Workshops will be held in either the Conference Room ( indicated by CR) which is the room in the middle of the second floor of Vera with large glass windows or in the Studio (indicated by S) which is in the back corner of the second floor of Vera.
Saturday
11:30am – 1pm
Resisting Repression Across Prison Walls with Puget Sound Prisoner Support CR
An introductory jail support training where attendees will learn the specific details of forming your own anti-repression group in the Seattle area, followed by a roundup of state repression in the aftermath of the 2020 George Floyd uprising.
Caught in the Net: Breaking Free from the Digital Enclosure S
In anarchist circles in the US, critiques of the role that technology plays in our relationships and struggles have fallen out of style; the presence of phones and use of social media in spaces of struggle is largely taken for granted. The immense violence, death, and devastation to the earth that is required to bring phones and computers into our hands has become grotesquely normalized as our ability to interrogate our own dependency on and attachment to these technologies has eroded.
This presentation will look at the process of technological advancement and how it functions on the individual, relational, and societal levels, and the impact this has on struggles against domination. By diving into how technology impacts the quality of our lives and struggles, as well as the dangers it poses to our networks in terms of security, we’ll attempt to break out of the artificial constraints that prevent us from putting this world into question. After, we’ll have a group discussion along the same themes.
1:30pm – 3pm
The Elusive Serpent CR
It is something of a puzzle that Hobbes chose Leviathan, a monstrous sea-dragon and God’s great enemy, as the image of his beloved State in his famous 1650 masterpiece of statecraft. Nazi political theorist Carl Schmitt, for example, expressed dismay that the symbol was so monstrous, not to mention so Jewish. And Fredy Perlman made use of the horrifying image to level his great attack on the State in *Against His-story, Against Leviathan!*
But when we trace this figure back before Hobbes, the story only gets weirder. In this talk we will follow the twisted path of the great serpent, mainly through the anarchist and Jewish mystical traditions, with some brief forays into influential mythologies. The picture of the Leviathan that will emerge is highly paradoxical. Leviathan seems to change form, from anarchy to order and back to anarchy. Perhaps this might help us past some anarchist impasses.
Collective Sex Worker Organizing and Mutual Aid S
Green Light Project is a sex worker collective that provides support to street based sex workers and the wider sex working community in the greater Seattle area through harm reduction supplies, food, housing support, peer counseling, domestic violence prevention and exit strategies, and whatever our participants need that we can supply. We would like to share our collective organizing principles and resources to the (a) community, as we are also part of it. Partly an org overview, partly a harm reduction workshop with supplies for people to take home with them in order to put power into the hands of the people, remove monetary profit from traditional reproductive care practices, and promote equitable reproductive care spaces.
3pm – 4:30pm
Cyphernetics: The Art of Intellegent Movement by Shades of Silence and Da Illiterati CR
It will be a presentation attempting to imagine what would happen if Conviviality and Fugitivity had an affair with each other. Imagine if Fanon, Wilderson, and Moten went to have drinks what would be on the juke box.
The intended audience would be people who are struggling to understand the desire to develop a new sensorium but are stuck in logics of the West.
Harm Reduction Doulas Skill Share S
Harm Reduction Doulas Collective provide full spectrum doula care from an community centered anarchist lens; utilizing harm reduction principles, doula skills, and reproductive resources. This will be a crash course in supporting friends and community in pregnancy, birth, and postpartum, supporting pregnant and parenting people who use drugs (or anyone) as well as; Abortion support, Prenatal Visits, Birth Support (physical and emotional), Postpartum Support, and Parenting Resources.
Sunday
11:30am – 1pm
Chile: From Victorious Chaos to Failed Constitution CR
A slideshow with videos and images of the 6 months of revolt in Chile that led to the country’s recently failed constitutional convention. When student anti-fare hike protests led to a weekend of looting, burning, and martial law, people all over Chile rose up to stop the return of the kind of military authoritarianism that ruled the country throughout the 1970s and 80s. For nearly a month, a majority of Santiago and much of the rest of Chile was governed by a patchwork of horizontal assemblies focusing on what its participants could do in their neighborhoods with what they had. When the government caved in and conceded to one of the countless demands circulating in the streets–a new constitution–these assemblies, focused on the immediate here and now, were gradually replaced with conversations about what they could get someday from a government in the future. The constitutional process was the first step to taking power out of people’s hands and reconstituting the state. This presentation will show images of what real people’s power looks like in action, as well as reflect on valuable lessons from a brief window into a world where solidarity, dignity, and idealism came before profit, productivity, and order.
2pm – 3pm
Researching Police Misconduct Using Public Records with DivestSPD CR
This workshop will teach people the basics of researching police using open data, public records requests, and other sources of information. Participants will learn about how to navigate police systems and investigate common types of misconduct, including excess force, unconstitutional stops and searches, dishonesty, and bias. I’ll also go over effective public records strategies and teach people how to precisely word requests to get exactly what you want as quickly as possible.
Health Autonomy Convergence Report Back S
A report back from the Health Autonomy Convergence that happened in Durham NC this May. What is was, why it was, how it was, etc. with space for conversations about local anarchist healthcare meet ups.
3pm – 4:30pm
How to Do Sweep Support and Resisting Sweeps with Stop the Sweeps Seattle CR
This workshop will go over how and why Stop the Sweeps shows up to support folks being swept. It will also go over all of the ways in which we are fighting to resist sweeps. The intended audience is anyone who is interested in getting more involved in the fight to support folks living outside who are regularly being targeted by the State for harassment and displacement so they can be more informed on different avenues for how to plug into the work that is already happening in Seattle.
Zinecraft: an introduction S
Now that you’ve got your bag stuffed full of zines, learn to make your own! This workshop will cover the ins and outs of zine-making, laid out both digitally and by hand. It will also cover tips and tricks for making your own distro like making stacks of copies, sources for cool anarchist zines, and finding places to share your work!
