Elements Lecture Series: Yudith Azareth Nieto, "Another Gulf is Possible"

Another Gulf Is Possible

Another Gulf Is Possible Collaborative is an emerging grassroots collaborative built upon years of organizing resulting in a strong and rooted ecosystem of relationships between individuals tied to a multitude of organizations, networks, communities, and alliances. This necessary collaborative is born from being in the belly of the extractive energy beast and ground zero for the impacts of climate change, bearing the weight of ongoing recovery efforts from Katrina, Rita, the BP oil disaster, ongoing and persistent catastrophic flooding and so on. This region is also a center for galvanization in the ongoing struggle for social and racial justice from police violence like the murder of Alton Sterling and Eric Harris to the highest rates of mass incarceration in the world, where the Angola Penitentiary is literally a former plantation built upon the foundations of sacred indigenous lands. We believe that in order to achieve a just transition in the Gulf South, we must use all the tools available to us, in collaboratively strategic synergy and alignment to change the social, economic and environmental conditions towards sustainability, equity and justice.

This collaborative centers community and cultural organizing, arts-based trauma healing, direct action, policy advocacy, and locally-led capacity-building training. Explicitly centering the leadership of women of color with anti-racist, decolonized, and abolitionist frames and lenses for the work we undertake together.

YUDITH NIETO is a queer Mexican-American artist, interpreter, and organizer originally based in Houston, Texas, enjoying spending time in the bayous of Louisiana working on projects like CRY YOU ONE, Amor y Solidaridad, a solidarity house in support of undocumented Transwomen, and recently BanchaLenguas, a Language Justice interpreters collective.

She’s worked with frontline communities across the country to create, develop and amplify community-led media around just transition stories, artbuilds across the country in solidarity with intersectional movements for a decolonized direct action approach. She has collaborated on initiatives that focus on creating youth leadership and art in activism trainings to inspire people to learn about environmental issues that affect their communities through arts, media and cultural organizing.

Currently, she is part of the core leadership circle for Another Gulf Is Possible and a youth organizer with Los Jardines Institute. For over 5 years, Yudith has been fighting for the rights of her fenceline community in Manchester, Houston in collaboration with Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services (t.e.j.a.s) and last year was named one of Grist.org 50 Fixers of 2018.