[Sdpg] Permaculture at July 17 "Beyond Protest Politics" conference

[San Diego Permaculture Center]

Beyond Protest Politics: Long term strategies for radical social change
Saturday, July 17th, @ the Che Cafe, UCSD
http://organiccollective.org


How can we win?
How can we move away from petitioning the government for the change we
want and start actually creating that change?
How can we have a movement that is 100 times larger than the one today?


We have been on the defensive for four years. While so much of our focus
has been directed at the Bush regime, whose vast horrors need not be
detailed here, we cant help but feel that in our almost hysterical sense
of immediacy, a great deal of perspective has been lost. Exhausted from
protest after protest, and intermittently gripped with despair, we have
taken little time to nurture our visions and assess the effectiveness of
our strategies.

The pouring into the streets in refusal and outrage has been
unprecedented in San Diego (and across the world), but it is important
to remember that protest, just like voting, is a tactic. Tactics cannot
replace vision and strategy. While the need to oust Bush from office,
A.K.A. vote for Kerry is obvious to most, that is somewhat beside the
point. What are we doing to breathe life into these words that we throw
around like democracy, justice and community.

This conference is part of a project to further the ideas and
implementation of direct democracy. How can we reclaim the power that
makes the decisions effecting our everyday lives? Since repressive forms
of power are vast and multiform, so must the creative resistance against
them be.  Decentralized, yet organized. Fluid, yet poised. The power we
need to individually and collectivelly cultivate must challenge the
unprecedented network of greed, racism, and corruption present in our
region. We can no longer ignore the global nature of our local
condition. San Diego is unavoidably global--from the militarized border
to the ubiquitous military bases, from the transnational cultures to the
transnational corporations. Hence, our local struggle is already a
global affair.

So many of us are involved with exciting projects that seek to counter
these injustices, and many more are hoping to get involved. We seek to
facilitate discussions within the activist community(s) to bridge common
goals within a context of democracy and collective autonomy. How can we
strengthen and build  movements for border and immigrant justice,
feminism, sustainable food production and food security, environmental
design in our daily lives, cooperative business and more? We welcome you
to join us July 17, 2004 at the Che Café on the campus of UCSD.


Preliminary Workshop Schedule
9:30AM - 10:00AM        Sign in and Conference Intro
10:00AM - 12:00PM       Permaculture Roundtable
12:00PM - 1:00PM        Lunch
1:00PM - 2:30PM         Cooperative Businesses
                        Border Justice
3:00pm-4:30PM   Panel: Beyond Voting - Strategies for direct democracy
5:00PM-6:00PM   Music and Food


Workshop Descriptions:

* Food Security, Ecological Design, and Community Agriculture--Moving
towards a sustainable future for San Diego, featuring several community
leaders discussing exciting possibilities and current projects.
Resistance is Fertile!
Panel and roundtable discussion featuring:
-Robert Farmer, Education Director of the Tierra Miguel Foundation and
organic farm
-Marcia Boruta of the San Diego Economic Conversion Council and
Permaculture Center
-Several local community garden activists

*Cooperative Businesses--Collective decision making and collective
power.  How can we work together to see real change?  How can we pay the
rent?  Featuring members of local co-ops.

*Border Justice Panel--Revealing the violent connections between
globalization, racism, and the militarization of the border.
Confronting the Border Patrol raids, the Triple Fence, and "Free Trade."
  How do we work across race, class, and gender lines in building a
Border Justice movement?

*Beyond Voting: Strategies for Direct Democracy--Facilitated discussion:
Toward visions and strategies for direct and accountable politics so
that we are making the decisions that affect our lives.  Assessing short
term tactics like voting while envisioning long-term golas and
strategies for social change.

for more updates, see http://organiccollective.org