2008 Presentations, Panels, Workshops, Skillshares
Click on highlighted workshop titles to listen
2008 PRESENTATIONS, PANELS, WORKSHOPS and SKILLSHARES
CR: Conference Room downstairs from the Judson Church Offices; enter at 239 Thompson Street.
GYM: Downstairs at Judson Church, 55 Washington Square South.
NYU*: NYU Kimmel Center, 60 Washington Square South, 9th floor.
TL*: The Tamiment Library at NYU, 70 Washington Square South, 10th Floor.
* These will be in NYU buildings along side Judson Memorial Church and you will NEED AN ID TO ENTER
Schedule
Saturday, April 12
11:15AM-12:30PM
Democracy and Freedom in Education (GYM)
A presentation on democratic education, how it empowers students and teachers to be free to themselves, and to take control over their own education and community.
Alan P. Berger is the Founder and Director of Brooklyn Free School Founded BFS four years ago with a group of parents, mostly from the Park Slope Food Coop, and educational activists, after working in the NYC DOE for seven years as a high school teacher and assistant principal.
Tearing Down the Walls: A No Borders Camp Reportback (CR)
This will be a report-back that will cover: (1) the concept and history of No Borders Camps; (2) what went down at the No Borders Camp in November of 2007, the first in the Americas and the first to take place on both sides of an international border; and (3) how in our North American context, the No Borders Camp presents another approach to organizing across significant boundaries of privilege and oppression. Though it occurred far from NYC and in a very different context, the questions folks tangled with at the No Borders Camp are relevant for radicals across the continent. Participants organized against the U.S. border regime in direct collaboration with those on the other side of the guns; they maintained accountability and built relationships between far-flung groups, separated by geography and vastly different experiences of privilege/oppression; and they did it all in a purposeful, anti-authoritarian manner. The successes and lessons of the 2007 No Borders Camp would be relevant to anyone hoping to organize across lines of color, class or gender in New York.
Elliott Liu is a Michigan-born anarchist now living in New York City. He works with the Anarchist People of Color network (APOC), the New York Metro Alliance of Anarchists (NYMAA), and the Regeneracion childcare collective.
The Importance of Community Needs Assessment in Activist Work (TL)
alternate link
Community needs assessments are powerful and useful tools for first identifying the requirements and desires of a population, and then tailoring efforts to best meet those needs, while continually collaborating with the invested parties. Whether you are inside, outside, or somewhere in between the communities you’re organizing with, we hope this discussion will illuminate ways to be a more effective activist and respond to broader needs. Anarchists frequently work with groups they may not be members of, (i.e. communities of color, impoverished populations) and it is vital that anarchists continually involve members from these groups all along the way. This workshop will provide theory and strategy for community needs assessments, including identifying the situation / problem / desired outcome, creating community-generated strategies, where members feel personally invested, and working together and collaborating to improve situations for all, while constantly evaluating if it works and relates to the group it is meant to assist.
Heather McCann is a reference librarian in the Boston area and a constant event planner. As a person who frequently works with users outside her demographic, she understands firsthand the importance of determining a person’s needs and how to meet those needs with them rather than for them.
Lana Thelen works as an outreach librarian in Boston and is also a volunteer reference librarian for Radical Reference. She has experience with community needs assessments both professionally and personally and believes they are an effective tool for participating in productive activist endeavors.
1:00PM-2:15PM
An Introduction to Anarchism (GYM)
alternate link
This “intro to anarchism” panel is to present two or three perspectives on what we each think anarchism is, at heart, as both a political philosophy/theory and praxis. This would give folks a wider range of notions about anarchism then simply one person presenting alone.
Cindy is a co-organizer of the Renewing the Anarchist Tradition conference, a board member of the Institute for Anarchist Studies, and a collective member of both Free Society and Black Sheep Books in Montpelier, Vermont. She also taught at the “anarchist summer school” called the Institute for Social Ecology. Her essays appear in several anthologies, including “Realizing the Impossible: Art against Authority” and “Globalize Liberation,” and she does community organizing at home and public speaking/popular education anywhere else.
