Abolition Medicine Final Project

ABOLITION IN THE WORLD

A Guide-in-Progress

Nyah Ahmad, Olivia Tutuska, Elias Tzoc-Pacheco

Whoever you are, we would like to thank you for picking up and reading through our zine. We wanted this zine to be accessible to anyone with a passion for abolition and/or revolutionary healthcare. Hence why this zine is available both digitally and physically at the Barnard Zine Library.

When we first began the process of creating this collection of words and images, our goal was to provide fellow abolitionists with examples of revolutionary healthcare that can be invoked in the future creation of community-based health movements. In an act of solidarity with the Dalits, Palestinians, and Indigenous Guatemalans, we are amplifying the importance of the anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist frameworks of their relentless and successful activism.

We know that the prospect of abolition can feel overwhelming and far-fetched, but we hope that this guide provides all of its readers with tangible examples of how abolition can be both imagined, and forged into reality. Since this is a guide-in-progress, we implore all of you to create zines with your own ideas or examples. Abolition begins and ends with the people, and we must work together and learn from each other to construct our future! Solidarity forever.

Much love, Elias, Nyah, Olivia

THE DALIT PANTHERS OF INDIA

Letter

A movement founded on the ideologies of Black Panther Party members, neoBuddhism, and anti-establishment Dalit poets and writers of the 20th century

of

Lives Matter movement written by JV Pawar in 2020, one of the founding members of the Dalit Panthers Party

Solidarity with the Black

"THE UNTOUCHABLES" 6

The Dalit Panther Party was formed in 1972 and was concentrated in the Indian state of Maharastra

The party's ideology was heavily influenced by B.R. Ambedkar and the neo-buddhist movement which served as a mode of resistance for Dalits

The origins of the party are a result of caste discrimination which prevented the lowest caste, the Dalits, who were called "the untouchables" from using public water tanks, entering Hindu temples, accessing education and employment, and socially interacting with higher castes...while it may not seem clear at first, these factors directly relate to health

The 2 images to the left are title pages from pocket-sized pamphlets known as "Little Magazines" published in the early 1970s. They were 'unperiodicals' that featured early works of many Dalit Panther poets, writers and artists.

Cover of the Dalit Panthers Manifesto published in 1973

They defined a "dalit" as members of Scheduled Castes and Tribes, NeoBuddhists, the working class, the landless and poor farmer, women, and all those who are being exploited politically, weaker economically, and neglected in the name of religion.

CONTINUES TO NEGATIVELY AFFECT DALITS TODAY

Article published by the International Dalit Solidarity Network in August 2021

DALIT WOMEN TODAY

Jagrutha Mahila Sanghatane (JMS): a grassroots organization led for and by neo-literate Dalit women in rural Karnataka, India since 1999. They have created primary health centers, taught women about the right to food security, mobilized health workers to broaden their scope of patient care, ran initiatives to increase access to maternal care, and propelled campaigns about violence against Dalit women. This is barely breaking the surface of the work they have done and continue to do for working class Dalit women!

Their goals and objectives as an organization! This organization's fundamental ideologies are heavily influenced by the anti-casteist and liberatory politics of B.R. Ambedkar, who also heavily influenced the Dalit Panthers's activism. To learn more about their organizing and community building efforts, check out their website: https://jmschiguru.com/

P A L E S T I N E

P A L E S T I N E

Although Palestine has a public health system, decades of restrictions on imports have been detrimental to the Palestinian healthcare sector. Electricity, water, and trained healthcare worker shortages make it incredibly difficult for hospitals to perform adequate care.

In addition, many specialized hospitals are located in Jerusalem, which Palestinians need permits to travel to, and they are often denied. For Palestinians residing in the West Bank (circled region), many U.N. refugee camps simply do not have medical centers, making any healthcare almost completely inaccessible.

Lack of access to healthcare extends beyond medical centers, too.

West Bank Palestinian farmers are disallowed from investing in agricultural development by the Israeli government.

Almost 2 million Palestinians are food insecure.

Half of Palestinians lack access to proper nutrition and vitamins. The Russian-Ukrainian war has significantly increased the price of basic necessities such as bread.

Violence continues to rage throughout the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Palestinians face high levels of incarceration.

Health

Health for Palestine (H4P) A Lajee

Community health workers visit patients twice a month, and discuss ideas for constructing a healthier future with their broader communities.

Free Medical Days provide numerous Palestinians with proper care that would be otherwise inaccessible.

Center and 1for3.org project

The Winter Health Camp, where H4P provides women over the age of 40 with community, knowledge, mental health programming, creative outlets, and recreational activities.

Lectures about healthcare are provided to strengthen community knowledge of health.

