exploring Communes and the emerging Communal System and Voices from Venezuela - Juliana Barnet (2023 and 2025 Substack posts)

How the Bolivarian Revolution is challenging US dominance in Latin America - The People’s Dispatch (2024) / see also: How Venezuela poses an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to the US agenda (Feb 5, 2026)

Venezuela’s Unfinished Revolution - Ricardo Vaz on the Macro N Cheese Podcast (Jan 17, 2026)

The Truth About Chávez: Bernie Sanders is wrong — Hugo Chávez was no dictator. - Gabriel Hetland for Jacobin (2015)

The Bias of Human Rights Watch - Garry Leech for Critical Legal Thinking (2013)

Armed Venezuelan Civilians SHOCK Trump-Here’s What the Media Hid - Katie Halper Show (Jan 8, 2026)

Study & Solidarity with Venezuela

an online community of learning & action

Facilitated by: Eleanor Hancock & Juliana Barnet

No war. No imperialism. Venezuela is for Venezuelans.

Respect the will of the people. Protect the Bolivarian Revolution.

Study & Solidarity with Venezuela is an online course and learning community for anyone who stands against imperial aggression and for the right to self-determination of the Venezuelan people. The course will be facilitated by Eleanor Hancock, Director of Comrades Education, and Juliana Barnet, an anti-imperialist educator with decades of participation in Latin American solidarity movements and close ties to grassroots Venezuelan society.

Learn more & sign up here!

This course will be conducted as an interactive study group, with a curated group of materials (written, audio, video, etc) shared ahead of each live session that the group can then “unpack” together with the support of course facilitators. Study materials will include a variety of sources, and will prioritize Venezuelan perspectives.

Learning goals for our work together include:

1. dispelling propaganda and opposing imperialist aggression while understanding, respecting and taking a solidarity stance with the Venezuelan people’s socialist project

2. applying critical analysis of US imperialism and white supremacy to the Venezuelan context, and (esp for participants joining from the US) considering how we practice solidarity toward countries and peoples whom our government targets

3. developing and/or deepening our understanding of the Bolivarian Revolution

4. taking immediate action and assessing long-term commitments we can make in order to support Venezuelan resistance to imperialist/capitalist threats

Mural photo credit: Venezuelanalysis

Three Thursday sessions:

Feb 19, Feb 26 & March 5

8:00-9:30pm eastern time

Live attendance is not mandatory. All sessions will be recorded.

Access full details, facilitator bio’s & registration on our website.

While we usually allow a longer amount of time for promotion and registration, please keep in mind that this program begins in just three weeks!

The course is designed to be a short, accessible, three session program held in a study group format.

All sessions are recorded, and all registrants will have access to recordings & course materials through June 5, 2026.

This is a great opportunity to learn more about capitalism, US imperialism, white supremacy, respectful solidarity and effective avenues for collective liberation … through the lens of the current crisis that the Trump administration has pressed onto the country of Venezuela when he bombed their capital and kidnapped their president.

I hope that you will join us and pass this announcement along through your networks!

In solidarity,

Eleanor Hancock

Director, Comrades Education

Hello friends!

Are you thinking about signing up for this course? Or you already are, but would like to ask others to join you? Now is the time! Our first session will be held this coming Sunday, Jan 18. Full details and registration on our site here.

Update: We’ve secured a facilitator for the multiracial caucus! The estimable Nicole Born-Crow, politicized healer and activist, Ancestral Lineage Repair practitioner, strega, Hexe, Jewitch and co-founder of Folke Healing, will be hosting the multiracial supplemental caucus call.

Before We Were White

ancestral recovery for collective liberation

an online course & learning community for people of European descent

Facilitated by: Eleanor Hancock

with Guest teachers: Chris Crass, Bonnie Duran, Katrina Browne, Rune Rasmussen, Katrina Messenger and Marybeth Bonfiglio

Identity Caucus Facilitators: Jen Kiok, Llywelyn Jones, Deana Graffeo Weeks, and Nicole Born-Crow

New this year: a Community Art Processing space will held by Maya Kosover

“This is the missing piece for my engagement with racial justice work.”

