March 2023 - GTA-PeDAGoG - lists.ourproject.org

Economics for Emancipation curriculum is here!
by Francisco Perez 15 Mar '23

15 Mar '23

Hello there, My name is Francisco Pérez and I am new to this list. I'm excited to learn from you all. I am sharing a new curriculum called "*Economics for Emancipation*" -- which was created over decades of dialogue with grassroots organizers in the US and heterodox economists out of UMass Amherst. It is a no-cost curriculum and I hope it will be useful in your communities where you organize. If you have any questions, do not hesitate in reaching out. Best, Francisco @Platanomics <http://www.twitter.com/platanomics> *From:* "Amrita Wassan, Francisco Pérez, & Sarah Wang" < e4e(a)economicdemocracy.us> *Date:* March 14, 2023 at 1:44:53 PM MDT *To:* nati linares <nlinares(a)gmail.com> *Subject:* *Economics for Emancipation curriculum is here!* A free introductory curriculum on capitalism, solidarity, & how we get free *Economics for Emancipation is here! * A free introductory curriculum on capitalism, solidarity, & how we get free [image: An illustrated graphic with ''Economics for Emancipation'' against a green star backsplash on the top right corner. On the left are four rounded mounds next to each other in yellow green, green, red-orange, and black. From left to right,, there are drawings of a person shouting into a speaker amplifier, a person reading to a group of four children, a clock. Next to those colored mounds is a mountain range with four scenes happening on top of it: a person holding up a rake, a person in a wheelchair, a dog walking, and a person carrying a child.] Hi nati, The Center for Economic Democracy is excited to launch Economics for Emancipation (E4E), a seven-module introductory curriculum that offers a deep critical dive into the current political economic system, exploration of alternative economic systems, and dynamic tools to dream and build the economy that centers care, relationship, and liberation. *WHAT?* E4E has been shaped by decades of dialogue between progressive economists, grassroots organizers, and rank & file union workers; we hope it will strengthen your analysis, fuel your spirit and connect you to efforts challenging this economic system at its root. Our portal offers free access to the online curriculum materials, which includes 25+ self-guided video lessons, an interactive workbook, and a facilitator guide for the workshops. [image: A giphy of of an animation that ends with the text ''How does it feel to be alive in the solidarity economy?''] <https://click.everyaction.com/k/60186453/396288011/1975050996?nvep=ew0KICAi…> *WHO?* This course was created using a popular education approach that is accessible to organizers, educators, activists, and community members. If you are a member or leader of a grassroots or movement organization, this curriculum was designed to support your organizing work in your community. We recommend that you gather a group of up to 25 people with a lead educator/facilitator to dive into the study and praxis of our course. Individuals can also take the course alone with the videos and interactive workbook. *Visit our site* <https://click.everyaction.com/k/60186454/396288012/-787506205?nvep=ew0KICAi…> *WHY?* COVID has surfaced and emphasized the many failures of our current economic system in meeting the needs of people and the planet. It has also surfaced our ability to create structures of support and solidarity. We have a responsibility as organizers and educators in US-based social movements to bring our people in, move slower and study together. Not because we stop fighting the bad, but because in studying we draw inspiration from ancestors who had similar fights over the centuries and learn from their experiences. We become more strategic thinkers and deepen our analysis of social problems and the possible routes to freedom. *OUR STORY * The current version of this course is the result of many years of work first led by the Center for Popular Economics (CPE) – a collective which was founded in 1979 by radical (or heterodox) economists out of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. They ran a yearly “Summer Institute” for union organizers in New England. Since 2019, CPE has partnered with the Center for Economic Democracy (CED) to update and redesign its curriculum into “Economics for Emancipation” (E4E). During the 2020 COVID crisis, CPE and CED worked to adapt E4E for virtual learning geared towards regional cohorts of just transition and social justice organizers, and thus was born this offering. *ABOUT CENTER FOR ECONOMIC DEMOCRACY* The Center for Economic Democracy (CED) <https://click.everyaction.com/k/60186455/396288013/1404532733?nvep=ew0KICAi…> is a US social movement building organization, growing capacity in our communities to transition from capitalism into a just, sustainable, and democratic economy. Based in Boston, CED supports local racial and economic justice initiatives like the Boston Ujima Project, Coalition for Worker Ownership and Power (COWOP), the Solidarity Economy Initiative and The Better Budget Alliance, while offering training and technical assistance for economic democracy efforts across the US. *ABOUT CENTER FOR POPULAR ECONOMICS* The Center for Popular Economics is a nonprofit collective of political economists based in Amherst, MA out of the University of Massachusetts (UMass). Since our founding in 1979, thousands of people have participated in our workshops and Institutes. Our programs and publications demystify the economy and put useful economic tools in the hands of people fighting for social and economic justice. We examine root causes of economic inequality and injustice including systems of oppression based on race, class, gender, nation and ethnicity. We welcome your suggestions and questions. We would especially love to hear about how you plan to use this curriculum! Contact us at info(a)economics4emancipation.net. In solidarity, Sarah Wang, Education Programs & Research Manager Amrita Wassan, Senior Director of Programs Francisco Pérez, Senior Economist [image: Facebook] <https://click.everyaction.com/k/60186456/396288014/-352176660?nvep=ew0KICAi…> [image: Twitter] <https://click.everyaction.com/k/60186457/396288015/-547219553?nvep=ew0KICAi…> [image: Instagram] <https://click.everyaction.com/k/60186458/396288016/1859874697?nvep=ew0KICAi…> This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License <https://click.everyaction.com/k/60186459/396288017/31116010?nvep=ew0KICAiVG…> . If you believe you received this message in error or wish to no longer receive email from us, please unsubscribe <https://secure.everyaction.com/p/8tA3UBrd2kOUQ5W0do5fXw2?unsubscribedata=K3…> .

