Come out for the Reclaim The Commons workshops this Sunday! There is a lot to choose from and a lot to learn - whether you’re looking for solid info about biotech, food and farming issues, or practical skills you can take home and use right away. Check out RECLAIMTHECOMMONS.NET for information about all of our events, from April 8th-11th!

Reclaim The Commons is a response to the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) Convention in Chicago from April 8th-12th. BIO is a group of the world’s biggest agribusiness, pharmaceutical and bioweapons corporations. BIO promotes genetically modified (GM) food, corporate controlled farms, bioweapons research and a profit-driven healthcare system.

Join Reclaim the Commons to call for: Safe and healthy food! Sustainable farms! The right to save and plant seeds! Community garden space! Science in the public interest! Intact ecosystems! Access to healthcare! The genetic integrity of all life! Biodiversity! Human rights for farmers in the Global South! A world free of genetically engineered bioweapons! Stopping cruelty to animals!


RECLAIM THE COMMONS WORKSHOP SCHEDULE:
Sunday, April 9th, Acme Art Works 1741 N. Western Ave. Doors Open at 9:00 am

9:30 Food Sovereignty 101, Seed Saving, Corporate Personhood

11:15 GMOs in Latin America, Movie: “We Were Painting Butterflies”, Crafts with Plastic Bags, RTC Past and Future

1:45 Tapestry of the Commons, Mapping the Alternatives, Another World Exists (Intentional Community), The Green Scare

3:30 The Medical Failure of Animal Testing, Know Your Rights Training, Radical Sustainability for Autonomous Communities, Making Shoes with Recycled Sweatshirts

Workshop Descriptions

Food Sovereignty 101 - John Peck, executive director, Family Farm Defenders

Many people in the U.S are unfamiliar with the concept of food sovereignty compared to food security. Unfortunately, food security has also become a “Trojan Horse” for creeping corporatization of the global food system. As a watered down "technical issue of how best to get food to those who need it, food security avoids the deeper political debate about why hunger exists at all in a world that has plenty of food. Food sovereignty, on the other hand, valorizes common sense principles of community autonomy, cultural integrity, and environmental stewardship – ie. people determining for themselves just what seeds they plant, what animals they raise, what type of farming occurs, and what they will ultimately eat for dinner. In this workshop will discuss the global principles of food sovereignty set forth by Via Campesina, and how these can bolster domestic campaigns for reclaiming our food/farm system.

Abolish Corporate Personhood - Jan Edwards of Alliance For Democracy

Slavery is the Legal Fiction that a Person is Property. Corporate Personhood is the Legal Fiction that Property is a Person. By looking at the Constitution and Supreme Court cases we will discuss the historical interplay between People's Rights and Corporate Rule, how and why the Courts gave personhood to corporations, why it is so detrimental to our democracy and what are the current strategies underway to Abolish Corporate Personhood. This workshop is information packed but easy to understand.

Basic Seed Saving - Radish of Southern Exposure Seed Exchange in Virginia

Since the 1970's over a thousand previously independent seed companies have been snatched up by huge corporations - many of them agrichemical corporations. But we don't have to buy seed from multinational corporations, and we can save our own seeds. Seed saving is a dying art, and we are losing hundreds of plant species each year. This is a beginner's guide to basic seed saving, keeping the control of the seed in the hands of the people.

GMO's in Latin America: A Geopolitical and Agroecological Outlook
Carmelo Ruiz, Author of "Transgenic Ballad: Biotechnology, Globalization and the Clash of Paradigms".

This workshop will provide a broad picture on what's happening regarding GMO's in Mesoamerica (genetic contamination of corn), South America (Roundup Ready soy) and the Caribbean (namely Cuba and Puerto Rico). The GMO issue will be placed within a broader eco-political perspective that will include militarism and free trade. Alternative grassroots movements will be discussed, as well as the profound difference and incompatibility between organic agribusiness and a truly revolutionary agroecological vision.

Crafts with Plastic Bags! - Jenine, all the way from Providence, Rhode Island!

Ever found yourself on a desert island with only plastic bags?? Learn how to make almost anything (re)using plastic bags!! From clothes, to shoes, to rope, and housewares- practically anything! Hands on workshop. Lots of information, too.

