NEW YORK– The renowned Summer School of Women’s Activism created by AF3IRM NYC will open on July 11, Saturday, noon to 4 pm. It will hold four-hour sessions for the next three Saturdays thereafter, bringing the concepts, ideas and vision of the women’s struggle for emancipation and liberation to those who would otherwise have scant opportunity to come into contact with such. The registration fee of $30 for students and unemployed; $40 for professionals and $80 per person for institutions includes light lunch and the course’s current reading materials. Women and women-identified of color are eligible to enroll. All classes are considered as a “safe space.” Interested parties can register here: www.SSOWA2015.eventbrite.com.
The first session – The Historical Concepts of the Women’s Struggle — will be facilitated by Ninotchka Rosca and Justine Calma. This session and will provide the historical and visionary framework through which the women’s movement can be viewed. It will involve presentations and discussions on such key concepts as gender, class and intersectionality.
The second session – Imperialism, Globalization and the Re-feudalization of Women – will be facilitated by Patricia Ramirez and Nicole Salcedo. This session looks at the “redefinition” of work or professions for women of color, as Capital pushes against national economic boundaries, destroys tradition and transforms human bodies, not labor alone, into commodity for profit-generation. It also looks into the revival of slavery in different forms.
The third session – Militarism and the Assault on Democratic Processes – will be facilitated by Joan Ariete and Leani Auxilio. It will examine the militarization of government interactions at the international, national and community level – a policy which, linked to the economic disenfranchisement of communities of color, has virtually transformed such spaces into war zones.
The fourth session – Five Continents Feminism – will be facilitated by Olivia Canlas and Michelle Cervantes. It will look at similarities and differences among women’s struggles in the five continents, focusing on the major issues that keep women in both poverty and oppression.
All classes include skills training to help participants a) document everyday sexism; b) make public such a documentation; c) deal with coercive authorities like the police; and d) manifest solidarity across national and ethnic boundaries.
AF3IRM NYC considers the SSOWA one of its major contributions to the emergence of the Fourth Wave of Feminism, in which women of color and transnational women should have a singularly strong voice.
For any questions, please email: [email protected]