Meet the project: HourOfAction

If you were on IG, you saw the viral boom caused by HourOfAction - a daily solidarity checklist to support Palestine and collective liberation.

If you weren’t, we’ll catch you up.

Either way, you can find updates here, and even explore the project, map, archives, and calendar.

Heads up - we will be discussing violence, oppression, colonialism, genocide, and “war”.

Please take the breaks you need to engage with this content in a way that contributes sustainably to your liberation. While it’s uncomfortable, we have reason to be hopeful and our objective is to onboard you to this effort <3

In the last few months, our collective understanding of Palestine and collective liberation was put to the test, and we as a society failed miserably, at the expense of lives of global indigenous people.

For the first time, an active genocide was broadcast live on our phone screens. For many of us, we held each other accountable to be uncomfortable and not look away, and to have conversations with people who were getting their news from bias channels. Many of us were presented the challenge to understand our own oppression deeper, and worked to unpack it while also compartmentalizing and showing up to direct action. Some direct action was high risk high reward such as blocking weapon manufacturing and stopping traffic. Others of us got in the habit of calling government officials with tears in our eyes knowing that nothing they could say would bring back the lives lost.

We learned about a man who set himself on fire to raise awareness about the exploitation of land and enslavement of children and people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We learned about Sudan’s struggle for liberation and the ongoing genocide. We connected Native American resistence, and learned about Yemen’s anti-colonial history… or if we didn’t absorb it all, we stayed in fetal position hyperventilating, crying, disassociating and shutting down because it’s too horrible, daunting, and hopeless.

The human body was not meant to hold this much grief, but we know how important it is to know the truth.

This was the birthplace of HourOfAction.

Started on a shared Notion Doc, a couple of artists curated activist calls to action to help us all plan an hour every day of action towards collective liberation.

It was a labor of necessity as well as a labor of love - the community needed a place to hold our collective heartbreak and grief, and needed clear calls to action that could be done with tears in our eyes from bed, from work, from school.

It took several hours a day to run through submissions, train volunteers, and stay current.

Our lead curators made a choice to set aside other contracts and focus on ensuring people had tangible action to be helpful in a sea of triggering information.

Then something beautiful happened - we realized every day we were reaching a new audience, and we were helping people have the tools to change the narrative.

There was information covered in previous days, and at some point, each day became a “tool” for those who already completed theirs to teach someone else. As we began to burn out, we realized that in many ways we made our daily publication obsolete - we connected people directly to on the ground source material (journalists in Gaza, for example). We created a healthy team of volunteers who diligently map calls to action to be accessed in the US, Canada, Mexico, and Europe.

Today, with tears in our eyes, we are grateful to announce that we have received fiscal sponsorship through OpenHaus Coworking in Portland, OR. We have also recieved two grants - the Seed Grant through Social Justice Fund NW, and the Security Grant through Urgent Action Fund.

Even while we find ourselves deeply buried in our current burnout, heartbreak, and financial fallout from saying no to contracts that would have been a distraction - while we focus on our safety and healing so we can keep going for the long haul - hundreds of people can be found checking out the map, using the daily hour template, and digging through the archives every week.

We are hearing pitches from people around the world who are inspired to work with us and incorporate HourOfAction in their creative vision. We have been blessed to steward a project that has aided people in having hope that collective liberation is possible with in our lifetime, from Turtle Island to Palestine and all Indigenous people worldwide.

While we have so much to grieve, we also have no choice but to nourish hope. We have plans to make this more accessible, but for now, the live HourOfAction document is available for you. If you are inspired to join the movement, reach out. We have no choice but to continue til the land and the people are free.