One year ago, George Floyd was slain in the street, and the touchpaper was lit for a flood of resistance to racial oppression.

Something felt different in 2020… besides the obvious.

‘We live in capitalism, its power seems inescapable – but then, so did the divine right of kings.’ – Ursula K. Le Guin

For the first time in memory, capitalism was forced to put the brakes on momentarily, by something greater than itself – biology.

In the eerie space that emerged during that pause, many wrongs were laid bare, and there was a collective sense of ‘enough’. This was the time to keep pushing on racial justice on all fronts, not to let it drop back to a single issue cause. Things will not simmer down as they have done before, not one step back this time. Did you feel it?

No more underpayment of key workers while billionaires gold-plate their panic rooms.

No more abandonment of the most vulnerable in our communities. They will be fed.

Everyone must be included now.

On the political level there was total failure to cooperate globally, playing out now with shameful vaccine inequity. Let’s take hope instead from the stark contrast of how we’ve organised and volunteered, looking out for our neighbours and strangers alike. We’ll need this resilience for what’s coming. Climate breakdown will hit hard – in 2020, we got a dry run. Pun intended.

Resilience means collective care, diversity, safe structures, food security, rest and healing. Our mission is heavy. Let’s get strong.

Art credit: Pete Railand