“This course provides both deep spiritual grounding and a profound socio-spiritual-historical education.”

“My heart was opened in a way I had not expected.”

-Before We Were White participant testimonials

Before We Were White is a core piece of curriculum that Comrades Education (formerly known as White Awake) has offered annually for the past eight years. The program offers an ancestral recovery experience for people with European descent (whether you are white or multiracial) that is explicitly antiracist and decolonial.

The work of the course centers historical analysis, family history, reflective & spiritual processes, nature connection and an active contribution to the struggle for collective liberation.

If you are a person with European ancestry who would like to commit yourself to the work of collective liberation with increased capacity and wholeness … join us!

Full details & registration

Each of us belongs to a collective body of people with a story (or stories) that reach before us and after us in time. Before they were ever classified as “white” our European and pre-European ancestors were distinct peoples with their own unique cultures and relationships to place. What happened to them? How did they come to be considered “white”, and what was lost along the way? How do we reconcile ourselves to the legacies of oppression, violence and genocide our ancestors may have participated in? Who resisted, and what parts of our personal and collective legacy can we draw upon for strength & clarity today?

This course is designed to help you consider these questions as you:

• Foster an understanding of white supremacy, capitalism, and settler-colonialism in the context of European ancestry

• Place your family stories within a larger historical and political framework

• Open pathways for discharging inherited harm or confusion that can arise from our connection to ancestors who have perpetrated or participated in oppression, exploitation, or genocide

• Open pathways for greater connection and relationship with ancestors of blood and/or adoption, social location, or chosen lineage who can support contemporary work for positive social change

• Build resilience, an integrated sense of self, and a stronger sense of purpose in your work for collective liberation

Please refer to our Course Structure document to learn more about how the course is held.

Course Details

Six online sessions:

Jan 18 & 25, Feb 8 & 15, March 1 & 8

4:00-6:30pm ET • 1-3:30pm PT

PLUS: Two Community Art Processing sessions, facilitated by Maya Kosover, held February 1st & 22nd

Live attendance is not mandatory. Sessions will be recorded. Sliding scale registration fee. No one turned away for lack of funds

Full details and registration available on our site here

⁓ optional, supplemental caucus calls will be held for folks with Jewish, Queer, Italian/Sicilian and/or Multiracial identities ⁓

Guest Teachers

Facilitation

Do you have questions about whether or not this course is a good fit for you? Write us at: info@comrades.education

“If the United States is still a colony, it is a colony without a homeland. It broke with its homeland, Great Britain, during the Revolutionary War and now occupies the homelands of other nations, our nations—Native Nations.”

- Jacqueline Keeler, America is Still a Colony and the Reemergence of Native Nations

As a sensitive kid who spent a lot of time outside, I instinctively felt that the society I lived in was disgusting and immoral for destroying nature and acting as though it was dead. It felt hopeless to me, because I also believed that this society defined who I was. This was “my society” and “my culture”, so there was also something inherently wrong with me.

When, in middle school, I learned about the genocide of Indigenous peoples that made my family’s life in “North America” or Turtle Island possible, I was filled with sadness, anger and a haunting sense of despair. When I was fifteen years old, I wrote this simple poem about it, entitled “white man’s burden”:

cut me

mark me with a purple wound

so I cannot forget

the sin of my race against yours

I know … “white guilt”, yet another cardinal sin. Another flaw that seems inescapable in the circling drain of essentialized identity. But if a “white” person - whether they are a settler or whether they still live in the original imperial core of Europe - turns their attention to the actual weight of our lives, the historic and ongoing crimes against humanity upon which our material lives are built, it is unbearable. And this is why it is so important to understand that: 1) “whiteness”, imperialism and settler colonialism are projects of the ruling class; and 2) we are not a possession or extension of the ruling class. We do not belong to them. As humans on this earth, we have autonomy, and (unless we are billionaire, capitalist elites) we are not members of the ruling class, even if some aspects of our lives support their agenda.

