TIMETABLE
TUESDAY 4th
6pm-late		opening hang out night
			direct action training

WEDNESDAY 5th
10am–12pm		welcome to country + global state of war discussion
12pm–1pm		lunch
1pm–2:15pm		attacks on indigenous communities
			the net linux*
			activist trauma support*
			innercity / suburban divide
2:30–3:45pm		work, dignity and social change
			massage*
			workers and the environment*
			sex worker activism
4–5:15pm		where’s all the queer & feminist organising?
			activist burnout*
			who really controls the world?
5:30–8pm		affinity group organising + dinner
6–8pm			direct action training
8pm–late		spokescouncil

THURSDAY 6th

10-11:15am		work organising, informal work & international solidarity
			radical map of sydney*
			discussion on white priviledge*
			legal briefing
11:30am-12:30pm		2008 G8 summit
			community response to sexual assault
			revolutionary art*
			co-operatives
12:30-1:30pm 		lunch
1:30-5:30pm		open space for workshops
6-8pm			direct action training
8:30pm-late		action meeting*

FRIDAY 7th 		

9:30-10:30am		action meeting
10:30am-12pm		building networks of resistance: beyond APEC
12-1pm			lunch
1-2:15pm		discusson of F.L.A.R.E. Reader*
			palestine*
			state of peace/state of war
2:30-3:45pm		legal training
			MASN [Mexican Australia Solidarity Network]
			Food not Bombs – past to present*
4-5:30pm		spokescouncil + dinner
6pm-late 		stopbush spokescouncil at St. Joseph’s church, Newtown												Newtown

location:
- main location for the convergence is tooth gallery, 67 sydenham rd
marrickville [a 2 mintue walk from sydenham station]
- Events marked with * are at 40 jersey st, marickville [a short walk
from tooth gallery]

Direct Action Skillshares - part of FLARE convergence

* Why and how of affinity groups

* Forming affinity groups

* Developing Shared intent

* Hands on blockading and defence against police violence

* Practice scenarios

Tuesday 4 September - 6.30 pm -67 Sydenham Rd, Marrickville (near Sydenham Station)

Wednesday 5 September - 6pm - 40 Jersey St, Marrickville (off Livingstone Rd)

Thursday 6 September - 6pm - 40 Jersey St Marrickville (off Livingstone Rd)

Safer Spaces for F.L.A.R.E in the void……   

WE want to create a space together. A space that is safe. A space that is respectful of each of our stories, our experiences, our pains and fears. We want to open a space to explore our privileges, and within our relationships and interactions, live towards a world free of oppression, assault, marginalisation and inequality.  This is a survivor-centric space.

We want to acknowledge the varied journeys that have bought people here today. We need to accept that no space can be totally safe for all peoples. However, we need to believe that through self-organizing, self awareness, and willingness to challenge our own behaviour, we can create a space that is SAFER…..

We should be asking ourselves about our privileges while we are creating this radical space.  How they might be affecting people around you…. Are you speaking too much?  Are you a white middle class man dominating discussion? A man standing over a womyn? A highly educated womyn speaking too much? We ask that you look around and wonder who is not being heard? It is up to  you to make an effort to open up a space for others to speak.

We are here to create and build together new strengths in our networks. For these networks to grow in the right way, we need to challenge each other, in the way that we engage with one another. To look at the way we have grown up and participated in capitalism and patriarchy. We want to challenge the capitalist, the rapist, the racist, the misogynist, the homophobe, and relearn our desires and dreams for what we really want. We want to do this together.

We are here to celebrate all  sexualities (queer, lesbian, gay, hetero,bi, asexual, questioning etc).

We are here to celebrate the spectrum of gender identity (male identified, female identified, trans, intersex, ftm, mtf, genderqueer etc)

Don’t assume someone’s gender identity, and if you’re not sure, ask! be aware of how much notions of binary gender are embedded in our language. Try replacing ‘him’ or ‘her’ with ‘they’ “

We are here to share spaces and recognise all our abilities and dif-abilities, and work out how to live together.

We are here to create a space for those who haven’t been heard, who have been absent, who have been forgotten, a space where differences of communication (language/articulation) are not judged.

We are here to explore how we can ensure our many ideas for change and new ways of being, are embedded within a framework of respect for the culture, stories and needs of the Indigenous peoples of this land. How can we create a self organizing society that coexists with  an acknowledgement of  Indigenous sovereignty?

5 points of what Safer Spaces is all about…..

*  Respecting people’s physical, mental and emotional boundries

*    Always getting explicit verbal consent before touching or crossing someones boundries

*       Respecting all people’s  opinions, beliefs, differing states of being (mental/physical & other), and differing points of view

*       Being responsible  for your own actions and the effects they have on others

*       Taking responsibility for your own safety and get help if you need it

Grievance Committee

*****If you are not ok and something has happened. You can call the F i t v phone or go to the info desk and find out who to speak to.

F.L.A.R.E in the void will have a grievance committee. This will be a group of people from all different places/communities/experiences.*****

We are calling for people to create a grievance committee at F i t v. We are asking that a person from each affinity/travelling/friendship group has someone who comes to a meeting to talk about possible strategies of support. We encourage people who haven’t been involved in safer spaces organizing before.

The GC role will be there to support and mediate the possible issues of sexual/racist/trans/homophobic assault issues that may come up during F.L.A.R.E in the void. We want the grievance committee to be accessible.

