Reflection and Resistance Gathering: Speakers, free market and more

June 7, 2012Administrator

Reflection and Resistance woodstork illustration by Jesce Walz

August 10 & 11, 2012
Charlotte, N.C.

Things are coming together rapidly in the two-and-half months before the Reflection and Resistance: Anarchism and Christianity X gathering at Area 15 in Charlotte, NC and the updates are a-plenty. Take a look at what’s new below, then register to attend.

Speakers

Over the past week-and-a-half, organizers have confirmed the participation of several speakers. We are striving for increased diversity among our presenters this year and are actively pursuing  more women’s voices to add to the lineup below. At this time, however, we are pleased to welcome:

  • Ashanti Alston Omowali: anarchist activist, speaker, writer, former Black Panther and Iconocast interviewee
  • Willie Baptist: Scholar-in-Residence and coordinator of the Poverty Scholars Program at the Poverty Initiative
  • Kifu Faruq: self-described Farmerpreneur and director of programming and marketing for Green Space Initiative
  • Anthony Nocella II: author, educator, community organizer, professor and Quaker-anarchist activist
  • John Wessel-McCoy: former union organizer and current project organizer at the Poverty Initiative
  • Todd Zimmer: Charlotte-based Rainforest Action Network organizer

The Free Market

Resource-sharing working group members are pulling together a free market/bartering village for gathering attendees and neighbors of Area 15. If you are coming to the gathering and want to bring items to share and exchange, please tell us when you register. Letting us know you intend to participate will assist our planning and enable our team to send you all the necessary information as the event draws nearer.

Kidspace

Organizers are planning to provide a fun and safe designated space for children (and parents) at the gathering. If you are a parent who is interested in using this space and/or a person with experience working with kids who would like to volunteer, please let us know when you register so we can keep you posted. If you have already registered, and are a parent and/or are interested in helping, contact conference @ jesusradicals . com

Support the gathering

With free gathering space and all food costs being covered by some of our hosts, our primary costs will be speaker travel ($1,020.87 at the time of this post), with additional expenses for the bands and musicians we invite to make this year extra special (more details on performers to come soon). Please help us make our tenth anniversary a fully-funded one by visiting the gathering giving page.

—Reflection and Resistance illustration by artist and outreach working group member Jesce Walz

Tagged as: Anarchism and Christianity conference, events, jesus radicals

  • Andylewis

    Anthony Nocella II is a $ paid FBI/ CIA informant. Why is he invited to speak at a conference that is supposedly related to anarchy?

    • Nekeisha

      Anthony Nocella was invited to speak at a gathering at the FBI academy due to his expertise in criminology and conflict resolution. He accepted the invitation, gave a presentation,then wrote and published his reflections about the experience in the Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies (the abstract is available at http://www.jceps.com/print.php?articleID=73 ) He has since been asked to testify on the defense teams of individuals and groups that the government has charged for actions in defense of the environment, he continues to write for anarchist presses and co-author books with other anarchist authors, and he continues to speak at various anarchist gatherings around the country.

      When I approached Anthony about speaking at this year’s gathering he was forthright about his talk at the FBI academy. We had a lengthy discussion about his reasons for participating, touching on his personal ideals as an anarchist who is also Quaker as well as his own desire to dispel misinformation that law enforcement often uses to target environmental defenders. I spoke with fellow organizers Carlos and Jason about my conversation with Anthony, and after we processed the dialogue, we decided to follow through on our invitation. Given the extensive work that he has done and continues to do as an activist and academic on issues such as the industrial prison complex and prison abolition, green scare, animal liberation/critical animal studies, anti-racism/anti-sexism and other anti-oppression issues, Queer anarchism, nonviolent direct action and peacemaking, academic repression of radicals, radical narratives around disability, social justice education, hip-hop as resistance and so on, he offers many different session possibilities. A mere glance at this website at http://www.anthonynocella.org/ attests to the kind of resource he can be on the topics of reflection and resistance.

      There are many in the activist/anarchist community who feel betrayed by and suspicious of his decision to speak at the FBI Academy. I understand that sentiment and can say that my own theological and political disposition would have led me to decline such an invitation. But talking at a law enforcement gathering is hardly the same as being a “paid FBI/CIA informant.” If he is such a thing, then he’s certainly not doing a very good job of hiding it, especially since he doesn’t really try to. However, if you have specific information to verify that he is on the FBI, CIA, homeland security or any other payroll then I would be happy to receive it for further discernment with the other organizers.

      • Nekeisha

        PS: Someone posted Anthony’s comments from his journal article on the AK Press site as a response to his latest book with fellow anarchist Steve Best. Unfortunately, I could not find a link to the full text of the original article Anthony wrote. But I encourage people to read his reflections below and to visit his website for more information about him instead of relying on unsubstantiated inflammatory claims to determine what they think.