The idea of a unified “white race” was originally designed to drive a wedge between European laboring classes (themselves very recently peasants within a feudal hierarchy) and their African comrades within the context of the thirteen British colonies that would become the United States. These social machinations worked remarkably well, and allowed capitalism - with its voracious appetite for imperialism, genocide and ecological destruction - to set deep root around the globe.

We should not mistake ruling class ideology and manipulation for identity. While we cannot change the way this system classifies us, or the history that implicates ourselves and our families in this violence, at our essence we are simply human children of planet Earth, like every other human at any other place and point in time. It is our choice how we direct the force of life within us, and what type of system we work to overthrow or uphold.

As I’ve thought about the eighth iteration of this organization’s Before We Were White ancestral recovery course in the context of the Trump administration’s vulgar aggression against the Venezuelan people and their social project, it occurred to me that there are three key areas of separation from the imperial project that I hope to instill within this learning community.

First, we separate ourselves from Empire by understanding our class interest - which is what I have been writing about so far. Our world is materially structured based on a strict class hierarchy. There are layers within layers of hierarchy within this order, and subtlety even among these, but the primary class distinction within the capitalist mode of production is between those who labor and those who do not.

I know not every member of the non-capitalist class actually works a wage paying job. A simple way I like to illuminate the glaring distinctions between the capitalist and non-capitalist classes is as follows: Whether you are comfortably getting by or struggling to keep a roof over your head, if you cannot personally buy an election, you are part of the “Working Class”. And as members of the Working Class, from the workplace to the nation-state to the international stage, our power can only be exercised through solidarity with one another. Our power is in our numbers.

The capitalist classes are, by definition, a small minority of society, and in their derangement and mental sickness we can see that they are not served by this system either. Returning to the subject of white identity among member of the Working Class, it is this first step of developing class consciousness that helps us to divest our energy and sense of belonging to Empire and into activities and ways of belonging that are inherently life affirming - for ourselves, for others, for the world. And it is this step, of understanding that the whiteness assigned to us does not actually make us part of the ruling class, that allows us to more fully embrace the two other forms of separation from Empire I wanted to highlight: belonging to land and belonging to a human story that has deeper roots than whiteness. This final point of separation from Empire, which is part of the process of ancestral recovery, is itself based histories of land and class. I won’t go into these ways of belonging here; exploring them makes the fabric of the course we are preparing to teach. :)

Those of us with European ancestry* (whether we are white or multiracial, settlers or inhabitants of our ancestral homeland) have a complex relationship to the abuses of ruling class power over the course of the past 500+ years. However, despite this complexity, we do not actually belong to the ruling classes. We belong to land, to Earth, to one another, to our own ancestral lineages, and - if we so choose, through our inner work and social engagement - we can belong to revolutionary traditions of struggle that are fighting, right now, for an equitable, peaceful, life sustaining and life affirming world. The struggle needs you, needs us. Let’s join it.

In solidarity,

Eleanor Hancock (Director, Comrades Education)

Interested in learning more or signing up for the 2026 Before We Were White course?

Or are you already signed up and want to invite others to join?

Learn more & register here!

Begins Jan 18. Register today!

*Within the Before We Were White course we use the term “European ancestry” to refer to the ancestry of anyone who is today considered white, recognizing that: “white” is a social construct, as is the idea of Europe itself; many people from “Europe” were not considered white at earlier points in the history of white supremacy; multiracial people with European ancestry are usually not considered white within society at large.

The caucus of this course is, by definition, extremely broad and much of the work we do simply recognizes the incredible diversity of people who have “European ancestry” and then provides processes and information that participants can to apply to their own, unique ancestral story.

Hello friends.

Writing from my perspective as an inhabitant of the Northern Hemisphere of this spinning, cycling globe, to an audience who predominantly shares this location … I wish you restoration, connection and wonder throughout this darkest time of the year!

As we move from winter solstice towards spring equinox (and anticipate the cross quarter of early February, which in my current home manifests as a yard full of wild, purple crocuses!) … and we are also crossing over the threshold of the primary way our society marks the annual cycle of Earth’s circling around the sun: the New Year.

