This is the Year
Design using kinetic type generator from kielm
Inspired by Martín Espada’s visionary poem, “This Year,” we closed our SBS Advanced Training 2025 with a ritual of radical imagination. Each participant inscribed a commitment—what they would carry forward and what they would leave behind—to build a future where justice and liberation are inevitable. We’re sharing what we wrote collectively to inspire you to continue the fight into the next year.
This is the year we let love break
us open. This is the year we take
time to dream, ask questions and
trust that those we struggle with
will have the answers. This is the year
our faith in our fight
continues to deepen.
This is the year we set fire
to the rotten, diseased roots
of white supremacy and capitalism,
allowing our mycelium to
devour their decay.
This is the year we boss the fuck up.
This is the year we extend
irresistible invitations of care
and belonging.
This is the year we chase those crazy bald heads out of town!
This is the year we accept that educators
need to be and do more!
(Unlike Professor Dumbledore!!!).
This is the year we respond with
bravery, dignity and fearlessness.
This is the year we remember
to breathe, rest, and listen to the
ocean, the land, our ancestors and
our hearts for the ways forward.
This is the year we awaken
from this hypnotic, colonial, imperialist,
reactive, capitalist and patriarchal
nightmare, open our eyes and begin together.
This is the year we reach around
us to build our movements and therefore
change our world
into the community we want.
This is the year we build
bridges, rope swings, pathways
and rafts to propel us into the future.
This is the year we have a life with dignity.
This is the year we separate our cells
from the empire and return to
the loving soil. This is the year we
lose our chains and stand together.
This is the year we join together
as a movement of movements
for a world where we all have
the freedom to be.
This is the year we turn
our outrage into action and liberate
Palestine, Sudan, Congo, Kashmir
and all occupied lands.
This is the year we see radical
shifts in the world. This is the year we fight
our oppressors and not each other
so we can create thriving communities.
This is the year we return home
to our relationships with the living
world because it’s what we deserve,
and it’s how we win.
This is the year we believe in
our own worth enough to claim
the justice we deserve.
This is the year we eat.
This is the year we realize collective
liberation. This is the year we all work
towards the same revolution.
This is the year we show that
working-class “redneck” Appalachians
are an organized force to fight back.
This is the year
we remember
that we are the story,
not just the storytellers.