[External Event] May 13-15: CRACKS IN THE CONCRETE: Building networks of resistance to poverty in Victoria, Coast & Straits Salish Territories

(Please send far and wide - apologies for cross-postings)

Cracks in the Concrete   <http://www.cracksintheconcrete.org/>

Building a movement against poverty in Victoria, Coast & Straights Salish
Territories

May 13 - 15, 2011

Join us for a weekend of skill-sharing, community-building and collective
empowerment!

Free Registration! Free Food! Free inspiration!

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Cracks in the Concrete is a weekend-long event of teach-in/learn-in
workshops and discussions that aims to inspire, strengthen and connect
people and communities interested in fighting poverty. If you're looking
to gain new skills for community work or activism, learn about
poverty-related issues, meet new people, organize actions or draw others
into the work you're already doing, Cracks in the Concrete is the place to
be!

Cracks in the Concrete will offer 20 free workshops to choose from,
several group discussion periods to generate ideas for action and endless
possibilities for collective agitation, revolt and change.

The basic schedule for this event, a note on accessibility and a note on
getting involved are directly below.  For more information on workshop
content, scroll down further or visit us online at
www.cracksintheconcrete.org <http://www.cracksintheconcrete.org/> .

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SCHEDULE

May 13th
Opening panel, feast and music
6 - 9 pm
The Church of St. John the Divine Hall
925 Balmoral St.
FREE food, free music, and some good ideas. More details coming soon!

May 14th - 15th
Cracks in the Concrete: Workshop, discussions and community meals
10 am - 8 pm (doors open at 9:30 am for morning snacks both days)
BCGEU, 2994 Douglas
FREE morning snacks and lunch will be served Saturday and Sunday. A
community meal will be served Saturday.

Workshop topics include colonialism, health, media, anti-poverty
organizing, disability, guerrilla art, unlearning & alternative education
and more.  For a complete list, scroll down to the end of this message or
visit http://cracksintheconcrete.org/learn-inteach-in-schedule

Groups interested in tabling throughout the event can reach us at


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ACCESSIBILITY

Cracks in the Concrete aims to be an accessible event, and will provide
the following services / accommodations as needed:

    *    translation / ASL (upon request)
    *    travel stipends (upon request)
    *    child care
    *    serious dietary restrictions
    *    billeting (depending on availability)

To let us know about your specific accessibility needs, please email
 with 'accessibility' in the subject line. We
will be able to best provide for your specific needs if contacted 1 week
in advance.

*all events are wheelchair accessible
*childcare will be provided on-premises

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GETTING INVOLVED & HELPING OUT: THE CRACKS IN THE CONCRETE WISH LIST

The Cracks in the Concrete organizing collective needs you! We're looking
for people to help with:

    *    Postering and outreach
    *    Billeting out-of-town panelists and guests
    *    Cooking and food serving
    *    Setting up an art space/chill-out room
    *    Working the door at the event
    *    Set-up and clean-up at the event
    *    Recording/filming/photographing some workshops
    *    Assisting presenters and facilitators during workshops
    *    Ensuring  there are people present with first aid, and CPR training
    *    Inviting all your friends, families, extended families,
neighbours and random strangers.

If you can help with any of this, please contact us at
 or 250-472-4386 <tel:250-472-4386> .

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WORKSHOP DESCRIPTIONS

For the event schedule and workshop descriptions in PDF, check out
http://cracksintheconcrete.org/learn-inteach-in-schedule/

Workshop Descriptions

SATURDAY, May 14th 2011

10:00 - 11:30
Workshop Slot A
Title: Activism on the Internet: Making friends and mastering enemies

Description: In the contemporary digital era, activists have embraced the
breadth of possibilities now available to mobilize, educate and agitate
using the internet.

While the internet is a powerful outreach tool, social justice activists,
human rights advocates, legal observers, political dissidents, and even
independent media should be aware that it also provides a wealth of
information of interest to the state.

