Trans and Womyns Action Week!

TWAC Cascadia presents: Trans and Womyns Action Week! Come join us May 20th to the 24th for five evenings of workshops, discussions, and good times! Everyone is welcome to attend. TWAC, the Trans and Womyns Action Camp is a direct action camp for trans and womyn activists working in the defense of our communities and ecosystems. This will also be an opportunity to meet organizers who are planning this summers Trans and Womyns Action Camp in Cascadia. For more information check out the Facebook  or contact us at: twac@riseup.net

Schedule!
MON- 7pm Potluck followed by direct action workshop and discussion at the Lorax Manner (1648 Alder street)
Open to trans/womyn/feminists
TUE- 6pm Sustainable Medicine workshop with Jessica Rojas at the University of Oregon (EMU Oak Room) followed by trans and womyns open mic night at the Campbell Club (1670 Alder street)
WED- 7pm Radical film night at the Lorax Manner, screening Screaming Queens followed by discussion
THU -CFD Presents: Maca Ray, 7:30pm Tiny’s Tavern (394 Blair Blvd)
FRI- 6pm -9pm DIY craft night at the LLC performance hall

EVERYTHING IS FREE!

VIDEO: TWAC Occupies The GEO Group Headquarters

On April 9, 2013, dozens of activists from the previous week’s Trans and Womyn’s Action Camp (TWAC) descended on the national headquarters of GEO Group, a for-profit prison company with a record of shady lobbying deals and human rights violations.

TWAC Attack on For-Profit Prison Company “GEO Group”

On Tuesday morning, April 9, dozens of activists from this week’s Trans and Womyn’s Action Camp (TWAC) descended on the national headquarters for Geo Group, a for-profit prison company with a record of shady lobbying deals and human rights violations.

The morning’s activities began when the trans and female activists entered the office.  Most began a song and dance singing, “Tearing families apart; Geo’s making money.  Lobbying for racist laws; Geo’s making money.  Locking up all our youth; Geo’s making money.”  Meanwhile, the four arrestees locked themselves to the office doors and three other activists dropped a 30 x 15 ft banner which read ‘Millions Behind Bars = Billions for Geo-Who’s the Real Criminal?” from the fourth floor of the building.  When Police arrived most of the protesters moved to public property to continue to rally as Police arrived with four trucks and three officer vehicles in a futile attempt to cut through the activists locks.  Police was told that they would unlock themselves if Geo CEO George Zoley would come to speak to them.  When the request was refused, the activists said they would unlock if police would let the media in.  Police refused and continued to restrict the media to a ‘staging’ area nearly a quarter mile away.  Eventually, the doors of the Geo office were removed in order to arrest the protesters.

One of the protesters, a transgender woman from Liberia named Grace Lawrence who was held in immigrant detention centers from 2003-2006, explained why fighting against for-profit prisons and Geo Group is so important to her.  “In private detention centers, trans people are put in isolation, which is solitary confinement, for 23hours a day.” Grace was granted asylum, but she continues to work for prisoner rights in an effort to spare other immigrants and trans people from mistreatment. Even as an advocate, she finds it harder to address human rights violations within for-profit detention facilities: “Each time I called ICE, they would say they are not responsible for what goes on in those private facilities.”

By locking down and protesting, TWAC sent a message to GEO that pulling out of the FAU stadium deal doesn’t get them off the hook, and the struggle against for-profit prison and detention centers will continue. Cancelling their contract with FAU does nothing to change Geo’s long record of human rights abuse of detainees at taxpayer expense, nor does it diminish Geo’s profit-driven influence on anti-immigrant legislation and mass incarceration.

Geo Group owns and operates 96 for-profit prisons and detention centers.  Using tax-payer funding, they push legislation that targets youth, poor, transgender, and people of color in order to increase incarceration rates and their own profits.  Over the last decade, GEO has spent millions lobbying the federal government.  This lobbying has paid off.  In 2005 they received $33.6 million in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) contracts, and in 2011 they received $216 million in ICE contracts. GEO group is a member of ALEC, a membership group that works to write model legislation with multi-national corporations and influences legislators to pass laws that will benefit its corporate members.

In for profit prisons, overhead reduction efforts turn the focus away from safety, justice, and rehabilitation in order to make a few people rich.  Allowing rampant sexual assault, withholding proper medical care, and turning the prison into a sweat-shop producing consumer goods are just a few examples of how Geo Group treats humans as livestock to be used for the benefit of greedy CEOs.

This protest comes on the heels of TWAC, a weeklong gathering of almost 100 female and transgender activists to share skills and campaign information, and organize opposition to the prison-industrial complex. Prisons and immigrant detention centers, Geo’s primary investments, target poor people, people of color, and transgender individuals. As female and transgender organizers, we are more vulnerable to violence within these institutions. Geo has a clear record of human rights abuses within its facilities.

April 3rd: Colonization is no Celebration!

Let’s go to St. Augustine and support the demands of the native community!

April 3rd, 2013

Meet at 8:00am in front of the Castillo de San Marcos near the parking lot.

1 S Castillo Dr, St Augustine, FL

Hello Florida!

You might be aware that April 3, 2013 is the 500th anniversary, to the day, of the infamous occasion when Ponce de Leon landed on the shores of “Florida” with his troupe of murderous colonizers. Boooo!!

St. Augustine, the oldest city in the occupied territory currently referred to as the United States, is having a blatant celebration of colonialism and genocide on this date… complete with a re-enactment of the landing and a full-on glorification of the gruesome conquest over the people, land and wildlife native to this continent.

