Celebration as Resistance
“This is a really beautiful way of celebrating each other, while the world is burning down outside: we’re here, we’re not going anywhere.” – Coco Layne, one of the attendees of New York’s Queer Lunar New Year dance party
Resistance can take shape in many ways. For some, it is through study. Others, through direct action, and community work. The Guardian article linked below tells the story of the Yellow Jackets Collective who organized a dance party that invoked their commitment to anti-oppression, intersectionality, and counter-hegemonic struggle.
In these difficult times, we have to allow ourselves to celebrate ourselves and honour those who have paved the way before us. Our rejoicing co-exists with our struggles. Those at the margins should not apologize for taking up space that the system tries to take away at every opportunity. In between the moments of mourning and sorrow, we can remind each other to feel and hold each others’ embodied joy.
Asian, queer and dancing defiance: ‘Everything we do now is resistance”
“Resistance can take shape in many ways. For some, it is through study. Others, through direct action, and community work”
What a wonderful and compassionate observation!
I just savored in your words yet another reflection of Milton’s sentiment in Sonnet XIX: “They also serve who stand and wait”.
Thanks!
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