Greetings friends:

The Finding Our Roots Collective is seeking support for our second annual conference next April. We are looking for people to help organize the conference and help plan benefit events.

Our next meeting is: Monday the 26th, at 7:00 at New World Resource Center (1300 N. Western)
We are happy to announce the second Finding Our Roots conference in Chicago, April 25-27, 2008 called:
“Anarchist Organizing in the Midwest.”

Last year we planted seeds of resistance with a conference called Finding Our Roots: An Anarchist Conference on Theory and Action. We discussed different theories on how to water and harness our movements, where the roots of our struggles started, and what could be improved to create a militant revolutionary movement that could lead to a society that would blossom with radiance. It has been over a year and its time to see how we have grown, what tactics we have used and what else is going on in the cities, forests, prairies and farmlands in the Midwest. Finding our Roots is not for the privileged yuppie flower pot, rows of GMO corn fields, or plants at a nursery sold to the highest bidder, we are feral and wild.

What is the purpose of this conference? “Anarchist Organizing in the Midwest” is the second in a series of conferences beginning last year with “Finding Our Roots: An Anarchist Conference on Theory and Action.” We are a collective that has been discouraged by disorganization within our community and are seeking to create debate by bringing people together. We are building off of the last conference, and seeing how we have put theory into action.
We are creating a forum to discuss community organizing, to educate each other about active and effective projects, to discuss tactics of organizing communities, how to reach out to fellow workers, and collectivize society and it's wealth
Anarchist Organzing in the Midwest (neighborhoods, cities, regions) and that the catagories that should be included but not limited to are: student, labor, household, queer, etc...etc...
Also when looking at this as a topic, try and focus on answering the followoing questions: How do we organize ourselves as anarchists? How do we organize with people who aren't anarchists? How do we organize regionally?
Since the last conference we have taken all of the previous suggestions into account. We plan on providing plentiful vegan food, longer workshops and breaks and provide a chill out area to relax during the conference.

Activities this year include:
A Radical History Tour of Chicago, a talent and variety show and The Eighth Annual Anarchist Film Festival.

CALL FOR WORKSHOP PROPOSALS
2nd Annual FINDING OUR ROOTS: Anarchist Organizing in the Midwest

We are seeking workshop proposals for the second annual Finding Our Roots conference, to be held in Chicago April 25-27, 2008. This year's conference topic is “Anarchist Organizing in the Midwest.”

Workshops should address any aspect of the ways in which anarchists do, can, or should organize in our region. Central questions to consider when formulating workshop ideas:

 How do we organize ourselves as anarchists?
 How can we organize across diverse communities and political tendencies?
 What does it mean to organize locally – as communities, as cities, as a region?

We strongly encourage proposals covering intersections between anarchism and other communities of resistance. Potential topics include Queer resistance, anti-racist organizing, labor/workplace organizing, organizing by and with communities of Color, neighborhood organizing, gender equality, transportation rights, environmental justice, health care, housing and household-based organizing, anti-military/anti-recruitment campaigns, prison abolition and prisoner support, anti-hunger/food redistribution campaigns, organizing against sexual violence, media activism, student organizing, and any other area in which Midwest anarchists are organizing.

Proposals should be NO MORE THAN ONE PAGE and should include:

 Workshop title
 Your name and contact info (and those of workshop presenter(s) if this isn't you – though please make sure you have confirmed with all presenters BEFORE you volunteer them)
 Specific area(s) of organizing/activism covered (see above list)
 Detailed workshop description, including an explanation of how your workshop fits into the topic of Anarchist Organizing in the Midwest
 Questions to be posed/answered in the workshop
 Main workshop goals
 Workshop format (Will it be an open discussion? Panel/roundtable? Lecture followed by Q&A? **If wkshp will involve a presentation followed by discussion/Q&A, please consider how much time you will devote to each.)
 Any special materials or equipment (ie, audiovisual) you will need
 BRIEF reading list [optional]

Workshops are one hour and fifteen minutes (75 minutes) long. Workshops will be scheduled in 90-minute blocks, which INCLUDES a 10-15 minute break between workshops. We ask that presenters be diligent about staying within this time frame. If you feel you need more time for your workshop, please explain why, and we will consider allotting a longer slot.

Submit proposals to: chicagoanarchisttheory (at) riseup.net
Proposal deadline: February 15, 2008

For more information:
www.myspace.com/findingourroots
www.mayfirst.wordpress.com

email chicagoanarchisttheory (at) riseup.net