Ariel is helping to organize the New York City Anarchist Bookfair, and the Berkeley Anarchist Students of Theory and Research and Development (BASTARD) anarchist theory conference, and taught classes in Girl Army (women’s self-defense) as well as firearm practice and safety. She has been a member of Anarchist People of Color, and contemplates the possibility of anarchist economics.
Radical Homosexual Agenda Presentation (CR)
Whether we are fighting in the streets against the NYPD or at City Hall directly confronting the Speaker of the City Council we have developed a set of tools and strategies that would prove useful to any activist engaged in a struggle to take back power from the brokers of the state. This will also have a short video.
The RHA (Radical Homosexual Agenda) believes that queer liberation extends beyond the state’s recognition of our right to marry, serve in the military and be protected by the police. The state may advocate for queers or demonize queers but either way it seeks to use us as political capital. As activists we fight to take back our consent from LGBT dealmakers who would sell it to the police, the politicians and the corporations.
Is Your Computer Safe? (TL)
A presentation on basic computer and internet security issues, including PGP e-mail encryption, spyware, and internet communities.
Steve Weierman is a software engineer, Marxist-Humanist, and vegan animal rights activist. He holds a M.Sci. in Computer Science and is a moderator on a popular vegan/AR forum.
2:30PM-3:45PM
Anarchism Is The Only Hope: Lessons from the Durruti Column of The Spanish Civil War (GYM)
alternate link
‘Anarchism is the only hope that the working class have to improve their life and stop the exploitation. We, the Anarchists, follow this Bakinin statement : “The power pervert the man!” During the Spanish Civil War I witnessed how well organized the Anarchist Unions (Sindicados) were in Catalunya and Aragon. It’s not a myth anymore. I am in close contact with the Spanish “compañeros” and I see how the working class is protected against the exploitation. We need to restore the workers pride and dignity, they should join us, the Anarchists, because the capitalists will never give them a chance to improve their lives; on the contrary, they use the cheaper workers overseas. We the Anarchists are the only hope of the proletariat and day by day we are growing and become important in our class struggle.’
George Sossenko is an 88-year old veteran of the Spanish Civil War. At the age of 16, he left his home in France to fight against Franco’s fascists with the anarchists of the Durrutti column. A dedicated, life-long anarchist, George is still an active organizer as he travels and gives lectures on this important period in revolutionary history.
Presentation on Christiania (CR)
alternate link
This presentation will be describing the largest European squatter’s village, that of Christiania in the heart of Copenhagen : Established in 1971, with on average a thousand inhabitants, it is now under severe threat, following the eviction of the second largest squat in Copenhagen (Ungdomshuset) at the hand of Denmark’s equivalent of the SWAT team. Christiania, even under heavy pressure from Danish authorities still manages, thirty years after its start, to live without a hierarchy !
Jean-Manuel Traimond, a writer and museum lecturer, lived four years 1980-1984 in Christiania, and later wrote a book about it, currently the only one in print in French. He has published six books with the Atelier de Création Libertaire, two of them translated in Italian by Eleuthera, and has also translated Paul Goodman and Colin Ward into French. He was a member of Réfractions, and, under the name Nestor Potkine, is a regular contributor to the Monde Libertaire.
4:00PM-5:15PM
Parecon and Anarchism: A Dialogue (GYM)
Could a new society be set up after capitalism, one which relies neither on the market nor on the state–a society based on directly democratic workplace and community councils? One such program has been called Parecon (from Participatory Economics), as developed by Michael Albert, Robin Hahnel, and others. These ideas have been critiqued by concepts from the tradition of revolutionary anarchist-communism. A dialogue will be held by representatives of each point of view, with discussion with attendees.
Wayne Price is a long time militant in labor, human rights, and antiwar struggles. A member of NEFAC (Northeastern Federation of Anarchist-Communists), he writes regularly for www.Anarkismo.net and has a book, The Abolition of the State; Anarchist & Marxist Perspectives (www.AuthorHouse.com).
