‘Whenever we envision a world without war, without prisons, without injustice, we are engaging in speculative fiction. Radicals and activists devote their lives to envisioning such worlds, and then go about trying to create them. What better vehicle for them to explore their work and its possibilities than through writing original science fiction stories?’ – Walidah Imarisha, Octavia’s Brood

This is an invitation to join a series of four workshops looking at worldbuilding, science fiction and imagining a better world through creative writing. In these workshops we will explore: why the imagination is important for social change; inspirations from great worldbuilders such as Octavia Butler, Marge Piercy, Ursula Le Guin and others; tools for expanding our own imaginations including creative writing; and the opportunity to work on ideas and share with each other. These sessions will be run by facilitators from Resist + Renew who have a passion for the topic but do not identify as writers (so you don’t have to either!). There is an intention for these workshops to transform into a fortnightly sharing group to generate and reflect on ideas.

Sessions are on Thursday’s at 7pm starting on the 30th of April.

Places will be given on a first come first serve basis, you can sign up on Eventbrite. Please only sign up if you intend to come to all four sessions. The workshops will be held on zoom and it will be easiest to participate with a laptop (though a phone is possible). These sessions are offered for free.

 

Apply by 5pm, Monday May 13th 2019.

Are you interested in examining race, power, privilege and oppression? Do you want to co-create a space where we can explore these challenging topics in a way that honours the pain that is tied up in this and is compassionate to each of us as human beings?

In a world full of oppression – white supremacy, Islamophobia, cisheteropatriarchy, classism, ableism – exploring power and privilege can be paralysing when these concepts are tied up with guilt and shame.

However, if we are to create a world without oppression – in the groups we work in now and in our dream communities of the future – we need to explore these topics in an honest and frank way that acknowledges our position in this society, and allows us to work for a better one.

If you want to explore these complicated questions, join us this June as Resist + Renew host a weekend course on Exploring Collective Liberation.

In this space we want to explore, discuss and experiment with ideas, with the recognition that this is life-long work, not a quick fix to address ‘diversity’ and ‘inclusion’ issues.

Given our current context of increased racism and division following the Brexit vote in the UK, the rise of the far right worldwide and an ‘activist movement’ that is predominantly white, we will be exploring how we can be actively anti-racist and work towards collective liberation. We aim to carry out the weekend in a way that welcomes all identities, recognises that everyone is on spectrums of privilege and oppression and holds space for people to express what it’s like to have these experiences.

Who is this course for?
This course is for anyone who is involved in groups working for social justice – whether that’s in grassroots organisations or in a paid role at a charity or NGO – and who wants to examine how both we and the wider structures of the world need to change.

Is this course for white people?
Absolutely! Racism and white supremacy can’t be overcome without white people working on this too. We recognise that coming to terms with privilege and power can be uncomfortable, but we ask that people embrace this vulnerability as an opportunity to learn.

Is this course for Black people and people of colour?
Yes – we very much welcome Black people and people of colour. We believe it’s important that the voices of those most affected by racism are given space. However, we also recognise that this can result in marginalised people doing ‘all the work’ of ‘teaching’ people about oppression. Therefore, we are committed to using a variety of tools and approaches to reduce the likelihood of this happening.

Where is the course being held?
The course is going to be run in the Lambourne End Outdoor Centre. We chose this venue as it is both in the countryside, and will allow us to some space from busy city life, but also easily accessible from London.

This venue is wheelchair accessible and has gender neutral toilets

Cost of the weekend
We want this to be an accessible space, so we have a sliding scale for the course. We  recognise that some people can pay more either from their own income or through the institutions that they work in.

Grassroots campaigner: £25 to £125

NGO: £125 to £500 (if your organisation can pay for your place).

The above are suggested sliding scale contributions. No one will be turned away for lack of funds: please email us if you are unable to pay this. We can also offer travel bursaries for attendees.  

 

What people said about Exploring Collective Liberation 2018

‘The whole flow and the structure of the course worked really well. I felt challenged and uncomfortable at times but the order in which we did things helped me work through it. I also appreciated intense sessions matched by ample breaks and reflection time.

‘There was an emphasis on collective involvement at all points which felt exciting and made me invest deeply in the workshop. The way you invited us to reflect on ways in which we may fail or fall down felt very deep but non-judgemental, which was amazing – revelatory!’

‘I really enjoyed the theatrical aspects, it took me out of my comfort zone and really helped the learning process.’

You can read about ECL 2018 here. We will be developing the content for this year’s course based on feedback from participants and our own reflection process.

Who are the facilitators?

