I'm hosting this session next week! Join us as we learn about wellness and healing justice with our facilitator, Shadeen Francis!

Many thanks to CAISO and the Astraea Foundation — as it is through the CAISO-Astraea Responsive Grant that this programme has been made possible! 💕

"Beyond Survival: Queer Joy as a Liberatory Practice" with Shadeen Francis Intersect Antigua-Barbuda

🔗 Interested in attending? Scan the QR code in the image above or click this link to register and find out more: forms.gle/MMPo57nrf25W...

We will look at the influence of systemic oppression on our relationship to joy, and what it means to build a cultural capacity for joyfulness as both a relational practice and political strategy, rather than a personal luxury 💞📚💭🔍

Participants will explore the role of joy in our survival and liberation and engage in reflections guided by neuroscience, social science, and the wisdom of queer scholars, artists, and elders.

This session centres the experiences of queer, trans, and disabled Caribbean people at home and abroad.

For systemically excluded communities, joy is more than a feeling; it is a political position, a healing technology, and an act of reclamation, one that has been practiced by our ancestors long before it became a framework 🌈 🌎💗

Emotions are our first site of embodied knowledge. Of these, joy is one of the most vulnerable and, therefore, one of the most transformative emotions that we can feel.

Shadeen Francis is a licensed marriage and family psychotherapist and a board-certified sex therapist. Her unique expertise spans the domains of mental health, emotional intelligence, and the intersection of sexual wellness and social justice ✊🏾

📍This session will be held 𝐯𝐢𝐚 𝐙𝐨𝐨𝐦, 𝐨𝐧 𝗪𝐞𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟐𝟐𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐥, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔, 𝐚𝐭 𝟔 𝐏𝐌 𝐀𝐒𝐓/𝐄𝐓!

Text: INTERSECT ANTIGUA-BARBUDA PRESENTS Beyond Survival: Queer Joy as a Liberatory Practice with SHADEEN FRANCIS via ZOOM on APRIL 22ND at 6 PM AST/ET REGISTER via the QR code in this image Visual description: The text in this image is white — with the exception of the session name and the prompt the register, which is a dark blue. Shadeen Francis — a black woman with long, wavy, dark brown locs — sits in the left hand corner of this image. She is relaxed, smiling, and wearing a white and blue dress. Surrounding her and yellow and white flowers, as well as vibrant green leaves. Everything rests against a pink-yellow gradient background. The Intersect logo — an “i” consisting of blue, pink, and white circles — and the CAISO-Astraea logo also sit in the righthand corner of this image.

We are delighted to resume our Prideful Healing: Wellness in the Queeribbean programme with, “Beyond Survival: Queer Joy as a Liberatory Practice" — our newest session, guided by Shadeen Francis!!

🌿 Register here: forms.gle/MMPo57nrf25W...

Text: Intersect Antigua-Barbuda presents OIL WARS IN THE AMERICAS: WASHINGTON, CARACAS, AND THE CARIBBEAN with DR. RYAN CECIL JOBSON via ZOOM on FEB 5TH at 7 PM AST/ 6РM ET REGISTER VIA THE QR code in this image or the link in our bio Visual description: Headshot of Ryan Jobson in the lower right hand side of this flyer. His hair is short and curly, and he is smiling as pink and white flowers — accompanied by vibrant green leaves — surround him. The text in this image is dark green, matching the leaves, and everything rests against a soft orange-yellow gradient background. The Intersect logo — an “i” consisting of blue, pink, and white circles — also sits in the righthand corner of this image.

🔍 Click the link or scan the QR code in the image below to register and learn more!
forms.gle/qK4oH9FEuxWr...

📍“…To stress the main point, socialist revolution must come about through the independent historic initiative of the majority of the working people and the whole population, dramatically expressed.”