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Invitation to Support the Reimagining Education Conference
by Andrea González Andino 15 Mar '23

15 Mar '23

Hello dear friends, We have been busy inviting dozens of incredible folks from across the Ecoversities web to contribute their wisdom, creativity, and playful spirits to our event. Now we are asking for financial support, partners, and sponsors to ensure it reaches as many people as possible. Please share with individuals, organizations, or networks you feel may be interested! ----- We would like to invite you to support this year's Re-imagining Education Conference <http://re-imagining.education/>. This vibrant 4-day virtual gathering happening *April 27-30th* brings together hundreds of leaders, un/learners, artists, and caretakers revisioning how we embody higher education, how we bring life into our places of learning. We are inviting financial support to ensure this event can reach as many people as possible and fuel ongoing projects in enacting life-aligned learning. Are you able to support this event <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Iyu-VWa2iNEt6iV9-A6AY1sjZEEIuOn5Z8ZhMGn…> at one of the different levels of financial sponsorship ($100-5000)? If so please respond to Eileen at reimaginingeducationconference(a)gmail.com. We also welcome questions or ideas for getting involved. With gratitude, Eileen -------------- Here is more information about the event: The Re-imagining Education Conference <http://re-imagining.education/> is a way to make connections and deepen relationships with a wide range of individuals, organizations, networks, and social movements dedicated to the transformation of education within and beyond academia, as a critical step in building a world in service to life. This year we have an incredible mix of interactive workshops, panels, facilitated discussions, open spaces, embodiment, lightning-talks, action-driven round tables, and collaboration labs. [image: Screen Shot 2023-03-08 at 4.14.48 PM.png] Some of the themes are: - Intergenerational Learning Spaces - Experiences in Alternative Higher Education - Ecological Storytelling and Embodiment - Building Bridges: Learning through Conflict, Healing and Trauma - Decolonising Our Systems: Liberating Education - How to Start Your Own Ecoversity - Mythic Storytelling - Place-fullness Amazing friends who have already joined are YES! Network <https://yesworld.org/>, Advaya <https://advaya.co/>, Sterling College <http://www.sterlingcollege.edu/>, Zak Stein from The Consilience Project <https://consilienceproject.org/>, young leaders from YouthxYouth <https://www.youthxyouth.com/>, Dr. Pavel Cenkl from Schumacher College <https://www.schumachercollege.org.uk/>, Manish Jain from Swaraj University <https://www.swarajuniversity.org/>, Sophie Strand, <https://sophiestrand.com/> Four Arrows from Fielding Graduate University <https://www.fielding.edu/>, Joe Brewer, Charles Eisenstein, Alessandra Pomarico, and many more inspiring re-imaginers. This event is offered in the spirit of the gift economy. Click here for Registration <https://re-imagining.education/> -- Eileen Walz *We are most whole when rooted into Nature, into soul, into community. * Musings <https://emwalz.medium.com/> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ecoversities Friends" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ecoversitiesfriends+unsubscribe(a)googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ecoversitiesfriends/CAKLRP5koxWXVtw69bYFg… <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ecoversitiesfriends/CAKLRP5koxWXVtw69bYFg…> . -- At. Andrea González Andino Relational and connector artist Ecoversities <https://ecoversities.org/> - What might the university look like if it were at the service of life? Re-imagining education conference <https://re-imagining.education/> Unleashed Learning <https://unleashedlearning.org/> - How will you unleash your potential? +593 984583118