As we cross into “2026” together, I wonder: What are you holding in your heart? What do you need, personally? What would help to restore and/or sustain your contribution to collective liberatory struggle? Where do you experience belonging, and what does liberation mean for your communities? What does it mean for you personally? What are you letting go of? And what do you dare to create anew?

For our little organization, the movement from winter to spring is once again marked by the ancestral recovery course that we have held annually for the past eight years. For our participants with European ancestry*, Before We Were White has been a creative and transformative way to dismantle the distortions of white supremacy within our own psyche and experience of family and self - strengthening our ability to engage in collective liberation from a place of increased wholeness, self awareness and emotional maturity.

Throughout the arch of the course (Jan-March), we come to terms with a legacy of violence and crime against humanity; take responsibility for changing course in our lifetimes; consider the ruling class interests that shaped our ancestral stories; and connect with the gems of life-giving resilience and resistance that lie, like hope at the bottom of Pandora’s box, within our “European” ancestral lines. Integrated into this process are simple practices designed to foster deeper connection to the Earth and land within which we reside - even as, for those of us who are settlers, this relationship is complicated and fraught.

If you’re interested in participating in the next round of the Before We Were White course, check out the full details and register on our site.

*For more on how we define “European ancestry” see the accompanying course structure document linked in the course description & on the registration page.

As I prepare to facilitate this process again in 2026, I wanted to share two short, creative pieces of material that relate directly to the themes of the course. I hope you enjoy these resources and find them supportive of your move through seasons, calendar transitions, and personal life. You’ll find these selections at the bottom of this post!

I also want to follow up on the last email we sent, which was an appeal for sustaining support from our participants and audience members. Comrades Education is experiencing critical financial hardship, and your small-dollar, sustaining donations have the power to ensure our continued survival and ability to serve.

After making that appeal, we gained 10 new Substack subscribers and made our first $1000 on the platform! We also gained over 20 new recurring donations through our site (and received several one time donations as well).

I am so appreciative of this audience’s kind response and affirmation of the value of our work.

As we move into the New Year, can you help us reach our next goal of 75 recurring contributions (through Substack or the donation form on our site) by the end of January?

This would put us well on our way to a goal of 500 recurring contributions by the end of the calendar year … which, in turn, would provide us with a baseline of support to help us weather the booms and busts of capital’s voracious cycles without hesitating in our mission to provide integrated, high quality political education to our people’s movements for decolonization, a democratically managed economy, and a world based on care and reciprocity … a world where everyone (human and more-than-human-alike) can repair, restore, renew ourselves and thrive!

You can upgrade your Substack subscription to paid for just $5 a month (or for a higher level of support at $80 a year) in your account settings.

You can make a recurring donation of any amount (even just $1 a month! small amounts that you can manage long term are encouraged) on our website here.

Thank you for who you are and everything you bring to this world, to your loved ones, and to the community of more-than-human-beings right where you live. I hope you enjoy the snippets of course-related materials below!

In solidarity,

Eleanor Hancock (Director, Comrades Education)

We Were of the Earth

selections from a song written by Andy Fischer-Price, inspired by his participation in the 2023 Before We Were White course

Why’d they fence the commons?

Why’d they burn the witches?

And work so hard to end

The Earth-based traditions?

Why’d they kill the languages

And subjugate the women?

And claim it was in the name

Of God and religion?

It’s our birthright to remember

‘Cause the roots remain

The roots remain

We still are

Nature, living herself as human

We are Nature

Living herself as human.....

Speaking of Nature

Finding language that affirms our kinship with the natural world

selections from an essay by Robin Wall Kimmerer

“Linguistic imperialism has always been a tool of colonization, meant to obliterate history and the visibility of the people who were displaced along with their languages. But five hundred years later, in a renamed landscape, it has become a nearly invisible tool.

Beyond the renaming of places, I think the most profound act of linguistic imperialism was the replacement of a language of animacy with one of objectification of nature, which renders the beloved land as lifeless object, the forest as board feet of timber.