📍As expressed by Kwayana:
“One political precondition, then, is that the people, not an elite, must lose faith and hope in the existing capitalistic order and this is so whether that elite is well intentioned or not…”

Text: "WHAT IS SOCIALISM?" "Socialism is not nationalism. Socialism is not a vanguard party in power. Socialism is not the commanding heights of the economy brought under State control. Socialism is not state decrees. Socialism is not 'Benefits' for the masses." "Socialism is the independent creative spirit of the mass of the population given the room and the opportunity to create new institutions at work, for the re-organisation of production in the interest of the majority of the toilers and so creating popular democratic organs of self-management in society and therefore a new culture." -Tim Hector, Antigua & Barbuda Visual description: The text in this image is white and rests against a vertical gradient background of red, orange, and green. Surrounding the text are deep green leaves, as well as yellow sunflowers and white flowers.

…and to collectively organize against imperial violence and capitalist modes of relation and production. Socialism cannot be brought about by proxy, our interlocutors assert. It must be the result of a pertinacious will held in common by the masses.

Text: "WHAT IS SOCIALISM?" "Socialism has been done irreparable harm by the puerile apologists who make every kind of society which has nationalized some property into some variation of socialism, even dubbing them Workers and Farmers States when the workers and the farmers are a million miles from power, and are the hapless victims of a State system which squeezes more and more surplus value out of the workers and farmers for all sorts of inhuman purposes." -Tim Hector, Antigua & Barbuda Visual description: The text in this image is white and rests against a vertical gradient background of red, orange, and green. Surrounding the text are deep green leaves, as well as yellow sunflowers and white flowers. A photo of Tim Hector — a black man with short cropped hair, glasses, and a small smile on his face — is in the bottom left corner of this image. He sits among the flowers.

Their dialogic encounter in this piece crystallizes into a revolutionary “soul/stice,” à la Kamau Brathwaite, refulgent with the kind of rhythms, language, and IDEAS that should spur us into action: to develop a strong political conscience…

Text: "WHAT IS SOCIALISM?" "A socialist movement must have a strong moral commitment-and in that I say everything. It must dedicate itself to the side of the poor and oppressed of the old society. In this process the mighty will be put down from their seat and the lowly and meek will be exalted". -Eusi Kwayana, Guyana Visual description: The text in this image is white and rests against a vertical gradient background of red, orange, and green. Surrounding the text are deep green leaves, as well as yellow sunflowers and white flowers. A black and white photo of Eusi Kwayana — looking down and smiling with his hands folded — is in the bottom right corner of this image. He sits among the flowers.

In this short but propulsive essay, he generously cites Eusi Kwayana, described by the Walter Rodney Foundation as a “political activist, educator, writer, journalist, dramatist, folklorist and historian” from Guyana.

Text: "WHAT IS SOCIALISM?" "Imperialism must be extremely happy with a country in which the DAILY PRACTICE of rulers who proclaim socialism has had the effect of discrediting socialism". -Eusi Kwayana, Guyana Visual description: The text in this image is white and rests against a vertical gradient background of red, orange, and green. Surrounding the text are deep green leaves, as well as yellow sunflowers and white flowers. A black and white photo of Eusi Kwayana — looking down and smiling with his hands folded — is in the bottom left corner of this image. He sits among the flowers.

To help you prepare for what will be a stirring provocation, we would like to share a few quotes from one of the assigned readings, “What is Socialism?” by renowned Antiguan and Barbudan leftist political scholar, Tim Hector.

Text: "WHAT IS SOCIALISM?" Written by Tim Hector, Antigua and Barbuda with insights from Eusi Kwayana, Guyana "A socialist movement may start with a SMALL band but along the route it must become the movement of the majority of the population who must have a fair opportunity to IMPRESS their WILL." -Eusi Kwayana Visual description: Black and white photo of Eusi Kwayana. He is an older black man, with long grey/white locs and facial hair. His arms are folded, and he is looking down with a slight smile. The text is white and overlayed atop this image. There is a white arrow to the bottom right, facing right.