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FW: International Day of Action for Rivers Webinar and Fundraiser March 14th 12-1:30 pm EST
by Christian Stalberg 13 Mar '23

13 Mar '23

FYI From: Hayley Stuart <hayleym.stuart1(a)gmail.com<mailto:[email protected]>> Sent: Wednesday, March 8, 2023 11:54 AM To: undisclosed-recipients: Subject: International Day of Action for Rivers Webinar and Fundraiser March 14th 12-1:30 pm EST Dear friends, I hope you are doing well! I'm writing to invite you to attend a bilingual webinar and fundraising event organized by the two non-profits I work for, Rios to Rivers and Amazonian River Allies (ARA Bolivia), and hosted by the University of Maryland School of Public Health. The webinar invites four indigenous river defenders from around the world to share experiences, lessons learned, and hopes for the future regarding their threatened rivers. Represented river basins include the Klamath (California/Oregon), the Congo, the Biobío (Chile), and the Beni (Bolivian Amazon) Rivers. The webinar will take place on March 14th, from 12-1:30 pm EST. You can register for the event HERE<https://sph.umd.edu/events/international-day-action-rivers-webinar>. [cid:[email protected]] I hope you all can make it! Please feel free to pass this on to any other individuals you think might be interested in attending! Warm wishes, Hayley

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AUTOREPLY GTA-PeDAGoG Digest, Vol 34, Issue 1
by lara.bartels＠welthaus.de 04 Mar '23

