Liberation Festival: “We’re on the Freedom Side”

by Joanne Coutts

“What side are you on my people? What side are you on? We’re on the freedom side!”

This past weekend the Liberation Festival, organized by 313Liberation Zone at the General Baker Institute, gathered folx from a host of organizations and the surrounding community to envision a liberated Detroit. For five days, despite the rain on Thursday and Sunday, the light of the freedom side shone through at workshops on community defense against the police, and eviction by rapacious landlords; mutual aid trainings on forming block clubs and setting up community fridges; and the real embodiment of replacing capitalism with free yoga, free cookout and a free store.

Perhaps initially I felt a little disappointed that the majority of the attendees were people already engaged in the liberation struggle. As is often the case with initial thoughts, I found myself reexamining them when Baba Blair opened the Saturday morning community meeting by reminding us that liberation is a long game.

“Political analysis makes resistance sustainable, the people will come,” Baba Blair said, adding that “only political analysis can keep us in the struggle while we wait.” His words reminded me that there is always value in building community and collaboration between us; in learning and analyzing with each other and that these moments help us grow our liberation practice so we are ready to bring new people into the struggle.

During the Festival I had lots of moments for analyzing my existing positions and learning new skills. The Green Light Black Futures presentation on Project Greenlight and Surveillance re-enforced my commitment to the DSA Defund the Police campaign. Alyssa and Emily of Detroit Community Fridge shared the joy of being helicopter parents to their fridge in Southwest Detroit. The fridge has been embraced by the neighborhood although it has only been up and running for just over a month.

Can I find a friend with the capacity and energy to set up a free store in Dexter/Linwood? And where do I start looking? Piper Carter from Hartwell Block Club had some ideas to answer those questions as she shared stories of her experiences starting a new block club.

“There is a lot of apathy, a lot of internalized white supremacy,” Carter said, “don’t get discouraged, find the people!” I know there is a block club in my neighborhood, so I went home and found them, on LinkedIn of all places, and sent a request to join, maybe I will find a free store friend there.

The Festival closed with a conversation with PG of Green Light Black Futures, Glen from the Black and Brown Alliance of the DSA and Carlos from General Baker Institute reflecting on the summer of Liberation Mondays and where we will go from here. Carlos noted that Liberation Mondays have made us present in communities, given information and allowed people time to think.

PG defined liberation as “I want to be and feel safe, my people will feel safe.” They added, “we want to take control of our interactions, take agency…and unlearn and deprogram from the ways that we have been educated to see each other; to see our full selves.” The last word of the Festival went to Glen, “the revolution is not gonna happen if it doesn’t happen in Detroit.”

On the drive home I felt excited that there are so many small groups of people starting liberation projects across the city, and that they had all come together for what I hope will be the first of many weekends to learn and analyze with each other.

“I believe that we will win! I believe that we will win! I believe that we will win!”

In case you missed it here are something of the things shouted out at the Festival that you can do in the next few weeks to expand your liberation practice:

• Complete the Green Light Black Futures “Community Safety Survey” and share the link with your friends and neighbors
• Follow the General Baker Institute on social media to get details to attend their election watch party and other upcoming events
• Visit the websites and social media pages of some of the groups involved in creating the Festival and find your place to continue to learn, analyze and stay engaged in liberation
• Join the Yemeni Liberation Movement for a movie screening on Saturday, October 17
• Check out Refuse Fascism on social media and participate in 30 days of activities leading up to the election
• Become a member of DSA/BBA and organize with our Defund the Police campaign

The Detroit Socialist is produced and run by members of Detroit DSA’s Newspaper Collective. Interested in becoming a member of Detroit DSA? Go to dsausa.org/join to become a member. Send a copy of the dues receipt to: membership@metrodetroitdsa.com in order to get plugged in to our activities!