Thanushka Yakupitiyage(DJ Ushka), is a DJ, organizer for immigrant and climate justice. She is the U.S. Communications director at 350.org. She is also an award winning DJ who has performed at MoMA PS1, American Museum of Natural History and Brooklyn Museum among other places.
How did you get started in activism and music?
I came to the US to study, and I attended Hampshire College in western Massachusetts. The combination of amazing professors with a decolonial lens, and where I learned about social justice issues, colonialism, and the impact of colonialism, I believe, created a foundation for me to embark on a political journey.
I did different types of work between undergrad and graduate. After my undergraduate degree, i was a researcher for an organization now called Race Forward (but it used to be called the Applied Research Center). I was the main researcher on a book project about undocumented workers working at Windows on the World on the World Trade Center’s top floor. All of them were killed on September 11, but their families did not receive any assistance or relief as they were not documented. Being an immigrant and having to work in a restaurant with undocumented people was a real reality-check for me.
When I was preparing for graduate school, I decided to focus on media and immigrant rights. After I graduated from grad school I was the communications and media leader for the New York Immigration Coalition. That was how I started my journey to do more immigrant rights-specific, racial justice work. I was living in New York. [and]was heavily involved in anti-gentrification battles [and]I did a lot of work to combat police violence and support families whose loved ones were being murdered by the police. Occupy Wall Street and Black and Brown organizing were very important to me.
I was always a club kid. I found that music and nightlife were very healing for me. My friends and I joke that some people have their religious spaces, their religious shrines. This was the club for me. I am a professional dancer and that is why I joined the club. [between 24 and 26]I began learning how to DJ in 2004. It was something I had always wanted to do, and there weren’t that many queer and female DJs in New York at the time. It was quite emergent.
My interest in DJing and using music as a tool was because of the intense issues I work on. For nearly a decade I worked on immigrant rights issues. Now, I focus on climate. Sometimes it seems like it’s all over and it’s intense. You are dealing with communities that are constantly at risk, whether it be deportation or living in a climate catastrophe.
My values and philosophy surrounding why I do this work are rooted in joy and the kind of world I want, I believe so. In a small way, I have been able create the kind of world that I want on dance floors and in clubs. That has changed with the pandemic, but music provides a different medium for communicating about what it means uplifting and supporting Black and Brown communities and immigrant community, and what it means create an alternative to the white supremacist norm not only in this country but all over the world. It’s important to create safe spaces for you to be yourself. You can be queer or trans. It’s possible to have multiple interests.
In my early years of immigrant rights work, I dealt with a lot about deportations. This was pre-Deferred Activity for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Supporting young undocumented people who are still under threat. Literally, DACA was declared illegal in Texas last week by a Texas Court. In my twenties, some of the work I was doing became very depressing. I had the courage to change how I did it and create joyful spaces. Resistance doesn’t always look like policy changes. Resistance is actually rooted in culture. Culture creates policy shifts and leads to it. Joy is resistance to me.
You have done it before spokenAnd writtenIt is important to understand how climate change and immigration are interrelated. Already, climate change has caused rising sea levels and droughts. ForciblyMany people have to leave their homes. Could you explain more about the relationship between immigration and environmental justice
We are living in a climate crisis. This crisis will not go away unless we take swift and deliberate climate action to limit global warming to below 1.5 degrees. All of these climate effects are already being felt. Take a look at the floods in Germany and wildfires throughout the Pacific Northwest, Canada.
I live in New York. Two days ago [in July]Because of the California fires, New York was hazy. We are seeing more extreme climate impacts, whether it be hurricanes or droughts. There are many ways it is connected to migration. People will move because of climate impacts.
Migration [appears in]There are many ways to do it. It can look internal. People will move around from one area of a country. This was evident in the US, where we saw it with Hurricane Katrina. [for]Black people in Louisiana moved from Louisiana to Texas, then were again impacted by Hurricane Harvey and could need to move again. We saw the mass exodus by Puerto Ricans following Hurricane Maria, as well the economic impact. You’re seeing many Bangladeshis and Muslims moving to India in South Asia. People are moving all the way to Africa every day.
This is known as internal migration or movement within a specific region. External migration is also possible. It refers to movement from one country into the next. Central America, such as Nicaragua and Honduras, is being affected by droughts. Farmers are no longer able to till their land as they used to. This is why you will see farmers moving to cities. This creates problems. It also means that there is a combination of lack of opportunity and corruption as well as violence and the climate crisis. Many Central American refugees who are arriving at the US-Mexico border are also affected by climate change. It’s simply that the US has no asylum policy that addresses climate displacement. If you are at the US border and you want to seek asylum, you will need to state that you are a farmer and cannot grow food on your land anymore. This is not the basis for asylum to the United States. The current immigration policy does not account for climate. There are many limitations.