04 Mar '23

Vielen Dank für Ihre Nachricht! Ich bin ab dem 20. März wieder im Büro und werde mich dann zeitnah um Ihr Anliegen kümmern. Diese Email wird nicht weitergeleitet. In dringenden Fällen wenden Sie sich bitte an: bildung(a)welthaus.de Mit besten Grüßen Lara Bartels ---------------------------------- Dr. Lara Esther Bartels Bildungsreferentin Eine-Welt-Regionalpromotorin für Bielefeld, Gütersloh, Herford & Paderborn Tel.: (+49) 0521 / 98648-13 Email: lara.bartels(a)welthaus.de Welthaus Bielefeld e.V. August-Bebel-Str. 62 33602 Bielefeld www.welthaus.de Send GTA-PeDAGoG mailing list submissions to gta-pedagog(a)lists.ourproject.org To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.ourproject.org/mailman/listinfo/gta-pedagog or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to gta-pedagog-request(a)lists.ourproject.org You can reach the person managing the list at gta-pedagog-owner(a)lists.ourproject.org When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of GTA-PeDAGoG digest..." Today's Topics: 1. War By Other Names / Act 10 (Alessandra Pomarico) 2. 🌀 April 27 - 30 | Re-imagining Education Conference 3.0 (Ecoversities) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Fri, 3 Mar 2023 20:49:21 -0500 From: Alessandra Pomarico <alessandrapomarico(a)gmail.com> To: Ecoversities Friends <ecoversitiesfriends(a)googlegroups.com>, Ecoversities Weavers <ecoversitiesweavers(a)gmail.com> Subject: [PeDAGoG] War By Other Names / Act 10 Message-ID: <CANt_+rLoc4y+g2zMw1V_ecrf7cFso94+MhiaKME2A93_AtUubg(a)mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" Dear Friends and Comrades, We hope that this letter finds you well. We want to invite you this Sunday March 5th, to join with for a special edition of War By Other Names, making together one year since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. For ACT X, we are grateful to have a large group of friends, some who have been part of our assemblies before, others who join for the first time to share questions and thoughts which they believe are critical to consider, in responding to this war and its many reverberations, oscillations and consequences. We have tried below to give a sense of the day. It will unfold in four parts, each about one hour in length. Short interventions by invited contributors and then open conversation, break, then the next circle, spiral, grouping. We hope you will join us in animating a communal way to both register the immensity of violence and destruction which is concentrated in Ukraine and on Ukrainians and to do so, thinking through, both in its continuities and discontinuities to the violence in our midst, wherever we are situated. We wish together to create a space to construct in-between a political language and imaginary that is capable of confronting these brutal machines and regimes of violence. reimagining solidarity, mai _____________________________________ WAR BY OTHER NAMES ACT X with Veronika Zablotsky, Françoise Vergès Sista Oloruntoyin, Brother Mwayemudza Black Community Coalition for Justice and Self-Defense Alisa Lozhkina, Göksun Yazici Peter Linebaugh, Sabu Kohso Anatoli Ulyanov, Ovidiu Tichindeleanu Zoé Samudzi, Nicholas Mirzoeff and many friends Sunday March 5th, 2023 11AM to 3PM (EST) _____________________________________ TO JOIN https://zoom.us/join Meeting ID: 934 0924 8883 Passcode: Exter _____________________________________ INTRODUCTION Last year, we started with friends a series of encounters, attempting to think through the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, both in its specificities as well as it regional and planetary dimensions.* One year on, we see it even more clearly, this war, at the same time as it devastates Ukraine and destroys the lives of its peoples, is planetary and involves nearly all the large ensembles, molar lines, blocs, economic and political concentrations of coercion. And as much as it reveals, this war, like all wars, masks and occludes, gives rise to reactivity, countering our insurgencies. And in that sense, there is no denying its relevance to struggles on a planetary scale, including the fate of the planet itself. Whether it is at the level of ecology, economy, energy, weapons, technology, white supremacy, coloniality, hetero-patriarchy, border regimes, state power, capitalist realism much of what is being mobilized in the name of Ukraine from those larger ensembles seems nothing other than the continuation of the very state of things that need urgently to be abolished. So it is in this spirit that we would like to call for an assembling, marking this passing of a year since the invasion of Ukraine, not only in order to be present to the immense violence, displacement, destruction, death and suffering, but also to find ways of thinking, responding, which do not isolate it, searching for words or senses of it through other struggles, the many wars or war like states which underpin our worlds. For looking back