[antiwar-van] Skool's in for Summer! 10 week series

[Harsha W.]

Skool's in for Summer!

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REGISTER HERE:
http://skoolsinforsummer.brownpapertickets.com/
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A 10-week series of participatory and engaging workshops and trainings for
community members and movement organizers. Strengthen organizing skills
for social change, gain a deeper understanding of interrelated systems of
power, strategize with comrades, grow fierce and loving and resilient
community, and affirm your vision for justice and liberation.

Trainings include (see below for full schedule)

* What the hell are all these 'isms'?
* Land as Pedagogy
* Writing Ourselves into the Story
* Movement Building and Community Organizing
* Media Workshop
* Creative Action
* Activist Legal Defense
* Compassionate Intervention
* For the Long Haul: Conflict Within Communities

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DETAILS
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These interactive workshops will be every Tuesday evening from from June
16th till August 18th, 2015.

Unless otherwise noted, workshops will run from 6 to 9 pm (with
doors/snacks at 5:30 pm) at the Grandview Calvary Baptist Church (1803
East 1st Avenue, just off Commercial Drive) on unceded xʷməθkwəy̓əm,
Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and Səl̓ílwətaʔ territories, Vancouver.

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REGISTRATION
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You can register for one workshop or all ten workshops!
http://skoolsinforsummer.brownpapertickets.com/

Pre-registration is required and spots are limited. We may have some spots
available at the door, but we cannot guarantee it.

These kinds of trainings typically cost hundreds of dollars but that seems
ridiculous! Each workshop costs less than $15 to cover the costs of venue,
food, bus tickets, logistics, honorariums and compensation for labour.

We will have some fully subsidized spots for each workshop, please email us.

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SCHEDULE BASED ON POPULAR DEMAND
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http://skoolsinforsummer.brownpapertickets.com/

*** Tuesday June 16: CREATIVE ACTION ***

An innovative workshop designed to help organizers unleash their creative
spirits while remaining rooted in sound strategy. By re-imagining campaign
organizing and action planning as a highly creative process we create an
experience that is part participation, part revelation.

Trainer: Sean Devlin. Sean Devlin is Executive Director at ShitHarperDid
dot com. He also serves as an action coordinator for The Yes Men’s
organization The Yes Lab.


*** Tuesday June 23: COMPASSIONATE INTERVENTION ***

Ever been in a situation with acquaintances, loved ones or strangers who
say problematic things or are behaving oppressively? Ever wonder how to
respond or engage in ways that are constructive and move people towards
learning? This training on compassionate intervention offers some insights
and strategies on safely and effectively mobilizing our (understandable)
inaction and/or (legitimate) anger to strive to end harmful and violent
behaviours.

Trainer: Nassim Elbardouh. Nassim Elbardouh is an anti-racist organizer
and educator. She is an active member of the BC Teachers Federation
Committee for Action on Social Justice and Antiracism Action Group.


*** Tuesday June 30: FOR THE LONG HAUL - CONFLICT WITHIN COMMUNITIES

Given that many in our communities are dealing with our own triggers and
traumas, what are generative ways we can be present for each other? How do
we communicate and resolve conflict while upholding the integrity and
value of each person, in order to build healthy and sustainable
organizations and movements? This workshop will address systemic
realities, the nature and the necessity, of interpersonal conflict, as
well as strategies towards resolution.

Trainer: Cecily Nicholson. Cecily Nicholson is the administrator of the
artist-run centre, Gallery Gachet, and has worked since 2000 in the
downtown eastside neighbourhood of Vancouver, xʷməθkwəy̓əm, sḵwx̱wú7mesh
and səl̓ílwəta? territories. She is part of the local No One is Illegal
collective and has training, mentoring and years of practice in crisis
intervention, facilitation and mediation.


*** Tuesday July 7 and Tuesday July 14: MOVEMENT BUILDING AND COMMUNITY
ORGANIZING ***

How do we move from protests to effective movement building that creates
grassroots social transformation? These workshops will cover some basic
principles of movement building and community organizing; strategies,
tactics, goals, and vision; campaign planning; and strengthening
alliances. The workshops will also discuss challenges and questions in
movement building and community organizing including principled
solidarity, dealing with institutional power within the Left, being
allies/accomplices, and more.

