We All Deserve Healing and Care: A resource guide for this moment
بسم الله الرحمن الرحیم
والعصر
إن الإنسان لفي خسر
إلا الذين آمنوا وعملوا الصالحات
وتواصوا بالحق
وتواصوا بالصبرIn the name of God most gracious most merciful
By time,
Indeed, mankind is in loss.
Except for those who have believed and done righteous deed
and advised each other to truth
and advised each other to patience.
Graphic by Salma Mirza
We knew this was coming.
We knew, and it’s still a lot—the uncertainty, the fear of escalation, the looming shadow of a coup over this election, while we are still living through a pandemic.
So many of us have been fighting urgent fights for years, on many fronts.
And we know, through our faith and a long lineage of Black, brown, and indigenous organizers, that our fight for liberation cannot come from a place of fear and exhaustion, or pushing ourselves to the edges of burnout.
Now is the time to replenish what we may have lost over these last few weeks and months—it is our duty to remain connected to ourselves, each other, and to our imaginations just as much as we need to take action in the streets.
To support each other through this moment, we have compiled a list of resources for mental health and wellness, community care and safety, digital security tips for organizing online and in the streets, re-centering practices, and readings that ground us in our vision for transformation and contextualize this moment of uncertainty in the bigger picture of global struggles for justice.
We hope that you find it useful in the days and weeks to come, as we practice patience and faith together.
Mental Health and Wellness
A comprehensive Election Wellness Toolkit put together by Muslim Wellness Foundation and Sapelo Square, to help us “ get prepared by grounding ourselves in the healing practices which fortify us and enable us to weather any storm.”
From Movement Memos, a podcast hosted by Kelly Hayes, this episode on election day: Having a Meltdown? Let’s Process This Electoral Nightmare Together.
Meeting Chaos With Calm: How To Prepare For A Potential Coup: Mateo Nube shares some tips from his experience of living through multiple military coups as a child in Bolivia
The Muslim Women’s Organization’s tips and tricks “to balance the overwhelming feelings you may be holding.”
Self-Compassion Guided Meditations and Exercises by Dr. Kristin Neff
Black femme guided meditation: a playlist on Spotify to lean into the wisdom and grace of Black femmes who guide us through meditation and breathing practices.
Sufi Heart, a podcast by Omid Safi, focusing on love and compassion in Islamic practice and tradition
Mevlevi Zhikr practice from The Threshold Society
Community Care and Safety
Another great Episode of Movement Memos, Planning for Disaster: A Writing Exercise: a great exercise to prepare for whatever crisis that you might be anxious about, drawing on community networks.
A community care map plan created by BEAM, the Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective.
Get in Formation: a Community Safety Toolkit by Vision Change Win.
How to intervene if someone is being harassed: American Friends Service Committee’s concise “Bystander intervention do's and don'ts” as we might see an increase in public instances of racist, anti-Black, anti-Muslim, anti-Trans, or another form of oppressive interpersonal violence
Building Power and Safety Through Solidarity Report, where DRUM (Desis Rising Up and Moving) offers a path forward rooted in the grassroots organizing of working class immigrants
Digital Safety
Because We’ve Read, “a radical, international book club challenging understanding of the status quo & mobilizing communities globally,” coming through, as always, with their timely unit on surveillance and terror tech, including a digital safety worksheet.
From Equality Labs, a wide range of resources on digital security from Digital security 101 to Digital Resilience Checklist for Action for those of you planning to be in the streets in the coming weeks.
From Electronic Frontier Foundation, a 25-minute video on how to visually identify police surveillance at protests.
Re-centering and Alignment with Values
Deepa Iyer’s #Election2020 version of the Social Change Ecosystem Map, to help us “align our actions with our values & roles.” Check out examples on this amazing thread by Deepa.
A short exercise on positive grounding and keeping focused, offered by Hoda Katebi as a practice in the discipline of hope.
Political Education
Is this a coup?, a project of Dissent & Company, designers and organizers who “create tools and actions to support organizations working for a more just and democratic world.”
Seven Lessons the US Left Can Learn From Egypt to Resist Post-Election Fascism by Nadine Naber & Atef Said, on how we should focus on long-haul movements against settler-colonialism and racial capitalism.
Hold the Line, a guide by Hardy Merriman, Ankur Asthana, Marium Navid, and Kifah Shah to walk us through protecting our democracy.
Resource Lists Compiled by Organizers Nationwide
Healing Resources for the Election & more, by our friends at Freedom to Thrive
At MPower Change, we are doing our best to take care of ourselves too. Here is how our team is doing it:
“I drink plenty of water. I remind myself of those I love and let them be my motivation to keep fighting for a country where they can live in their full dignity and humanity.” —Linda Sarsour, Executive Director
“I’m being gentle with my desires for mindless TV and walnut brownies, cooking meals that remind me of people in my life that I love and then sharing them with friends, and walking in the woods quietly with my daughter.” — Sijal Nasralla, Campaign Director
“I’m keeping the perspective that the trials the Muslim Umma is facing around the world are much more intense than the uncertainty we face in this election season. I know the work we do to hold any administration accountable will impact the Muslim community worldwide. In order to stay grounded, I’ve been keeping a steady routine and litany of salawat (sending peace and blessings upon our Prophet ﷺ) alongside a cup or two or three of tea!” — Ishraq Ali, Organizing Director
“I am sustained by my connections to loved ones--my husband and I play improv comedy games and nerdy board games over Zoom, as well as participate in spiritual activities like virtual group dhikr/zhikr. I do guided meditations that foster compassion for myself and others. I pray istikhara to seek guidance from and trust in God. I watch leftist comedians play DnD and incredibly creative and funny short videos made by young Muslims, Gen Z leftists, and cat lovers on TikTok. I sustain myself through love for our people--I find strength in every marginalized person who has come to understand the extent of their own power because of the dedicated beautiful organizers all across the country (with a particular shoutout to folks in the South). And I play and cuddle with our rescue cats Arshi and Sherni. They love joining us when we pray so I’m getting them their own prayer rug.”— Salma Mirza, Campaign Manager
“I am giving myself permission to skip deeper resilience practices and stick to the basics: reminding myself (and everyone around me, to the point of being annoying) to release the jaw, drink water, and breathe. I have a playlist of revolutionary Farsi songs on repeat, to remind me I come from a long lineage of people who fought for liberation. And that this is not the end of the world. Or at least, not the only end of it.” — Nahid Soltanzadeh, Digital Organizing Fellow