Something big is in the air! Five years ago 150 Anarchist and anti-authoritarians people of color from all walks of life gathered in Detroit to begin the process of interconnecting struggle and passion towards building a new world empowered from below. Five years on, and many struggles later this movement is being rejuvenated by many old and new comrades internationally!

The one goal of the Northwest APOC Gathering is to build connections in our region and to begin conversations towards building a national anti-authoritarian / autonomous movement of people of color.

The Gathering will be split up into sessions lasting two hours each, with breaks in between. Facilitated discussions will include but are not limited to the following areas:

1. What is APOC? How do we define it? What should an APOC politic encompass?

2. What might an APOC organization look like? Strategy? Structure? Politics?

3. What workshops/discussions would we want to see happen at the 2009 National APOC Conference?

Questions, ideas, suggested pre-gathering readings, expansions of the above questions, additional questions, etc… please get in touch!

Additionally if you can provide or need housing, need any special considerations, can help with facilitation, or can provide rideshares to the Gathering PLEASE GET IN TOUCH ASAP!

Northwest APOC Regional Gathering
Portland, OR, August 16-17th
northwestapoc@yahoo.com

THE SCHEDULE

Friday (8/15):
7pm-10pm: dinner/movies/meet/greet APOC ONLY.

Saturday (8/16) at Gathering site:

10am-11am: Vegetarian/Vegan breakfast (all meals will be Vegetarian/Vegan friendly) at the site
-Sign up board for Break Out sessions going on from 3-5pm

I. 11am-1pm: “WHAT IS APOC?”
-history
-what does the “A” mean to people?
-what does an APOC politic look like?

II. 1pm-3pm: “WHAT WOULD AN APOC ORGANIZATION LOOK LIKE?”

-what kind of organizing would we do?
-what has or hasn’t worked in the past?
-what do we need?
- APOC Media: What we have, what we need, how to be more effective

2:30pm-3:30pm lunch on site

III. 3pm-5pm: BREAK OUT GROUPS! At breakfast we will have a big sign up board for folks to list a topic and others to sign up to participate in that discussion during this slot, folks can sign up more and review it at lunch and we can break out from there. This could be gender based, queer based, specific identity based, maybe something on national liberation struggle or anti prison industrial complex organizing, whatever folks feel the need to get together with others to talk about for a couple hours.

SATURDAY NIGHT: benefit event open to APOC and allies with DJ /spoken word

Sunday (8/17): at gathering site
11am-12pm: brunch

IV. 12pm-2pm: “NORTHWEST APOC” A discussion specifically about the Northwest,
-where are we from?
-what struggles exist there?
-what social movements exist?
-what might strategies for organizing look like in the future?
* Coalition work with white allies?

V. 2pm-4pm: “APOC NATIONAL CONFERENCE 2009″
-what do we want to see happen there? –
-brainstorm topics, locations,
-what can we do to make it happen?

4pm-5pm: snacks, reflect, and end.

@@What we need from you@@

Donations- Although you won’t be turned away for lack of funds we are asking for a $10 donation to offset costs of food, site and local transportation. Any left over funds to marked for future NW APOC projects including 2009 National APOC Gathering. There will also be opportunities for fundraising at Saturday night’s benefit event.

Facilitators: we have approx 6 facilitators and could use 2-3 more
-please pick your topics (1st and 2nd choice please)
-2 facilitators per session
-facilitation still needed for sessions I, III, IV, V
-respond to the list or northwestapoc@yahoo.com by Aug 10th puh-lease

Guiding questions: these are questions facilitators will use to move discussions forward.
- please submit ideas for guiding questions for any of the topics
- please submit ideas for reading suggestions related to topics

Note-takers: we need folks with note-taking skills in each session. A report back will be posted to various lists as well as a possible NW APOC Gathering Zine.

Photographers: Nothing fancy, just a couple folks to take pics for posterity and future use in a zine or online.

Important**
Contact nortwestapoc@yahoo.com ASAP if you did not receive the pre-gathering invite because you must be vouched for (either thru the invite or other APOC folks) in order to attend this gathering.

Particular needs? - if there are any particular needs you have regarding housing, food, transportation please contact nortwestapoc@yahoo.com ASAP.

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