Updated Workshops

We had some last-minute schedule switching, but the workshop schedule we now have is more-or-less final, barring any unforeseen circumstances. We also added a missing workshop description and took out the Ruckus Society workshops, as they weren’t able to make it. You’ll find it all over on the Workshops page.

Workshops, workshops, workshops

The Workshops page has been updated with a near-complete set of workshop descriptions. You’ll find the schedule there too. We’ll have the few missing descriptions plugged in soon.

Workshop Schedule

We now have a tentative workshop schedule posted over on the workshops page. This is still subject to change. Workshop descriptions will be coming soon.

Call for Proposals

CALL FOR WORKSHOP PROPOSALS

2^nd Annual FINDING OUR ROOTS: Anarchist Organizing in the Midwest

We are seeking workshop proposals for the second annual Finding Our Roots conference, to be held in Chicago April 18-20, 2008. This year’s conference topic is “Anarchist Organizing in the Midwest.”

Workshops should address any aspect of the ways in which anarchists do, can, or should organize in our region. Central questions to consider when formulating workshop ideas:

– How do we organize ourselves as anarchists?

– How can we organize across diverse communities and political tendencies?

- -What does it mean to organize locally – as communities, as cities, as a region?

We strongly encourage proposals covering intersections between anarchism and other communities of resistance. Potential topics include Queer resistance, anti-racist organizing, labor/workplace organizing, organizing by and with communities of Color, neighborhood organizing, gender equality, transportation rights, environmental justice, health care, housing and household-based organizing, anti-military/anti-recruitment campaigns, prison abolition and prisoner support, anti-hunger/food redistribution campaigns, organizing against sexual violence, media activism, student organizing, and any other area in which Midwest anarchists are organizing.

Proposals should be NO MORE THAN ONE PAGE and should include:

–Workshop title

– Your name and contact info (and those of workshop presenter(s) if this isn’t you – though please make sure you have confirmed with all presenters BEFORE you volunteer them)

–Specific area(s) of organizing/activism covered (see above list)

–Detailed workshop description, including an explanation of how your workshop fits into the topic of Anarchist Organizing in the Midwest

–Questions to be posed/answered in the workshop

–Main workshop goals

–Workshop format (Will it be an open discussion? Panel/roundtable? Lecture followed by Q&A? If the workshop will involve a presentation followed by discussion/Q&A, please consider how much time you will devote to each.)

–Any special materials or equipment (ie, audiovisual) you will need

–BRIEF reading list and/or links to post on the website [optional]

Workshops are one hour and fifteen minutes (75 minutes) long. Workshops will be scheduled in 90-minute blocks, which INCLUDES a 10-15 minute break between workshops. We ask that presenters be diligent about staying within this time frame. If you feel you need more time for your workshop, please explain why, and we will consider allotting a longer slot.

Submit proposals to: chicagoanarchisttheory@riseup.net

Proposal deadline: March 1st, 2008

(Edited 1/24 to reflect change of conference date — from April 25-27 to April 18-20)

(Edited 2/15 to reflect deadline extension from 2/15 to 3/1)

Only a few days to go!

We’re just 3 days away from the start of Finding Our Roots and the Chicago Anarchist Film Fest! Here are a few random updates:

• The Anarchy 101 walking tour originally planned for Friday night has been cancelled and replaced with a more free-form picnic in the park:
  Fri. 6:30pm-9pm Picnic in the Park
  Location: 901 N Clark
  Join us for an evening of soap boxing, games, and food at Bughouse Square. Hear speeches from Emma Goldman, Lucy Parsons, Durruti, and more!
  If anyone is interested in checking out historical sites before the meet up, there is a lot close to the location, so feel to walk around and see where the streets came alive.
  Bughouse Square (from “bughouse,” slang for a mental health facility) is the popular name of Chicago’s Washington Square Park, where orators (“soapboxers”) held forth on warm-weather evenings from the 1910s through the mid-1960s. Located across Walton Street from the Newberry Library, Bughouse Square was the most celebrated outdoor free-speech center in the nation and a popular Chicago tourist attraction.
  In its heyday during the 1920s and 1930s, poets, religionists, and cranks addressed the crowds, but the mainstays were soapboxers from the revolutionary left, especially from the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), Proletarian Party, Revolutionary Workers’ League, and more ephemeral groups. Many speakers became legendary, including anarchist Lucy Parsons, “clap doctor” Ben Reitman, labor-wars veteran John Loughman, socialist Frank Midney, feminist-Marxist Martha Biegler, Frederick Wilkesbarr (“The Sirfessor”), Herbert Shaw (the “Cosmic Kid”), the Sheridan twins (Jack and Jimmy), and one-armed “Cholly” Wendorf.

There may also be a game of capture the flag!

• We dropped one workshop from the schedule, at the request of the presenter: How Does Technology Affect Our Lives. If people are still interested in that topic, perhaps a guerrilla workshop can be pulled together.
• To fill the gap left by the cancelled workshop, the Green Scare and Security Culture workshop was moved up to that Sat. 10am slot.
• We’ve added the times for the specific films for the Film Fest here.
• Dan Ollman, who made Suffering and Smiling (and The Yes Men) will be present at the screening of the film!
• If you’re looking for grub, Loyola University’s dining hall will be open during the conference. It’s located just across the street from the Quinlan building in the Simpson Center. It’s weekend hours are Brunch: 10:30am - 1:30pm, Deli & Grill: 1:30pm - 3:00pm, Dinner: 4:30pm - 7:45pm. You can find more info on Loyola dining services here. They claim to have ample vegetarian options.

Guerrillas Redux

We started up a Guerrilla Workshops page on this site, so if you’re planning on throwing together an ad-hoc workshop at the conference, post your ideas as a comments here.

Guerrilla Workshops

Just to let folks know, we’ve stopped accepting workshop proposals, but there will be plenty of room available for people to hold guerrilla workshops at the conference. All you need to do is show up at the conference and claim a slot — we’ll have a sign-up sheet and announcement board. If you’re coming to the conference, don’t forget to check in and see what guerrilla workshops have been added, as some good ones are lining up. So far we’re expecting to see guerrilla workshops on:

• Folklore and Revolutionary Theory
• Revolutionary Industrial Unionism and Its Chicago Origins
• The Intersection of Queerness and Capitalism

Some of the existing workshops may also spill over and continue their discussions in guerrilla workshop space.

Workshop Resources

We’ve started a page to list out bibliographies, links, and other reference materials that people might find useful for preparing in advance for a workshop discussion.  We’ll be adding more suggestions here over the next few weeks, so check back.

Conference Schedule

Our schedule is now live. Check it out, we’ve got some good workshops.

Conference Update

We almost have a finalized list of workshops and a schedule together. In the meantime, you can read about the workshops that have been confirmed so far.

Also, for those who were wondering: this conference will be FREE.

Conference registration will begin on Friday April 27th, and we will also have an “Anarchy 101″ event that evening. Workshops will take place on Saturday and Sunday from 10am-5pm with an hour break for lunch. We’ll have 2 or 3 workshops going at each time, each an hour long, and there will be space available for guerrilla workshops to coalesce.

We are pleased to announce that we have both Neala Schleuning, a long-time academic, activist, and author of To Have and To Hold: The Meaning of Ownership in the United States, as well as Cindy Milstein as our keynote speakers for the conference.