All Power to the Imagination

Our group focuses on achieving comprehensive immigration reform as well as a community education. Right now we are engaged in a massive movement (Trail of Dreams), however, we still have local actions (Know Your Rights workshops). We would like to inform people hopefully inspiring them to action. In our presentation we will cover what immigration challenges face our country now, what our group does and what people can do to help.

She will bring information about the alternatives to disposable tampons and pads for collecting fluid lost during menstruation. These include but are not limited to: menstrual cups, sea sponges, and washable/reusable homemade or store bought pads. This presentation may also cover other interesting devices made especially for women, such as the "go girl" or "pee-style" devices that allow women to pee standing up more easily. Men and women are both encouraged to attend. (A note to the boys: although you might not think these issues affect you, be aware that your opinions can make a difference to the girl or girls in your life. Your openness about alternatives can help inspire openness in others.)

The purpose of this is to help facilitate participants in figuring out what he calls 'healthy movement dynamics'. The whole goal is to come up with ways to organize that foster community-building, self-empowerment and positive group interactions that push the movement forward and invigorate us individuals. More than merely looking at things like radical mental health, what causes burnout and alienation in movements, and the importance of consensus decision-making and good facilitation techniques, we are going to explore how to build successful community-organizing and activist communities that best reflect the society and world that we want to live in.

Adam Roca explores the question: What does it mean to be an anti-racist white ally to a POC-led organization?
But within that question, there are many big issues bound up in it:
What is white privilege, how does it work, and how do we work to undo it?
How do white folks fit into the struggle without perpetuating unequal power relationships?
Are all-white spaces even a good idea in the first place? Aren't they racist and exclusionary?!

This will be an open forum on queering activism and politics. This isn't referring to sexuality and gender so much as the sort of nebulous use of queer as a verb in the realm of theory. We want to explore the practice and possibilities of non-normative and novel forms of political expression, activity, and mobilization. In what ways can radicals be creative and find practical, advantageous ways to sidestep dominant modes of discourse by embracing their inner fabulousness?

Stephanie Midler presents part two of a workshop series focusing on the work being done by African people around the world to reclaim their land and resources and to provide solutions and a future for themselves. And how each of us can participate in the "Africa's Resources in African Hands!" campaign. If you have ever wondered why African people, no matter where they live throughout the world, suffer such intense poverty, while Africa itself is the richest continent in the world, you need to attend this workshop!

Jessica Anne Wheeler will focus on bridging theory and practice in the discussion of racism. Her project will move from theory (positionality as used by Linda Alcoff, with discussions of her work and the work of Henry Louis Gates), as well as the essays by Tim Wise, to a in-depth examination of her own failures to overcome racism and her day-to-day efforts to "re-contextualize" herself in order to approach understanding of actions and reactions as a result of racism.

Lynne Purvis will give an overview of the Anne Braden Program, a anti-racist, anti-capitalist training for white social justice activists, and strategizing for anti-racist action in Florida.

The conference organizers will introduce themselves and the conference. This will be followed by an open mic in remembrance of people such as Howard Zinn.