This letter is for the community that once surrounded and animated falling whistles. To all those who wore a whistle, who signed petitions, who created public art, who volunteered, who gave of their unique capacity. It is to those especially, who gave months and years of their life, to support a coalition.
There was a time when we united for peace.
Everything in me wishes to do so now.
I write to you all as a human being, devastated by the continued bloodshed that occurs each day in our time.
When Marcus and I were first in his attic and then later the warehouse, we dreamed of creating a coalition dedicated to peace. This coalition would have to be global - as the conflict was - and would be built around symbols rather than people, who inevitably fall.
As we transitioned to the garage, and friends found us from across the land, what was once a small circle and community, increasingly took on forms that were hierarchical. Someone had to be in charge of decisions, someone had to be in charge of legal contracts, someone had to be in charge of resources, someone had to be in charge of volunteers and supporters.
This hierarchy was, in many ways, antithetical to the original dream. We wished for a circle, a community, a coalition that would live on generationally, and remain committed to the work of peace. What we created instead, was an organization in the modern form, with leaders and titles. While we built a board and an advisory board, and circles within the whistler societies, and community coalitions, the fundamental structure of the organization depended on a director of some kind. When I fell in my own life, so much that was good and beautiful and profound and very much from the collective, fell too.
There was a time when we believed in our collective power, as much as any other quality of life. It is only natural, that the inverse of such faith, would be a rugged individualism. Facing the hard reality that no one can have our back, as often as ourself.
After the organization transitioned, many of us went back to family. We had tried to be a family to one another for many years, and some of us realized we had neglected our own. Coming back to a core familial circle after years of focusing on the larger context, is not without its challenges. But all true peace begins within, and extends most immediately, to the home.
The home I grew up within, was one where we yelled at one another a great deal. We treated each other with an intensity, I have spent much of my adult life learning to soften. As I stepped away from the organzation, I realized the degree to which I had replicated these patterns in the office. The work of peace lives on in our every day, and in my own life I have learned that even if you dream big dreams for the future, the peace of today is the peace you create within, and with those closest to you.
The symbol has never left me. None of us will know the journey each package took after being shipped away, and the ways in which they impacted peoples lives. No matter where I have gone, the whistle has always found me, and brought me to a deeper understanding of symbol and sound.
There was a reason we came together. It wasn’t simply because it was fresh. It wasn’t simply because there were beautiful bright souls. It was because we knew, deep in our hearts, that nothing would change unless we did. And we sensed within, that we were coming into consciousness, at a time of unprecedented collective power.
There are many ways in which the organization lacked transparency and clarity. If it hasn’t been said, and hasn’t been made clear, there were three concurrent challenges, that ultimately came to a head. The first was that my father had died. In an instant, his life had become my life, and the obligations of his life would dominate the next decade of my life. The second was that my health was fading precipitously, and like others in our community, I did not know how to properly care for my mind, body and soul. And third, is that during the campaign to #stopm23, we stopped paying payroll taxes. There were worthy reasons, but it eventually caught up to us. In retrospect, it likely could have been resolved with a good lawyer, accountant, income, and perseverance. But at that exact moment, I was facing escalating crisis’ in texas, none of which I understood, or had any meaningful way to address in the short term.
The agreement made at the time, was that the organization would transition to Sweden, and would continue to work alongside Congolese entrepreneurs. The condition was that I would no longer be involved.
I have looked back at that moment many times, and asked if I made a good choice. Was it a choice born in courage and faith, or a choice made from fear. Regardless, what remains true, is a decision that should have been made by the collective, was instead made by a single individual in the midst of a personal moment of crisis.
When I finally stepped far enough away, I found myself scribbling in the corners of my journal, simple words that had alluded me all those years. Words I find myself saying still.
The whistle is for whistleblowing.
We had used it to fight for peace in the democratic republic of Congo. Had used it to raise funds for entrepreneurs and activists in the Kivus, both south and north. Had used it to raise funds for artists and activists in Tongva territory, in both venice and downtown Los Angeles. Had used it to raise funds for advocates and lawyers on the historic U street of Washington DC.
