50 years. When Deedee (Eisenberg) and I first came to Hunter in 1964, we had both been active in the Civil Rights Movement and the early stirrings of the Anti-War Movement. We came from families involved in left-wing causes – seminal years full of hope. Remember that 1965 was the year that Johnson was finally forced to legislate the Voter Rights Bill after the nation had watched the violence committed in Selma, Alabama on network TV. 50 years later, the gutting of Section 5 of the Voter Rights Act saw states like Alabama and Texas immediately impose their own State ID laws, removing voting rights predominantly from communities of colour and contributing to the victory of Trump. Meanwhile in 1967/8, the US dropped barrel bombs in Vietnam to flush out the Viet Cong, as well as Agent Orange and white phosphorus. It didn’t work and in the ensuing years the US has deployed every kind of weapon on civilian populations. 50 years later, Assad dropped 13,000 barrel bombs on his own people in 2016. These events bookend my life, yet there is still hope as Trump’s election victory has created a new and wider resistance and the understanding that we cannot just sit at home but must be involved in struggle in the streets of our cities and countries. In the course of these struggles, I left the US and have lived in the UK since 1969. I studied history at the University of Wisconsin, then graduated from Glasgow University, married, had two girls, did a Diploma in printing at Manchester Polytechnic, worked in publishing, divorced, am still doing design and editorial freelance, travelled in Europe, India and Asia (I went to Vietnam and visited My Lai in 2006), visited art galleries, read thousands of books of fiction and non-fiction and attempted to continue to learn and be an informed global citizen. Throughout these 50 years I have tried to pass on my beliefs in peace and justice and to be a witness to the lives of the dispossessed and voiceless. My eldest daughter Carrie now lives in Brooklyn and went with her friends to the Women’s March in Washington on 21 January, as did I to London. My youngest daughter, Hannah, is only now embarking on a university degree as a mature student. In 2003, we marched as a family against the Iraq War – the largest global demonstration in history. I fight on behalf of Travellers and Roma, two groups in the UK who experience constant racism and hate crime. I am involved with immigrant and asylum seeker solidarity groups and convoys to supply food and clothing to Calais. I march and demonstrate against bombs and war and have put my body on the line on numerous occasions. I hope to continue to do so as long as I can. I see Climate Justice as the essential struggle of our times: for ourselves, for our children and for the planet.

Me and my dog, Cass, at Trafalgar Square, London on the Women’s March, 21 January 2017

Jannie [Janet Lievow] Brightman
16 April 2017