Hydroponic farming is performed with the community's environmental unit, increasing access to nutritional food.

Baskets of necessities are given to residents to alleviate the stress from limited access to goods.

In the words of Community Health Workers:

"I chose to work as a community health worker two years ago because it allows me to make a positive impact on the lives of patients. It also allows me to play an active role in society against the occupation that we live in as Palestinians, and enhances our resilience as refugees. " -Ashgan Ewies

"I chose to be a community health worker for the sake of achieving physical and psychological health among patients, in addition to enhancing my self-confidence and serving my homeland. " -Sarah Al Azzah

Guatemala is a nation within Central America that has one of the largest indigenous populations of which most are of Mayan ancestry. This meansthereisagreatamountofdiversityincustoms,languagesspoken, and even in the way that communities look given the variations in traditional clothes Yet it remains a deeply unequal country with few indigenous people having the same wealth as their non-indigeno counterparts These disparities grow even larger when one examines different factors like literacy and education but especially health and access to healthcare. Yet all of these realities do not exist in a silo but rather are greatly connected to the colonial history of Guatemala wherebylandwasstolenbytheSpanishfromindigenouspeoplesandto theoftenunknownanddownplayedmodernlegacyofneo-colonialism...

The people of Guatemala democratically elected presidents and achieved some semblance of representation during the Ten Years of Spring between 1944 and 1954.Leadersandorganizerssoughttoendtheruleofoligarchsandconcessions to the United Fruit Company. The largest impact was President Jacobo Árbenz's Decreto900whichmandatedwidespreadagriculturalreformforelPueblofirst. Over 224 acres were redistributed from the fincas or large plantations to almost a sixth of the country's population. From American and foreign-owned multinational corporations to indigenous-owned communities that did not use their land for exportsandprofitsbutf themidstoftheColdW

The U.S. orchestrated a plot via the CIA to overthrow the democratically elected government. Subsequent dictators and military regimes repealed the previous attempts at land reforms and empowered the same companies to continue plundering the land. Resistance from students, activists, the poor, and el Pueblo Indigena wasardentbutsoonenough,acivilwareruptedacrossGuatemalathatwouldlastoverthreedecades,resultingin nomeaningfulexchangeoflandnorreparations,andinstigatingabloodygenocideoftheMayapeople.

Fleeing the scorched earth policies of the Army and refusing to participate in their civil-defense patrols, CPRs went into the jungles with entire villages and towns. Their survival required gathering roots and berries they knew would be safe to eat. Hidden gardens and small livestock were tended to in secret in some of the most remotepartsofthecountry.

As CPRs were designated illegal by military forces, they organized commissions to argue for their human rights. They made extensive pleas to international groups and made public demandsforpeaceandnuestrastierras.

As the civil war raged on, communities in the regions of Huehuetenango, Quiché, and Verapazwerenotjustattacked but subject to extreme military surveillance and control. Families lost their lands as the military encroached on their territory and would seize it. Most of these lands eventually would be lost altogether as records of ownership were purposefully destroyed. As el PuebloMaya fled, they would organize themselves into Comunidades de Población enResistencia(CPRs)

Land-BackandLandDefenders

While the CPRs re-emerged during the writing of the Peace Accords, their lands were mostly not returned. El Pueblo Maya across the country saw no reparations, no advances in social welfare, andultimatelylittlechangeinrepresentationwithinany political structures. Yet communities sought to reclaim both their landsandtheirsovereignty,showcasingtheirresilienceindigena.

ActivismhasfocusedontheDefenseofLifeandTerritoryincluding

the renewed struggle against the rise of new, extractive multinational corporationsinminingandhydroelectricity the drive to educate and replenish communities and their lands to combat systemic malnutrition across the nation after both ecological damage from plantationsandclimatechange the organization and creation of sovereign economies that link villages and allowsustainableandlocaldevelopment

Helpingorganizevillagestoresistnew developmentsbymandatinglegal communityconsulationorleadingprotests

Providingeducationalgrantsandcommunitybasedfostercareforindigenouschildrentofeel caredforandtolearnintheirownways

Creatingworkshopstoprovide communitieswithtradesforthe workforceandsmall-scalefarming especiallyaheadofclimatechange

Organizinglocalmarketsforfarmersand artisanstosellandbuyfromeachother, ruralentrepreneurship,andcommunity bankingbasedonindigenouspractices

WhiletheoriginalCPRshavebeenallowedtore-emerge,thepromisesmadetothemweresimplynotkept.Likewise,theindigenouspeoples

CONCLUSION

Why did we pick these three movements as case studies? What ties them together?

