Freedom is a Collective Project
August 26, 2021
“Without new visions we don’t know what to build, only what to knock down. We not only end up confused, rudderless, and cynical, but we forget that making a revolution is not a series of clever maneuvers and tactics but a process that can and must transform us.”
Freedom dreams look like disability justice and queer liberation; bodily autonomy and self determination. They sound like the whispers of revolution that grow and build and reverberate into booming cries that Black Lives Matter. They ripple through inter-generational movements and manifest in the reimagining of community care. They feel like holding each other closely, taking a deep breath of crisp air, and wading into a clear lake.
When we share our freedom dreams, we participate in a type of worldmaking that positions us as architects, engineers, and creatives of a future that we all deserve. It is a practice of interdependence.
[Image Description: Black woman with curly hair in a billowing floral wrap dress, arms outstretched, eyes gently closed in front of a majestic green hillside.]
The magnitude of freedom can feel daunting, unattainable, not ours to experience and enjoy in our lifetime. Filmmaker and activist Tourmaline writes, “a world filled with softness and beauty and care is not only possible, but inevitable." Tourmaline’s offering flips the narrative that working towards freedom is a Sisyphean task. To understand and accept that the free, liberated, and just world that we dream of and long for is not simply a possibility, but is inevitable makes freedom irresistible. Like smelling the sweet smell of a newborn, laughing a full belly laugh, the warmth of sunshine on your skin, or tasting a cookie fresh out of the oven, the inevitability of a world where we can all be free is an incredibly indulgent reality.
Tourmaline not only offers a generous eventuality of freedom, but also models a path, practice, and lens for getting there because, as she notes, we already live in the world we dream of.
We give freely to each other that which we are denied from the systems around us – care, grace, ease, and spaciousness. We are denied care from systems and structures of oppression, dehumanization, and denigration; but I care deeply for my students. We are denied ease from a system of capitalism that is designed to extract our labor leaving us isolated and alone; but I revel in opportunities to provide ease for my partner. We are denied spaciousness from schedules that demand that we move quickly from task to task; but I often breathe deeply into my body and feel the expansiveness of my lungs. While we are navigating a world of denial, we are also being nourished, cared for, and validated by a world of acceptance. Our freedom dreams can be real if we simply allow them to be. Because the personal is political, our everyday freedom dreams, like simply loving ourselves, means that we are constantly willing and dreaming into existence a better world.
My freedom dreams often look like asking myself, “What type of ease do I want in my life?” My freedom dreams are grounded in ease because when I envision a world without borders and capitalism, a world without the prison and medical industrial complexes, a world that honors nature and returns land to its original native and Indigenous stewards, it is easy to just be. In my freedom dreams it is easy to be Black, and queer, and non-binary. It is easy to create systems of care, accountability, and restoration. I want it to be easy to ask for what I need without shame. I want it to be easy to show up every day as my authentic self without fear. I want it to be easy to honor my boundaries without guilt. I want it to be easy to say no and remain in deep relationship with others.
Freedom dreaming can be practiced daily, like gratitude or moving and stretching your body. Some options to engage with a daily freedom dreaming practice are:
Keep a freedom dream journal. Write daily reflections of your freedom dreams, how you showed up as your most loving self, what you want to hold on to, what you want to let go of.
Share your freedom dreams with others. Freedom dreaming is a practice in collective and interdependent world building. Share your freedom dreams!
Dream big AND small. Building the capacity to exist in a world rooted in justice and freedom starts with everyday acts of transformative justice, healing, and recognizing all of the ways we are already free.
Notice how others live their freedom dreams around you. How are you already surrounded by a world you dream of? How is your world already filled with ease? What are small, pleasurable, everyday things that make you feel free?
By design, freedom dreaming is an expansive practice full of potential. It can be a lens for assessing and taking stock of our lives. It can be a tool to understand and build deeper connections with each other. It can be a space for our hopes and desires that we are not yet ready to speak into the world. In this time of great transition, as we move into Fall and some of us back into our classrooms and workplaces, there is an opportunity to invest in freedom dreaming. We can freedom dream by acknowledging the anxieties around safety we are still negotiating in an ongoing global pandemic. We can freedom dream by uplifting the need for a slower, more accessible pace of life. We can freedom dream by pausing to note the grief we are collectively holding and may not yet have the tools or ability to attend to healing. We can freedom dream by honoring all of the openings, possibilities, and access to the world and each other that disabled, queer, Black, and Indigenous folks have always modeled for us.
Freedom is a collective project. We have always known that we need each other. Reveling in interdependence and mutuality is the way we move toward our shared liberation.
“What is often missing is a consideration of the mobility that is part of interiority, the inevitable human capacity to wander without ever taking a step.”
Freedom Dreaming Resources
Finding Our Way Podcast - Ep 7: Remembering with Alexis Pauline Gumbs
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