Chris Spannos, one of the staff and editors at Znet, has edited a book, Real Utopia: Participatory Society for the 21st Century– which is being published by AK Press.
Anti-Authoritarian Mutual Aid and Radical Social Work: From Direct Action to Direct Services (CR)
This session will begin with a theoretical panel addressing both challenges and possibilities of anti-authoritarian models of service provision, support services, and mutual aid. Panelists will explore historic examples, best practices, hopes and obstacles in providing services outside of traditional models which perpetuate social inequalities, oppression and stigma. Case examples on free clinics and harm reduction/syringe exchange programs will be help illustrate different paradigms and their inherent challenges. Panelists will explore alternate notions of health, care, and freedom.
Alana first got active in anarchist politics in 2002 and has been affiliated with Anti-Racist Action, Anarchist People of Color (APOC) and the New York Metro Alliance of Anarchists (NYMAA). She is a founding member of the Rock Dove Collective, a group that hooks people up with free and low-cost health care. Alana believes that in order to fight for and ultimately create a truly fair and free world, you must simultaneously maintain a healthy mind, body and spirit.
Benjamin Shepard, PhD Assistant Professor, City Tech/ City University of New York Department of Human Services. Shepard is the author/editor of five books including the upcoming edition, Queer Politics and Political Performance (Routledge, upcoming). A long time activist, he currently works with Times Up New York as well as the Radical Homosexual Agenda.
Crystal DeBoise, MSW co-founded and developed a comprehensive care and advocacy program for immigrant survivors of extreme labor abuse that has been in existence since 2003. She has worked extensively with survivors of interpersonal trauma and gender-related violence. She strongly believes in the political power of personal transformation and is an amature primatologist in her free time.
Eric Laursen (moderator) is a long time activist and author living in New York City.
Jamie Favaro, LMSW, executive director and founder, Washington Heights Corner Project. The Washington Heights CORNER Project was founded in November 2005 as a volunteer endeavor rooted in harm reduction and aimed towards eliminating the high-risk practices of the Washington Heights drug using community. We seek to accomplish this objective by addressing the lack of syringe access and harm reduction resources in a neighborhood that is 20% higher than New York City as a whole in terms of high-risk sexual and IDU practices.
A native New Yorker, Maryse Mitchell-Brody is a founding member of SWANK (Sex Workers Action New yorK) and is active in various struggles for sex workers rights and wellness. A community organizer since childhood, she is currently pursuing her MSW in that method, and spends a lot of time reflecting on self-determination, mutual aid, and harm reduction. She has also worked with The Icarus Project and the Rock Dove Collective. Maryse believes that in this crazy-making world, well-being is a revolutionary act.
5:30PM-6:45PM
On Being a Girl in an Activist Boys’ Club (GYM)
alternate link
We would like to examine the female activist experience of organizing in predominantly male groups. We will be looking critically at the idea of machoism as radicalism. If we are building an alternative society, why are the character traits that are valued in capitalism (i.e. aggression, forcefulness, unwillingness to compromise) simultaneously valued in radical politics? Why do activists perpetuate unhealthy capitalist lifestyles that emphasize working one’s self to death and never pausing for self-reflection? Are women socialized to be more self-reflective than men? If women gain authority from personal experiences and men gain authority from being able to quote theory and history, do activist men have a framework for hearing activist women? Both the right and the left use “women’s issues” as a political pawn that can be held in reserve and traded in when it is politically convenient, but are activist men actually concerned with the issues facing women in our society? What is “women’s work” within activist groups? How is women’s organizing and activism undervalued, disrespected, and ignored? Why do women end up feeling marginalized, silenced, and excluded? What tools are used to exclude women from decision making and leadership (i.e. “security”) and how can we safeguard against them? What barriers exist within activist circles that prevent women from realizing their power? How do we actively prevent women activists from feeling devalued and dropping out?
