Greetings!
It has somehow been a month since the Local Catch Network Summit in Girdwood Alaska! There’s so much to share about the summit, but that’ll be for another time, so stay tuned.
I do want to share a lot of appreciation to all the people who helped organize the event, and send a lot of love to the Alaska residents who helped make us feel so welcomed to the space. And a lot of love and respect to the Alaska natives who helped ground the summit in the history and current struggles & strives of the many native communities of the area.
If you’re familiar with NAMA, you know we are always trying to speak to the importance of rooting the movement in the struggles Black and Indigenous folks are facing. It’s one thing for us to say this, but being at the summit and seeing the event have such a constant presence of that grounding and seeing everyone’s reception to it was extremely energizing.
There was such a broad array of people and such a breadth of work being done by folks who were at the summit. One particular presence that was great to have at the summit was having several of the team from the BlockCorporateSalmon campaign there. Seeing how the BCS crew wove into the many different conversations happening was a great reminder to bring your whole self into any movement work. The many struggles we’re all involved in, can only be strengthened by finding points of unity across them.
And speaking of the BlockCorporateSalmon campaign, I’m sure many of you have seen, but there’s been some pretty big developments with that team. The report published by the campaign, showcasing AquaBounty’s negligence toward, well everything, was upsetting, however, there’s also a motivating energy to seeing all those photos and videos. Because it’s one thing to speak to the precautionary dangers of corporate takeover and of the many false solutions of big Tech/BioTech companies, but to have evidence of it and to have it before it’s too late to stop it from spreading further is energizing.
Please do check out the report and support BlockCorporateSalmon in stopping this frankenfish, but also take the time to see the beautiful work they’ve done in uplifting many indigenous-led salmon restoration efforts. And beyond that, spend that extra minute today thinking about how we can be building across movements, across struggles, and building something that can’t be stopped!
In solidarity and in struggle,
Peace,
Jon Russell
Food Justice Organizer
p.s. - please take another minute to sign onto our letter in support of local and regional seafood systems. See below. Thanks!