Our virtual teach-in, led by Dr. Ryan Jobson, is only a few days away! It’s scheduled for:

🗓️ Thursday, February 5th
⏰ 7pm AST/6pm ET

🔗 Register here: forms.gle/qK4oH9FEuxWr3k…

Oil Wars in the Americas: Washington, Caracas, and the Caribbean with Dr. Ryan Jobson— Register Below! Intersect Antigua-Barbuda

🔗 Interested in attending? Scan the QR code in the image above or click this link to learn more about our facilitator, this session, and access the reading materials: forms.gle/qK4oH9FEuxWr...

🔍 “Who’s Afraid of the Essequibo? Irfaan Ali and Nicolas Maduro, That’s Who!" and "The Caribbean is a Zone of War: Power to the People — to the Last Individual" by Clash! Collective

🔍“Introduction: The Petro-state Masquerade: Oil, Sovereignty, and Power in Trinidad and Tobago" and "The Chavez Doctrine or Revolutionary Socialism" by Ryan Cecil Jobson

In preparation, we’ll be taking a look at several sources, including…

The return of “oil wars” to the Americas is not new, but reflects more than a century of conflicts between labor and capital, imperialism, and socialism in the Greater Caribbean.

🌎 This teach-in will place the invasion of Caracas and kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by U.S. forces in the historical context of oil and gas operations in the Americas.

📚 His research and teaching engage questions of energy and extractivism, states and sovereignty, climate and crisis, race and capital in the Caribbean and the Americas.

🌱 Ryan Cecil Jobson is the Neubauer Family Assistant Professor in the Departments of Anthropology and Race, Diaspora & Indigeneity at the University of Chicago. He holds a Ph.D. in African American Studies and Anthropology from Yale University, which he earned in 2017.

Text: Intersect Antigua-Barbuda presents OIL WARS IN THE AMERICAS: WASHINGTON, CARACAS, AND THE CARIBBEAN with DR. RYAN CECIL JOBSON via ZOOM on FEB 5TH at 7 PM AST/ 6РM ET REGISTER VIA THE QR code in this image or the link in our bio Visual description: Headshot of Ryan Jobson in the lower right hand side of this flyer. His hair is short and curly, and he is smiling as pink and white flowers — accompanied by vibrant green leaves — surround him. The text in this image is dark green, matching the leaves, and everything rests against a soft orange-yellow gradient background. The Intersect logo — an “i” consisting of blue, pink, and white circles — also sits in the righthand corner of this image.

We’re kicking off 2026 with the sixth instalment in our Caribbean Feminist Teach-in series, “Oil Wars in the Americas: Washington, Caracas, and the Caribbean” — a session led by Dr. Ryan Jobson!!

📅: Thursday 5th Feb
⏰: 7 PM AST/ 6 PM ET
📍: Zoom

🌿 Register here: forms.gle/qK4oH9FEuxWr...

“Colonization, I repeat, dehumanizes even the most civilized man; that colonial activity, colonial enterprise, colonial conquest, which is based on contempt for the native and justified by that contempt, inevitably tends to change him who undertakes it; that the colonizer, who in order to ease his conscience gets into the habit of seeing the other man as an animal, accustoms himself to treating him like an animal, and tends objectively to transform himself into an animal. It is this result, this boomerang effect of colonization that I wanted to point out.” from “Discourse on Colonialism” by Aimé Césaire Visual Description: Image of old, white, Dutch colonial style building surrounded by vibrant, towering trees. The sky above is blue and cloudless, while the grass surrounding the building is short and bright green — illuminated by the sun overhead. The accompanying quote by Aimé Césaire takes the form of black text encased within white boxes that are overlayed atop the scenery. The Intersect logo — an “i” consisting of blue, pink, and white circles — sits in the bottom lefthand corner of this image.

Today, we’re thinking about the ways in which colonisation dehumanises both coloniser and the colonised by way of this quote 👇🏾 from Aimé Césaire’s 𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘊𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮.

Are you reading any Jamaica Kincaid this month? 🤔