SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2005
9:30 am to 3:00 pm
McMaster University Student Centre room 311/313

9:30 am sharp
CONSENSUS DECISION MAKING with FACILITATOR RAE MITCHELLThrough a combination of games, music, discussion and play, we will examine power and privilege, while sharing concrete skills needed for developing egalitarian, anti-racist groups working for social change. We will also explore the need for self-care and community when working with others for such change.

Outline:
This 3 hour workshop will explore:
> Hierarchical vs Egalitarian Group Structures
> Consensus Decision Making Skills
> Sites of Privilege and White Supremacy
> Anti-Oppressive Skills for Structural Change
> Taking Care

Rae Mitchell has participated in the struggle to protect Red Hill Valley, helped organize Ana’s Village (a conference on social anarchism), attended many street actions for justice and previously hosted RadioActive, a weekly radio show exploring activist culture in Hamilton. She is interested in exploring the connections between love, community and social change.

12:30 pm
LUNCH – (We’ll be ordering in some food – please bring your own plates. cups, cutlery and any special food items/snacks)

1:00 pm
ANTI-RACISM and SOCIAL JUSTICE – A PARTICIPATORY WORKSHOP with NUZHAT ABBAS

This introductory workshop will bring together people interested in social justice issues to consider the impact of racism. We will analyse how racism often gets normalized in popular culture (bring your own examples/ newsclippings/ advertisements!) and figure out how racism intersects with sexism, classism, homophobia and other forms/practices of discrimination. By understanding how privileges and oppressions intersect, we will try and figure out strategies to resist the many ways
in which we become complicit in racist practices and systems.

Nuzhat Abbas is an award-winning educator and writer, based in Toronto. She recently resigned from her position as Human Rights Educator at Human Rights and Equity Services at McMaster University to pursue writing full-time. She now works (part-time) as an educational consultant specializing in human rights, gender, religion, race, and sexuality. Her writing has been published in Fuse, THIS magazine and Herizens and is forthcoming in an anthology titled “Voices of
Resistance: Muslim Women on War, Faith and Sexuality.”

PLEASE PRE-REGISTER AT OPIRG 905-525-9140 ext. 26026 or randy@opirg.org