The Uprising: Q&A with Pravini
September 24, 2021, 10- 11:30 AM CDT (GMT -6)
We are thrilled to bring you an exclusive opportunity to engage with musician and activist, Pravini Baboeram, the creator of The Uprising, a music documentary that tells the story of resistance against racism and colonialism in the Netherlands, UK and France. Last year, we mentioned this important film in our webinar, “A Critique of Capitalism, the Elite Class, and Corporate-run Governments for Program Evaluators. Now members of the evaluation community can come together to discuss the film, its vision for the future, and what it means for your evaluation and learning work. One academic and activist in the film challenges us: “It’s in the struggle itself that new questions emerge that we have yet to foresee. Do we have the humility and the capacity for self-reflection to recognize those new questions as they emerge?”
Do we?
The film describes the decolonial movement that is growing across the globe. To understand how it connects to what is happening right here in Wisconsin, Alix Shabazz, organizer and activist will offer a local perspective on the themes from the film and local resistance movements infusing arts, music, somatic healing, and embodied social justice (all sacred forms of knowledge).
This session is for:
- Artists and musicians, graphic facilitators, and community organizers interested in storytelling
- Evaluators seeking to strengthen their decolonizing muscles and embed art and music as knowledge into their work
- Data analysts seeking to understand liberation metrics – what counts in a liberatory framework and the freedom struggles of various movements
- Students who want to disrupt oppressive knowledge frames steeped in white supremacy and colonialism and learn more about decolonizing mindsets
PRAVINI: This film tells the story I was looking for but couldn’t find. Countless films have been made that touch on issues related to racism. But very few of them actually address the link with the colonial past and the common challenges different communities of color face. And none of the films I encountered focus on the European context and current struggles of people of color. I also noticed a lot of stories were meant to convince white people of the problem. But these films didn’t show anything people of color don’t already know. Of course they provide an important platform for underrepresented stories and experiences. But what I was looking for was more than storytelling. I was looking for analysis of institutional racism. I was looking for a language to challenge people who uphold this system, whether they are aware of it or not. I was looking for a story that connected the dots between different communities who are fighting the same system of oppression. I was looking for a story not to convince white people of the problem, but to empower people of color to challenge and combat it
ALIX SHABAZZ, a Madison native, is a Black, Queer, abolitionist movement organizer and Transformative Justice practitioner. She has been organizing within the movement for Black Liberation for over a decade. She has organized numerous anti-state violence campaigns over the years, including the local effort for community control over police. Alix has spent the last 8 years analyzing violence and organizing Transformative Justice Intervention processes, including first response interventions, within her community. Alix also trains community members in grassroots organizing fundamentals as the founder of the Neighborhood Organizing Institute. Lastly, Alix is a Healer and Maker of organic CocoaBean Skin Care products that promote self-love and self-awareness. Shabazz uses her brand, CocoaBean Healing, to promote personal transformation for the sake of collective liberation.
