AI is everywhere and it’s bumming me out.
But in moments like this one, we can turn to creatives like journalist Yessenia Funes and artist-activist Kumi Naidoo to understand how to revive our imagination against extractive AI and restore our focus on organizing the movements we need most.
As Funes and Naidoo explore in this interview for Peace & Riot’s AI Issue, imagination is the missing piece to building a better future. And to foster that imagination, we need art.
“During apartheid, songs, poetry, and theater were not luxuries. They were weapons of hope. They helped us imagine freedom before we could actually experience it,” says Naidoo, a South African human rights and environmental justice art-activist.
“We must refuse to adjust to injustice, and if AI pushes us to conformity, let art and our creative practice push disruption.”
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Join BLIS Collective at Reclamation Day: A Reunion of Hope on June 20 in New York City
Step into something bigger than yourself, a movement to repair what's been broken and build the solidarity needed to shape what comes next.
Two weeks before the United States marks its 250th anniversary, BLIS Collective is hosting Reclamation Day, a new national ritual to tell the truth about our history, repair our relationships, and reimagine our future together. General admission is free and open to all.
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