This workshop will begin by offering a quick look at how to harness the
net and use social media tools, such as facebook, twitter and wordpress,
in community organizing. Next, the workshop will turn to how to take back
your rights to privacy and freedom of speech by learning safer-surfing
practices in cyberspace. The workshop will offer the participant an
introduction to best practices for secure online behaviour, and
communications, including anonymization and encrypted email.

Presenters: Kimberly Creatrix and Tamara Herman

Kimberly Creatrix is an artist and writer who conspires with the Camas
Books Collective, schemes with the Victoria Anarchist Bookfair, and
machinates with Forest Action Network.

Tamara Herman is an anti-poverty organizer and works at the Vancouver
Island Public Interest Research Group (VIPIRG).  Her work with local
groups has led her to (somewhat reluctantly) develop skills in web-based
outreacb, which she is eager to pass on!

10:00 - 11:30
Workshop Slot B
Title: Getting Un-Stuck: What's Worked and what has not. An Anti-Poverty
Retrospective.

Description: This workshop will focus on looking back over 15 years of
local, grassroots anti-poverty organizing, as a place to start a
conversation about what organizing practices work and which ones do not. 
We will focus on the creation of local initiatives as the place to build a
sustainable community of resistance to the devastation of poverty.  It is
the belief of the presenters that the local domain is the most important
portal for engaging in anti-poverty organizing, both here and abroad, and
that the creation of sustainable long term projects are the most essential
of our organizing efforts.

Presenters: Shane Calder, Jacquie Ackerly and Art Farqueson

Shane, Jacquie and Art are long-time Victoria anti-poverty community
organizers.

10:00 - 11:30
Workshop Slot C
Title: Building Stronger Communities and Radical Potential through an
Anti-Colonial Analysis: questioning assumptions about activism,
environmentalism, political organizing, community and solidarity

Description: We are coming from an understanding that poverty, as well as
other forms of oppression and destruction inherent in dominant society,
are due to a lack of real community, and real community is continually
under attack by the colonial systems and structures which serve to
alienate people from their land, cultures, and each other.  The
facilitators are coming from different positions within Colonial society,
and are all invested in building a truly effective anti-colonial movement.
 We are coming together to discuss and (re)-examine:

-the colonial roots of environmental destruction, social injustices and
political apathy;
-the ways that dominant forms of activism can perpetuate colonial power
structures and ways of relating to each other;
-the necessity to be responsible to the land and the people of this land;
and what this might look like.

Presenters:  Kelsey, Carol and Molly.

Kelsey is of European (Scottish, German and French) ancestry
Carol is Mestiza from Chile
Molly is Gitdumden (bear/wolf) clan of the Wet'suwet'en Nation

15 minute break

11:45 - 12:45
Workshop Slot A
Title: Guerrilla Art

Description: Guerilla Art is the act of creating forms of spontaneous
public art that are unmediated by law, social convention or "acceptable"
venues for exhibition.  I will discuss the history of guerrilla art
movements around the world, its various forms [happenings, performance
art, graffiti, installations, Temporary Autonomous Zones, etc.] and how it
is used as a form of direct action or social protest, and why it is an
effective way to communicate important messages. I will share my
experiences as a veteran guerrilla artist, telling about some of the
projects I've participated in, how these projects impacted individuals &
communities, & how the media & authorities have reacted.  The talk will be
followed by a series of participatory exercises designed to inspire
uninhibited, spontaneous artistic expression within public spaces.

Presenters: jody franklin

jody franklin is a multidisciplinary artist working in performance art,
sound art/experimental music, visual art, guerrilla art, installation art
& video.  His work is raw, spontaneous, emotional, intuitive, honest,
visceral, experiential: semi-structured, non-academic [amateur,
untrained], participatory, breaking down hierarchies: anarchistic, queer,
survivor.  His goal is to create resonance with audiences using emotional
dissonance.

11:45 - 12:45
Workshop Slot B
Title: Health Services for all!: Shifting tactics in ongoing struggles for
essential health services for people who use drugs in Victoria

Description: Victoria's fixed needle exchange was closed May 31st, 2008.
This action heightened the criminalization of, and discrimination against,
people who use drugs in Victoria.  Three years later, local and provincial
authorities continue to deny essential health services to people who use
drugs. Harm Reduction Victoria (HRV), in partnership with the Society of
Living Intravenous Drug Users (SOLID), will co-host a workshop assessing
past struggles and current organizing for peer-run supervised consumption
services in Victoria.

