Marginal Notes: Participants Wanted!

Marginal Notes

Political Study Group

“Strong people don’t need strong leaders” - Ella Baker

Marginal Notes will act as a space for people to work towards strengthening their analysis so they can in turn support others in doing the same. Our focus will be continuing the work in the community on building an anti-oppressive practise and organizational capacity. The group will be non-hierarchical and utilize consensus-based decision making processes throughout its meetings over the summer.

We'll be reading/listening/watching collectively chosen materials*, and having facilitated discussions and participating in workshops about anti-oppression and organizational capacity.

Marginal Notes is designed in the vein of 'training the trainers' initiatives. People thinking of being involved should be interested in the more long-term goal of forming a cohesive network of trainers in Halifax. Once the network gains a profile it could make training and support available to community organizing groups.

Most importantly we want to create a safe space that is respective, validating and affirming. We want emotions to be equally as respected as intellect in the meetings and for people to feel like they have ample space for sharing their stories. We hope this will help folks feel comfortable to challenge themselves and others in their statements and questions.

Want to be involved? Send us a brief paragraph letting us know a bit about yourself, and why you're interested. Send to MarginalNotesHalifax@gmail.comby Thursday, June 9.

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*Topics the group may look at relating to anti-oppression training include: the fundamentals of power, privilege and oppression; anti-racism in collective organizing; building white anti-racist praxis; classism and class privilege; ally-ship training; institutional patriarchy; and trans- and homo-phobias. Topics relating to organizational capacity that we could look at include: non-violent communication; collective organizational models; meeting facilitation; decision-making models; conflict resolution strategies; and collective accountability processes.

A Note on Accessibility:

We've been thinking a lot (and want to hear from you!) about how to make Marginal Notes a more accessible space. We realize that folks come from a lot of different backgrounds and are at different places in terms of familiarity with reading political theory or engaging in organizing. We're wary of organizing spaces that become dominated by the most ‘experienced' people and want to consciously challenge societal messages that tell us someone else is the leader. We'll aim to distribute tasks and responsibilities equitably. We’ll also work to be encouraging of others in taking on challenging tasks so we can all be developing skills in areas where we have less experience. In an effort to make the space more accessible the study group will budget for the reimbursement of transportation costs. We're also in the process of connecting with folks in the community who do community support surrounding care for dependants and are hopeful that we will be able to provide in home childcare to participants during the study group sessions.

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