We (Ammaarah and Eshe) have taken some time to reflect on the group, its structure and the longevity of this work going forward. As a result, we’ve come up with some actions.
The intention of Doulas For Palestine was very much to be a radical grassroots group with an emphasis on being active. This isn’t where we’re at currently. There was definitely a sense of urgency to sign the petition, but beyond that, most of the labour has been carried out by a few individuals, most of whom are Black and Brown. It has not been a fair division of labour and it’s important for us all, but especially white members, to really interrogate why we felt comfortable with labour being distributed in that way. Going forward, we think it’s best to keep the statement up and highlight that it was signed by doulas at a particular time, but that that’s all it was. A signed statement in solidarity, which will remain up on the website.
Going forward, the group will work under the name of Doulas Decolonising and those who want to continue being part of this group will have to express their interest again, as well as their capacity to actively participate. Obviously life happens and our capacity varies all the time, so it isn’t that you need to leave and never come back. Rather that you have to opt in if and when you have the capacity to share this work equally with us.
The other change in the structure of Doulas Decolonising is that we will meet and carry out actions as a Black and Brown group and then as a white allies group. I would hope that the need for different groups is obvious, but for the sake of clarity, it’s well and truly because white doulas enter this space and this group at a significantly different level than we do. We all have work to do in the fight for decolonisation, yes, but that work looks extremely different for white folk than it does for Black and Brown folk. White doulas (including some in this group) need to challenge themselves and their peers when it comes to racism, and especially when it comes to cultural appropriation. We want and need to prioritise the safety of our marginalised doulas, and its not possible to do that in a space with doulas that are still perpetrating or silent in the face of cultural appropriation, which is racist in and of itself.
In short:
- The statement will stay up on the website, with additional clarity that it was signed by individual doulas prior to 2024 and by Doulas Decolonising members 2024-
- Those who wish to be part of Doulas Decolonising should fill out the Google Form provided to join/rejoin
- Doulas Decolonising will progress in two groups – one for Black and racially marginalised folk, and one for white allies
What has become clear since setting up Doulas For Palestine, is that we do not all share an understanding of what decolonisation means and how we actively decolonise in ourselves, our communities and fight for decolonisation on a global scale. It seems that many people were happy to sign as a signature only on a statement that had been written for them – many people not even reading the full statement. But once there was a requirement for further involvement, for action and responsibility, we ended up with less than a third of the signatures actually responding, joining meetings or wanting to be involved.
We have also been disappointed in both the doula community and the wider world for the silence of many in the face of this stage of Israel’s genocide of Palestinians, as many who preach ‘reproductive justice’ – in fact even the creators of the term – have been silent. But what has not been spoken about enough amongst those of us who have been speaking up about Palestine, is the prioritisation and single issue support for (Muslim Arab) Palestinians, and the challenging of Israel purely from their occupation and genocide of Palestine. Whilst Palestine is an incredibly important issue, and one that the admins have been involved in fighting for the liberation of for 20+ years, slogans such as ‘when Palestine is free, we will all be free’ are simply not true and focusing solely on Palestine and perpetuating anti-Blackness amongst other things instead of being full spectrum further marginalises other people experiencing genocide and colonialism. We can show our dedicated and unwavering support for a decolonised, free and liberated Palestine but we also need to show the same support to other countries, lands and people who are experiencing genocide and colonialism at the same time and the other people within Palestine who are also experiencing indiscriminate genocide and oppression, and then further intersections of oppression both from the West, Israel and Palestine eg Black people, Indigenous people worldwide and more considered ‘other’.
We will be keeping the Doulas For Palestine statement online with the current signatures and there will still be a place where doulas can sign in support, however we will only accept future signatures who are active members of Doulas Decolonising. Signatures on the Doulas For Palestine statement will have a disclaimer attached to them that they are signatures only and not automatically members of or able to speak on behalf of Doulas For Palestine/ Doulas Decolonising. And we will no longer accept signatures from people who are not getting actively involved.
We have a new signup sheet for Doulas Decolonising which we require you all to fill out. Whilst your individual role and responsibility within decolonisation will be slightly different depending on your relative privileged or oppressed identities, the overall goal needs to be the same. And the understanding of what is required from you needs to be something you are actively assessing and working on, both independently and as part of this group and wider communities. We require a dedication to decolonising ourselves and the benefits we receive from being people with relative privileges, eg white, cisgender, heterosexual, able bodied, neurotypical, middle class, British citizen, other privileged citizenship, home owning etc whichever privileged we may have over others. We require a dedication to decolonising our communities, interactions, friendships and spaces – and this includes a dedication to anti-racism, anti-cultural appropriation, anti-classism and the many other forms of oppression that we see commonly in doula communities and beyond. And we will be heavily focusing on how we support decolonisation efforts in countries, lands and by people that SCEE+OUK have participated in the oppression of (so all non-white countries lol).
Whilst we currently have more support already organised for Palestine, we will require all members (especially white members) to actively participate in creating campaigns and support for DRC (we already have a few things), Ayiti, Tigray, West Papua, Sudan and more. We will not allow anti-Blackness to influence the support that is being offered and to whom.
And there additionally needs to be a dedication to support offered locally to those who are experiencing oppression by our governments at home. It can often be easier to participate in saviourist style organising, as giving support to people ‘over there’ doesn’t require you to think about your own complicity in the systems that cause that oppression there – whereas when you are asked to challenge your privileges at home and it causes discomfort or you can’t just switch your phone off, then people don’t want to be involved. We will be looking at the forms of white supremacy, patriarchy, the ‘UK’ occupation of Cymru, Scotland, Éire and other areas occupied by ‘UK’ and the many forms of oppression we all in some ways either as oppressor or oppressed or sometimes both interact with.
There will be the main Doulas Decolonising group that is lead by the Black, Brown and other racialised members and there will be a white allies group additionally. White allies are asked to self organise and maintain learning and decolonial education within their own spaces in the Discord server. These spaces will be openly viewable for accountability. White allies will not be able to vote on the direction the group goes in or on the internal politics, theory or understandings within Doulas Decolonising. We require an active membership from white allies, which includes being available to support with the work Doulas Decolonising is doing where appropriate and not take up space in areas where it is not appropriate. This is for the safety of all Doulas Decolonising members, as well as the people we will be supporting and interacting with. This is a requirement of all white members, regardless of where you see yourself on the decolonial/ anti-white supremacy journey. Each one teach one, you are all responsible for each others learning journeys. There is a full library already in the Discord, as well as extensive reading lists and tonnes of resources to get started with.