2020 Beckons: A Decade for Transformation

By paulgibson51 on December 31, 2019 • ( 0 )

2020: the Roundhouse session, the NM June primary, the Dem. Party Presidential primary, the November general election. Today we offer a vision of what could be & how we achieve it. Time for a leap of faith.

2020 Vision:
Our March to Justice Begins

**Time For a Leap of Faith: We Can Do This!**

The clock is ticking and as we ring in the New Year we enter not just a new year but a new decade, the most momentous decade in human history as this decade serves as a constant reminder of The Deadline for Mother Earth and all of us. We have ten years to turn this around. One decade, a new Roaring Twenties. And so, we MUST gird ourselves for the challenge ahead.

Tonight celebrate. If you are celebrating with a group, consider offering a toast: “Tonight we celebrate that we are the only generation in human history with the opportunity to save the planet, to undo the damage we’ve done. It is up to us and this has never happened before. We must embrace this opportunity and we must all resolve to do our part. To doing our part!”

The next 11 months will expand or limit what is possible over the 4 years that follow, in NM and in the US. In today’s NYE post, we offer a vision of what 2020 could bring along with suggestions as to how you might include in your New Year’s Resolutions a commitment to increased activism over the next year. Finally, we provide four inspiring videos to motivate you: Valarie Kaur, Royce Mann, Greta Thunberg and Naomi Klein & Alexandria Ocasio Cortez.

Imagine November 3, 2020

The returns are in and it is a landslide:

The US House has added more Democrats to the House majority and while some were centrists, many followed in the footsteps of Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and the squad, including Teresa Leger de Fernandez;
The Democrats also picked up four Senate seats, including ousting GOP Senate Leader Mitch McConnell;
Bernie Sanders secured an indisputable win, carrying all of the Rust Belt, signaling a dramatic shift in American priorities; and
In New Mexico, voters removed four Democrats in Name Only (DINO) from the NM State Senate and also removed three Republican Senators, completely eliminating the GOP-DINO caucus that had suppressed good bills from passing.

A surge of optimism sweeps the nation, especially among the young and in communities of color.

Maybe, just maybe we will seize the moment and seek meaningful change. We won’t just address the climate crisis, but the gross economic injustices in the US and the world. Instead of the role of colonial master, the US will seek international partnerships predicated on justice. Instead of seeking to make America great at a damning cost to others, we reach out to those others and make amends, we cooperate, contribute, and collaborate — not control, corrupt, and colonize.

This vision won’t just happen. In 2016 we experienced what happens when too many of us leave the work to others, and for three years we have experienced the consequences. 2020 must be different. And so below, we offer some suggestions and four videos to inspire you.

Four Inspiring Videos

What better way to usher in the New Year than to hook up your laptop to your TV and watch these four videos with family and friends. If you are having or attending a small NYE gathering, take 20 minutes to assemble, watch and be inspired. And then have an open discussion about what each of you can do in 2020 to achieve the vision expressed above. If that doesn’t feel quite like the right setting, watch these with your family and make a collective commitment to being more engaged. Write down those commitments as part of your 2020 new years resolutions.

Here are some suggestions for actions you can take now and in 2020:

Share this post with others and encourage them to watch the videos and make their own resolutions for what they can do in 2020;
Make a habit of telling your family and friends about your personal activism and encourage them to join you;
Mark January 21-Feb 20 on your calendars, the 2020 NM Legislative Session, and prepare for the session by signing up for our Legislative Alerts. These alerts come almost daily throughout the session and provide you with short summaries of pending bills, speaking points, hearing locations, and contact info so you can contact your legislators even if you can’t make it to the Roundhouse every day; Click here to subscribe to the alerts;
Even if you are subscribed to the alerts, consider returning to the page and sign up to be involved in the legislature or in the 2020 primary and general election campaigns;
Commit to coming to the legislature at least once this session or still better once a week: Attend a hearing and raise your voice, especially if you’ve never been to a committee hearing before;
If you review your annual budget as part of each new year, consider increasing what you contribute to progressive candidates in NM and in national races.
Click here to get to yesterday’s post where you will find links to donate buttons where you can support four heroic local agencies who fight the good fight every day. Each has a match challenge that ends tonight.

That is a start on things you can do in 2020, but the most important one is to resolve yourself to doing more, to getting out of your comfort zone, to do what you’ve never done before and to do more of what you already do. This is our decade and to motivate you, we close with four tremendous videos. Please share this with others. 2020 beckons: Our March to Justice Begins.

Valarie Kaur: What If?

Valarie Kaur. Watch Night Service. Six minutes of inspiration, encouraging us to continue to push for justice. In the last minute, Reverend Barber leaps to his feet and seems enraptured. Keep in mind, Rev. Barber can barely walk unaided. The last minute is just incredible: What if the darkness around us is not that of the tomb, but the womb? What if?

Royce Mann: Rise Up

An inspiring 4-minute poem from a 15 year-old boy speaking before a packed African American church in Georgia. He is absolutely on fire and the church explodes into a standing ovation.

Greta Thunberg Blasts the UN, the Full Five Minute Speech

“You have stolen my childhood….. How dare you!” and more.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Naomi Klein on the Green New Deal

This animated short of 8 minutes takes a look at what our future could look like if the Green New Deal were implemented in 2021. While the end result is a bit overly optimistic, the overall impact is inspiring. Well worth your time.