One way climate and migration are interconnected is the fact that as sea levels rise and there are more storms and droughts people will be moving to other places. This is more evident in the Pacific Islands. [in]Fiji, Tuvalu and Tonga are just 10 meters above sealevel in places like Fiji, Tuvalu and Tonga. These islands will vanish if sea level rises by such a large amount. For example, you can see it in the Maldives.
As the climate crisis becomes more severe, right-wing nationalism is likely to grow. There will be a real closing down of borders, exclusion of people, and an inequitable approach to who is safe from the climate crisis. It’s often people from the Global South, Black, and Brown who have had the least exposure to the climate crisis, who will be most affected.
You’ll often see Black and Brown immigrants living in the poorest areas of communities when it comes to environmental justice and migration. They are at higher risk of developing asthma. [and]They are more likely to develop other respiratory and pulmonary diseases, such as asthma, because they live in areas with fossil fuel plants. This is evident in Black and Brown communities. You’ll see more polluted water and more poisoned atmosphere. There is a direct link between environmental justice, racial justice, climate, and migration.
What can you say about how different countries can improve climate migration policy? What can be done at an international level?
Very little has been accomplished to date. The UN finally acknowledged that climate is a reason people migrate. And this is just what happened [in December 2018]They acknowledged it. The UN Convention for Refugees, which was established in the fifties does not mention climate or environmental disasters as a way for peoples to move. These international-level organizations must do more than acknowledge at an international level. [climate-related migration]. They must ratify. [climate and environmental disasters as]One of the reasons people should move is for financial reasons.
All countries must recognize that migration is a human right and that everyone has the right to travel with dignity within their own country or between countries. People migrate for a variety of reasons. They migrate to pursue economic opportunity. They migrate to ensure their family’s survival. They move to seek a better life. They can’t live in their homes if they are affected by the climate crisis.
I believe there are two options: the right to leave or migrate to any place you choose, and the right to remain. [because]Many people desire economic opportunity at home. This is a complicated topic. However, I believe that the Global North must be advocating for reparations. Exxon and Shell, as well as other fossil fuel companies, are based in countries like the US. They are the ones that brought us to this climate crisis. Countries in the Global South, or those with lower incomes, are the most affected. We need a framework for reparations to ensure that countries of the Global South have what is necessary to support communities.
Global North and Global South countries must expand their immigration and refugee and asylum policies. This will allow people to move if and where they want. There must be a lot of fighting right-wing hate and right wing nationalism. There is often a real fear of new migrants coming into the country, especially in places like the UK or Germany. You cant come in. It is important to educate the public about the role of the Global North in creating these crises. [around]These countries’ colonial impact on the global South is the reason why people migrate to North (if it’s South-to-North migration).
Based on your experiences, what role should civil society play in advocating for climate refugees and migrants’ rights?
I believe civil society has a significant role to play in ensuring climate action. Our window of opportunity is closing fast: it’s now less than seven years. We are currently in a climate emergency. We are in a pandemic that is not going away. It can be difficult to advocate when you have multiple crises. However, I believe that we are at a tipping tip and the economy will begin to tipping.
I believe civil society has a role in demanding a new world. A world that is more inclusive, that is less borderless, and that is fluidwithin an economic system that works for all. This should not be viewed as one nation against another. It’s only one planet, and we are destroying that planet. While the planet is being destroyed, one billionaire is spending less than 10 minutes in space. It’s absurd. Literally, Jeff Bezos could pay for all the climate action that is needed. It’s important to tax the wealthy to make sure that there is a limit on how much money millionaires and billionaires can make, and that any amount that exceeds a certain threshold goes toward climate action. [and]To support the poorest communities. The role of civil society is to create a cultural space that encourages radical ideas about how we can live differently.
You were involved in the organizing of the Muslim Ban protest at JFK and now you are the U.S. communications director at 350.org, a climate justice organization. What is something you have learned from these advocacy spaces that you would like to share with other organizations
What I’ve learned is that advocacy is hard. It’s not an easy task. There are many ways to do things. I am grateful for the opportunities I have had in these non-profits to make a difference. It takes more than one organisation to achieve the same result. It requires a lot coordination and collaboration between organizations across civil society. I feel like I’m only doing my part in a small way. My way of doing that is through storytelling. I do media and communications work. It is through supporting strong campaigns that can hold corporations and governments accountable for the needs of the most vulnerable.
I have also learned that burnout can be real. For those of us who work within these movements, it’s important to remember to prioritize your needs and priorities. That’s why I consider the arts so important. What I’ve learned is that when you’re dealing a lot with heavy issues, you need to remember that you must be part of a larger group of people and a community that’s doing this work. Because no one can make a difference, nothing can be done by anyone.
Young spoke to Yakupitiyage, July 22, 2021. This interview was lightly edited to improve clarity and length.