Topics to be covered include:
* Institutional barriers to essential health services for people who use
drugs in Victoria
* The Beddow Centre: a long-term project for peer-run supervised
consumption services in Victoria
* Reflections on the roles of allies in this type of organizing work

Presenters:  Heather Hobbs and Mark Willson

Heather Hobbs works with people who use illicit drugs in Victoria and has
been organizing with Harm Reduction Victoria since 2008.

Mark Willson does legal and research work with HRV, and board support for
the Beddow Centre.

11:45 - 12:45
Workshop Slot C
Title: Food Security and Seed Saving

Description: This workshop will teach participants everything they need to
know to become seed-savers. The workshop will also frame the necessity of
learning this skill around a discussion of food security on Vancouver
Island.

Presenters: Jessy Rucker

Jesse has worked with the Growing Schools program with LifeCycles,
completed an organic farming course through Camosun, and avidly saves
seeds!

Lunch

2:00 - 3:30
Workshop Slot A
Title: Harnessing the press: Using and being the media

Description: Making change happen means spreading the word. This workshop
will look at how to work with mainstream media in anti-poverty organizing
and how to create our own media. A panel of independent journalists,
community organizers and alternative media collectives will share tips and
words of wisdom.

Presenters: TBC

2:00 - 3:30
Workshop Slot B
Title: Copwatching: exploring lived struggles with police brutality
through forum theatre

Description: An interactive workshop including interactive theatre and
popular education of your legal rights

Presenters: Theatre of the Oppressed, Kym Hothead, River Chandler

2:00 - 3:30
Workshop Slot C
Title: (Re)claiming our health! For ourselves and our communities

Description: This workshop will explore the interconnections between
individual and collective health, capitalism, and healing with the
understanding that we are all our own experts. During the workshop, we'll
use creative activities to share perspectives on health and healing and
develop strategies for building and (re)claiming healthier lives and
communities.

Presenters:  Setareh Mohammadi

Setareh is an Iranian exile who has been living on unceded Coast Salish
Territories - Lekwungen, Swxwú7mesh, Tsleil-Waututh, and Musqueam - for
most of her life. Raised within activist communities, setareh has been
involved with anti-capitalist social and environmental justice since
birth. She is currently a candidate for graduation with the Canadian
School of Natural Nutrition awaiting Registered Holistic Nutritionist
designation. As the 2nd generation in her family to have a refrigerator,
setareh places importance on (re)learning her traditional/cultural food
knowledge in a far away luscious land of no pomegranate trees. When
setareh is not wild harvesting, growing, preserving, cooking, and eating
food with others, she creates visual art, writes shy poetry, and swims in
the wild wild west ocean.

15 minute break

3:45 - 5:15
Workshop Slot A
Title:  Anti-Poverty Organizing
Description: TBC
Presenters: TBC

3:45 - 5:15
Workshop Slot B
Title: The Disability Application Process: The Ins and Outs

Description: In this workshop, disability advocates will go through the
sections of the application process and discuss its requirements. They
will also cover legal decisions that affect the application positively,
and present on significant findings of the ombudsman's report that could
be helpful to people who are in the system.

Presenters: Joanne Neubauer and Renee Ahmadi

3:45 - 5:15
Workshop Slot C
Title: Staying Strong: the role of self care and aftercare in activist
communities. An exploration into how radical movements can stay resilient
and effective in times of increasing repression from the state. Community
acupuncture session offered at the end.

Description: This workshop will explore what some barriers to self care
are (e.g. activist martyr complex, heteronormative gender roles, pure
overwhelm), what we can give to ourselves and to each other in order to
stay strong and healthy while we create a new world in the shell of the
old. There will be a community acupuncture session offered to end the
session!

