Participatory workshop with discussion between both parents and non-parents on the need for support and how childless allies can support their comrades' continued participation in the movement.
NYC Anarchist Bookfair Collective
Don't Leave your Friends Behind: Anarchism & Supporting Parents and Children
Anarchism challenges us to create personal and social change but often provides no support for mothers, fathers, and other caretakers of children who try to do so. Parents need support to continue in the scene. Otherwise, as activists get older and start having kids, they drop out and it remains a movement of 20-somethings. We need to recognize that parents have specific needs in order to continue participating (just as others have needs which are often accommodated). By valuing the involvement and work of radical parents, we form a more vibrant culture of resistance and, by including them in our activities now, we teach the young a vision of a more equitable future. This will be a participatory workshop with discussion between both parents and non-parents on the need for support and how childless allies can support their comrades' continued participation in the movement.
This workshop will be presented by China Martens, Vikki Law, Jennifer Silverman and Amy Hamilton.
China Martens, editor of "The Future Generation" and mom of a 19-year-old, will talk about her experiences in organizing the Kidz Corner at the Mid-Atlantic Radical Bookfair in 2007. Vikki Law is a writer, photographer and mother. For the past two years, she has been interviewing anarchist mothers about the support they receive from their fellow radicals.Jennifer Silverman will address specific ways in which activists can be allies to parents of children with special needs. Amy Hamilton, a parent at the Brooklyn Free School, will discuss intergenerational education models and movement building.
Radical Parenting: Raising Kids and Creating Community http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/program/48649
No Families, No Justice: Building a Family-Inclusive Left Movement http://www.archive.org/details/LeftForum2009NoFamiliesNoJustice
Jennifer Silverman: My Baby Rides the Short Bus http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/program/37481
The City From Below - Children In the City (video) http://www.archive.org/details/CityFromBelow_ChildrenInTheCity
NYC Anarchist Book Fair 2010: Radical Childbirth www.archive.org/details/NycAnarchistBookFair2010RadicalChildbirth
Links:
Don't Leave Your Friends Behind: http://dontleaveyourfriendsbehind.blogspot.com/
issue #1 of Don't Leave Your Friends Behind as a pdf download: http://bengal.missouri.edu/~maxwellr/DontLeaveYourFriendsBehind.pdf
issue #3 of Don't Leave Your Friends Behind as a pdf: http://issuu.com/strongwindsahead/docs/don_tleaveyourfriendsbehindzine3.bw.final
Kidz' City (Baltimore childcare collective): http://kidzcitybaltimore.blogspot.com/
CRAP! (Child Rearing Against Patriarchy) Collective in England: http://feministchildrearing.blogspot.com/2009/08/london-radical-childcare-collective.html
"Bringing the Next Generation Into Struggle: The Children's Social Forum" http://www.leftturn.org/bringing-next-generation-struggle-children%E2%80%99s-social-forum
My Baby Rides the Short Bus: The Unabashedly Human Experience of Raising Kids with Disabilities http://shortbusbook.blogspot.com/
Regeneracion Childcare NYC www.childcarenyc.org
Indykids http://indykids.net/main/
For info about the upcoming 2012 NYC Anarchist Bookfair see: www.anarchistbookfair.net
To contact the NYC Anarchist Book Fair organizing collective to volunteer, submit workshop and tabling applications, make a donation, or get more information, email us at info[at]anarchistbookfair[dot]net
More NYC Anarchist Book Fair archives can be found at www.anarchistbookfair.net/archives