        “While I do not advise others to attend the FBI Academy or work with the FBI at all, I do believe it was beneficial in the sense that I provided conflict resolution and explained that kicking in doors at gun point and using other forms of repression are not the answer to ending illegal actions activists often take, but rather an escalation of conflict and a cause of more extreme tactics. Will the FBI take up nonviolent conflict resolution, in the form that the Alternatives to Violence Program (a group I volunteer with) uses?[ii] Most likely not. Most importantly, I saw repressive pedagogy[iii] (which I currently study for my Social Science Ph.D. and Education MA) at work, which is fundamentally based in using false-truths against activists, e.g.: ‘the Animal Liberation Front kills people’ or Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC, a nonviolent animal rights campaign to close down Huntingdon Life Science) ‘flips over cars and firebombs research laboratories’ (the latter act was done by an underground group identifying themselves as the Revolutionary Cells.[iv] I did of course explain to them the truth that the ALF is a nonviolent group and SHAC does not flip over cars and conduct firebombing, so these false-truths would stop. Repressive pedagogy is designed and used by military, fascist regimes, and dictatorial militia groups, in hopes to have non-questioning members, which promote or conduct their actions under false-truths. Is the tactic of disseminating falsehood done intentionally or out of ignorance of the real nature of activist groups? I believe politicians, who are bought by corporate interests, truly spearhead this propaganda campaign (by passing repressive legislation), but of course the FBI Academy continues it, be it by their own conscious knowledge or not.”

  • Nekeisha

    Anthony Nocella was invited to speak at single gathering at FBI academy due to his expertise in criminology and conflict resolution. He accepted the invitation, gave a presentation,then wrote and published his reflections about the experience in the Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies (the abstract is available at http://www.jceps.com/print.php?articleID=73. He has since been asked to testify on the defense teams of individuals and groups that the government has charged for actions in defense of the environment, he continues to write for anarchist presses and co-author books with other anarchist authors, and he continues to speak at various anarchist gatherings around the country.

    Anthony was forthcoming about speaking at the FBI academy when I approached him about sharing at this year’s gathering. We had a lengthy discussion about his reasons for participating, touching on his personal ideals as an anarchist who is also Quaker as well as his own desire to dispel misinformation that law enforcement often used to target environmental defenders. I spoke with the fellow organizers about my conversation with Anthony, and we decided we want him to participate at the event. Given the extensive work that he has done and continues to do as an activist and an academic on issues such as the industrial prison complex and prison abolition, the green scare, animal liberation, anti-racism, Queer anarchism, the nature of criminology, nonviolent direct action and peacemaking, academic repression of radicals, “disability” resistance, anti-racism/anti-sexism, gender studies, social justice education, hip-hop as resistance and so on, we saw many reasons for him to participate. A mere glance at this website at http://www.anthonynocella.org/ attests to the kind of resource he can be on a gathering about Reflection and Resistance.

    There are many in the activist/anarchist community who disagreed with his speaking at the FBI Academy and I can personally say that my theological and personal disposition would have been to decline. But not approving of a talk at a law enforcement gathering is nowhere in the same league as being a “paid FBI/CIA informant. If he is such a thing, then he’s certainly not doing a very good job of hiding it, especially since he doesn’t really try to. However, if you have some kind information that I have missed with regard to his being on law enforcement payroll then I would be happy to read it and to share it with the other organizers for further discernment.

  • Nekeisha

    PS: Someone posted Anthony’s comments from his article on the AK Press site in response to his latest publication with noted anarchist Dr. Steve Best. I am not sure of the link to the original article but people can read his words below and visit his website if they would like to learn more about him and not just more about what people say about him.

    “While I do not advise others to attend the FBI Academy or work with the FBI at all, I do believe it was beneficial in the sense that I provided conflict resolution and explained that kicking in doors at gun point and using other forms of repression are not the answer to ending illegal actions activists often take, but rather an escalation of conflict and a cause of more extreme tactics. Will the FBI take up nonviolent conflict resolution, in the form that the Alternatives to Violence Program (a group I volunteer with) uses?[ii] Most likely not. Most importantly, I saw repressive pedagogy[iii] (which I currently study for my Social Science Ph.D. and Education MA) at work, which is fundamentally based in using false-truths against activists, e.g.: “the Animal Liberation Front kills people” or “Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC, a nonviolent animal rights campaign to close down Huntingdon Life Science) “flips over cars and firebombs research laboratories” (the latter act was done by an underground group identifying themselves as the Revolutionary Cells.[iv] I did of course explain to them the truth that the ALF is a nonviolent group and SHAC does not flip over cars and conduct firebombing, so these false-truths would stop. Repressive pedagogy is designed and used by military, fascist regimes, and dictatorial militia groups, in hopes to have non-questioning members, which promote or conduct their actions under false-truths. Is the tactic of disseminating falsehood done intentionally or out of ignorance of the real nature of activist groups? I believe politicians, who are bought by corporate interests, truly spearhead this propaganda campaign (by passing repressive legislation), but of course the FBI Academy continues it, be it by their own conscious knowledge or not.”

  • Jacobmic

    There are a couple of local community activists that i would like to recommend to be invited to speak if i could. Roxana Bendezu & Hector Vaca are both actively engaged in Charlotte and many other places!

    • Nekeisha

      Thanks a lot for these recommendations! We are especially interested in local voices… are you connected to either of these folks or the organizations they work for (if any)? Can you e-mail conference @ jesusradicals . com so I can follow up?

      • Jacob Michael

        Hey Nekeisha, I just now noticed this and sent and e-mail, hope it is not too late!! Sorry, I rarely check the e-mail attached to this disquis thingie as of late.

        • Nekeisha

          Hi Jacob — it looks like we secured a third speaker for our eco-justice panel but from what I looked up on the internet it seems like Roxana and Hector are involved in much more than that. Our sessions have been a bit more up in the air than usual, but I will check your message and see if we still have slots we need to fill now that a few more confirmations have come in this week. Thank you very much for the recommend, though. I will definitely follow up if there is space.

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