at the previous acts, we assembled on our website a little overview: http://16beavergroup.org/summit/ ———————————————————— THE FORM We think to organize in 4 one hour circles. Invited contributors will speak for about 10 minutes, sharing questions they are thinking through from wherever they are at, and then keep some space for a conversation to emerge. We will try to take a short break between each of the circles. ———————————————————— THE INVITATION We don’t expect our contributors to explain what is happening, rather to try together to construct ideas, thought forms, out of words and questions which could help us overcome the dominant political imaginaries and narratives of this invasion, this war, our times, and what we are struggling for/against. ———————————————————— WAR BY OTHER NAMES *This process has not been systematic, it emerged week to week, assembly by assembly as lines of thinking held together mostly by association, affinity, friendship, and trust for a process of collective inquiry and its capacity to inform how we struggle against the wars in our midst. It started as a conversation with Olga Kopenkina and Dmitry Vilensky weeks before the invasion, to organize something to bring together artists and thinkers to discuss what seemed to us a grave situation. We organized the first encounter just days after the invasion had started. As the assemblings continued, Alisa Lozhkina and Ovidiu Tichindeleanu added further energy and nourishment to our collective, speculative but politically grounded inquiry and conversation. We remain grateful to these and the many friends who have given their time and energy to this common effort. ———————————————————— FORE/BACKGROUND Like the virtual assemblings we have organized with so many friends over the last three years, as well as the many more physically over two plus decades, we use these occasions to go beyond ourselves, offering instead questions, sharing speculatively, as ways not to convince but to open new paths for our ways of collectively perceiving as well as struggling through the local realities contexts where we are all in. As a friend and comrade, Stefano Harney, recently reminded us, we do this wrestling away the monopoly of states and corporations (for or non profit) to determine when, with whom, how, for what we assemble. And given that the preponderance of spaces and situations which are created for anything resembling assembly are usually of a professional sort, even within our activist contexts (i.e., instrumental): assembling to speculate and to discover new spaces of possibility, both for thought and action become critical to overcome the terms of order and go beyond disciplinary (in all senses of the term) logics. If whatever we do or undo has anything to do with art (which remains an open question), at the very least, it is to insist on this ability to put the state of things into question, to question our means, and to put into crisis any particular end sought, even in words. To open up a space to do that collectively, is not easy, it requires trust and in moments such as now, a generosity and care which seem harder to find. We lose so much time in making ends meet, there is never time to meet without ends, or to question those ends. These are dialogical moments when thinking returns to an experience of being in and out of a body, at a threshold, in contact, extimate, in common. In 2005, our friend and comrade Brian Holmes initiated with us a collective inquiry which he called Continental Drift. In that seeking, he insisted that the enormity of the challenge to understand our worlds, from the vantage point of what happened after 1989, 1991, required a breadth of knowledge and a complexity of approaches that no single person could carry, that it had to be done collectively and could be a way to embody and open up the necessity of thinking, searching together in our sometimes close, sometimes distant fields of study, struggle. Just last night in a conversation between friends and contributors to our assemblings, Silvia Federici and Verónica Gago, a question was raised regarding the fate of struggles when they seem to dissipate from the streets. And Silvia spoke about the necessity of spaces and infrastructures to hold together, imagine, build up our forces of continuing, presisting, resisting, responding, restituting, reimagining, reproducing our communities and our worlds. So as we continue to search for a language to articulate and weave together our struggles, we do so thinking through this long arc of efforts with friends and comrades, to insist on collectively constructing multiplying those practices, spaces and paths of autonomy, transversality, communality. __________________________________ Please note, for those who have expressed interest in these weeks to join our assemblings, we have made a list to send to you each week the details for joining. If for any reason you prefer to not receive these updates, we have made it easier. You can simply write an email to: assembling-leave(a)16beavergroup.