English has come to be the dominant language of commerce, in which contracts to convert a forest to a copper mine are written. It’s just the right language for the purpose, because the forest and the copper ore are equivalent ‘its.’

English encodes human exceptionalism, which privileges the needs and wants of humans above all others and understands us as detached from the commonwealth of life. But I wonder if it was always that way. I can’t help but think that the land spoke clearly to early Anglo-Saxons, just as it did to the Potawatomi.

It is said that we are known by the company we keep, and I wonder if English sharpened its verbal ax and lost the companionship of oaks and primroses when it began to keep company with capitalism. I want to suggest that we can begin to mend that rift—with pronouns.

As a reluctant student of the formalities of writing, I never would have imagined that I would one day be advocating for grammar as a tool of the revolution … .”

read the full essay here on Orion magazine

Interested in taking the next Before We Were White: ancestral recovery for collective liberation online course & caucus for people of European descent?

Learn more & sign up here!

If you are on this mailing list, then you already understand the vital role that political education plays in our social movements. Education alone is not enough, but we can’t build strategic power, transform our inner ways of being or envision a better world without it. Political education plays a central role in emancipatory struggle, and Comrades Education plays a special role in providing educational spaces that are honest, spacious, reflective and affirming while bringing people together across diverse walks of life.

From 2020 to the beginning of 2025, our small organization has been able to sustain itself almost entirely on registration fee revenue - something I am very proud of, particularly given the fact that our courses are alway sliding scale, with no one ever turned away for lack of funds. Clearly we serve a need, and this need has resulted in grassroots funding in the form of hundreds of small dollar, fee-for-service transactions.

This year, however, we have entered a new phase of our organizational life in which course revenue alone will not sustain us. At the end of a long and difficult year, Comrades Education has reached a point of financial hardship and precarity. There is no guarantee that we are going to be able to continue to offer the work that we do, because we are simply running out of funds.

I know this is not a unique situation. As Noura Erakat said, in her contribution to our Study & Action for Palestine course last spring, we are all being terrorized right now. In the face of hardship, fear and uncertainty it’s tempting to hunker down and take an “every man for himself” approach to life (gendered phrasing of this colloquialism intentionally maintained). However, as Noura aptly reminded us, isolation is not the path to safety. Instead, we have to turn to the collective, strengthen the collective wherever we interact with it, contributing to and drawing strength from the collective, because “our collective is the prize.”

Right now, you are our collective! And so, rather than suffer in silence or face the possibility of closing shop and dissolving the organization, we are turning to you to share the problem of organizational sustainability - because together, this is problem we can solve.

Capitalism, white supremacy and colonialism will always bring booms and busts, serving out various forms of oppression, exploitation and vulnerability for anyone who doesn’t occupy the 1%. In order to guarantee that we can serve people’s liberatory movements for the long haul, Comrades Education needs a strong and stable foundation of sustaining donations from our audience.

I believe that you - our collective - can provide the foundation we need to continue our work through thick & thin. This mailing list alone contains over 9k members! Our annual revenue is less than $300k a year (we are small!) and we can make due with $200k in a pinch. If each and every one of you donated $1-2 a month, over half of our essential annual revenue could be taken care of! The burden would be shared all around, and our pay-what-you-can course registration fee model would be shored up by this reliable stream.

I don’t expect everyone on the list to donate, but I do have three requests for each of you to consider, according to your ability, interests and life situation:

Larger, annual donations if you have the means

First, if you are able to make a sustaining annual donation of $250, $500, $1000 or more, please email us at info@comrades.education so that we can set that up with you now. The ideal amount would be something you are confident you can sustain each year (though stop-gap, immediate funding is also a current need.)

All donations are tax deductible. Let’s talk. :)

VERY small dollar, sustainable monthly contributions!

Second, if you are not able to make a larger sized annual donation, please consider a minimal donation that you can make on a monthly basis. Something between $1-5 is ideal. The goal is an amount so small that, short of a personal emergency, you can sustain it long term.

