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.
Category: TWAC Florida
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.
Florida Proposed Schedule & Workshop Descriptions
This is our proposed schedule. It will most likely change during camp, and more workshops/discussions will arise as campers arrive. We will discuss each day’s schedule at Morning Circle. Workshop descriptions are below schedule.
Please note: Tree Climbing Trainings will be on-going throughout the week!
WEDNESDAY APRIL 3RD: PRE-CAMP PROTEST IN ST. AUGUSTINE
8am Meet-up (location TBA)
9am Protest re-enacted commemorative landing of Ponce de León in St. Augustine
2pm Drive to Camp
THURSDAY APRIL 4TH
8a Breakfast
9a Morning Circle
10a-12p Workshop Block 1
- Plant Walk
- Accountability Processes – Anole, Vanessa, Nell
12p-2:30p Lunch & Afternoon Break
2:30p-4:30p Workshop Block 2
- Birth Justice – Anjali & Abigayl from Mobile Midwife
- Modern-day eugenics and the U.S. anti-immigrant movement – Lauren
4:30p Action Planning
5:30p-6:30p Florida Campaign Presentations: Viva Florida 500
7:30p Family Fun Time
8p Music round the Fire
FRIDAY APRIL 5TH
8a Breakfast
9a Morning Circle
10a-12p Workshop Block 1
- True Cost of Coal – Beatriz & Christine from Beehive Collective
- Immigration 101: Know Your Rights and Beyond – Grey from Florida Immigrant Coalition
12p-2:30p Lunch & Afternoon Break
- Gender-based Caucusing
2:30p-4:30p Workshop Block 2
- Trans Oral History Project – Andre of TOHP
- Solidarity Organizing in the East End of Houston – Rue from Tar Sands Blockade
4:30p Action Planning
5:30p-6:30p Florida Campaign Presentations: Briger Forest & Scripps Biotechnology Institute
7:30p Family Fun Time
8p Spoken Word & Storytelling
SATURDAY APRIL 6TH
8a Breakfast
9a Morning Circle
10a-12p Recognizing Privilege & Exclusion in our own Movements and Communities
12p-2:30p Lunch & Afternoon Break
- Race-based Caucusing*
2:30p-4:30p Workshop Block
- Transgender Gender-Variant Intersex Justice Project – Grace & Tanesh of TGIJP
- Tar Sands Blockade – Isabel & TSB
4:30p Action Planning
5:30p-6:30p Florida Campaign Presentations: The GEO Group & Owlcatraz
7:30p Family Fun Time
8p Performances & Dance Party! Bring your act, we’re going electric!
SUNDAY APRIL 7TH
8a Breakfast
9a Morning Circle
10a Campaign Roundup – Everyone gets 5 minutes to share your campaign
11a-3pm Direct Action Training (will break for lunch) – Susie of TWAC Collective
12-2:30p Lunch & Afternoon Break
2:30-4:30p Imaging & Messaging for Direct Actions – Beehive & TWAC Artists!
2:30-6:30p Action Preparation
6:30 Dinner
Rest Up for Action!
MONDAY APRIL 8TH
ACTION DAY
TUESDAY APRIL 9TH
8a Breakfast
9a Morning Circle
10a-12p ACTION DEBRIEF
12p-2:30p Lunch & Afternoon Break
2:30p-4:30p CAMP BREAKDOWN
Workshop Descriptions
Accountability Processes
Although there are a growing number of resources for communities on how to facilitate accountability processes, and many resources for survivors on how to heal, there is an absence of literature for or by perpetrators on what it means to be accountable. Yet the vision of transforming a violence-based society is incomplete without the voices and experiences of those who have committed violence, and how they have personally transformed. A collective discussion of personal accountability would benefit not just perpetrators participating in formal accountability processes, but anyone who has committed harm of any kind. What does it mean to be accountable to those we have harmed, and to our communities? What does justice mean? How does someone who has committed harm learn to change their behavior? Do perpetrators need to heal?