We had used it for art. For community. For the elevating of common conversation. For telling the truths of war, and the hope for peace, the best ways we knew how.
Ultimately however, in the end, the symbol was its own truest expression. The whistle, is for whistleblowing.
There are many truths worth telling in this time. Many expressions worth expressing. The vast machinations of war, permeate our lives, and compel us through violence, to contribute with our taxes and labor and exchange, to violence. To a violence so severe, so global, we can hardly imagine a world without it.
In this moment there is genocide in Palestine. A genocide that has been ongoing, for more than a century. In ways connected to the genocide in Congo, which has also been ongoing for more than a century.
There is genocide in Sudan. In Tigray. In Syria. In Yemen.
There is genocide in the continued proliferation of SARS-CoV-2, and the staggering failures of global health.
There is genocide in the continued theft of indigenous lands, and privatization of water, soil, air and the commons.
There is genocide in the continued oppression of colonized peoples, on lands claimed by religious and racial supremacy.
These will only be meaningfully addressed, by an international coalition, dedicated to creating a world of peace and liberation. We are still today, very much in need of a planetary politics for peace - across oceans, languages, borders and wars.
I believe the community we cultivated over our years together, has a role to play in this coalition. We were each compelled in a time of great suffering and movement, and are each a part of the network that grew from that time.
I write to apologize to each person who believed in me, or believed in us, and who felt failed by me over the years. Failed by the organization we worked collectively to create. I assure you, there are a myriad of valid reasons why one would. I have rarely lived up to the high calling that is peace work. And the organization has failed in its core function of whistleblowing, for many years. And yet, the need for peace work among us, has never been more urgent.
This is my humble request. If you feel within, the familiar urge to join hands and continue the conversations we supported years ago, I hope you will reach out. To me and to one another. I would love to know what you are creating with this precious life, and would love to welcome you wherever we are gathering community.
A small circle of us will be coming together on the weekend of 2/22. If you’d like to join, you are all welcomed. Two months later, we will be gathering at the People’s Plaza in Abilene tejas, in the heart of what is often considered the most conservative county in the united states.
In May, we will be in Lakota lands, building a Ceremony House. We will be there for two weeks in tents, and anyone who wishes to support, is welcomed.
And in the fall honoring the equinox, Sekombi will join us in Neskowin Oregon, where the tall trees meet the sea. It is a special and sacred place, and all our families are welcomed to come explore together.
There have been some conversations of building issue 1 of the free world reader, on the land. Diving deeply into the stories of supremacy, which people believe give them dominion over lands. And all the ways the land says otherwise. If any of you would like to contribute to see it come into being, you would surely be welcomed.
In the meantime, I hope we will all, each of us in our own way, continue to explore what it means to be a whistleblower for peace. To speak your truth even if your voice shakes, and to work always, toward peace for the people.
On this day, and all those before and after, I hope our voices will echo through the cosmos, and join every voice calling for a ceasefire in the holy land. I do not know what to do about the genocide in Palestine. I am often overwhelmed by powerlessness. I have begged candidates to stand for peace, and worked to gather those from different sides of the conflict. But this work is generational, and demands steadfast coordination. One thing is clear - the planet must unite to create a Palestinian Nation, with full freedom and sovereignty. I am committed to working in partnership with anyone who shares this urgent aspiration.
I do not know what to do about the continued violence in the Congo. But there was a time when our collective forces came together across borders and languages, and the world was better for it. There is still a great need for friendship and solidarity among us.
Thank you to all of you who have read this far. Every day I wake up, and ask how we can unite for peace. Every day I am faced with the challenges of life, operated in silos. Moments of unity are rare, but great possibility is created when we find our way toward togetherness and a common hope.
Praying for peace in this time and all times. In Palestine, in Congo, in Sudan and Tigray, in Argentina, and right here at home.
Love y’all,
sdc