How do we deal with sexism in radical organizations? When issues arise with an individual activist, should we ostracize him from the community? Should we engage with him and try to work with him to make him a healthier part of our community? What are the implications of these options? On a macro level, should women who are organizing in patriarchal groups secede or separate from the unhealthy dynamic and create women’s only groups? Or should we stay involved with dysfunctional organizations in the hopes of affecting change?
Let’s share our collective wisdom and experience: What are some concrete survival strategies for being a girl in an activist boys’ club?
Amye will be moderating the discussion “On being a girl in an anarchist boys club”. She hopes for a better future.
Colia Clark is a life long activist who has experience in many different movements and struggles.
Diane Krauthamer is a New York City-based independent filmmaker and journalist, and a dedicated member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and the Northeast Federation of Anarchist-Communists (NEFAC). Following her seven years of experience with Indymedia, she became involved in media and press work with the IWW. In 2007, Diane toured parts of the U.S., Canada and Western Europe with presentations of her short film on the Starbucks Workers Union, titled “Together We Win: The Fight to Organize Starbucks.” She also spends time writing news stories and press materials for the IWW Industrial Union 460 campaign, which organizers food retail warehouse workers in Brooklyn and Queens. As a member of NEFAC, she connects local labor struggles with a class struggle analysis while developing feminist ties in fighting patriarchy on all fronts. Along with her solidarity work in the food service and retail industry, she works as a waitress and is pursuing her Master’s degree in Media Studies at the New School. She can be contacted at .
Johannah is a long-time NYC based activist who identifies as an anarcha-feminist. Besides helping to organize this year’s Anarchist Bookfair she is mainly involved in labor organizing and working with homeless youth.
Naomi Jaffe is an unreconstructed sixties radical and feminist. She has demonstrated against every imperialist war since Vietnam, was a WITCH (Women’s International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell) in the sixties and a member of the Weather Underground in the seventies, and today continues to act, write, and teach against racism, imperialism, sexism, and homophobia.
Building a Movement Against Capitalism through Thinking of Its Alternatives (CR)
Radicals, including anarchists and Marxists, have put forward conceptions of a different kind of society for which they struggled. Many used to think, wrongly, that the very existence of the Soviet Union or Maoist China or Cuba, whatever you thought of them as societies, was proof that another kind of society was possible and not simply utopian. But with the collapse of the USSR and the marketization of China and Cuba, the idea of a viable alternative to capitalism fell on hard times. Recent movements against capitalism and neoliberal globalization have put the idea of concrete alternatives to capitalism back on the table for discussion. We propose to discuss the possibilities for alternatives to capitalism and some of the theory behind them. This could be seen as a good way of bridging the anarchist/Marxist divide, since everyone is for a new society. And since everyone is for a new society, perhaps differing only over the means to this end, we think a panel discussion on what exactly is the end goal serves as a way of clarifying the means to achieving that goal.
Steve Weierman
Joshua Howard helped found The New SPACE (The New School for Pluralistic Anti-Capitalist Education) and studies sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center.
Seth Weiss helped found The New SPACE (The New School for Pluralistic Anti-Capitalist Education) and was formerly involved in May Day Books and Blackout Books.
other presenters TBA (note: we are seeking gender balance but have not confirmed some speakers)
Sunday, April 13
10:00AM-12:00PM
Anarchy in the USA: The Love-Hate Relationship with Presidential Elections (CR)
Nearly as early as Hillary or Obama, anarchists were hot on the campaign trail. Plans to resist the 2008 U.S. presidential elections and especially the conventions were afoot in 2006. The German Jewish anarchist Gustav Landauer once observed in relation to “anarchist assassination politics” that they “proceed from the intentions of a small group . . . following the example of the big political parties. . . . What they are trying to say is: ‘We are also political.’ … [Yet] these anarchists are not anarchic enough.” His comments apply to electoralism too: being political is the right impulse, but the tactic(s) and indeed the focus are wrong. Certainly, in the United States, presidential elections represent rare instances when many people “participate.” But why the anarchist fascination with something that’s far from anything we’d recognize as politics? And why, if and when we choose to engage, do anarchists frequently use strategies that mirror statist and/or liberal forms, or are simply unimaginative? Perhaps, in zeroing in on presidential elections, we aren’t anarchic enough either. Or conversely, perhaps this electoral moment does indeed offer us a way to spotlight the best of anarchism as a replacement for statecraft.