Karen Larbi is a trainer, facilitator, consultant, and mental health advocate. She is the founder of POC In Nature, an online space for people of colour to explore the healing power of nature, and the Co-Founder of Black Woman Heal United Kingdom, an online support group for women of African descent. Karen is interested in activist self-care, healing justice, alternative spiritualities, and intersectional, trauma-informed approaches to mental health.

Brought to organising through the climate justice movement, Rowan Kinchin has worked with activist legal support organisation Green and Black Cross for many years. Rowan built that legal knowledge into Sisters Uncut to help the fight against cuts to domestic violence services, and spent the past two years coordinating a network of campaigners against one of the world’s biggest arms fairs. Rowan has been a facilitator for over a decade. They love making comics and being outdoors.

Josh Virasami is an artist, writer and political organiser whose work intersects across political struggles. He has been involved in various movements including Occupy and Black Lives Matter. As well as spending time studying and travelling abroad to learn and understand more about radical political traditions, for example in Balochistan, Kurdistan and Mauritius where his family hails from, he uses writing, film and music to educate, agitate and organise toward social change. Joshua has been facilitating for five years, and works as a facilitator at campaign bootcamp.

Ali Tamlit became involved in direct action campaigns through anti-aviation with Plane Stupid. He’s a member of End Deportations and believes it’s vital that environmental campaigns are linked to migrant justice and other struggles because of the many interconnections between oppressions. He has been facilitating workshops and meetings for 6 years and began when he was part of a self-organised study group.

Registration
If you are interested in joining us, please fill in this form by 5pm on Monday May 13th.

If you have any questions, email us at [email protected]

We look forward to hearing from you!

Resist + Renew

www.resist-renew.com

Why is that groups that seek to bring about social change can, at times, be draining and lead to burnout of those involved? What do we need to change? What are some of the causes?

Join us for this daylong workshop exploring how to transform group culture within our groups. Inspired in part by the ideas from Joyful Militancy we will look at the ways in which groups can feel both ridgid, rule bound or restrictive and also how they can feel joyful, spaces of transformation, growth and possibility.

This workshop will be facilitated by Ali Tamlit (Resist + Renew) and Kat Wall. Throughout the day we will be using participatory exercises to explore these ideas – so there is no need to have read the book Joyful Militancy.

Venue:

The workshop will be at SOAS, in central London. Room details will be shared once you have confirmed your place.

Lunch:

There will be a lunch break during the day. We will provide lunch – this will be vegan and gluten free but do let us know if you have any other dietary requirements.

Cost of the day:

We have a sliding scale for suggested donations, however, no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

Low wage – £5
Waged – £10 – 15
Solidarity – £25

Childcare

We have a childcare space available – please let us know if this would help you attend by emailing [email protected]

Accessibility

The venue is wheelchair accessible. Please let us know if you have any other access requirements so we can take these into account.

Date: 27th of October

Venue: Islington Impact Hub, London

Time:  11 am to 5.30 pm

In the second workshop of this series we will continue to explore visions of Utopia as a source of inspiration, hope and strength in the struggles and journeys to create it.

In this workshop we will worldbuild collectively – what will Utopia look like? What will future communities look like, feel like and what structures will exist? We’ll also think about how these communities were created and the challenges they will have faced in getting there and maintaining themselves. We’ll be using games, theater, personal reflection, creative writing and participatory discussion to dive into these themes and ideas.

We will draw upon feminist and other radical Sci Fi literature such as Marge Piercy’s Woman on the Edge of Time, Octavia E. Butler’s Parable  series and Ursula Le Guin’s The Dispossessed among others. But, we’ll also be drawing heavily on our own creativity too!

We hope that by imagining ‘utopia’ we can think about how to bring these future communities and practices into the here and now and not wait till ‘the day after the revolution’ but see utopia as an ongoing, unfolding, emergent process.

Tickets are available on eventbrite by donation. We have a sliding scale for donations with the following recommendations:

£5 unwaged

£10 low waged

£20 middle waged

£30 high waged

However, we won’t turn anyone away for lack of funds, so please don’t see cost as a barrier. And if you’re super rich you can always pay even more to balance things out 😉

Accessibility

This workshop is being held on a ground floor venue with automatic doors, and wheelchair accessible toilets.

The toilets will all be gender neutral individual cubicles.

Please let us know if you have any access requirements that we should take into consideration. You can email us at: [email protected]

Food

We will provide some light snacks and refreshments before the workshop and we will have an hour break for lunch – there are shops near the venue. Please feel free to bring food to the venue.

