ABQ SURJ collectively works toward mobilizing a broad base (with a focus on fellow white settlers) to de-assimilate from white supremacy, capitalism, patriarchy, imperialism, ableism, christian dominance, and settler-colonialism. We are an abolitionist, anti-racist, anti-colonial, and anti-capitalist, multi-ethnic group of white European settlers who are part of a powerful multi-racial movement acting in solidarity, recognizing how these systems of oppression harm all of us.

We envision a just and sustainable world/society where people can live meaningful lives with dignity, free of domination. A world/society in which historical harms to Black and Indigenous peoples have been honestly confronted through reparations and rematriation. We desire a world that embraces community and interdependence and resists individualism and isolation. We see a future in which a multiplicity of experiences and identities are valued, where discrimination and exploitation serve no purpose. In this future, we uplift systems of reciprocity that promote local and planetary abundance and plurality. This vision of collective liberation can only emerge through the abolishment of white supremacy, capitalism, patriarchy, imperialism, ableism, Christian dominance, and settler-colonialism.

We seek to enact this vision by supporting personal and cultural transformation, taking steps to build the world we want to live in now, as well as changing and challenging dominant institutions to open space for a new world to grow. We see these strategies as interwoven pathways towards change.

1. Personal and Cultural Transformation: We provide opportunities for white settlers to re-examine and reckon with our shared histories and harms, without relying on the emotional labor of BIPOC communities. We create spaces to engage in shared learning and reflection. We take meaningful action rooted in the values of interdependence and mutual care. We believe that transformation and commitment to collective liberation occurs in relationship and we work to create networks of care for those looking to join us. We do this through community engagement that includes political education offerings, skill-building trainings, and regular open meetings.

​2. Build the World We Want to Live In Now: We believe that revolutionary change is an ongoing process, occurring in big and small ways everyday. This includes our relationship to, and how we show up alongside, BIPOC leadership to add to multi-racial movements. With the Honor Native Land Tax, we aim to contribute to Indigenous futures and challenge settlers’ relationships to stolen land through the redistribution of settler wealth. By engaging in organizational relationships with accountability partners, Pueblo Action Alliance and the Red Nation, as well as our fiscal sponsor SouthWest Organizing Project, ABQ SURJ seeks to amplify Indigenous efforts for sovereignty and landback. Within our own organizational structure, we practice non-hierarchical governance systems and decision making, sharing responsibility and shifting roles to decentralize power. Additionally, we aim to participate in and uplift mutual aid efforts to meet the needs of our neighbors. Through these efforts, we enact alternative ways of being and relating, valuing accountability and collectivism as central to rejecting white supremacy culture. 

3. Change and Challenge Dominant Institutions: We recognize that while abolition and decolonization are necessary to fully realize our vision of a just society, we must also respond to current crises and immediate need. Sometimes this requires participating in systems that we seek to dismantle in order to counter ongoing harm and violence. By deepening political analysis and engaging in local grassroots organizing, we focus on bottom up change and name the ways that so-called “progress” and reform maintain state control. We work in alignment with organizations and groups fighting for the self-determination and safety of our communities through coalition-building, outreach, and targeted actions.

We have a core team that makes consensus-based decisions for ABQ SURJ. This means that for all major decisions we make we want the majority of the group to be in support of the decision. We move slowly to allow time for reflections, constructive feedback, outright rejections, and amendments. As part of this process, we share written proposals well before we meet to allow time for thoughtful reflection. We only move forward after a series of conversations that take into account any feedback.