TRANSNATIONAL EVICTION RESISTANCE MEETING, CÓRDOBA

TRANSNATIONAL EVICTION RESISTANCE MEETING,
CÓRDOBA 24th?27th October 2014

INVITATION LETTER


Compañeras y compañeros,

We, the 15M STOP-DESAHUCIOS platform from Córdoba (Spain) want to invite you to participate in the first "Transnational eviction resistance meeting" (ENTRAD).

It will take place in Córdoba (Andalucía, Spain) between the 24th and 27th of October 2014. Besides we send you informations about the international training that will take place in the days right before the meeting.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

The idea of the meeting comes from the needs and challenges that we have detected within our collective, maybe shared by other collectives in Spain and other countries. We have defined the following objectives and we want that the training and the meeting helps us to achieve them:

- Get to know and share tools for our work on: anti-sexism, overcoming fears, building strategies, actions and conflict management...
- provide meeting spaces at local and international level with groups within the same struggle
- grow in our group identity
- present our work towards society

With the transnational meeting and the training we want to reinforce our bonds within the movements against evictions and for proper housing but also to exchange our experiences with topics that affect the functioning of our groups.

Here follows information about the meeting. Below you can find informations about the training. We will progressively provide more detailed informations on a website that we will make for that purpose.



PROGRAM

The program from Friday to Sunday will include open spaces for participants to propose content (workshops, discussions, presentations,...), time for assemblies (opening and closing sessions), and a resistance party.

We have designed six areas which intend to cover the most relevant aspects of our work:

1. Non-Violent direct Action
2. Mutual Aid
3. Negotiations
4. Occupations ("re-alojos" in spanish)
5. Strategy
6. Legal work

Please tell us if any relevant aspect for your group is missing from the list. We want that the structure of the program make it possible for each person to fully attend at least two of the areas, if desired. The design we have in mind will allow that if from one group 3 persons come, they could cover the 6 areas among the three if they want to.


LOGISTICS

During the meeting days we will work together with people who speaks different languages. To facilitate the communication, we count with the support from the collective BLABLA that will coordinate the translations whenever they are needed.

The organization of the meeting its supported by the local group (La Perola), that will coordinate the food (vegan, biological, seasonal and regional). Accommodation will be offered to the people coming from outside.

Because we don't want that money to be a barrier for the people to participate. We count with a budget (although limited) to support the people that afford to travel for economical reasons.

To avoid a negative impact of this meeting on the planet we want to encourage everyone to travel by land instead of using planes. Please note that we wont reimburse plane tickets, except for justifed reasons.


APPLICATIONS FOR THE MEETING UNTIL THE 20th OF AUGUST

If you want to take part in the transnational meeting we need you to apply before the 20th of august answering the questions below. This will help us to calculate the necessary logistics and ensure that the content will include us all. We have limited capacity (maximum 300 persons), we will try that a diversity of groups can be present. Please send your answers to: casabuscagente@riseup.net

1. Which group are you part of?
2. How many people will come from your group?
3. When are you planning to come? when are you planning to leave?
4. Do you need help to cover your travel costs?
5. Do you want to propose a workshop, make a presentation or have a debate? which ones?
6. Do you have any allergies we should take into consideration?
7. Do you need translation from Spanish?
8. Anything else we should be aware of? (accessibility, childrens...)


INFORMATIONS ABOUT THE TRAINING

The training consists of 4 days (from the 20th to 23rd of October) of sessions that build on each other that aim to facilitate the exchange of experiences between the groups that work against evictions.

We have chosen popular education as the methodology for the training because it creates a space of exchange between equals. We will work with a reduced number of people that will allow us to get to know each other, build group and go deeper into the topics. Its for this reason that there are limited places. The selection will be based on geographical, gender and group diversity, to obtain the bigger possible multiplication effect.

A diverse group of international activist will prepare and facilitate the different sessions that will cover the following topics: sustainable activism, conflict resolution, anti-discriminatory practice and direct action.

Would you like to join the trainers group? do you have ideas for the content? contact us in casabuscagente@riseup.net

The persons who participate in the international training are more then welcome to take part on the international meeting that will happen directly after the training. If you want to participate in the training write us an email until the 20th of august answering the questions from above and the following, so we can know a bit more about you. State clearly if you want to attend the training, the meeting or both:

9) What do you hope to gain from attending the training?
10) What experience of social change practice/activism do you have?
11) In which groups or social movements have you been involved?
12) How do you want to use what you learned during the training in your work for social change? (on a personal and group level)