Reclaim the Commons: History and Future - Meddle Bolger, Ethan Genaver & Edmund Frost

From 2004 to 2006 – and beyond? Initially formed to oppose & demonstrate radical alternatives to BIO2004, RECLAIM THE COMMONS has grown from a single mobilization into an ongoing movement. This workshop will feature discussion with organizers of each of the RTC mobilizations in San Francisco, Philadelphia and Chicago. We will look forward to the 2007 convergence against BIO in Boston, as well as consider RTC’s participation in mobilizations beyond biotech, such as global resistance against the July 15–17 2006 G8 Summit. We can also discuss the nitty-gritty that needs to happen in order to strengthen our long-term movement, like clarifying organizational structure & completing the long-delayed move of www.reclaimthecommons.net to a new (and much better) content management system!

Tapestry of the Commons, an Interactive Workshop
Jan Edwards and Nancy Price of Alliance for Democracy

What are the Commons? In this workshop we will explore natural and cultural commons; public and private property; interconnectedness and sustainability; and the threats of privatization, globalization, commodification and corporatization. With a grounding in history and through exercises and games we will emerge with ideas for focused action designed to reclaim our common wealth. Or at least have fun trying!

Mapping the Alternatives - Claire Pentecost and Daniel Tucker

Picture an alternative food system, incorporating small-scale local growers, equitable distribution, and resource recycling. Such an alternative is rapidly coming into being in Chicago. What exists already? What are the connections? What is still missing? In this workshop we will attempt to bring together the disparate parts of what is happening to produce better food and distribution in our region. We will workshop ways to literally picture and actively encourage these efforts through mapping._See the most recent issue of AREA Chicago for the inklings of these efforts www.areachicago.com

Movie Screening:"We Were Painting Butterflies".
Molly Pocket, of Bolozone Housing Collective and New Roots Urban Farm in Saint Louis

A documentary that chornicles the events surrounding the arrests of 27 activists who were planning to protest the 2003 World Agricultural Forum in St. Louis. Follow the stories of those entangled in the web of repression as the film explores the illegal police raids that took place at several collectives, and the subsequent effects these actions had on the Flying Rutabaga Cycle Circus and the St Louis community. Question/answer period and room to share stories to follow about: police repression, the World Agricultural Fourm, the status of legal matters for those arrested in St Louis and how we can strenghten our support networks.

Another World Exists - Radish of Southern Exposure Seed Exchange in Virginia

Exploring intentional community. A short overview of egalitarian and ecologically-minded communities, and how to get connected.

The Green Scare - Presented by Don, volunteer with the North American Earth Liberation Prisoner Support Network (NAELPSN)

Since December, 2005 over a dozen people have been arrested around the country and charged with participation in Earth and Animal Liberation Front actions. Some of the defendents face life in prison, and tragically, one life has already been lost. Bill Rodgers, accused of multiple arsons, was found dead in his Arizona jail cell last December. Support for those arrested, whether they are innocent or guilty, is a crucial element in the struggle to defend the earth. In the words of eco-prisoner Jeff 'Free' Luers: "These people need your help... If you ever considered yourself part of this struggle, a part of this movement, if you were ever just thankful somebody was brave enough to make a stand - YOU have to help them."

The medical failure of animal testing and the fight to close Huntingdon Life Sciences - Jay Johnson

Come learn about the ethical and scientific arguments against animal testing as well as the history of the ongoing campaign to close Huntingdon Life Sciences (a contract research organization (CRO) which has been known to test GMO's on animals). A campaign which has come up against some of the largest companies in the world and won and has driven HLS to the brink of bankruptcy."

Radical Sustainability for Autonomous Communities
Scott Kellogg, co-founder of Rhizome Collective, from Austin Texas

This is a workshop in urban ecological survival skills and will explore the cross-section of permaculture and social activism. This will be a skill-share focused on techniques used to secure people's access to life's basic necessities: food, water security, shelter, waste management and energy production. The techniques are ones which have been developed over the past five years at the Rhizome Collective, an urban sustainability and community organizing project in Austin, Texas.

Make shoes from your old sweatshirts! - Taught by Jenine, all the way from Providence, RI !

Learn to make shoes from recycled sweatshirts! DIY and make your next pair of shoes all from cheap or free materials - and hey, you’re recycling!