Right now, the Substack subscription rate is set at $5 per month, so if this is a convenient way for you to pitch in, I hope you’ll become a paying subscriber! You can also set up a monthly donation on our site here, setting it at a custom amount as low as $1 per month. All donations on made through our site are tax deductible, and no amount is too small.

Sign up and/or help us promote the Before We Were White course

Third, we are hoping to maximize potential income from the Before We Were White course before the end of the year so:

1) If you’re interested in joining, we hope you’ll sign up now! If you can pay towards the higher end of the sliding scale, this is also helpful.

2) If you don’t have European ancestry, but see merit in the program, please share the course within your networks and encourage others to join!

3) If you are already registered, considering inviting others to sign up and take the course alongside you. The value of our programs is magnified when you engage with them alongside people you know.

Full course details can be found here. If you’d like a promotional package with customized promotion copy and direct access to graphics, let us know!

Comrades Education is a labor of love and a well developed platform that is here to be used by our social movements for personal & community maturation in ways that benefit us all. Thank you for considering how you can pitch in - sustainably, according to your life situation - in order to help keep this project going strong. And I hope to see you in one of our courses, soon!

With warmth,

Eleanor Hancock

Director, Comrades Education (formerly White Awake)

Before We Were White

ancestral recovery for collective liberation

an online course & learning community for people of European descent

Facilitated by: Eleanor Hancock

with Guest teachers: Chris Crass, Bonnie Duran, Katrina Browne, Rune Rasmussen, Katrina Messenger and Marybeth Bonfiglio

Identity Caucus Facilitators: Jen Kiok and Llywelyn Jones

New this year: a Community Art Processing space will held by Maya Kosover

“This is the missing piece for my engagement with racial justice work.”

“This course provides both deep spiritual grounding and a profound socio-spiritual-historical education.”

“My heart was opened in a way I had not expected.”

-Before We Were White participant testimonials

Before We Were White is a core piece of curriculum that Comrades Education (formerly known as White Awake) has offered annually for the past eight years. The program offers an ancestral recovery experience for people with European descent (whether you are white or multiracial) that is explicitly antiracist and decolonial.

The work of the course centers historical analysis, family history, reflective & spiritual processes, nature connection and an active contribution to the struggle for collective liberation.

If you are a person with European ancestry who would like to commit yourself to the work of collective liberation with increased capacity and wholeness … join us!

Full details & registration

Each of us belongs to a collective body of people with a story (or stories) that reach before us and after us in time. Before they were ever classified as “white” our European and pre-European ancestors were distinct peoples with their own unique cultures and relationships to place. What happened to them? How did they come to be considered “white”, and what was lost along the way? How do we reconcile ourselves to the legacies of oppression, violence and genocide our ancestors may have participated in? Who resisted, and what parts of our personal and collective legacy can we draw upon for strength & clarity today?

This course is designed to help you consider these questions as you:

• Foster an understanding of white supremacy, capitalism, and settler-colonialism in the context of European ancestry

• Place your family stories within a larger historical and political framework

• Open pathways for discharging inherited harm or confusion that can arise from our connection to ancestors who have perpetrated or participated in oppression, exploitation, or genocide

• Open pathways for greater connection and relationship with ancestors of blood and/or adoption, social location, or chosen lineage who can support contemporary work for positive social change

• Build resilience, an integrated sense of self, and a stronger sense of purpose in your work for collective liberation

Please refer to our Course Structure document to learn more about how the course is held.

Course Details

Six online sessions:

Jan 18 & 25, Feb 8 & 15, March 1 & 8

4:00-6:30pm ET • 1-3:30pm PT

PLUS: Two Community Art Processing sessions, facilitated by Maya Kosover, held February 1st & 22nd

Live attendance is not mandatory. Sessions will be recorded. Sliding scale registration fee. No one turned away for lack of funds

Full details and registration available on our site here

Guest Teachers

Facilitation

*Did you participate in a multiracial caucus within a previous Before We Were White course? Would you like to facilitate this year’s caucus?*

We are actively recruiting a multiracial caucus facilitator for the 2026 run. Let us know if you are interested! info@comrades.education

Hello friends!

