DHABA-CITO NATIN
August 5th 2017 – Today 100 community members – as young as 7 years old and as old as 70 years old – gathered to celebrate the labor girls and womxn do in our homes, our communities, our world. Surrounded by art we created collectively to represent our visions of a liberated girls and womxn’s zone, we reflected on the importance of gender justice in our communities and how to take steps towards our liberation together.
The event was held in one of the most diverse immigrant neighborhoods, Elmhurst, Queens. We came together in language-based groups to tell our stories of struggle, resilience, and resistance to sexism and male domination, which we added to the mural as “ants” (small but mighty representations of our collective strength). We had focus-groups for female-bodied and male-bodied people to reflect on how we are trained have rigid gender roles and expectations that hold together our dehumanizing capitalist system. Linking arms together, we ended with a chant: “What do we want? No limits for girls & womxn! When do we want it? Now!” with a call to action to Defend DACA! Press Conference Against Attacks on Immigrants on August 15.
The dhaba-cito natin was a Hate Free Zone Queens event organized by DRUM – Desis Rising Up & Moving, Ugnayan, IMI Corona, Queens, & Global Action Project. Hate Free Zone is a campaign that was launched last December 2016. Everyone came together to create a community defense system that would make local businesses, elected officials, faith institutions, take leadership from front line communities. Front line communities mean people who are undocumented, workers, immigrant, women, Queer, Trans, People of Color, Black, young people – all the people who have to keep fighting for their basic rights. Today’s DHABACITO NATIN brings together organizations like DRUM, Ugnayan and IMI-Corona, members of Hate Free Zone, to build strong communities that can organize and defend ourselves from policies, policing and persecution based on hate. DHABA-CITO NATIN is a fusion of multiple ideas from different communities. A DHABA is a roadside cafe in Pakistan and India. “Cito” is short for CAFECITO, which means cafe in Spanish. And Natin is Pilipino for our. All together, DHABA-CITO NATIN is a term we’re using to mean “our little cafe.”
#GirlsJustWannaFightForLiberation
#EckshateDhabaCitoNatin
#HateFreeZone
#NoLimitsForGirls
#NoLimitsForWomxn
#LoveAndProtectEachOther