Cindy is a co-organizer of the Renewing the Anarchist Tradition conference, a board member of the Institute for Anarchist Studies, and a collective member of both Free Society and Black Sheep Books in Montpelier, Vermont. She also taught at the “anarchist summer school” called the Institute for Social Ecology. Her essays appear in several anthologies, including “Realizing the Impossible: Art against Authority” and “Globalize Liberation,” and she does community organizing at home and public speaking/popular education anywhere else.
12:00PM-2:00PM
Feel the Burn: Conflict Transformation and Healing in the Movement (CR)
Conflict arises. It can hurts us, can damage our ties with friends, family, and comrades, and can hinder or even destroy our movements. Conflict can also be the source of strength, strategy, truth, collective power, and freedom. This workshop will focus on the importance of addressing conflict within radical and revolutionary movements, and will offer some tools, experiences, ideas, and practices for conflict transformation.
Danielle’s current work is in participatory justice in cases of violence and alternatives to incarceration. She has engaged in anti-violent, empowerment-based programs with ‘at-risk’ youth since she was one herself. Danielle has taught creative writing and conflict transformation in prisons and jails in Chicago and Georgia, worked with young folks caught up in the system in Harlem, trained in a variety of conflict resolution and transformation techniques, and has done extensive gang intervention work in her communities. She is a member of the Rock Dove Collective and the Watershed Center.
Ashanti Alston is an anarchist activist, speaker, and writer. A former member of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army, he spent more than a decade in prison after government forces captured him (and the official court system convicted him) of armed robbery. Ashanti is currently co-chair of the National Jericho Movement (to free U.S. political prisoners), a member of pro-Zapatista people-of-color U.S.-based Estación Libreand Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, and is part of the Speakers Bureau of the Institute for Anarchist Studies.
2:00PM-4:00PM
The Intersection of Social Movements and Anarchism (GYM)
The question of how anarchists should relate to different social movements has always been at the forefront of anarchist thought and action. We know that social movements, in many forms, are vital to revolutionary change in a period of crisis, but we also know that social movements are complex and not always inherently anti-authoritarian or non-hierarchical. Furthermore, while such movements are gaining momentum they are vulnerable to authoritarian vanguard minorities, the opportunism of liberal politicians, the brute force of the state, and a variety of other factors. What are some current global social movements that are complementary to anarchism? How can we prefigure anarchist politics in current and future social movements? What are some tactics that we can use to preempt and combat these historical patterns? What are ways that we can strengthen or inoculate social movements to these dangers and preserve their autonomy?
This panel will start off with presenters highlighting social movements from around the world and their relation to anarchism. This will then develop into a discussion of how anarchists should/do work within these movements.
Joaquin Cienfuegos is a member of Cop Watch LA (Guerrilla Chapter) and the Revolutionary Autonomous Communities. He is a 25 year old Indigenous-Chicano male from South Central Los Angeles. Joaquin helped create the Southern California Anarchist Federation – Los Angeles Chapter. Along with other participants of the federation and a coalition called Stop Terrorism and Oppression by the Police, he helped build Cop Watch LA. Joaquin, along with the working class youth of color involved in these groups, helped form the Revolutionary Autonomous Communities, a revolutionary federation of community councils helping build a grassroots popular movement, with autonomy, self-determination, self-organization, and an infrastructure for the self-defense of oppressed people and oppressed communities.
Arya is a member of the Iran Solidarity Group and the Antithesis Collective (NEFAC-NYC). He is currently a graduate student in political science at the New School for Social Research.