Birth Justice
Birth Justice is a mother’s and parent’s right to ensure our and our baby’s well-being; it intersects with all aspects of our lives- social, political, economic, emotional, and spiritual. Birth Justice recognizes that all peoples can birth and be parents; People of color, immigrant peoples, and LGQBT communities in particular have survived a history of trauma and oppression around our decisions to have and not have babies. Birth Justice includes access to health care during the childbearing year that is holistic, humanistic, and culturally centered. This health care is across the pregnancy spectrum including: abortion, miscarriage, prenatal, birth, and postpartum care. Birth Justice includes the right to choose whether or not to carry a pregnancy, to choose when, where how, and with whom to birth, including access to traditional and indigenous healers, such as midwives and other birthworkers, and the right to breastfeeding support. We know that when we, mothers and parents, are empowered, our community is transformed. Presented by Anjali & Abigayl of Mobile Midwife
Modern-day eugenics and the U.S. anti-immigrant movement
In this workshop we will explore the history of U.S. anti-immigrant sentiment, its influence on the environmental and other movements, and population control methods including forced sterilization. Presented by Lauren Taylor.
Viva Florida 500
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: “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.” Disgustingly, the State of Florida is celebrating these war criminals as part of their celebration Viva Florida 500. Presented by TWAC Organizers
Tar Sands Blockade
Tar Sands Blockade is a coalition of affected Texas and Oklahoma residents and climate justice organizers using peaceful and sustained civil disobedience to stop the construction of TransCanada’s Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. We intend to force the termination of this dangerous pipeline. It isn’t going to be easy, but inaction is far more risky than taking a stand. Together we can create a more clean and livable world that works for everyone, regardless of their background.
Immigration 101: Know Your Rights and Beyond
In this workshop, you will learn basic rights that are used to protect all citizens, regardless of legal status. These skills will be shown in a replicable manner so that you may take this to your communities and duplicate. Participants will also learn about immigration reform and the campaign that is underway to win an inclusive and comprehensive package for all. Activities and visuals will be used to engage in this dense conversation. Presented by Grey Torrico, detention and enforcement organizer with the Florida Immigrant Coalition and Project Coordinator of the Collier County Neighborhood Stories Project
True Cost of Coal
The Beehive Collective uses giant, portable murals to deconstruct issues as far-reaching as globalization, climate change, colonization and resource extraction. We strive to provoke discussion, raise hard questions, and share hopeful stories about the small-scale changes and actions we can undertake to build a better world. With a gigantic portable mural teeming with intricate images of plants and animals from the most bio-diverse temperate forest on the planet, the Bees will share (and seek) stories of how coal mining and Mountaintop Removal affect communities and ecosystems throughout Appalachia and beyond. Presented by Beatriz and Christine of the Beehive Collective
Solidarity Organizing in the East End of Houston
Many communities that are most affected by the extraction industry are marginalized communities of color. Because of societal dynamics and lack of access to information and resources many of these communities do not have the tools and skills required to effectively organize against the industry which is dependent on environmental racism and classism. This workshop will focus on organizers experiences in the largely Latin@ community of Manchester in Houston’s toxic East End which is surrounded by the petrochemical industry and is forced to breathe the cancerous emissions from tar sands refining. This workshop will be visually heavy with photos and examples of media and resources created by organizers as well as a 15 minute film presentation and Q&A session. You will learn how to take steps to mentally, physically, and emotionally prepare yourself for some of the most difficult and intense work that is required to confront the extraction industry head on all while empowering people and amplifying their voices to help shape a sustainable community of resistance. Presented by Rue of Tar Sands Blockade and Finger Lakes Earth First!
Briger Forest & Scripps Biotechnology Institute
The Briger Forest, 680+ acre forest in South Florida is on the verge of being cleared and replaced by more alienating sprawl and the animal torturing biotech industry! Everglades Earth First! has been working to save this forest since 2008. Presented by Everglades Earth First! and Save the Briger Forest
Recognizing Privilege & Exclusion in our own Movements and Communities
How do our own movements replicate elements of the oppressive, dominant culture? How do we exclude and repel people by our own doings? How do racism, sexism, ableism, transphobia, classism, and other -isms play out within our own movements? We will look at privilege, messaging, culture, and structures of power. Presented by Mo of Seed305 & the TWAC Organizers
Trans Oral History Project
The Trans Oral History Project is a collaborative community-based media project. Our mission is to promote a diversity of stories from within the transgender and gender variant communities by supporting members of our community who wish to share their stories. We accomplish this through by promoting grassroots media projects, documenting people’s experiences, and teaching media production skills. Presented by Andre of the Trans Oral History Project.
Transgender Gender-variant Intersex Justice Project
TGIJP is a group of transgender people—inside and outside of prison—creating a united family in the struggle for survival and freedom. We work in collaboration with others to forge a culture of resistance and resilience to strengthen us for the fight against imprisonment, police violence, racism, poverty, and societal pressures. We seek to create a world rooted in self determination, freedom of expression, and gender justice. Presented by Grace & Tanesh of TGIJP
Caucusing
We will determine what caucus groups we will break into at camp. Here is some information about the concept of caucusing.
