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By Liy Yusof in Notes Garden —

We can't leave anyone behind

We're just out here trying to survive men we didn't elect, and we can't leave anyone behind. How long do we endure processes that will not open ways forward?

We can't leave anyone behind

Sherry Arnstein's 1969 ladder of citizen participation has been on my mind, namely how "it has survived for so long because people continue to confront processes that refuse to consider anything beyond the bottom rung."[1]

Indoors all year, I sometimes think of it as circles of locked gates instead of a ladder. I feel induced powerlessness in the face of such powerful and vulgar uncaring. We are frustrated and thrash around at the gates of tokenism and its designer locks. How long do we endure processes that will not open ways forward?

It is a matter of our life or death that we get in, and go up, or break through.

  1. Sherry Arnstein designed a guide to seeing who has power in making important decisions in the United States empire.It describes a “ladder of citizen participation” that showed participation ranging from high to low. See Arnstein's Ladder of Citizen Participation https://citizenshandbook.org/arnsteinsladder.html ↩︎

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Liy is a Southeast Asian Muslim knowledge worker and poet, sharing what they learned from the periphery to prep for precarious futures. This is an ad-free space outside of the algo. If you're new here (hello!) or need a refresher, start here for house rules. Here is what I am up to now. I spend time thinking out of my zettelkasten notes system and sharing playlists of curated treasures from my time travels. Consider subscribing for free to stay in touch— I only send out letters a few times a year. If you valued something here, tell me over DM (if we have access to each other) or tip this cryptid with a message— that sends a clear signal of appreciation ✨
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