Are you interested in examining race, power, privilege and oppression? Want a space where we can explore challenging topics in a way that is both authentic to the pain that is tied up in this but also is compassionate to each of us as human beings?

In a world full of oppression – White Supremacy, Islamophobia, (cis)hetero-patriarchy, classism, ableism – exploring privilege and oppression can be paralysing when it is tied in with guilt and shame. But if we are to create a world without oppression – in the groups we work in now and in our dream communities of the future – we need to explore these in an honest and frank way that acknowledges our position in this society, and allows us to work for a better one.

If you want to explore these complicated questions, join us this February as Resist + Renew host a weekend course on these topics. In this space we want to explore, discuss and experiment with ideas, but we recognise that this is life-long work and that this weekend is a contribution to a journey, not a quick fix to bring about ‘diversity’ in a questionnaire.

Given our current context of increased racism and division following Brexit in the UK, a wider trend worldwide and an ‘activist movement’ that is predominantly White – we will be primarily focusing on issues of race and White privilege. However, we will aim to carry out the weekend in a way that all identities are welcome and recognising that everyone is on spectrums of privilege and oppression and that there is space for expressing how it is to have these experiences.

Who is this course for?

This course is for anyone who is involved in groups working for social justice – whether that’s in grassroots organisations or in a paid role at an NGO – and who wants to examine how both we and the wider structures of the world need to change.

Is this course for White People?

Absolutely! Racism and White Supremacy can’t be overcome without White people working on this too. We recognise that coming to terms with privilege and power can be an uncomfortable thing but ask that people embrace this vulnerability as an opportunity to learn.

Is this course for Black and People of Colour?

Yes – we very much welcome Black and People of Colour. For us it’s important that the voices of those most affected by racism are given space. However, we also recognise that sometimes this can result in marginalised people doing ‘all the work’ of ‘teaching’ people about oppression. We therefore will plan to use a variety of tools and approaches to reduce the possibility of this.

Where is the course being held?

The course is going to be run in the Dinedor Outdoor Centre in Hereford. We chose this location to get away from the busyness of everyday life in cities, to be closer to nature and to decentre London.

This venue is wheelchair accessible.

Cost of the weekend

We want this to be an accessible space, therefore we have a sliding scale for the course. We both don’t want to turn anyone away due to the cost, but also recognise that some people can pay more either from their own income or through the institutions that they work in:

Costs from £25 to £250.

Registration

If you are interested in joining us please fill in this form and if you have any questions email us @ [email protected]

We look forward to hearing from you!

Resist + Renew

www.resistrenew.com

At the moment I’m trying not to go on social media too much but when I’ve dipped in and out recently I couldn’t help but notice #MeToo, where, mainly women, are sharing their experiences of sexual harassment or assault.

I thought I was aware of this stuff. But the amount, the brutality and the banality – how it has been normalised – has been an eye opener. I knew we lived in a messed up patriarchal world, but it’s much worse than I thought.

How though can cis-men respond to this? What can we do with this information and contribute to ending sexual violence? How can we do it in a way that fosters collective liberation – recognising that heterosexist patriarchy harms all of us – and that it’s not about “helping” or “protecting” women – which I use in an inclusive sense for cis-women, non-binary, trans and gender fluid folk who are disproportionately affected by sexual violence – but dismantling oppressive systems and creating better, more loving worlds.

I recently came across the four I’s of collective liberation – Internalised, Interpersonal, Institutional and Ideological – and thought I could use this framework to look at how to respond this issue. This frame could also be applied to other oppressive systems: racism, ableism, xenophobia and so on, and it’s important to recognise that none of these systems are separate and in fact reinforce one another in ways that compound their effects on people with intersecting identities.

Internalisation

We live in a society infused by oppressive systems: patriarchy, heterosexism and rape culture form part of this.

If you grow up in this society you can’t help but learn some of these oppressive beliefs. Oppressive systems are like smog, you sometimes don’t see it, but you can’t help but breathe it in and out unconsciously. But, if you become aware of these learnt beliefs, then you can start the work of unlearning them.

As a heterosexual cis-man, for example, I often catch myself noticing the attractiveness of women in public – actually it’s all the time. Now, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with finding people attractive. I do, however, think it’s messed up that the first thought that comes into my head about women I see is about their attractiveness, whereas the thoughts I have about men are completely different.

These are learnt thought patterns. It’s the result of hyper-sexualised advertising, the roles women are given in films, music videos, literature etc that reinforces the idea that women are objects and how they look is what’s important.