All three movements revolve their activism and are united in their struggle over land...either land they are indigenous to but no longer occupy or land they have consistently and systematically been excluded from due to social caste. All regions have had these systems reinforced by colonialism.

They all center anticapitalist and antiimperialist frameworks of community building, relentless activism, and protecting health. This can inspire and inform our own struggles towards providing care in our communities.

All these movements are grassroots and don't rely on powerful institutions or governments to save them nor do they seek reforms. They all begin and end with the people, both in their own regions and in solidarity with others. They are abolition.

Works Cited

Dalitpanthersarchive (@dalitpanthers archive) | Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/dalitpanthers archive/. Accessed 28 Apr. 2023.

Today, Team Ambedkarite. “The Dalit Panther Movement: An Inspiring Era Of India.” The Ambedkarite Today - The Voice Of Voiceless, 14 Apr. 2019, https://www.ambedkaritetoday.com/2019/04/the-dalit-panthermovement-history.html.

“In the ’70s, the Dalit Panthers Made Pocket-Sized Magazines That Challenged Social Hierarchies in India.”

Eye on Design, 14 July 2022, https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/in-the-70s-the-dalit-panthers-made-pocket-sizedmagazines-that-challenged-social-hierarchies-in-india/.

Pien, Diane. Dalit Panther Movement (1972-1977) • . 17 Aug. 2018, https://www.blackpast.org/global-africanhistory/dalit-panther-movement-1972-1977/.

India’s Dalit Panthers – The Black Panther Party: History and Theory. https://wp.nyu.edu/gallatinbpparchive2021/international-branches/indias-dalit-panthers/. Accessed 28 Apr. 2023.

“Archiving Resistance.” Fontstand News, https://fontstand.com/news/essays/dalit-panthers/. Accessed 28 Apr. 2023.

“India’s Health Inequality Severely Affects Dalits.” International Dalit Solidarity Network, 13 Aug. 2021, https://idsn.org/indias-health-inequality-severely-affects-dalits/.

VISION & MISSION – JMS. https://jmschiguru.com/vision-mission/. Accessed 28 Apr. 2023.

Anera. "Healthcare System in Palestine." Anera: Where Hope Finds A Way, Anera, Sept. 2020, https://www.anera.org/blog/healthcare-in-palestine/.

UNRWA. "Aida Camp." United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, UNRWA, https://www.unrwa.org/where-we-work/west-bank/aida-camp. Health for Palestine. Health for Palestine, https://www.healthforpalestine.org/. Lajee Center. "Environment & Health Unit." Lajee Center, 2020, https://lajee.org/programs/environmenthealth-unit/.

Kadabashy, Kateryna. "Palestinian Refugees: The State of Statelessness." Arab News, May 2019, https://www.arabnews.com/node/1497066/middle-east.

Shaban, Omar. "Food Insecurity in Palestine and the Russia-Ukraine War: The Worst is Yet to Come." Arab Center Washington DC, June 2022, https://arabcenterdc.org/resource/food-insecurity-in-palestine-and-therussia-ukraine-war-the-worst-is-yet-to-come/.

Asi, Yara M. "Palestinian Dependence on External Health Services: De-development as a Tool of Dispossession." Middle East Law and Governance, vol. 14, no. 3, 2022, pp. 366-387, https://doi.org/10.1163/18763375-14030004.

Tobón, Katherine Aguirre. “Analizando la violencia después del conflicto: el caso de Guatemala en un estudio sub-nacional.” Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Políticas y Sociales, vol. 59, no. 220, Jan. 2014, pp. 191–233, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0185-1918(14)70805-0.

Sebastián: When We Were Young There Was A War.

https://www.centralamericanstories.com/es/characters/sebastian/. Accessed 28 Apr. 2023.

Historia Del Conflicto Armado Interno En Guatemala y Cómo Fue El Alzamiento En 1960.

https://www.prensalibre.com/hemeroteca/historia-del-conflicto-armado-interno-en-guatemala/. Accessed 28 Apr. 2023.

Reforma Agraria / Revolución de 1944. http://letrasypoetas.blogspot.com/2020/10/reforma-agrariarevolucion-de-1944.html. Accessed 28 Apr. 2023.

“June 27, 1954: Elected Guatemalan Leader Overthrown in CIA-Backed Coup.” Zinn Education Project, https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/jacobo-arbenz-guzman-deposed/. Accessed 28 Apr. 2023.

the Guerrilla Army of the Poor (EGP). “The Struggle of the Guatemalan People and International Solidarity.” Contemporary Marxism, no. 3, 1981, pp. 36–42. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/29765682. Accessed 28 Apr. 2023.

EPICA, and CHRLA. “Out of the Shadows: The Communities of Population in Resistance in Guatemala.”