[Smashpatriarchy] Fwd: Workshops/Presentation Proposal: Solidarity Against Patriarchy

[Aylon C]

Hi all,

Goodnews. SAP will be presenting at this year's victoria anarchist
bookfair. See email below from the workshop organizers.

Harjap and Reg - when are you folks free to put together this workshop (and
anyone else who wants to help out!)?

Aylon

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <workshops at victoriaanarchistbookfair.ca>
Date: Fri, Aug 9, 2013 at 8:42 PM
Subject: Re: Workshops/Presentation Proposal: Solidarity Against Patriarchy
To: Aylon C <aylon.c at gmail.com>



Wow, this sounds amazing! Thanks so much for offering this workshop.
Would Sunday September 15, from 2:30-3:20 work for you?

A couple more things I'd like to confirm:
-Do you need any audio/visual equipment? Right now we have you in Room 2,
which doesn't have these capabilities, so we'd need to know asap if you
need A/V so we can do some juggling.
-While we will likely be able to provide fruit for presenters this year,
we unfortunately probably can't provide sandwiches like past years. There
will be a food stand outside, as well as a coffee shop just down the road,
or you can bring your own snacks.
-Please arrive at least 20 minutes before your workshop starts and check
in with the downstairs welcome table. We like to know presenters are here,
so we're not scrambling looking for people at the last minute!
-Workshops are 50 minutes long. Someone will give you a heads up shortly
before it's time to wrap up the workshop.

We're able to provide billeting for out-of-town presenters. If any of you
will need a place to stay, please let me know how many nights you'll be
staying, and any billeting considerations like accessibility needs, pet
allergies etc.

Thanks for offering this workshop Aylon, Harjap and Reg! Please send me an
email back confirming the time, and asking any other questions you may
have.

