OCCUPATION OF THE PIONEER MONUMENT
AT THE THE CIVIC CENTER
AND THE UNITED NATIONS PLAZA
with EDELO Where The United Nations Used To Be
SIN INVALID's 1O PRINCIPALS OF DISABILITY JUSTICE
INTERSECTIONALITY “We do not live single issue lives” –Audre Lorde. Ableism, coupled with white supremacy, supported by capitalism, underscored by heteropatriarchy, has rendered the vast majority of the world “invalid.”
LEADERSHIP OF THOSE MOST IMPACTED “We are led by those who most know these systems.” –Aurora Levins Morales
ANTI-CAPITALIST POLITIC In an economy that sees land and humans as components of profit, we are anti-capitalist by the nature of having non-conforming body/minds.
COMMITMENT TO CROSS-MOVEMENT ORGANIZING Shifting how social justice movements understand disability and contextualize ableism, disability justice lends itself to politics of alliance.
RECOGNIZING WHOLENESS People have inherent worth outside of commodity relations and capitalist notions of productivity. Each person is full of history and life experience.
SUSTAINABILITY We pace ourselves, individually and collectively, to be sustained long term. Our embodied experiences guide us toward ongoing justice and liberation.
COMMITMENT TO CROSS-DISABILITY SOLIDARITY We honor the insights and participation of all of our community members, knowing that isolation undermines collective liberation.
INTERDEPENDENCE We meet each others’ needs as we build toward liberation, knowing that state solutions inevitably extend into further control over lives.
COLLECTIVE ACCESS As brown, black and queer-bodied disabled people we bring flexibility and creative nuance that go beyond able-bodied/minded normativity, to be in community with each other.
COLLECTIVE LIBERATION No body or mind can be left behind – only moving together can we accomplish the revolution we require.
ACTIONS / CONSIDERATIONS
Physical Presence & Movement
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Using our bodies to physically occupy the monument
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Helping each other up and around the monument
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Moving around the monument vs. holding still for periods of time
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Creating rhythm or beats using weapons, chairs, prosthetics, and canes
Appearance & Visual Identity
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What will we wear: daily clothes or a unified uniform?
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Uniform elements: colors, patches, sewn words (e.g. “dignity”)
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How the name Crip Survival Network should appear (and whether to keep it)
Weapons & Symbolism
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Are weapons:
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actual weapons
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symbolic weapons (sticks)
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symbolic extensions of our bodies, mobility devices, or prosthetics?
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How do we avoid being framed as or stereotyped as “terrorists”?
Messaging, Principles & Voice
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Showing the 10 Points of Survival:
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How should they be displayed?
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Do we want to revise or create a new list?
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Is there a moment when they are read aloud?
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Is there a designated “day of voice”:
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Public demands via loudspeakers
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Collective sign language participation
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Audience, Duration & Purpose
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One day of action or several days?
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Who is the intended audience?
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What does Crip Survival Network / Sins Invalid want to use the occupation for?
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Is the occupation primarily symbolic, or also functional?
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Inside the tent/structure:
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Visual representation of the Crip Survival Network
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Space for organizing, teaching, or care
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Documentation & Legacy
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How do we document this to make it lasting and inspirational?
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How do we spread the word given the lack of visibility for disabled communities?
Connection to Other Struggles
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How do we connect our struggle to others?
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Black Panther movement
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Zapatista movement
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Display these influences alongside the 10 Principles of Disability Justice
Interaction With the Monument / Statue
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How do we engage the central statue?
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Graffiti?
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Build roots around it?
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Disfigure or alter it?
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Tape an X over the face?
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Portraits, Installation & Space
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Portraits of participants with their weapons:
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Wheat-pasted around town?
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Painted on wooden slabs?
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Wooden slabs referencing boarded-up businesses during uprisings (see “fuck ICE” photo)
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Should the structure function as a museum:
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Facts and statements (e.g. “We are the largest minority yet the most invisible”)
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Disabled history, dignity, housing, healthcare, worthiness of life
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Guarding the outside / defense imagery and its implications
Grief, Care & Vision
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Naming grief and our role as death doulas of empire
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Moving beyond trauma response toward visionary futures
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Manifesting what emerges after empire falls
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