Start Producing the Future III

bristol | miscellaneous | event notice Thursday September 24, 2009 13:15 by Alice - Trapese - Trapese Collective

Free workshops/films/discussions @ Arnolfini

The Trapese Collective invite YOU to workshops, films and exhibitions @ Arnolfini, Bristol. We present three dayschools, (Saturdays 17th and 31st of October and 14th November) for YOUR participation and three evening film screenings. Discover crash technologies, explore creative vandalism, learn communication tools, debate economy v ecology or join the feral choir. A potent mix of inspiring workshops for collectively changing our world and learning from the past. Join the real green (grassroots) shoots!

In December 2009 the world's leaders, NGOs, lobby groups and the media circus will be going to Copenhagen to try and secure a deal for a new climate agreement when the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.
Many social change activists, indigenous people, environmental justice movements will be going too, to add their calls for an end to business as usual, where people and our environment comes second to profit and short term gains, and to demand climate justice.
But all around the world, there are thousands of projects and people working from the bottom up, creating and resisting the system that is causing climate change and building a more just and sustainable world, right here and now.
We don't believe that governments and corporations can solve the climate crisis, because they are responsible for it! We believe in doing it ourselves, using our creativity and building truly sustainable solutions from the bottom up.
So whether you are planning to go to Copenhagen or not, we hope there is something in the programme that can inspire you to take action for everyday revolutions, closer to home.
Come to just one workshops or the whole three days.
We are part of Platform's two month occupation of the Arnolfini in Bristol in the run up to the COP-10 in Copenhagen, http://www.100days.org.uk.

DAY 3 Saturday 14th November

Theme: Direct Action: Ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
Opening 10.30 -11.30
Why do we need to take direct action? With faith in party politics in the doldrums, look to the school occupations, wildcat strikes and environmental actions that are taking back control in everyday life and put democracy back into action.

Workshop Session 1 12-2pm,
Choose between;
* Learn techniques for Non Violent Direct Action, how to make it safe, effective. Discover a multitude of different ways to resist.
* Bringing the commons back into everyday life: From housing co-ops to squatting and self managed social centres, spaces can be transformed to open up new possibilities. (Bristol Space Invaders)
*'Evolving Minds– How to live in balance and with integrity in a complicated and difficult world that does not always make that easy? How to develop a healthy relationship with oneself and with other people in the community? A safe space to talk about strategies for keeping ourselves well.
3-5pm
*Hacktivism: How free software and free media are changing the future. HacktionLab
Following the this year's G20 protests in London and the advent of social networks and other web 2.0 tools, Indymedia's raison d'être is possibly now even more relevant than it was when the project started nearly ten years ago. The software tools used to build Indymedia into the World's largest autonomous network have helped construct the internet and whose principals of openness and collaboration are changing the way we look at science, art, knowledge and even activism.

*Direct Action Casework – a radical response to the crisis' : The London Coalition Against Poverty are pioneers of grassroots solidarity networks taking action on the issues of everyday life. East Bristol Debtors Alliance organise around the social question of debt.
* Direct Action gets the goods. From the climate camps and Co-Mutiny, Bristol to plans for Copenhagen's climate summit this December, how do our local and international campaigns link up with other social struggles?

5-6pm
Closing-feedback from all workshops and what next?

When? Saturdays 17th October, 31st October, 14th November 2009, 10.30 - 6pm.
Where? Arnolfini, 16 Narrow Quay, Bristol BS1 4QA www.arnolfini.org.uk
How? Register via Arnolfini box office or phone, T: +44 (0)117 9172300 / 01
E: boxoffice@arnolfini.org.uk Please say which session(s) you plan to attend, or simply turn up and register on the day. Some sessions are 'closed' once they start, others are drop in, (see programme at www.trapese.org)
How much? Participation is not dependent on paying but donations are welcome for the workshop facilitators, who are offering these sessions for free, or to the projects of their choosing.
Food? Bring food to share or there are plenty of local eateries.
Who? Trapese are a popular education collective who among other projects edited, “Do It Yourself -Handbook for changing our world, (www.handbookforchange.org) (Pluto, 2007).