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <https://lists.ourproject.org/pipermail/gta-pedagog/attachments/20230303/dbf…> ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Mon, 27 Feb 2023 19:00:01 +0000 From: Ecoversities <reimaginingeducationconference(a)gmail.com> To: <gta-pedagog(a)lists.ourproject.org> Subject: [PeDAGoG] 🌀 April 27 - 30 | Re-imagining Education Conference 3.0 Message-ID: <575899db5f6c8bbb9271adafc.9056ecc459.20230227185951.8760ba453b.f877333e(a)mail76.suw13.rsgsv.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"; Format="fixed" save the date and register to join! Hello friends, It’s coming! The 3rd Reimagining Education Conference will take place online from April 27th - 30th. This is your invitation to co-create a world where many worlds exist, weave nourishing relationships, and tap into deep imagination. Together, we’re re-imagining what learning can be. We’re embodying new forms of higher education, a wider education. REGISTRATION IS LIVE! (https://gien2tio.paperform.co/) We feel clear that deepening relationships is one of the most important ingredients in this event. Therefore, we are scheming even more ways to foster meaningful interactions during the conference. In addition to compelling discussions, workshops and panels, this year you’re invited to: * Participate in the Dream Cafe - These interactive sessions will be a chance to offer support and feedback to people in the community who are just beginning or still imagining how to bring a project to life. * Join a Crew - This is something new we’re experimenting with. You’ll be connected to a small group that together can get to know one another better and really go deep - sharing reflections, debriefing each day, and having some shared reference points for weaving the experience together. * Listen to (or give!) Butterfly Talks - Each day we’ll have a series of 7-min ‘lightning’-style talks on themes related to reimagining education. They’re part of our effort to magnify the voices and efforts coming real projects in motion around the world. We have a truly incredible lineup of folks already preparing the space and we are actively welcoming more educators, unlearners, artists, youth, rebels, and dreamers to get involved! If there’s someone you think should to be woven into this event let us know by replying to this email. 💌 As always this event is offered in the spirit of the gift economy with plenty of ways to contribute monetarily and beyond. Find out more by registering here (https://gien2tio.paperform.co/) . Lastly, if you are part of or know an organization that would like to weave us, please get in touch (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Iyu-VWa2iNEt6iV9-A6AY1sjZEEIuOn5Z8ZhMGn…) ! We are calling in more support for all the behind-the-scenes work that makes this all possible. With big dreams and wild hearts, The REC organizing crew https://www.facebook.com/ReImaginingEducationEcoversities http://instagram.com/ecoversities In collaboration with the Ecoversities Alliance (https://ecoversities.org) and with learning communities from around the world, the Re-imagining Education Conference is a space for transformative educators to connect, re-imagine, design, and embody new approaches to higher education from within and beyond academia. Follow the REC Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ReImaginingEducationEcoversities) Page (https://www.facebook.com/ReImaginingEducationEcoversities) , Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/ecoversities/) and check the Website (http://re-imagining.education) for updates. ============================================================ ** Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ReImaginingEducationEcoversities) ** Link (https://www.instagram.com/ecoversities/) ** Website (http://re-imagining.education) Copyright © 2023 Re-imagining Education Conference, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website or through one of our events. Our mailing address is: Re-imagining Education Conference PO Box 31535 Rpo Main Street Whitehorse, YT Y1A 6K8 Canada Want to change how you receive these emails? You can ** update your preferences (https://education.us1.list-manage.com/profile?u=575899db5f6c8bbb9271adafc&i…) or ** unsubscribe from this list (https://education.us1.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=575899db5f6c8bbb9271ada…) . -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <https://lists.ourproject.org/pipermail/gta-pedagog/attachments/20230227/17f…> ------------------------------ Subject: Digest Footer _______________________________________________ GTA-PeDAGoG mailing list GTA-PeDAGoG(a)lists.ourproject.org http://lists.ourproject.org/mailman/listinfo/gta-pedagog ------------------------------ End of GTA-PeDAGoG Digest, Vol 34, Issue 1 ******************************************