Presenters: Lisa Baird and Laurel Irons

Lisa and Laurel are Vancouver-based community acupunkturists with a focus
on working with activists and folks who are low-income/otherwise
marginalized. They gave multiple free community acupuncture sessions at a
collectively-run space in East Van following the police violence during
the G20 protests last summer, and at the recent reConvergence in
Vancouver.

45 minute break

6:00 - 8:00
Dinner and Discussion
Workshops in the teach-in follow five tracks (or can be grouped into five
themes). At tonight's dinner each table will have a theme listed on it. 
Please feel free to sit at the table that has a theme that reflects the
workshops you took part in today, or check out one of the "yet-to-be
themed" tables and develop your own launching point for discussion.

SUNDAY, May 15th 2011

10:00 - 11:30
Workshop Slot A
Title: Thinking Outside the Box: Alternative Approaches to Education

Description: There is much more we can learn from one another than is
allowed within our current educational systems. A compulsory and
one-size-fits-all approach to learning and teaching ignores the
differences existing between communities, each with their own distinct
circumstances and educational needs. Alternative approaches to education
such as self-directed studies, home schooling, Montessori, Waldorf, free
schools, and de-schooling, among others, offer divergent opportunities for
learning that each come with their own rewards and challenges, solutions
and problematics.

Presenters: Wayward School, Transition Victoria, Underground Curriculum

Transition Victoria is part of a global grassroots movement supporting
citizen action toward reducing oil dependence and building local community
resilience and ecological sustainability.
http://transitionvictoria.ning.com/

The Wayward School is a co-operative school of thoughts and actions that
takes shape as a series of thematically organized lectures, workshops, and
gatherings in Victoria, BC.
http://waywardschool.wordpress.com <http://waywardschool.wordpress.com/>

Underground Curriculum is a student-led, grassroots education system that
runs parallel to the conventional system to explicitly enable people to
take ownership of their learning experiences. The UC does so by providing
a framework for people to network, host workshops and take on meaningful
projects in their community.
https://sites.google.com/site/undergroundcurriculum

10:00 - 11:30
Workshop Slot B
Title: Building a Bridge between Advocacy and Activism

Description: TAPS advocates will host a workshop focused on two areas. 
The first section of the workshop will focus on some of the key skills
involved in effective advocacy.  This will lead into a discussion about
how individual advocacy can influence the broader goals involved in
activism.    There will be member of both the board and staff involved in
the facilitation of the workshop.

Presenters: Kelly, Executive Director of TAPS and other TAPS advocates

10:00 - 11:30
Workshop Slot C
Title: Exploring Anti-Colonial Strategies for Community Organizing
*This workshop is for self-identified People of Colour and Indigenous People.

Description: In this workshop we hope to create an intentional space where
Indigenous people and People of Colour can come together to explore
anti-colonial strategies for anti-poverty work that can strengthen our
efforts to (re)create healthy, resilient and sustainable communities.
We seek to foster a space of dialogue and relationship building, where we
can share experiences, strategies and organizing efforts happening in our
respective communities, and explore some of the places of tension,
commonality, divergence, as well as possibilities for solidarity.

Presenters: TBC

15 minute break

11:45 - 12:45
Workshop Slot A
Title: Student loans for Community Organizing: or, how to use students
loans to subsidize your art/activism and get away with it

Description: Shifts in state spending over the past two decades have
severely limited spaces for creative work and activism. Massive cuts to
welfare, cuts to grants for students (combined with increased university
tuition), cuts to arts funding, and cuts to NGOs focused on advocacy work
mean there are less and less spaces for experiencing, developing and
sharing lifestyles and practices based in creative commitments to social
justice.

Student loans are possibly the last remaining source of non-market funds
for youth committed to social change. Unfortunately, misinformation about
student loans and a puritan fear of debt discourages the full use of
student loans as a resource for social change. The effects are broad:
interesting people are too busy getting by at crappy jobs to fully commit
to social justice work; the university (and its resources) are abandoned
to busier, wealthier and more conservative students.

