Democracy Out Loud #436:Break the spell

Believe in our power and in what is possible, and make it happen.

I just spent a few days in Washington DC protesting the budget with the Poor People’s Campaign (see The Guardian, and WTAJ) other national groups, and had the satisfying experience of talking to Senator Schumer’s and Senator Tillis’s staff with about 40 other people. Taking action with organizers and activists from all over the country was inspiring.

A few summaries of where we are right now lay it all out. “It’s Even Worse Than You Thought, But There’s Hope” is very helpful, including good suggestions about what to do. One of my meditation teachers, Thanissara, lays out a larger context in, “Evolution in the Wings: Breaking the Spell of Empire.”

Trump and Musk have already been responsible for cuts in international aid which will cost millions of people (especially children) their lives. ImpactCounter.com breaks down the numbers. Meanwhile our country is becoming unrecognizable, with masked ICE agents snatching up our neighbors and sending them to for-profit detention camps or countries they have never been in before. Institutions have bowed to power Trump doesn’t even have, out of what? fear? We cannot afford to be afraid.

For at least the next month, we have to focus on the Big Bad federal budget proposal. If passed as proposed, it will create a truly dystopian country, in which millions of people will die without healthcare, hungry children will not get enough food at home OR school, hospitals will close, green energy jobs will be cut in favor of pipelines, and the largest transfer of wealth since slavery will ensure that the obscenely wealthy become richer at the expense of poor people. This is not an exhaustive list of the terrible things in this budget. Calls to Congress (use 5calls.org), letters to the editor, protests, phone banks, and boycotts all make a difference. We have learned that pressure works.

See also this letter from the NC Budget and Tax Center, and sign it.

There is wide agreement that the proposed federal budget will add 2.4 trillion dollars to the deficit and take away the health insurance of 10.9 million people.

We just got the devastating news that Trump wants the budget to essentially end Section 8 housing vouchers, which would explode the number of homeless people. I personally know people who, without Section 8, would be on the street. Please call your Representatives and Senators about that.

There is hope in the many stories about community members fighting back against ICE raids, for example in San Diego, and Missouri. The Massachussetts high school student whose entire class and community protested to get him released has been released. These deportations are deeply wrong, and I wish everyone could have a community fighting for them, and a good lawyer.

We can show our support for our immigrant neighbors by joining the Pack the Gallery at the NCGA organized by the ACLU. The Senate will be voting on SB 153, the so-called “North Carolina Border Protection Act” on Tuesday June 10 at 3 pm. You can register at this link. And, call your NC Senator and urge them to vote no.

(below, celebrating Marcelo Gomes Da Silva’s release, AP photo Mark Stockwell)

One of the most important things we can do besides step up to resist ICE is to have the most massive protests in our history everywhere all at once on Saturday June 14. Find one near you at this link, and if you aren’t physically able to go, see if you can talk to others about showing up.

On Tuesday, June 17 at 6:30 pm, Democracy NC is hosting a statewide advocates call, “Black Women Speak.” They will break down the latest attacks from the NC General Assembly, what’s at stake for Black and Brown communities, and how to organize and push forward together. You can find out more and register at this link.

Kathryn Pollack leads a local Indivisible group and writes a Substack newsletter. Check out the well-deserved profile of her in the Indy this week, and all of the actions coming up that she leads and suggests. Anna leads Bull City Indivisible, which has in-person meetings and a Substack as well, and is also wonderful and right on time.

June is Pride month. To celebrate, read Erin Reed’s fascinating Substack, The Most Legendary Trans Figures in History That you Never Learned About in School.

I appreciate the concept of breaking the spell, because that is exactly what needs to happen. We can increasingly wake up, and wake each other up, to the truth of what is actually happening and act accordingly. Trump, Musk, and the billionaires together with their militarized police force and militias are weak and clueless about what really matters in this life. They have force, but we have power.

One of the things that worries me is the attitude that “the pendulum will swing back.” Actually, the other side has been so organized for so long that they could win unless we can bring our whole selves, in large numbers, to this fight. That is starting to happen.

Join us this Tuesday June 10 from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm for our weekly zoom; “doors open” at 11 am - if you are new, come early so we can welcome you. Email Jewel at democracyoutloud@gmail.com if you need the zoom link, which is the same for our Thursday guided meditation. Tell her a bit about yourself.

I once heard that a Native American elder said that the decimation of his people by the European colonists would have been complete “but our magic was too powerful.” As we witness the deadly end of capitalism, white nationalism, and misogyny, we must awaken our own powerful magic. It grows by connecting with ourselves, the earth, the unseen world, and each other. Let’s lean into that.

love, Karen

“It is vital to remember that we are not without power. To face empire is to remember who we are, not as isolated individuals, but as people woven into a sacred web of interdependence. Every prayer, strike, blockade, ritual, and act of truth-telling becomes part of the counter spell needed to break down the walls of empire.

“The deeper imperative of our current initiation is to break the spell of the 500-year journey of white, Eurocentric, settler-colonial capitalism. A spell that has colonized not only lands and bodies, but souls, hearts, and imagination, while erasing our collective sense of belonging to each other. This spell must now be unbound through the power of our co-collaborative visioning, strategy, and organizing,” -Thanissara, Substack, June 5, 2025, Revolution in the Wings: Breaking the Spell of Empire

‘We are doing this because no matter what odds we are against, we have to keep trying, because the moment we stop trying is when we lose our humanity….No matter how dangerous this mission is, it is nowhere near as dangerous as the silence of the entire world." - Greta Thunberg, Portside, June 4, 2025, Ominous Warning from Israel as Freedom Flotilla Approaches Gaza