We live in a society that deems measurable, physical harm to those most marginalized to be acceptable.
We live in a society that deems the mass culling of medically high risk people to be an accepted and celebrated result of getting to ignore the ongoing pandemic that we have been living in since December of 2019.
We seek to cultivate a community that refuses to let the convenience of the privileged displace the needs of the marginalized.
There are people in our community who cannot attend events where two-way masking is not present, without risking life-altering harm.
Those who survive COVID do not always survive unscathed, with many experiencing longer term effects from infection, commonly known as “Long COVID”. While some survive without known long-term impacts, at this event, this anecdata will not be used to justify dismissing the lived experiences of those who do not. It will not be used to justify gambling with the well-being of those who have yet to experience this harm.
While we have advanced in medicine since 2020, compassion for disabled people, along with others that experience adverse health impacts due to marginalization, has largely not.
As anarchists, we understand that under the thumb of a state and the monopolies of the rich, our solidarity with each other is a necessary act of survival.
And so we ask that others mask as a condition of sharing this space with us. It is not in judgement that we ask this, but in love and hope.
We understand that masking-normative environments are an anomaly at present, and that high quality masks/respirators are often an economic barrier. For this event, our local mask bloc collective (https://linktr.ee/maskblocott) will be helping us distribute free K/N95 masks to any attendees without their own. Masks were provided by Donate A Mask (https://donatemask.ca/)