Here is one explanation of race-based caucusing from http://www.crossroadsantiracism.org:
Identity caucusing is one strategy we use to confront the effects of internalized racist oppression and internalized racist superiority. Team members work in their respective racial identity groups, either as People of Color, White People, (and sometimes a Mixed Race group). In this context People of Color work as a racially mixed group struggling together to understand and confront the effects of internalized racist oppression and to experience themselves as an anti-racist People of Color collective working together to dismantle racism. The White team members also meet in caucus to deal with issues of internalized superiority and to build an anti-racist White collective working together and with POC to dismantle racism. When the two caucus groups come back together as a team they are better able to understand, confront, and dismantle racism within the team itself and within the institutional setting that it is working. Caucusing creates a foundation upon which to build concrete organizing strategies for People of Color and Whites to work together as anti-racist allies.
A similar strategy is used in gender-based caucusing: at TWAC potential caucus groups could be Trans womyn, Trans men, Genderqueers, and Cis Womyn, or simply Cis womyn & Transgender people. This would give trans people the opportunity to explore their similar experiences in a safe(r) space, and cisgender people to learn how to be good allies and explore internal issues.
GEO Group & Owlcatraz
The South Florida-based coporation, GEO Group, is the second largest for-profit private prison corporation in the United States, meaning: the more people who are criminalized and incarcerated, the more money they make. Formerly the Wackenhut Corporation, GEO Group has been the subject of numerous lawsuits involving injury or death of incarcerated and detained people, sexual abuse, and security failures. A federal judge called one of GEO’s Mississippi facilities a “cesspool of unconstitutional and inhuman acts.” Florida Atlantic University just accepted $6 million from GEO in order to rename the football stadium after them. Presented by TWAC Organizers & the Stop Owlcatraz Coalition
Direct Action Training
In this four hour training, you will learn about organizing and executing a successful civil disobedience protest action, including affinity groups, action roles, blockade techniques, and de-escalation methods. There will be lots of role play involved!
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: https://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.
TWAC hits the Everglades: April 3rd-9th
South Florida will be hosting the upcoming 2013 Trans & Womyn’s Action Camp (TWAC) and we are reaching out for more hands, hearts and minds to unite with us for this week long event helping us organize an amazing, powerful and inclusive gathering!
TWAC is for folks who identify as female, trans-gender, trans-sexual, gender queer and gender variant. This is an intentional space to share direct action skills in a conscientious, supportive, empowering and encouraging environment for voices often marginalized. From the Dine’ women defending their native lands against destructive mining, to the eco-feminists defending forests from logging and developing; from the immigrant and trans women defending their lives from the prison industrial complex, to the mothers and midwifes defending their bodies and babies from the patriarchal medical establishment, women and trans folks have always been powerhouses of political action, and TWAC aims to support this in a safe(r) environment!
In the past TWAC has consisted of workshops, discussions, and trainings on topics like strategic campaigning, direct action, tree climbing, security culture, anti-racism and resisting white supremacy culture, trans 101, how to prevent burnout, theater of the oppressed, eco-feminism, plant walks and more (plus lots of beautiful, amazing and intelligent people and the affirmation of feminist and queer culture are part of the deal!).
After the days of training and bonding and nights of storytelling and talent sharing, at the end of the camp, participants typically develop a direct action and carry it out together in a powerful burst of feminist energy!
TWAC Florida will begin on April 3rd with a pre-camp protest in St. Augustine. We will be resisting the celebration & re-enactment planned for April 3rd! 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. Click here for details.
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.
We are really exited to host TWAC 2013 and WE NEED YOU to help us make it an amazing experience for us all to share, enjoy and empower ourselves! TWAC is all about solidarity and the interconnectedness that binds the urgent struggles for all life on earth. Some of the campaigns and subjects that have been discussed as Florida’s possible focus (which YOU can help us shape) include Eco-defense, environmental racism, immigration, the private-prisons/deportation systems, and birth justice.
We are trying to find a site for the camp that would accommodate people who might not feel comfortable camping (i.e. has cabins or some alternative). We want to fundraise to provide travel stipends for folks with experience and knowledge on subjects of importance and urgency so that they may have a presence.
If you or anyone you know has interest in helping with the organizing for TWAC 2013 or would like to propose/host a workshop, presentation, discussion or skills-sharing please contact us at: twac2013@gmail.com
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