Dear Friends and Allies,
In just a few days, we will be joining thousands of other activists and organizers in Detroit for the Allied Media Conference and the 2010 US Social Forum. We are excited to see you there!
At the US Social Forum, Left Turn will join with several other organizations to sponsor the Liberation Exploration Station, a 20’x20′ tent in the USSF Village near Cobo Hall, the main site of the USSF. We hope you’ll come by the tent to meet folks from Left Turn as well as our friends and allies from Catalyst Project, Regeneración Childcare NYC, the Challenging Male Supremacy Project, Revolutionary Work In Our Times, LA COiL, Transform!, Another Politics is Possible, Southerners On New Ground, and others. You can also pick up copies of the new issue of Left Turn, and drink some lemonade.
Left Turn will also be cosponsoring several workshops at the USSF. Here are a few we encourage you to check out:
Wednesday, June 23:
Other Worlds Are Possible: Visionary Fiction and Social Change Work; Wednesday June 23rd, 10:00am – 12:00pm *this workshop day and time was changed from the printed program* Cobo Hall: Room O2-44
To some extent we need a collective belief in another world to sustain our work. But what do these worlds look like? How will we live? How will we interact with each other? What will gender and racial and class relationships look like? How will we deal with aggression, violence and war? We use the term “visionary fiction” as a way to speak directly to those transformative qualities present in science fiction, speculative fiction, fantasy, comic books, and magical realism. This workshop is designed to explore literature that not only allows us to analyze, understand and critique the world we live in, but to imagine and reimagine a world of the future.
Thursday, June 24:
Disaster Capitalism from Hurricane Katrina to the Haiti Earthquake, the BP Drilling Disaster, and Beyond; Thursday, June 24, 1:00pm – 3:00pm, WSU Old Main: Room 143
A discussion of the ways in which systemic oppression based on race, class and gender interacts with various disasters, and strategizing on how we can move forward together and break the cycle of profiteering and exploitation. Among the presenters will be Nathalie Pierre (Malcolm X Grassroots Movement), Monique Harden (Advocates for Environmental Human Rights), Knowledge is Born (Fyre Youth Squad), Jordan Flaherty (Louisiana Justice Institute) and others.
Friday, June 25:
Organizing and Alienating – Stories and Solutions to Islamophobia within the Progressive Movement; Friday June 25th, 10:00am – 12:00pm, Westin Book Cadillac Hotel: Room WB4
In this workshop, participants will learn how to identify Islamophobia, its effects, and what it looks like in the Left. Furthermore, participants will build the skills to tackle Islamophobia in their respective movements, guided by facilitators with diverse organizing experience to draw upon. Sponsored by Left Turn Magazine, Council of American Islamic Relations – MI (CAIR-MI), and Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM).
Grassroots Media and Movements for Justice; Friday, June 25, 1:00pm – 3:00pm, WSU Student Center: Room 277
A range of media makers and activists from facilitate this discussion on accountability and the potential and pitfalls of media justice work. Featuring sex worker media activists Lisa Davis and Kirby, radio journalist Puck Lo, folks from Left Turn Magazine, and others.
Revolutionary on the Daily: Visions for New Societies, Revolutionaries Organizing Ourselves; Friday June 25, 1:00pm – 5:30pm, Cobo Hall: Room M2-30
Participatory workshop for non-sectarian revolutionary organizers struggling by day for victories to help our people organize and survive, and dreaming by night about a better world. Sponsored by Revolutionary Work In Our Times (RWIOT).
New World from Below Book Party; Friday June 25th, 7:00pm – 900pm, New World from Below Convergence Center, Located at the Spirit of Hope Church, 1519 Martin Luther King Dr, Detroit, 48208 – Corner of MLK and Trumbull
Celebrate recent radical publishing with AK Press, Autonomedia, Institute of Anarchist Studies, Haymarket Books, Microcosm Publishing, PM Press and others. Beer and wine will be served; books will be available for sale; and a short presentation from current radical authors will take place at 8pm, including: Jordan Flaherty, Benjamin Holtzman, Cindy Milstein, Josh MacPhee, Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative, Team Colors Collective, and others.
There are many more workshops by friends and allies, too many to list, but you can click here for a list of recommended workshops that our friends at Organizing Upgrade have put together, and click here for a document from our friends at Catalyst Project that lists even more highlights.
Thanks again for your support! We wouldn’t exist without you.
in solidarity,
Left Turn
PS: This upcoming issue marks the beginning of our tenth year. Please help us to be able to continue to exist, and continue to highlight these issues that the corporate media ignores, by taking this moment to join us as a sustainer, subscriber, or distributor. If you are already a subscriber or sustainer, please consider making an additional donation to help us keep this project growing and thriving along with the movements we seek to support.
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