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War By Other Names / Act 10
by Alessandra Pomarico 04 Mar '23

04 Mar '23

Dear Friends and Comrades, We hope that this letter finds you well. We want to invite you this Sunday March 5th, to join with for a special edition of War By Other Names, making together one year since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. For ACT X, we are grateful to have a large group of friends, some who have been part of our assemblies before, others who join for the first time to share questions and thoughts which they believe are critical to consider, in responding to this war and its many reverberations, oscillations and consequences. We have tried below to give a sense of the day. It will unfold in four parts, each about one hour in length. Short interventions by invited contributors and then open conversation, break, then the next circle, spiral, grouping. We hope you will join us in animating a communal way to both register the immensity of violence and destruction which is concentrated in Ukraine and on Ukrainians and to do so, thinking through, both in its continuities and discontinuities to the violence in our midst, wherever we are situated. We wish together to create a space to construct in-between a political language and imaginary that is capable of confronting these brutal machines and regimes of violence. reimagining solidarity, mai _____________________________________ WAR BY OTHER NAMES ACT X with Veronika Zablotsky, Françoise Vergès Sista Oloruntoyin, Brother Mwayemudza Black Community Coalition for Justice and Self-Defense Alisa Lozhkina, Göksun Yazici Peter Linebaugh, Sabu Kohso Anatoli Ulyanov, Ovidiu Tichindeleanu Zoé Samudzi, Nicholas Mirzoeff and many friends Sunday March 5th, 2023 11AM to 3PM (EST) _____________________________________ TO JOIN https://zoom.us/join Meeting ID: 934 0924 8883 Passcode: Exter _____________________________________ INTRODUCTION Last year, we started with friends a series of encounters, attempting to think through the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, both in its specificities as well as it regional and planetary dimensions.* One year on, we see it even more clearly, this war, at the same time as it devastates Ukraine and destroys the lives of its peoples, is planetary and involves nearly all the large ensembles, molar lines, blocs, economic and political concentrations of coercion. And as much as it reveals, this war, like all wars, masks and occludes, gives rise to reactivity, countering our insurgencies. And in that sense, there is no denying its relevance to struggles on a planetary scale, including the fate of the planet itself. Whether it is at the level of ecology, economy, energy, weapons, technology, white supremacy, coloniality, hetero-patriarchy, border regimes, state power, capitalist realism much of what is being mobilized in the name of Ukraine from those larger ensembles seems nothing other than the continuation of the very state of things that need urgently to be abolished. So it is in this spirit that we would like to call for an assembling, marking this passing of a year since the invasion of Ukraine, not only in order to be present to the immense violence, displacement, destruction, death and suffering, but also to find ways of thinking, responding, which do not isolate it, searching for words or senses of it through other struggles, the many wars or war like states which underpin our worlds. For looking back at the previous acts, we assembled on our website a little overview: http://16beavergroup.org/summit/ ———————————————————— THE FORM We think to organize in 4 one hour circles. Invited contributors will speak for about 10 minutes, sharing questions they are thinking through from wherever they are at, and then keep some space for a conversation to emerge. We will try to take a short break between each of the circles. ———————————————————— THE INVITATION We don’t expect our contributors to explain what is happening, rather to try together to construct ideas, thought forms, out of words and questions which could help us overcome the dominant political imaginaries and narratives of this invasion, this war, our times, and what we are struggling for/against. ———————————————————— WAR BY OTHER NAMES *This process has not been systematic, it emerged week to week, assembly by assembly as lines of thinking held together mostly by association, affinity, friendship, and trust for a process of collective inquiry and its capacity to inform how we struggle against the wars in our midst. It started as a conversation with Olga Kopenkina and Dmitry Vilensky weeks before the invasion, to organize something to bring together artists and thinkers to discuss what seemed to us a grave situation. We organized the first encounter just days after the invasion had started. As the assemblings continued, Alisa Lozhkina and Ovidiu Tichindeleanu added further energy and nourishment to our collective, speculative but politically grounded inquiry and conversation. We remain grateful to these and the many friends who have given their time and energy to this common effort. ———————————————————— FORE/BACKGROUND Like the virtual assemblings we have organized with so many friends over the last three years, as well as the many more physically over two plus decades, we use these occasions to go beyond ourselves, offering instead questions, sharing speculatively, as ways not to convince but to open new paths for our ways of collectively perceiving as well as struggling through the local realities contexts where we are all in. As a friend and comrade, Stefano Harney, recently reminded us, we do this wrestling away the monopoly of states and corporations (for or non profit) to determine when, with whom, how, for what we assemble. And given that the preponderance of spaces and situations which are created for anything resembling assembly are usually of a professional sort, even within our activist contexts (i.e., instrumental): assembling to speculate and to discover new spaces of possibility, both for thought and action become critical to overcome the terms of order and go beyond disciplinary (in all senses of the term) logics. If whatever we do or undo has anything to do with art (which remains an open question), at the very least, it is to insist on this ability to put the state of things into question, to question our means, and to put into crisis any particular end sought, even in words. To open up a space to do that collectively, is not easy, it requires trust and in moments such as now, a generosity and care which seem harder to find. We lose so much time in making ends meet, there is never time to meet without ends, or to question those ends. These are dialogical moments when thinking returns to an experience of being in and out of a body, at a threshold, in contact, extimate, in common. In 2005, our friend and comrade Brian Holmes initiated with us a collective inquiry which he called Continental Drift. In that seeking, he insisted that the enormity of the challenge to understand our worlds, from the vantage point of what happened after 1989, 1991, required a breadth of knowledge and a complexity of approaches that no single person could carry, that it had to be done collectively and could be a way to embody and open up the necessity of thinking, searching together in our sometimes close, sometimes distant fields of study, struggle. Just last night in a conversation between friends and contributors to our assemblings, Silvia Federici and Verónica Gago, a question was raised regarding the fate of struggles when they seem to dissipate from the streets. And Silvia spoke about the necessity of spaces and infrastructures to hold together, imagine, build up our forces of continuing, presisting, resisting, responding, restituting, reimagining, reproducing our communities and our worlds. So as we continue to search for a language to articulate and weave together our struggles, we do so thinking through this long arc of efforts with friends and comrades, to insist on collectively constructing multiplying those practices, spaces and paths of autonomy, transversality, communality. __________________________________ Please note, for those who have expressed interest in these weeks to join our assemblings, we have made a list to send to you each week the details for joining. If for any reason you prefer to not receive these updates, we have made it easier. You can simply write an email to: assembling-leave(a)16beavergroup.org

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