hupcollective

here is an update from Ingrid of the Catalyst Project, followed by an update and appeal from the Coalition to Stop the Demolitions:

Hello friends and family, 12-18-07

Clare Bayard and I have just returned back to Oakland after 2 weeks in
New Orleans. We were there as part of our ongoing Catalyst Project New
Orleans Solidarity Program.

I am so happy to be able to share with you some victories from just
this last week in New Orleans. The struggle to stop the demolition of
4,600 low income public housing units is far from over but the
Coalition to Stop the Demolitions has had some victories this week
that have slowed them down. Hopefully the victories and some more time
will help us build a stronger force for the ongoing struggle for
justice and the right of return of all residents.

Below my email is a letter from the Coalition to Stop the Demolitions,
which lists a bunch of ways national solidarity is needed!

Links to short films from this last week and more:
http://bravenewfilms.org/blog/22079-the-battle-over-new-orleans-
http://bravenewfilms.org/blog/21862-new-orleans-police-attack-

Just this last week in New Orleans…
( Collapse )
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
( Collapse )

Hearts On Fire:
The Struggle for Justice in New Orleans
Reflections on anti-racist organizing, solidarity and collective liberation

by Ingrid Chapman

“The people of New Orleans will not go quietly into the night,
becoming the homeless of countless other cities while our own homes
are razed to make way for mansions, condos, and casinos. We will join
together to defend our claim and we will rebuild our home in the image
of our own dreams!"
(People’s Hurricane Relief Fund and Oversight Coalition)

Introduction

I hope that this article speaks to people who have gone to the Gulf Coast
to work in solidarity and those organizing in solidarity around the
country. I hope that it clarifies for my allies and friends from and
living in New Orleans why I was there and why this struggle and all of you
have so deeply inspired me.

This reflection was written over the past year upon my return from New
Orleans in the Fall of 2006. This article briefly contextualizes New
Orleans before and after Katrina. It gives my reasons for going to New
Orleans, the organizations I worked with and some of their strategies for
organizing the year following Katrina. It addresses some of the struggles
residents and social justice organizations were and are up against. In
particular I focus on how racism hinders the work of social justice
organizers, activists and volunteers in the relief and reconstruction
effort and how that racism creates barriers for movement building. I look
more deeply at the racism internal to one of the organizations I worked
with and our strategies and attempts at challenging it. I then get into
more detail about the particular work I was involved with over the course
of two 3-month periods in New Orleans in the spring and summer of 2006.
In particular, I highlight anti-racist organizing with other white people
and the Black led struggle for justice in the Lower Ninth Ward. I then
share some of the key lessons I drew from this experience and why I am
deeply committed to the struggle against racism and for collective
liberation.

To Read More:
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=30&ItemID=13721

Towards Collective Liberation: The Catalyst Project Program for the US Social Forum, June 27th-July 1st

It is with tremendous joy that we send you our program. Our anticipation for the Social Forum is building and we look forward to joining with thousands of comrades working to build the movements we need. This program is not ours alone, we are collaborating with 23 wonderful organizations on the sessions that follow. We look forward to seeing many of you in Atlanta. Please send this out to your friends and networks. Any help you can provide with outreach is much appreciated.

Catalyst Project works from the assumptions that we need to build grassroots political power in working class communities and communities of color, that women's, transgender and gender variant leadership is central to building dynamic and powerful movements, and that there is a need to organize people who have race, class and gender privilege to participate in building movements led by oppressed communities for collective liberation. We are rooted in the belief that we need a praxis-oriented practice of drawing lessons from our work to advance our vision and understanding of the world. These are the assumptions that shape our program.

1. "You Can't Kill the Spirit": Solidarity Organizing in the Movement to Rebuild New Orleans

Thursday 1-3, Room 1402 at the Westin Hotel

A workshop by the Catalyst Project and People's Hurricane Relief Fund

Panelists: Akua Jackson, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, an organizer from New Orleans INCITE!: Women of Color Against Violence and the Women's Health and Justice Initiative, Ingrid Chapman, Catalyst Project and Kali Akuno from the People's Hurricane Relief Fund ( Collapse )

2. Throwing Down Against Empire: Military Veterans Speak-Out on Practical Strategies to End War

Saturday 3:30-5:30, Room 1202 at the Westin Hotel

Organizations: War Resisters League, Catalyst Project and Iraq Veterans Against the War

Participants: Greg Payton (Vietnam Veteran), Aimee Alison (Gulf War Veteran), Diedra Cobb (Iraq War Resister) IVAW rep TBA

Moderators: Steve Theberge and Clare Bayard

Can we build an anti-war movement that not only ends the occupation of Iraq, but also challenges the foundations of war? This panel will bring together Veterans of the Vietnam, first Gulf, and Iraq wars to share their experiences of resistance and organizing and discuss how you can support GI resistance, the Conscientious Objectors movement and counter-recruitment as core strategies for building a successful anti-war movement.

3. GI Resistance & Solidarity Movement Against War & Empire

Friday 1-3, Choir Room at Trinity United Methodist Church

Organizations: Courage To Resist, Iraq Vets Against the War and Catalyst Project

The G.I. resistance/solidarity movement is made up of organizations and people engaged in work, ranging from counseling to legal advocacy to political campaigns supporting public resisters and their families. Currently there is no umbrella, network, or clearinghouse where we can all come together to exchange information, coordinate and collaborate, and strategize together. At the Social Forum we aim to bring together the different elements of this movement to build more cohesion and strengthen our work and our movement.( Collapse )

4. "Battle for the Hearts and Minds": White Anti-Racist Organizing Visions and Strategies

Saturday 1-3, Room 1205 at the Westin Hotel

A Catalyst Project workshop with presentations from Mel Pilbin of the Heads Up Collective and Amy Dudley of the Rural Organizing Project. ( Collapse )

5. Another Politics is Possible: Living the Vision from Below and to the Left

Friday 10:30-12:30, Georgia Ballroom East Room at Renaissance Downtown
Organizations: LA Garment Workers Center, Sista II Sista, INCITE!, Coalition of Immokalee workers/Student Farm worker Alliance, Center for Immigrant Families, Regeneracion Childcare, Pachamama Childcare collective, Harm Free Zone, Left Turn Magazine, Catalyst Project, and Refugio.
What does it mean to "live the vision" for social justice—to actualize the transformative world we desire within the present-day life of our organizations and movements? ( Collapse )

6. Building in Context: Movements Across Generations

Friday 10:30-12:30, Mezzanine Left Room at Atlanta Civic Center

Organizations: Resistance in Brooklyn; Catalyst Project; Institute for Multiracial Justice, Southerners on New Ground

Panelists: Elizabeth Betita Martinez; Mandy Carter; Meg Starr; Clare Bayard; Moderated by Matt Meyer
( Collapse )

*If any radio journalists want to record any of the sessions please contact chris@collectiveliberation.org