Each time I have one of these thoughts, I try to be conscious of it and not internally judge myself as being sexist, but relate that thought to where it came from – patriarchy – and use it as a way to start unlearning it. I might never stop thinking this way entirely, but noticing these patterns also disrupts the idea that it’s normal and is a step towards change.

Interpersonal

The number one way for men to end sexual violence is this: don’t rape. Ask for and check you have consent.

I’m assuming that the people reading this will think that that doesn’t apply to them. I hope it doesn’t apply to me. As far as I am aware, all of my sexual interactions have been consensual. I’m aware, however, sometimes that we can find ourselves in situations we’re not 100% comfortable with but just go along with it anyway, and in a world where women are taught – by the same systems – that their value comes from being attractive and submissive to men, they might not always feel able to speak up. So it’s important to remember that consent is active. It’s not just “not a no”.

Beyond this, men can play a big role in affecting change through calling out/in other men in their sexist behaviour, as it can be safer or more effective coming from a man than leaving it to the woman who was affected.

I know I don’t do this as much as I could. I also know that it’s important to do this within our spheres of influence and not feel that we have to do it all the time.

I sometimes work in construction for money. This is a very male, very sexist environment. I don’t think that if each time my boss made a comment about a woman, if I were to say “Hey, do you know that’s sexist?”, I would either affect much change or keep my job very long. Sometimes I try to make jokes about it back e.g.:

My boss: “Oh, she’s nice”

Me: “Oh really, did you speak to her?”

For the most part I just don’t participate, which I accept could be seen as not doing enough to challenge these attitudes and perhaps I should try to do more. It doesn’t, however, go unnoticed. After a couple of days working with one guy, he asked me how come I don’t join in, so then I told him that I’m not into it. I could maybe have gone further, but I think that he started the conversation was a positive step and that he was curious meant he would also have been a bit receptive to my different viewpoint.

Other areas of my life I have more influence and therefore more responsibility. If a close friend were to say something sexist or behave in a sexist way, then I feel I should do something. Calling people out/in is hard emotional labour and it shouldn’t be left to women and especially not to the ones affected by these behaviours. I also feel that men need to learn how to respond to being called out, without getting defensive or explaining away our behaviour. We need to listen to how people feel and take it on board.

Institutional

To what extent do our activist groups, workplaces and friendship circles foster a culture that is loving and treats women as people?

Having lived in an “alternative” community for a couple of years, I’ve experienced how these spaces fail to create cultures that challenge sexist behaviour and how apologist attitudes can be widespread. This has been painful for me to realise when it clashes with what I thought the values of the space were and even worse for the people we’ve failed to support.

In these spaces we should, again, put the work in to make sure that these issues are taken seriously. For example, men can join “wellbeing” working groups that focus on these dynamics and if that means that they have to cut back on other responsibilities then that might just have to happen. It’s important that we have the processes to prevent and deal with issues when they arise – the Salvage Collective has great resources and runs workshops about how to do this.

For groups, it can also be about the overall priorities of the group. For Resist and Renew for example, should we put our training efforts more into Direct Action trainings to shut down fossil fuel infrastructure, or should we do more consent workshops in schools to help foster a respectful culture? We all have limited time and resources, so the choices we make implicitly say what we think is important and what’s less important.

Ideological

Lastly, how can we change our frame of reference and learn about the experiences of women and people of different backgrounds, and how that’s important for making social change?

To do this, we need to change our sources of information. What we read, watch and listen to. For over a year and a half I’ve stopped reading books by white cis-men. I’ve loved reading stories with strong lead characters that are women from Margaret Atwood, Marge Piercy and Ursula Le Guin, been shocked by Assata Shakura’s experiences for the US criminal justice system and blown away by Silvia Federici’s Caliban and The Witch that outlines how the burning of witches, taking of women’s power and slavery, were essential for the rise of capitalism – a perspective you would never get if you just read Marx or another hero’s story where the cis-man kills the bad guy and saves the defenceless woman.

There are also countless blogs and podcasts out there that talk about these issues. They aren’t women’s issues and by looking for these public sources of information, we as men don’t need to rely on asking our friends who are women about their experiences.

These suggestions are a few ways that men can, and should, step up. Regardless of how much “nice a guy” you are, these all affect you. You may already be doing things in all of these areas, but the extent of the #MeToo revelations shows we can all do more. If we’re committed to making better worlds, then we have to see this as our fight too.

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Ali Tamlit is a facilitator for Resist and Renew. As part of our work we offer workshops on consent for schools, youth groups and activists, please get in touch at [email protected] if you would like us to run a workshop for you.