They’re calling this celebration “Viva Florida 500,” and by God almighty we are not going to miss the opportunity to crash this disgusting excuse for a party!  This celebration is as powerful and symbolic as it gets, folks! If you’ve heard anything about the history of St. Augustine, you might know that native peoples and run-away slaves both sought refuge in Florida, where colonizers pushed them around, used, exploited, tortured, and killed them within the walls of Saint Augustine and its fort.

 

Well Florida, this is our chance!

The American Indian Movement and the Miccosukee Simanolee community has pleaded with the city at their commission meetings to stop this horrible celebration and once again, as always, the colonial government has ignored and disrespected the native voice.

Read the statement put out by the Council of the Original Miccosukee Simanolee Nation Aboriginal Peoples: http://twac.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/bobbiebillievivaflorida500.pdf

Let’s make some noise!

Please help us make an appearance in St. Augustine on April 3rd and show that the native voice is not alone or forgotten and that some of us privileged to benefit from occupation can have the respect and sensitivity not to celebrate other people’s tragedies and loss. Let us show those city representatives that this horrible celebration must be stopped or converted into raising awareness about the tragedy that is the history of colonialism and conquest of the Americas.

Blood, blood, BLOOD on their hands!

This is the time to make a big stink!

Please contact twac2013@gmail.com if you need housing the night before or have rides to offer.

Thanks for all that you do and hope to see you in the streets of St. Augustine!

Love and power to you,

The South Florida TWAC 2013 organizers

This is organized by TWAC, but is not a trans & womyn only event. We need everyone to mobilize!

Florida camp starts in two weeks!

Thank you to everyone who donated through Indiegogo. We exceeded our goal and will be busy over the next two weeks putting that money to use to build up an awesome TWAC!

Click here to REGISTER for camp! Registration is NOT required in order to attend TWAC. However, your registration will be very helpful for TWAC organizers to create a better TWAC experience for you and all of your awesomeness!

For information about what to bring, local wildlife, food, Kid Camp, alcohol use, and other general camp information, please check out General Camp Info.

For directions and specifics about the campsite, check out Site Details and Directions.

To see our proposed schedule, go to Schedule.

If you are excited to have an active role at camp, please see Ways to Plug In. We especially need medics & healthcare folks!

***Shout-out for mediators, peer support people, and group facilitators ***

TWAC is looking for folks who have skills & experience in the following areas to join the safe(r) spaces initiative:   peer support (esp. with experience in support for trauma & assault survival), conflict mediation, non-violent communication, de-escalation, group facilitation, or any other related field.

We are hoping to organize workshops, circle-ups, skill shares & discussion groups to discuss mental health, individual/ group communication, recovery & peer support.  Furthermore,  we hope that TWACers in need of support will be able to identify willing supporters for the duration of the event.  If you would like to be involved, or think you can lead a discussion or workshop on one of these topics, please contact Milo at: chickensneeze@gmail.com or call (561) 345-2300.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

We TWAC organizers are real proud of all of the people who came together to not only meet our goal of 3,000 dollars, but to actually EXCEED it. We cannot express how grateful we are. At the end of our indiegogo campaign we raised $3,230 dollars.

TWAC is a space intended to create extended communities of support and empowerment, and having people come together to help us fund our event starts that feeling of support and empowerment even before we have a chance to get into the woods with all the amazing people we are going to share space with for the duration of TWAC.

We know that creating supportive and empowering spaces for womyn (transgender and cisgender), transgender men, and genderqueer & gender variant people is crucial in any movement. We know that all life on earth is intricately connected, and that the struggle of people cannot be separated from the struggle of the earth. We know that in order to save any life on earth, we must heal ourselves.

Thank you for understanding that everything is connected, and understanding how important it is for us to create the space that TWAC provides.

With love,
The South Florida TWAC Organizers

Start TWAC Florida out with a bang!

IMPORTANT DATE UPDATE: This is an ACTION Camp right? So let’s get to it! We are planning a pre-camp protest in North Florida on April 3rd. CAMP ITSELF WILL START ON APRIL 4TH.

April 3rd 2013 is the 500th anniversary of the landing of Ponce De Leon in the occupied territory currently known as Florida. This was the beginning of European colonization, bloodshed, and genocide of the indigenous peoples of the land now known as the United States.

As Bobbie Billie, Council of the Original Miccosukee Simanolee Nation Aboriginal Peoples, says in his statement: “Juan Ponce de Leon and Pedro Menendez de Aviles committed violent war crimes against humanity: acts of violence, cruelty, trickery and the stealing and raping of women, and massacring of innocent Aboriginal Indigenous human beings of their own Lands. Their war crimes against humanity must be brought to justice through the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the International Court of Justice.”

Read the full statement here.

The State of Florida is celebrating these war criminals as part of their celebration Viva Florida 500.

TWAC Florida stands with the American Indian Movement Florida Chapter in demanding:  “Remove Spanish war criminals Juan Ponce de Leon and Pedro Menendez from… [celebration] events. They should not be in parades and sitting at gala affairs – they committed horrific war crimes against innocent people.”

WE WILL BE RESISTING THE CELEBRATION & RE-ENACTMENT PLANNED FOR APRIL 3RD IN ST. AUGUSTINE. We are calling on TWAC attendees to join us in protest in St Augustine, which is 250-300 miles from where camp itself will be, so we understand many people will not be able to make it.

CAMP ITSELF WILL START ON APRIL 4th and carry on through the 9th. There will still be another action at the end of camp! if you cannot join us in St. Augustine, you are welcome to join camp set-up efforts before April 4th.