Political Healing Spaces

Community protector actions both include healing (spaces of validation) and demand that healing, restoration & wholeness be a part of what we win (spaces of negotiation). It is this last aspect that defines how Political Healers operate in the public arena – by creating spaces of validation and spaces of negotiation. 

WE CREATE SPACES OF VALIDATION

We create spaces for healing within our movement work. Many of us who are directly impacted by the traumas of economic, racial and gender disparity are forced to go about our lives without acknowledging the trauma we experience. The erasure of our trauma is often treated as a normal abnormality, not only within our society at large, but within our own progressive movement. Political Healers use both art and healing rituals to bring about a sense of connection and authentic expression among participants. This includes drumming, music, song, spoken word (storytelling or poetry), chanting, prayer, symbolic imagery, food, dance, body movement, and visual props. The objective is to ensure that all participants experience their humanity in the ritual, and that the ritual has a connection to the event. Ideally trained Political Healers are on hand to hold the space for emotional release. 

WE CREATE SPACES OF NEGOTIATION

We create spaces to negotiate a new reality. Our standard for winning is to bring restoration and wholeness to those impacted by the problem. It’s important that we win healthcare. But to consider our win a full “win” the healthcare we win must bring a sense of wholeness to people’s lives.  Political healers demand that our wins heal us, as much as give us tangible resources to thrive. Sometimes those things are one and the same; sometimes they are not. In organizing an action or event, Political Healers consider the ways in which our actions and our wins create restoration and a sense of wholeness on all levels – physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual (PIES).