Best,

Shannon

> Hi Shannon,
> Thanks for getting back to me. The organizers for the workshop have
discussed your questions and tried to the best of our abilities to
describe
> the kind of work we do below. Let me know if you would like to discuss
about these issues further or would like more information.
> Best,
> Aylon
>  Solidarity Against Patriarchy (SAP) is a group of (mostly)
> male-identified
> people working against internalized and external systems of patriarchy.
The
> work that the group engages in can be divided into two categories:
internal
> and external. Internally, SAP is both a verbal and experientially
focused
> discussion group targeted towards men but open to all genders for the
purpose of exposing and challenging internalized forms of sexism and its
associated intersectional oppressions, such as racism, homophobia,
trans-misogyny, classism, ableism, etc. Externally, the group works to
support the voices of women speaking out against sexism by creating film
nights and establishing open discussions where women can publicly speak
about and critique patriarchy. In addition, SAP seeks to educate men
about
> how their behaviours uphold rape-culture by spreading anti-sexist
propaganda across Vancouver (for instance, see
> http://www.wavaw.ca/solidarity-against-patriarchy/)
> In regards to the workshop, SAP wishes to deconstruct and challenge
internalized forms of sexism and various oppressions that intersect with
it. We acknowledge that when a person with male privilege speaks in a
public setting about sexism, whether their own or someone else’s, they
are
> exposing people affected by sexism to this oppression, while reasserting
their own privilege to speak about sexism. The folks of SAP understand
that
> this is not helpful to intersectional practice, as it implies that only
by
> making an oppression about the oppressor can power-holders work towards
becoming allies. In addition, to speak about one’s internalized sexism
in
> a
> public setting disregards the feelings of women and non-binary
identifying
> people by exposing them to further sexism in an effort to work on male
privilege. SAP formed as effort to do this work on men in a setting that
made it explicit that this type of dialogue will occur and thus strives
not
> to publicly perpetuate sexist discourse as men figure out their own
baggage. SAP is not a gender-exclusive group because we want to allow
people of all genders the opportunity to consent to being confronted
with
> sexism in the hopes that men can maybe start to exorcise their own
internalized issues. SAP specifically speaks with, to, and for a male
audience in efforts to radicalize them.
> Part of making the workshop a safe space is being explicit about the
above.
> Namely, that the workshop will focus on men not in an effort to
re-centre
> sexism on men but in an effort to confront men and their internalized
forms
> of sexism and so de-centre the male perspective. That said, we also
understand that sexism also affects men in unique ways, from the ability
to
> form intimate male friendships to the chastisement of expressing
fragility
> and emotions. We will provide non cis-gendered men and women the
opportunity to check-in with their present state and gauge whether they
feel comfortable confronting a dialogue that will inevitability be laden
with sexist, transphobic, homophobic, etc. language for the purpose of
challenging this dialogue. Part of this will involve a discussion of
transphobia, about who gets to speak ‘as men’, and also tips on being
better trans* allies (e.g. don’t assume pronouns). In the work of
challenging internalized sexism, transphobia, and homophobia, the
facilitators will make it explicit that a key part of being an ally and
making the space safer for marginalized people is listening to the
experiences of folks who are directly affected by the oppression we are
trying to fight against. While our aim is to educate men on how to
better
> shut up and listen to marginalized voices, we do not wish to silence men
for good. We want men to listen, learn, and to eventually to speak as
men
> in solidarity against patriarchy. We do not presume to know all the
answers
> about how to be good allies and understand that being an ally is a
process.
> We see that for many men this process has not started largely due to a
lack
> of space – physical and emotional – that would allow men to unpack and
reflect with other men about how they perpetuate sexism, about how
sexism
> affects them, and how to work towards becoming better anti-sexist men.
As
> long as patriarchal structures of power exist, men will always have to
work
> on uprooting their sexist habits and tendencies. Patriarchal systems
will
> not be overcome unless we perpetually work at rooting out the sexism in
our
> heads and everyday behaviour, the sexism that causes us to love power
and
> to desire the very thing that dominates and exploits all of us in
different
> ways. SAP wishes to provide our understandings and ideas on why such as
a
> physical, emotional, dialogical, and experiential space should exist and
how men can go about creating it.
> Presenters for the workshop:
> Aylon Assael Cohen is currently completing his masters on a queer
intellectual history on the origins of liberalism, and is involved in
anti-sexist struggles both in the UK (
> http://ithappenshereoxford.wordpress.com/) and in Vancouver (Solidarity
Against Patrarichy).
> Harjap Grewal is a regional organizer in Vancouver (Coast Salish
Terrotires) with No One Is Illegal and Council of Canadians.
> Reg Johanson is a writer and teacher from vancouver, the traditional and
unceded territory of the squamish, musqueam and tseil waututh peoples.
On Fri, Aug 2, 2013 at 12:41 PM,
> <workshops at victoriaanarchistbookfair.ca>wrote:
>> Hi Aylon - thanks for offering this workshop.
>> The bookfair collective was interested to hear about your group, and
we're
>> wondering if you can send us a little more information on what SAP
does,
>> and about the individuals who would be presenting the workshop. We'd
also love to hear your thoughts on how you plan to create a safer space
for the workshop. We're also curious about whether discussion of
transphobia or transmisogyny will be within the scope of your workshop.
Thanks!
>> Shannon
>> > Hi there!
>> > My name's Aylon and i'm a member of the Vancouver group, Solidarity
>> Against
>> > Patriarchy, a group of (mostly) male-identified folks on Vancouver,
>> unceded
>> > Coast Salish Territories, working for gender equality and against
>> sexism.
>> > I and another member are coming up for the bookfair and would love to
>> contribute the following workshop to the bookfair's events:
>> > Solidarity Against Patriarchy: Questions and Challenges for Men Who
>> Call
>> Themselves Anarchists
>> > What does it mean for men, especially anarchist men, to do
>> anti-patriarchy
>> > organizing? Why should men engage in anti-patriarchy organizing? How
>> should
>> > men engage in anti-patriarchy organizing? Vancouver’s Solidarity
>> Against
>> Patriarchy (SAP) is a group of mostly male-identified folks trying to
answer these questions. At this workshop SAP will share questions,
ideas,
>> > and challenges. From the often-unseen patriarchal forms of organizing
>> to
>> the divisions of emotional and physical activist labour, we will
explore
>> the importance of male involvement in anti-sexist organizing and why
fighting against patriarchy should be central to anarchist praxis. This
workshop will consider the ways in which patriarchy is not merely a
political problem "out there", but one that shapes our personal desires
and
>> > attitudes in ways that can be hard to "see", impacting not just
>> relations
>> > between men and women, but also ties amongst men.
>> > While this workshop will focus on men, we encourage people of all
>> genders
>> > to come and share their experiences and ideas.
>> > Thanks!
>> > Aylon
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