Anarchism and Palestine (CR)
This presentation will include how Anarchists are currently working in Palestine (for example, Israeli Anarchists Against the Wall), ideological framework for how and why Anarchists could be involved in supporting the Palestinian struggle (which many see as a purely nationalist struggle), and an analysis of the current political climate in Palestine, from an Anarchist perspective.
Bekah Bloom is from NYC, lives in a Palestinian village and has been working in Palestine for the last 4 years. She is a co-founder of the Palestine Solidarity Project, a non-hierarchical, politically unaffiliated (meaning not affiliated with any political party) Palestinian project that works with internationals and Palestinians to confront the Israeli Occupation using proactive Direct Action. When living in New York she was pretty active in the Anarchist community as a member of the People’s Law Collective and other projects.
Know Your Rights and Their Wrongs: How the Legal Community has Your Back (NYU)
Activists are often familiar with the usual Know Your Rights trainings. So what happens when government repression changes? Is it enough to simply “know your rights? This workshop will provide presentation on recent repressive government tactics using examples such as the Green Scare and the San Francisco 8. The purpose of this training will be to provide attendees a foundation of KYR material and connect this material to more situations than street and protest rights. Expect more than the typical 5th amendment stuff.
Grainne O’Neill lives in New Orleans and works at the public defenders office, The Iron Rail and New Orleans Indymedia. She recently graduated from Columbia Law School, where she was active with the National Lawyers Guild, and was instrumental in starting the Green Scare Hotline. Prior to attending law school she co-founded Jane Doe Books – an anarchafeminist infoshop in Bushwick, Brooklyn.
Kamau Karl Franklin is the Racial Justice Fellow at the Center for Constitutional Rights and a member of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement. He handles a wide variety of cases including criminal, civil and human rights issues. Kamau is the former Legal Program Director of New York City PoliceWatch, a sister project of the San Francisco based Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. As part of his work with MXGM, Kamau has worked on works on various issues of concern to the black community including the issue of political prisoners/exiles of the Black Liberation Struggle, a “Cop Watch” program to train community members to use video cameras to monitor local police conduct, in Brooklyn, New York.
Bob Boyle is a member of the Executive Committee of the NLG-NYC and criminal defense attorney specializing in post-conviction and government misconduct litigation. He is the former staff attorney of the NLG’s Grand Jury Project, Inc. Bob has represented numerous activists including Dhoruba Bin Wahad, a former leader of the Black Panther Party and target of COINTELPRO who won new trial after 19 years, Osama Awadallah, arrested as a material witness after September 11, 2001. He is currently representing Mohammed Al-Moayad, a Yemeni national lured to Germany in an FBI sting operation and is acting as a consulting attorney on the San Francisco 8 case.
Beth Baltimore is a third year law student at Brooklyn Law School and a member of the National Lawyers Guild New York City Chapter Executive Committee. She worked with Grainne to develop and implement the Green Scare Hotline that is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to assist individuals arrested or subpoenaed for offenses related to environmental or animal activism. It can be reached at 888-NLG-ECOLAW.
JustUs NYC Legal Collective formed in late 2006 to fill a growing need for a grassroots legal support organization. Over the past year, JustUs has worked to write, produce, and distribute Know Your Rights materials for both activists and non-activists. Their materials provide resources to local communities and introduce community members to navigating the legal system.
4:00PM-6:00PM
Anarchist people of color caucus
Facilitated by Ashanti Alston and Autumn Brown
The anarchist people of color caucus is a space where folks who identify as people of color can meet, learn about each other’s work, share their personal experiences in activism, and discuss the potential of APOC on a local, national and international level. We hope to begin to clarify the most important and challenging questions we must ask ourselves as anarchist people of color in order to build with one another and move these discussions forward in the future.