It is not too late to join the Solidarity & Action for Palestine online course & community of engagement. Our next session will be held Monday, Dec 1 from 8-10pm eastern time and we want YOU to be there with us!

If you are already signed up for the course, consider passing this email along to someone you know!

We have extended this session by half an hour to allow plenty of time for a vibrant conversation with:

Huwaida Arraf - Freedom Flotilla Coalition, International Solidarity Movement

Zue Jernstedt - About Face: Veterans Against the War, Global Sumud Flotilla Veteran’s Boat, International Solidarity Movement delegate

Greg Stoker - anti-imperialist veteran, MintPress News, Global Sumud Flotilla Veteran’s Boat

Central to our conversation will be our guests' experiences sailing with flotillas designed to break the siege on Gaza and pressure world governments to stop enabling Israel’s genocidal aggression on the Palestinian people.

However, the wide range of themes these three guests can speak to is truly unique, including: 1) working class US politics and veteran organizing against imperialism; 2) the evolution of Palestinian solidarity tactics over decades of development; and 3) how we successfully build relationships and overcome challenging situations in order to effectively take action together.

Here are a few resources we’ll be checking out ahead of the session, which also shed some light on the guests themselves:

US Veterans On Gaza Flotilla: Our Struggles Are Connected - More Perfect Union interview with Zue & Greg (3 min watch)

Why a U.S. Army Vet Joined the Gaza Flotilla - interview with Zue / Slate magazine (5-10 min read)

“Holding Israel accountable for the Gaza flotilla raid” - Huwaida Arraf’s full remarks on the lethal 2010 flotilla raid (delivered in 2016 at the National Press Club)

Full details and registration available on our site.

Join us on Dec 1st!

As a registered participant, you will have access to recordings and materials for all five sessions of the course. Sliding scale fee, with no one turned away for lack of funds.

Upcoming: Before We Were White 2026

Before We Were White is an online course for people with European ancestry (white and/or multiracial) who want to work with this ancestral line as a means of bringing greater emotional resilience to their work for collective liberation - for the benefit of all!

Expected 2026 dates: Jan 18 & 25, Feb 8 & 15, March 8 & 15

Mark your calendars and watch out for registration to open next month!

Hello friends and comrades!

This is your reminder that the Solidarity & Action for Palestine course begins Monday, Nov 17. If you took a Palestine solidarity course with us before, we want you to know that this experience is not a repeat of old curriculum but an ongoing connection to strategic campaigns, organizing and actions you can plug into right now as our movements keep the momentum going.

We are also excited to be working with some new guests and organizational partners, including our most recent additions to the guest teacher line-up: Zue Jernstedt and Greg Stoker (members of the Veteran Boat with the Global Sumud Flotilla) as well as Aisha Nizar, an organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement Bay Area and steering member of the Mask Off Maersk and Oakland People’s Arms Embargo campaigns.

Register today!

A free Palestine is interconnected to a liberated world for all of us. Sumaya Awad of Adalah Justice Project recently sent out a personal email about the course that encapsulates this so well, I am including it below in case you missed it. And if you are not already on the AJP email list, sign up today! (submission at bottom of each of their webpages).

Study, strategize, and act for Palestine.

a message from Sumaya Awad of Adalah Justice Project, guest teacher in the course

Right now, Palestine sits at the heart of global struggle. People everywhere are continuing to take action by filling the streets, shutting down ports, organizing flotillas to deliver aid to Gaza, and refusing to let this genocide be normalized.

At the same time, repression is getting sharper, governments are trying to criminalize solidarity, and our opponents are coordinating across sectors. That means we have to be just as coordinated, just as disciplined, and just as rooted in political education.

That is why I’m happy to be teaching once again with Comrades Education in their new five-part course, Solidarity & Action for Palestine. This will be my third time teaching in this series, and every round has shown me how eager people are for space to learn together, ask hard questions, and plug into campaigns.

