Amritha Subramaniam

Class of 2020
International Studies and Applied Math and Stats
Women Against Military Madness (WAMM)

(she/her/hers)

To radically change society, we must build mass movements that can topple systems of domination.

In The Revolution Will Not Be Funded, Incite! Women of Color Against Violence explores the implications of the Non-Profit Industrial Complex (NPIC). Incite!’s scrutiny of non-profits and the NPIC exposes the inability of these organizations to evade being co-opted by the state apparatus and their subsequent failure in grassroots organizing that moves toward liberation. This was an important learning that guided me throughout my Chuck Green Fellowship.

I partnered with Women Against Military Madness, an organization that works in solidarity with others to create a system of social equality, self-determination, and justice through education, action, and the empowerment of women. WAMM’s purpose is to dismantle systems of militarism, economic exploitation, and global oppression. Despite being a non-profit, WAMM is one of the few organizations in the Cities that does not rely on foundations and grants allowing them relative protection from surveillance and control of their ideologies.

My goal for this summer was to begin a project that would engage a coalition of students, activists, and community organizers across the world to strategize ways to hold South Asian countries accountable for their war crimes and crimes against humanity. I acknowledged early into my project that this work would extend beyond the ten weeks of the fellowships and that I was primarily building the foundations for the movement.

A large component of my work this summer was researching and building connections and community. I also had the amazing opportunity of traveling to Chicago for a South Asian Conference and New York where I got to meet several well established South Asian community organizers. I ended the fellowship with a (growing) coalition that I formed in collaboration with an activist from New York. This coalition will be a community that will convene frequently to mobilize ways to hold these countries accountable in our ongoing fight for collective liberation and justice.