By Kathleen Stokes
Summer is here, and many of us are feeling the accumulation of the year thus far. This high season stretch becomes a moment when we choose to disconnect. Those who can afford to are slowing down or possibly taking a short break from daily obligations.
This is not, in itself, a problem. Slowing down can be both restorative and radical. However, the inclination to disconnect can also lead to a distortion – where very real and urgent events are ignored or abstracted as entertainment.
Finding ways to stay engaged and alert to possibility, ensures we do not lose a sense of our own agency.
This month’s edition offers some exciting pieces that attend to different groups’ experiences and concerns, and consider ways of moving forward despite the messiness of it all.
Members of the Root and Branch Collective report on a recent event that brought together growers, activists and researchers involved in the food sovereignty movement in Ireland, to explore what a “progressive” food, land and farming politics across Ireland might look like.
Moray Bresnihan reflects on the erosion of participatory democracy and autonomy within Ireland’s community sector amidst 20 years of neoliberal policy making and restructuring.
V’cenza Cerife’s visual essay details a recent solidarity visit between communities from the Brazilian Amazon and Sperrin Mountains, who both face dispossession, contamination and displacement by mining and logging.
As we, at Rundale, also endeavour to take a break, we hope the coming months will be a restorative period for you all.
We’ll be back in August, and look forward to sharing new stories and perspectives with you all then.
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