This course is meant for this exact moment. It is a space to move from grief to strategy, from isolation to movement, and from general solidarity to specific, winnable work.

Facilitated by Eleanor Hancock, Comrades Education’s Director, and Chris Crass, longtime anti-racist educator and author, the course will bring together organizers who are doing the work right now, including:

• Huwaida Arraf, veteran civil rights activist and Gaza flotilla leader

• Rabbi Alissa Wise, co-author of Solidarity is the Political Version of Love and longtime Jewish Voice for Peace staff leader

• Dr. Rama Ali Kased, scholar and grassroots organizer in Oakland

• Aisha Nizar, organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement leading the Mask Off Maersk and Oakland People’s Arms Embargo campaigns

Together, we will look at what it takes to build power in the U.S. context, how to connect local campaigns to the broader movement for Palestinian liberation, and how to sustain ourselves while we do it.

The course includes four Monday evening sessions focused on action, connection, and campaign work, and one longer Sunday session that will ground us in the political and historical context of the Palestinian struggle.

This round is also co-sponsored by Democratic Socialists of America International Committee and About Face: Veterans Against the War, which speaks to how wide and intersectional this movement has become.

If you are asking what to do next, how to stay involved, or how to make your organizing count right now, I hope you will join us.

Register: Solidarity Action Palestine

With love and solidarity,

Sumaya Awad
Adalah Justice Project

Reshared from original AJP mailing / Adalah Justice Project is a Palestinian-led advocacy organization based in the U.S. that builds cross-movement coalitions to achieve collective liberation. Our work is rooted in the conviction that drawing the linkages between US policy abroad and repressive state practices at home is crucial to shifting the balance of power. Sign up here to get updates from AJP.

Hello friends & comrades!

We are three weeks away from the first session of the Solidarity & Action for Palestine course, and the full guest teacher schedule is coming together. We’ve just added two incredible new guests to the line up: Zaid Khatib (Palestinian Youth Movement) and Jonathan Brenneman (Christians for Free Palestine). And while we’re not quite ready to publicly post the entire session schedule on the website … we wanted to share our the tentative guest teacher line-up with you here on Substack!

First off, a reminder of how this course is a little different from our past Study & Action for Palestine courses. The primary focus of the course is on building camaraderie, motivation and capacity among participants within the context of four Monday evening sessions that focus on strategic action, organizing and campaigns that folks can plug into right now. There is also one longer Sunday session that I (Eleanor) will be leading alongside Sumaya Awad, with an exclusive focus on history & analysis.

Here’s how the schedule for those four Monday sessions is shaping up:

Nov 17 - kick off: basebuilding, political home + immediate, strategic AIPAC campaign

• Rabbi Alissa Wise w/ focus on organizing & basebuilding

• Zaid Khatib of PYM w/ focus on AIPAC petition initiative

Dec 1 - focus on the Gaza freedom flotilla movement

• Huwaida Arraf

• TBC: Veteran boat participant from the Sumud flotilla

Dec 8 - focus on strategic local organizing, esp People’s Embargo efforts

• Rama Ali Kased

• TBC: PYM organizer with Mask of Maersk and/or Peoples Arms Embargo

Dec 15 - focus on organizing within your communities; labor organizing; Christians rejecting Zionism

• Jonathan Brenneman (Palestinian-American Mennonite / Christians for Free Palestine)

• TBC: Labor for Palestine representative

I hope you all will save the dates, secure your registration, and pass this post along to anyone you think might want to join us!

SOLIDARITY & ACTION FOR PALESTINE is an online course and community of engagement for anyone who is committed to a Free Palestine and the well-being of all people, everywhere.

• Learn from guest teachers involved in immediate, strategic campaigns and actions.

• Step into a learning community supported by ten powerful, social justice organizations.

• Sustain & renew yourself in the struggle. Find your political home.

• Take immediate, strategic action. Strengthen your ability to engage.

Learn more & register today

BEGINS NOVEMBER 17, with late registrations options available through Dec 1st.