Online Workshop Series presented by White Awake

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/beyond-identity-online-workshop-series-tickets-45068768901

Facilitators: Eleanor Hancock and Andy Banks

• Three sessions: May 26, June 9, and June 23 (Saturdays)

• Each session: 3-5pm ET / 12-2pm PT

• $70 for whole series

• No one is turned away for lack of funds.

• Live sessions will be held as video conferences via Zoom

• Sessions will be recorded and shared with participants

• White Awake is a nonprofit organization. If you would like to make a donation above and beyond the cost of your ticket, you can do so here.

• Questions, or to request a scholarship, write us at: info@whiteawake.org

“If their strategy is to divide, ours has to be to unite.” - Andy Banks, labor organizer

Have you ever wondered just what it would take to end white supremacy? You are showing up as an ally in anti-racist struggle, you are doing your part to dismantle your socialization as a white person … but is it enough? What are our long term goals, and are we taking the steps we need to get there?

Forged in the cauldron of the 13 colonies and soon to be United States, white supremacy redirected centuries of resistance by European peasants and laborers to economic exploitation by a small ruling class, effectively paving the way for capitalism as we know it today. We are left with the ravages of racism, genocide, colonialism and imperialism, consuming our lives and the natural world in order to further consolidate economic power in the hands of a very small number of people.

It is this base of economic power that has to be disrupted and replaced if we are ever to escape the devastation and build the world we need. And yet many people who enter social justice spaces are met not with a broad analysis of capitalism and power, but rather a list of rules and a tight control of interpersonal interaction that can be stifling or even harmful. While understanding and correcting how we have been socialized is important, a rigid focus on identity and “right and wrong” ways of acting will not build the collective base of power necessary to topple something as powerful as global capitalism, complete with national armies and private mercenaries to protect the interests of a few and maintain the horrific, white supremacist agenda that is enmeshed within it.

This workshop series focuses specifically on the relationship between racism and capitalism. The goal is to help participants develop a strong political and historical analysis that can direct our energy into social movement spaces that are focused not on infighting or trying to “get it right,” or even forcing small improvements to the the current social/economic order, but on a complete and radical change. Change that takes us beyond what may seem possible, all the way to what we need.

In this workshop series, White Awake Director Eleanor Hancock and long time labor organizer Andy Banks will help participants:

• Strengthen your understanding of the relationship between capitalism and white supremacy
• Learn principles of organizing around solidarity (mutual self interest as opposed to guilt or obligation) that can make it easier to talk to other white people about social change and provide a solid foundation for multiracial, coalition work
• Fortify yourself against shame, blame, and coercive tactics sometimes used in dogmatic social justice spaces
• Apply an analysis of white racial socialization within a broad vision of radical social change
• Reflect on People’s Platforms as an organizing tool to help win “the world we need” - one where the economy and other social systems are based not on extraction and exploitation, but on care for each another and the planet

No one is an expert. We hope to learn and grow together!

White Awake focuses its work on the education and transformation of people who are socialized and racially categorized as “white,” and sometimes holds white caucus spaces. This series is explicitly open to anyone who is interested in the topic and comfortable with a focus on white identity in a larger political context.