In this episode, Kazu Haga shares how fierce vulnerability can guide social justice work as it supports the healing of both individual and collective traumas. Injustice, he notes, is a manifestation of trauma, which cannot be fully healed on individual levels. Instead, we need to work with the collective trauma of families, groups, cultures, and societies.

This profound conversation feels so resonant in this cultural moment. Kazu reflects on how we can integrate more song, grief circles, and other rituals into social justice work so as to access the vulnerability that is inherently there and more deeply connect with one another. We can then work with the possibilities that emerge, which is both deeply insightful and hopeful.

Guest Bio

Kazu Haga is a trainer and practitioner of nonviolence and restorative justice, a core member of the Fierce Vulnerability Network, a founding core member of the Ahimsa Collective, a Jam facilitator and author of Healing Resistance: A Radically Different Response to Harm as well as his new book, Fierce Vulnerability: Healing from Trauma, Emerging through Collapse. He works with incarcerated people, youth, and activists from around the country.

He has over 25 years of experience in nonviolence and social change work. He is a resident of the Canticle Farm community on Lisjan Ohlone land, Oakland, CA, where he lives with his family. You can find out more about his work at www.kazuhaga.com.

Transcript