Things at F i t v that we will try and provide to make this space/convergence week safer-funner!!!!!!

F.L.A.R.E in the void is a dry space. No drug use and no alcohol consumption. We want people to be clear on their decisions and to hear decisions clearly. This will be a busy week and people will need their sleep if they decide to have it. We know that people will want to get wasted. Please have respect when coming into the space drunk . There are heaps of other places to party. We’ll see you there!

Safe[r] accommodation…….

We recognise that many unwanted/non-consensual sexual encounters occur when people don’t have a place to stay and/or end up sharing sleeping space with someone out of necessity/desperation/blurred judgement. We understand that when people are in a precarious or vulnerable situation where they don’t have a place to stay, it is easy to take whatever accommodation/shared bed is offered.

Therefore, we would like to offer safe(r) accommodation to anyone who needs it during F.L.A.R.E in the void. During the convergence, please speak to someone at the info-table (at the entrance to the space) for assistance with this. There is a phone that you can call whenever.

DIY childcare…..

so that parents can have fun and get amongst the action. We want to set up a childcare that is not parents-only run. There will be a roster and people are encouraged to help out.

Accesibility of convergence space and sleeping spaces.

There will be measurements of doorways, number of stairs and info about dif-ability toilets put on flareinthevoid.webpress.com and printed on a separate info sheet that will be available just before the convergence.

We apologise that this information is not available in the reader!!!

Police Policy….

An important part of making the space safe (both practically and emotionally) is keeping the cops out, so I think it’s worth adding a NPP-No Police (pigs) Policy.

We will not let police in the space.

Do not answer the door if the cops arrive. Tell people and we should have a meeting asap!! If the pigs turn up with a warrant, we will need to read the warrant, to check if all the information is correct.

We can call Dale Mills on 0422 644 363 for legal advice.

On undercovers & security

We want to create an open and inclusive space. We need to assume that there will be undercover cops at this convergence, but no one should be called as being a cop based on their appearance or dress.

We should think about ways of creating a general culture of security so we don’t have to fear undercover cops.

Suggestions:
- don’t give out anyone’s name / contact details without checking with them first.  Point people towards publicly available contacts, or take and pass on a message.
- keep contact lists secure
- don’t talk about individuals’ involvement in particular actions or plans
- don’t ask or talk about someone else’s, or your own, participation in any action that was/is illegal
- talk to people on a need to know bases.
No photos to be taken at flare except in workshops with the explicit permission of everyone there. We should learn from g20 and the thug hunt….

http://engagemedia.org/apec

http://sydney.indymedia.org.au

We’re organising billeting for people who need a place to stay.  So you’re coming from out of town & need a bed (or a floor, or a backyard to pitch a tent in) please email flare_billeting@yahoo.com.au as soon as possible.

Please let us know if are coming with friends & want to stick together, if you are bringing children, if you have any pet allergies, if you have access issues, if you are able to bring a tent & camp, & any other information about your requirements to help us with our matchmaking service.  Please bring a sleeping bag if you can.

If you’re in Sydney and have space to offer, please get in touch. 

Wednesday August 29

6.30 pm

Black Rose Anarchist Library & Bookshop

22 Enmore Rd, Newtown. (Just near Newtown Station)

Food by donation (raising funds for the convergence.)

Alongside the launch of an exhibition at Little Fish Gallery, part of Trajectories of Dissent.

If we look, we can see the power of collective struggle across the globe. Yet we also witness war and oppression, and the power of the ruling class can seem greater than ever. This callout is an invitation to explore and confront this situation. While the functionaries of capital and the state meet in Sydney this year for the APEC conference, to discuss how to further their neoliberal assault on the earth and our lives, we too will meet, to discuss and organise our continuing struggle against them, and for liberation and a world we make together.

This is an open invitation for people to put on workshops, provide new ideas and help organise in the lead up to and during the convergence. We know that everyone is struggling in their own way: what we want is to share these experiences.

While the convergence might also be a space to plan actions that coincide with the APEC meeting, that’s not all it can be. We do not wish to act solely in response to the meetings of the bosses, but to build our own bases of power.

We want to bring together our experiences of resistance and struggle, individual and collective, from daily life, political campaigns and anywhere else.

The struggle for liberation involves an array of strategies of resistance and subversion: from conversations to liberating space, from cooking together to jamming the circuitry of capital at work, from actions in the street to calling each other on our shit.

It sometimes seems that our various struggles are just small cracks in the global capitalist system, but we can think about how these cracks meet up to form a network of global resistance, a network that has power. This is why it’s important to meet and to talk about our daily struggles against global capital, to have an opportunity to listen to each other and teach each other.

We want to take time to think about the weaknesses as well as the strengths of what we do. We want to celebrate the ways we are powerful and the times we are able to combat the repressive power of capital.

We want to see an open and inclusive space with room for commonality and difference, in which solidarity - and a culture of care and love - can grow.

September in Sydney will see a climate of heightened police repression, the continuation of the fear politics that are so central to the current global state of war. The intensification of state repression has real effects on our daily lives, on how we feel and how we think about resistance. We have to find ways to support each other, so we can recognise our fears but continue to struggle.

The convergence is a space of both exodus and resistance. Exodus because we are not only refusing the imposition of capitalist social relations, but also creating alternatives through the ways we refuse; and resistance because we are not simply retreating from a grim reality but confronting the machinery behind it.