Facilitators: Danford Chibvongodze & Andries MotauSpeaker: Marjaan Sirdar
Topic: The murder of George Floyd sparked a global call for justice, particularly racial justice. In this webinar, activist Marjaan Sirdar engages on the events leading up to George Floyd’s murder, the Minneapolis uprising, fragmentations within movements and new ways of organising such as building power through neighbourhood unions.
Speaker Bio: Marjaan is a freelance writer and community organizer in the Bryant neighbourhood of South Minneapolis where George Floyd was killed. He is the host of People Power Podcast. Since 2013 he has organized with neighbours in this community centering the basic principle of listening to Black people who have pioneered the community. He has worked in collaboration with grassroots organizers as well as the Bryant & Central neighbourhood organisations. Marjaan is an abolitionist: ‘In the community where George Floyd was killed, a community I have lived in for the past 13 years, police brutality is just the tip of the iceberg. There has always been a much deeper injustice in this community lying beneath the surface of the recent tragedy caused by the MPD: racial poverty resulting from racial capitalism.’  https://theuptake.org/2020/07/18/column-why-i-am-an-abolitionist/