We Breathe Together
[February 23, 2024]
I heard and felt the buzz as I biked east on Bloor. The sight of red & blue lights and cops didn’t phase me, a familiar if unnecessary sight.
The sound of voices in harmony made my heart swell as I joined the crowd gathered outside the office of our ever-absent MP. The Protest Choir was in the midst of adrienne maree brown’s “We Breathe Together.” Listeners swayed as if rocked by a lullaby. Songs interwoven with chants calling for freedom, with welcome interruptions of supportive honks from about half the cars driving by. G seamlessly, graciously, paused her poetry to make space for the cheers thanking passersby for support, before diving back into her passionate, powerful prose.
Speakers spoke with heartfelt rage, needless to embellish the truth. The near-full moon rose majestically, magically in a rose tinted sky across from the setting sun casting a golden glow on gatherers.
The purpose, the connection, the kindhearted spirit. It was a true display of what this movement stands for: peace, humanity, justice. Calling in love & compassion, and calling out hate, violence, corruption, war crimes & evil. Calling for an end to violence and oppression. Inclusivity, not segregation. Acting from hope, not fear. Building a better future, not fretting over the past. Protecting those in need, not ones with greed.
It’s sad, dumbfounding, reality-bending, to see the retaliation and outcry against a movement to protect life.
There’s something deeply severed in humanity when I overhear more about the personal inconvenience and irritation of calling for a ceasefire than I do outrage about the ever-increasing count of human lives ended or mutilated.
What do people need to feel safe? No doubt we can’t guarantee there wouldn’t be a violent uprising if Palestine was liberated, just like we can’t guarantee there will be an end to Israel’s ongoing assault. But why are hypothetical threats to safety prioritized over very real and lethal threats to life? The answer is, simply, money and fear. Rationalizing the demise of beings because it’s more profitable and secure to keep power concentrated in rich, white, capitalist hands. Acting from a place of deep trauma to project and protect the hypothetical repeat of history that we’re in the midst of repeating.
When these actions and sentiments serve to protect only the material safety of a chosen few, rather than protect the lives and freedom of millions, we find words and songs and collective energy to soothe the wounds of injustice. We find joy and humour and motivation to free us from immobilizing despair and rage. We expand our minds and our lungs, we breathe together, we rise together.