Trainers: Ananda Lee Tan and Harsha Walia. Ananda and Harsha have a
combined experience of over four decades within grassroots social
movements around the world including anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist,
forestry, agriculture, climate, migrant, queer, feminist, energy, trade,
labour, and Indigenous justice movements.

* NOTE: This is a two-part workshop and registration for both is highly
recommended.


*** Tuesday July 21: WRITING OURSELVES INTO THE STORY ***

Far too often our stories are told for us, not by us. Far too often our
stories are misrepresented, made invisible and dehumanized. How can we
tell our own stories on our own terms? This writing workshop is a place to
write ourselves into our own stories. Writing can be intimidating, so gain
some practical tips on getting started, meet other fantastic writers, and
leave with a piece of yourself on paper.

Trainer: Leah Horlick. A 2012 Lambda Literary Fellow in Poetry, Leah
Horlick's first collection of poetry, Riot Lung was shortlisted for a 2013
ReLit Award and a Saskatchewan Book Award. She currently co-curates
REVERB, the city’s only queer and anti-oppressive reading series. She
identifies as a nonZionist lesbian Jew of mixed descent. Her most recent
book, For Your Own Good, was released by Caitlin Press in March 2015.

* NOTE: this workshop will be doors/snacks at 6 pm and start at 6:30 pm


*** Tuesday July 28: WHAT THE HELL ARE ALL THESE 'ISMS'? ***

Capitalism, imperialism, settler-colonialism and oppression. Come get the
low down on each of these concepts in detail: what do they really mean,
how are they connected, how do they manifest in our daily lives.
Understanding how systems of power and exploitation operate is a necessary
first step to dismantling them in the hopes of a better world.

Trainer: Glen Coulthard. Glen Coulthard is a member of the Yellowknives
Dene First Nation and teaches political theory and Indigenous politics at
UBC and Dechinta Centre for Research and Learning.


*** Tuesday August 4: LAND AS PEDAGOGY ***

What can we learn from the land? Given that these unceded lands are what
sustains us and our work and our movements, how can we learn about and
from the land? What Indigenous histories, relations and practices emerge
from the land and how can we support land-based education and Indigenous
land reclamation efforts?

Trainer: Cease Wyss. T'Uy'Tanat-Cease Wyss is a Skwxw'u7mesh
ethnobotanist, media artist, educator, and food security activist. She has
stood up with other Indigenous Peoples to fight for native peoples' rights
to hunt, gather, and fish in their traditional territories.

* NOTE: this workshop will begin at the venue and then proceed outdoors,
be prepared to walk/ride.


*** Tuesday August 11: MEDIA WORKSHOP ***

The corporate media is not our friend so how do we engage and use it
strategically? Learn how to write press releases, give good interviews
without diluting your message, develop effective frames and messaging as a
media spokesperson, and deal with common fears and challenges during
interviews. We will also discuss drafting and getting op-eds and
communiques published in mainstream and alternative media sources.

Trainer: Maryam Adrangi. Maryam Adrangi is an educator, writer, and
organizer involved in struggles for environmental justice, Indigenous
sovereignty and against war.. She is an anti-capitalist who believes in
you.


*** Tuesday August 18: ACTIVIST LEGAL DEFENSE ***

This workshop is an essential activist legal primer on defending yourself
and your communities with the police and in the courts. It will cover the
basics of what to expect when dealing with law enforcement and
specifically the criminal (in)justice system in protest and movement
contexts. With escalating surveillance, infiltration and intimidation,
this workshop offers organizers the important legal information needed to
assert and defend your legal rights within the system.

Trainer: Irina Ceric. Irina Ceric is a long time activist and lawyer.
Irina was a founding member of Toronto's Movement Defence Committee, and
is now based in unceded Vancouver, where she teaches criminology at
Kwantlen Polytechnic University.

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ACCESS INFO
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Snacks and bus tickets provided. If you require childcare on-site please
email us.

Grandview Calvary Baptist Church’s kitchen’s entrance is at street level,
which gives access to washrooms, kitchen and lower hall. One washroom has
a stall that can accommodate a wheelchair. The washroom door opening is 86
cm, and the stall door is 61 cm.

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CONTACT
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Contact Harsha Walia hwalia8 at gmail dot com or Teresa Diewert
teresadiewert at shaw dot ca