Safety and Accountability in Activist Spaces (GYM)
As much as we don’t like to talk about it, violence happens within radical communities. While violence takes on many forms, all of which deserve to be examined, this panel will specifically seek to address violence perpetrated by men against women outside of intimate relationships. How do we deal with assault, sexual assault and sexual harassment in our communities? If activist spaces are supposed to be healthier and safer alternatives to the world at large, how do we handle situations that violate a person’s safety?
This panel would like to address the needs and concerns of all activist women – regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation, race, class, biology, ability level, age, education, or any other category that divides us. We seek to address our shared experiences of oppression as women, without ignoring the fact that “women” are not a homogonous group and do not experience privilege or oppression uniformly. We also hope to draw from the strengths and wisdom of our different communities and learn how women who are different from each other are addressing these same issues.
Andrea is a member of the NYC chapter of INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence.
Danielle’s current work is in participatory justice in cases of violence and alternatives to incarceration. She has engaged in anti-violent, empowerment-based programs with ‘at-risk’ youth since she was one herself. Danielle has taught creative writing and conflict transformation in prisons and jails in Chicago and Georgia, worked with young folks caught up in the system in Harlem, trained in a variety of conflict resolution and transformation techniques, and has done extensive gang intervention work in her communities. She is a member of the Rock Dove Collective and the Watershed Center.
Emi is a member of the NYC chapter of INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence.
The Cooptation of Radical Movements (CR)
More Information coming soon…
Political Prisoner Support in the Anarchist Movement with NYC Anarchist Black Cross Federation (NYU)
“any movement that does not support their political internees … is a sham movement.” These are the words of Anarchist and Black Liberation Movement Prisoner of War Ojore Lutalo. Belief and action on behalf of the ideals of revolutionary social justice and in some cases, anarchism, has been cause for many of our comrades and elders to be put behind bars. This workshop will address why the movement for greater participation, visibility, and ultimately, freedom for our prisoners is essential to anarchist praxis and what we can all do to make this endeavor more effective.
Brendan Story, Janine Green, Dave Solidarity are representing New York City Anarchist Black Cross, a Political Prisoner support group based in Brooklyn. Prior to its formation, we have had backgrounds in prisoner support in addition to IWW/class struggle organizing, community organizing, eco-struggles and vegan outreach, radical-acceptance feminism, to anti-racist activity. We currently host prisoner letter-writing dinners every other Tuesday nights at the 123 space in Bed-Stuy.
NYC Anarchist Bookfair 2008: Aftershock Action Alliance Presentation
September 11th wasn’t first and Katrina wasn’t the last. Capitalism, Nation states and a culture of consumerism have conspired to make our planet more and more unstable. The fear inspired by disasters plays into the hands of those destroying people, animals and the planet for profit. Our governments (technologies, religious leaders, etc.) cannot protect us but they can certainly get us killed.
The time is now to organize to protect our friends, neighborhoods, and our planet. We have to be smart and prepared if we are to protect ourselves and challenge these forces that only seek power and profit. Aftershock Action Alliance seeks to create revolutionary grassroots communities dedicated to responding to disasters and crises. Aftershock seeks to create a mobile and flexible emergency response network to counter the ineffectual FEMA and bureaucratic relief organizations. We seek out skills and resources that will not only provide support to those affected by disasters but ways to use crises to challenge the status quo. We are proponents of sustainable, decentralized and self-organizing models for dealing with disasters that leave local communities empowered while challenging state power. We are not the Red Cross, crazy right-wing survivalistsâ¦and we are certainly not fucking FEMA.
We are radicals, militants and revolutionaries who believe that we must help each other in times of crises. We cannot wait for churches or government bureaucracies to save us from the climate and political chaos they have created. This website will be used to provide information and to organize resources and trainings for insurrectionary mutual aid. It will help you, your friends and neighborhood effectively prepare for the future while fighting for social and environmental justice. The skills, information and organization principles found here will help you and your friends deal plan for emergencies ranging from domestic (e.g. house fires) to apocalyptic (e.g. fall of civilization). In addition this site will provide critiques and information about governmental plans for dealing with disasters to better inform you.