Patriarchy and the Movement: Current discussions and organizing against patriarchy in Portland, Seattle, and Oakland

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Join comrades from Seattle, Portland, and (via Skype) Oakland to discuss together the current confrontations with patriarchy within the movement. The dialogue around patriarchy in the movement has fired up recently on the west coast, myriad anti-patriarchy groups have formed, feminists have written several statements in the post-occupy climate, and conversations have ignited within collectives. We would like to bring these discussions to a public forefront in order to understand the challenges of confronting patriarchy within the movement, the analysis and praxis that is being formed, and the timeliness of confronting these issues.


Feb 28th 7pm
Red and Black Cafe
400 SE 12th

To watch the event on livestream: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/kmt63



From the organizers:

We would like to extend an invite to the members of your collective to attend and participate in the discussion titled "Patriarchy and the Movement" at the Red and Black on February 28th, at 7pm sharp. Although this is a public event, we are especially interested in maximum participation of active collective members and organizers, particularly those who are in mixed gender collectives and political spaces. We feel that having this conversation is long overdue, and because of the simultaneous nature of discussions concerning patriarchy in the movement on the west coast we are particularly encouraging attendance from active collective members in order to check in between cities about the prevalence of this issue currently affecting our movement.

Comrades from Seattle who were active in west coast coordination during the occupy movement will come to Portland to speak during this event, comrades engaged in organizing in Oakland will speak via Skype, as well as members of various active collectives in Portland. Comrades from all three cities are part of organizing this discussion. In addition, a clinical psychologist will speak on patriarchy in the movement from mental health perspective, and the traumatic effects of patriarchy. There will be several recent texts and zines on the subject available at the event, and childcare will be provided.

We realize a public discussion of this exact nature is fairly unprecedented - there is a lot of preparation going into this event and it will be run in a tight and serious manner. Because of demand the event will be livestreamed so that collectives in other cities can listen, and we are hearing that some collectives are making attending or viewing the event mandatory and in some cities comrades are organizing viewing parties and discussions.

We hope that your collective can participate in the event, and that together we can build a serious, honest, and respectful conversation concerning the challenges we have historically and presently face in movements and radical organizing, and educate and respect each other through the process.