Dear Friends,

On Tuesday, Feb 14th, thousands of you took part in the Day of Revolutionary Love, Day of Rising! Together we generated hundreds of calls to Congress, hundreds of love letters, and thousands of events held across the US and around the world, including a powerful and life-giving Artistic Uprising in New York City.

You can watch our Facebook Live with the Women’s March where we go behind the scenes of the Artistic Uprising with Eve Ensler and talk about Revolutionary Love as an ethic and call to action.

We were deeply inspired by all of you who joined us in person and posted pictures, videos, stories, and declarations from across the country and around the globe. #RevolutionaryLove was trending on social media! Together, we reclaimed love as an ethic that can nourish, sustain, and ground us in the movement.

What’s next? We are rolling out a series of events this weekend and in the coming weeks with our partners at the Women’s March, Love Army, One Billion Rising, and a coalition of faith and moral leaders and advocacy groups. Here are upcoming calls to action:

February 24th and 25th: Mai Bhago Retreat. We are holding the first-ever Mai Bhago Retreat for Sikh women justice leaders in Los Angeles together with the Sikh Coalition, Auburn Seminary, and Loyola Marymount. Mai Bhago was the first woman warrior in the Sikh tradition — you can read more about the Warrior Saint tradition and what it offers us today in my piece “The Sword and the Dilruba.” If you are in LA, we invite you to the public evening lecture on Spiritual Warriors and Revolutionary Love tonight at Loyola Marymount: http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/yoga/events/conferences/spiritualwarriorsnonviolenceinthesikhjaintraditions

February 25th and 26th: Resistance Recess. This week was the first recess of the 115th Congress, when representatives met with constituents in town halls across the country. These events will continue through the weekend. The revised executive order on the Muslim and refugee bans are expected next week. So we urge you to attend an event this weekend and use this script to voice your concern. Plug in your zip code here to find an event near you: https://www.resistancerecess.com/event/resist-recess/search

March 1st: Day of Empathy. We are proud to champion a national day of action to cultivate empathy for those in the criminal justice reform. The Day of Empathy will feature storytelling, digital media, and virtual reality content to humanize formerly incarcerated people, survivors of violent crime, and millions of others. Explore how you can get involved in your city, thanks to our partners at Dream Corps and the Gathering for Justice: http://www.cut50.org/day_of_empathy

March 8th: A Day Without a Woman. We are joining the Women’s March on International Women’s Day to support thousands of women across the U.S. who will take the day off from paid and unpaid labor, avoid shopping for one day (with the exception for small, women and minority owned businesses) and/or wear read in solidarity. On that day, we invite you to attend the artistic uprising and mass protest in Washington DC in front of the Department of Labor with One Billion Rising. To get involved: https://www.womensmarch.com/womensday

April 28-30: The Revolutionary Love Conference. You are invited to attend the conference “Revolutionary Love: Disruptive Ethics to Dismantle Racism.” We are co-hosting this conference at Middle Church in NYC with our sister Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis. The line up includes signatories on the Declaration of Revolutionary Love, including Rev. William Barber, Brian McLaren, Rev Jacqui Lewis and myself. It will be an opportunity to think together about the theory and practice of love in our movement. Please register here: http://revolutionaryloveconference.com

We know it’s difficult to show up each day in moral resistance. Each day brings news of policies, rhetoric and hate violence that directly threatens some and demoralizes all. We will continue to invite you to marches, rallies, calls to Congress, and direct actions to fight for all those in harm’s way. But may this community also be a place where you can find inspiration and support. You can find us on Facebook and Instagram + go to www.revolutionarylove.net to sign the Declaration of Revolutionary Love and find avenues for action.

May you be surrounded by the love that sustains you.

In Chardi Kala — ever-rising high spirits,

Valarie Kaur
Director, The Revolutionary Love Project
Founder, Groundswell Movement