This workshop will be a space for knowledge-sharing about ongoing changes
in student loans rules and additional funds available to students on
loans, and for discussing practical strategies to prevent the use of
student loans now from ruining your life later. The overall aim is
formulate long-term strategies for the most effective uses of student
loans as part of a lifelong commitment to social justice work.

Presenters: University Research Lab

Speakers/facilitators include a musician and former undergraduate student
whose loans were defaulted due to statute of limitations restrictions, and
a current PhD student who anticipates defaulting on significant student
loans through bankruptcy and consumer proposals.

11:45 - 12:45
Workshop Slot B
Title: TBD
Description: TBD
Presenters: TBD

11:45 - 12:45
Workshop Slot C
Title: Radical Environmentalism

Description: The workshop will start by stating an expectation for
anti-oppressive behavior from all participants.  Next, definitions of the
words "radical" and "environment" will be advanced, and then participants
will be invited to split off into discussion groups that focus on the
intersection of environmentalism and topics such as patriarchy, racism and
colonization, and capitalism.  Each workshop will be facilitated by
someone with experience organizing around that topic.  At the end of the
session groups will re-convene and present the highlights of their
discussion to the whole.

Presenters: Gordon O'Connor

Lunch

2:00 pm - 3:30
Workshop Slot A
Title: The Purple Thistle: Radical Deschooling

Description: The Purple Thistle is a cost-free youth-collective-run
resource centre
for arts and activism in East-Vancouver. Come meet us, learn about the
Purple Thistle and what we do. Share ideas on deschooling and building
radical spaces. We welcome questions and participation.

Presenters: Purple Thistle Collective

2:00 pm - 3:30
Workshop Slot B
Title: Resistance Through Solidarity

Description: Capitalism has evolved and so must the tactics we use to
fight against it. Capitalism is very real and alive in all of our lives,
acting to reduce the common person to a human resource without a name or a
face. Together we have a chance to take a stand, fight back and win. This
presentation will talk about the work that the Seattle Solidarity Network
has done to work with community members in Seattle so they can have very
real and personal victories in their own lives. We will also discuss the
movement that the solidarity network model has the potential to build.

Presenters: Joel Chavez, Seattle Solidarity

2:00 pm - 3:30
Workshop Slot C
Title: Rewriting the ending of Our Histories

Description: Have you experienced recurring systems of oppression in
community organizing where you wish you could pause, rewind, and change
the outcome of the moment? This 90- minute workshop will use forum theatre
to provide tools to help address the systems of oppression that may arise
when we act without reflection.

By inviting people to reflect upon their experiences within community
organizing and engage with one another through forum theatre, we hope to
create experience-based conversations that address realities that exist
for participants.

We will begin by creating community agreements to help prevent the
replication of systems of oppression in the workshop itself, and then move
to addressing examples of how systems of oppression can and do manifest in
community organizing. After, we will introduce the form theatre exercise,
and solidify our learnings through a debrief and group check out.

Presenters: Annie Banks, Ruby Diaz

Annie Banks is a white settler woman who is a visitor on unceded Lekwungen
and WSANEC homelands. Annie has been active in community organizing for a
number of years and has experience in creative arts, violence prevention,
facilitation, advocacy and program coordination. Annie is committed to the
process of unlearning oppressive behaviour and working with people to
collaboratively challenge oppressive systems.

Ruby has been a visitor on unceded Lekwgeun and WSANEC homelands since the
Summer of 2010. She was born to Chilean and Jamaican immigrant parents on
Plains Cree Territory, and is passionate about community building,
decolonization and youth work. Her previous experience has mainly been
being involved in Indigenous solidarity groups organizing against the Oil
Sands in Alberta, and working with youth in schools to introduce multiple
perspectives on "history".

15 minute break

3:45 - 4:45
Title: Building an Anti-Poverty Movement: Small Group Discussions

Discussion: Here we will re-gather in small groups.  Rooms are labeled by
teach-in track/theme.  This is an opportunity to bring together people
from different workshops to have discussion and take part in future
visioning relating to a particular question or theme of the teach-in.

Presenters: YOU!!!

4:45-5:15
Re-convergence and Conference Wrap Up (main room)

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