Resistance and Resurgence

Date and time: Thursday, May 28, 2020, 4 to 5:30 pm Pacific Daylight Time (UTC-7)

Register here.

We will deconstruct what COVID-19 has presented us and compare and contrast what was, what’s now and what’s to come.

Join us and our brilliant panelists for an online roundtable on Thursday, May 28 “Resistance and Resurgence” on decolonial, anti-oppressive, intersectional feminist leading-edge discussions on learnings from COVID 19. We will deconstruct what COVID-19 has presented us and compare and contrast what was, what’s now and what’s to come.

Our panelists will be unpacking “Asian Heritage Month” from the lens of intersectional “Asian” feminists. This event will be hosted from unceded, stolen lands. As diasporic people from Asia, we are in solidarity with Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island. Through conversations like this, we intend to unpack how we contribute and benefit from colonialism, how we can be better advocates of giving land back, as well as healing from our own experiences of colonialism and imperialism in our motherlands.

Feminists Deliver is a coalition based in unceded territories in what colonially borders British Columbia, where the genocidal impacts of European colonizers span centuries and continue to haunt the realities of Indigenous peoples today including residential schools, the Sixties Scoop, as well as the governmental, religious and police authorities’ control of family systems, resources, and access to services. More than 200 distinct First Nations as well as Métis people, with at least 30 different languages and approximately 60 spoken dialects reflect the diversity of the peoples, cultures, and spaces we currently occupy. Collectively, we also acknowledge the Indigenous peoples from the rest of colonial Canada as well as other nations, as we continue to struggle and rise together for the liberation of peoples that proponents of colonialism (including its effects of patriarchy, capitalism, heteronormativity, ableism to name a few) continue to oppress.

Rhiannon Bennett and Andrea Hilder of Hummingbirds Rising Consulting will be helping us as our Active Listeners for this event. You may contact them during the event for support. More information will be provided at the event.

What are some accessibility considerations?

We will be providing CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) service (real-time closed captioning). We acknowledge that this event will be conducted in a colonial and trade language, English. We aspire to host these webinars in various languages as language should not be a barrier to accessing information. However, at this time, we are faced with limitations as a grassroots organization that make it challenging to provide accurate and good information in other languages. We also acknowledge that internet and tools to tune in are privileged; we’re doing the best that we can in the situation that we’re in. The internet should be a utility, not a luxury item. Thank you for joining us on our journey as we work towards more equitable spaces.

How can you tune in?

• Zoom – a link will be provided to registrants
• Facebook Live – You will have to tune in via Feminists Deliver’s Facebook page
• Teleconferencing – numbers will be provided to registrants

Who are the panelists?

• Abeer Yusuf – she/her/hers. Abeer Yusuf is a journalist, writer and community builder currently living on unceded Coast Salish Territories. Abeer migrated to Canada six years ago to pursue her second master’s degree in journalism at the University of British Columbia, and her body of work includes examining identity and belonging, the intersectionality of race and culture, and learning about how we belong (or don’t) in places and spaces. Her interests include living and learning about different models of decoloniality, authentically building connections and community, reading and friendship. Living between Vancouver and the internet, Abeer is terrified of writing bios, and her passions include telling and listening to stories, beating Google Maps’ walking estimates, gushing about moments of serendipity and eating chicken biryani. She also passionately hates Excel spreadsheets.
• Kimberley Wong (黄壯慈) – she/they. Kimberley Wong (黄壯慈) is a queer Chinese Canadian femme whose work mirrors the intersections of her identity. She has been recognized by the city and the province for her accomplishments in climate justice and multiculturalism, and her work continues to evolve beyond this. Kimberley currently sits as the Chair of the City of Vancouver’s Chinatown Legacy Stewardship Group, where she is putting her passion for crafting culturally appropriate and progressive policy to use. She also sits as the Chair of the Vancouver Just Recovery Coalition, a group dedicated to rebuilding post-COVID-19 to better support vulnerable communities, and make a safer, healthier city for all. In addition to this, Kimberley finds thrill and inspiration in the challenges that campaign organizing brings, having built and executed campaigns since the age of 16. She sees through the lenses and experiential knowledge of living as a renter, being an independent contractor in a precarious work landscape, and of a descendant whose ancestors have long histories organizing and change-making for marginalized populations on this land.
• Lara Maestro – she/her/hers. Lara Maestro is a 1.5 generation Filipina settler who came to Coast Salish Territory via Mi’kma’ki. She holds a master’s degree in archival studies and a master’s degree in library and information studies from the iSchool at the University of British Columbia and is a member of Filipinx youth and student organization Sulong University of British Columbia (an affiliate of Anakbayan-Canada), as well as Migrante BC. In her organizing work she has tried her best to be of service to her community, both in the diaspora and in the Philippines. While her day job involves doing records management and privacy in the women’s anti-violence sector, the majority of her time outside of paid work is dedicated to educating and organizing Filipino youth and students to mobilize around issues in the Philippines and linking our position as diasporic Filipinos to the problems plaguing our motherland.
• Moderator: Rona Amiri – she/her/hers. Rona Amiri was born in Mashhad, Iran a decade after her family fled Herat, Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion. As a child she immigrated to “Vancouver,” Coast Salish Territories with her family, where she grew up to be an anti-violence advocate. Rona has had the privilege of working at Battered Women’s Support Services since 2013 where she wears a few different hats and has been part of the Feminists Deliver coalition since 2019.

Bella Aung was originally listed as a part of this panel, however, she will no longer be available for this event.

What is Feminists Deliver?

Feminists Deliver is a grassroots collaboration of British Columbia-based Two-Spirit people, nonbinary folks, Indigiqueer, trans women, lesbian women, and cis women and girls, and the organizations that support them. Membership of Feminists Deliver is diverse and inclusive of all people experiencing marginalization on the basis of gender. Stay connected on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.