Saturday, November 29, 2008

Workshopping for Anti-Oppression-framed Activism

This past weekend, I put together and co-facilitated an Anti-Oppression workshop as part of the intensive training course for Points of Distribution.

Points of Distribution is a direct action outreach collective based in Oakland that provides safer injection supplies, and HIV rapid testing and results to street-based injection drug users (IDUs) in both the East and West Bay.

I was recently asked to join this collective, and as a prerequisite to going on outreach shifts, we must first go through an eight week training course which covers topics such as Drugs 101, History of Drugs & the War on Drugs, STIs, HIV, Hep. A, B, C, Anti-Oppression, Civil Liberties, Homelessness & Homeless Health, Sex Work, Mental Health & Suicide, DOPE Project Training, Soft Tissue Infections, etc.

The training is *intense*, but informative and useful for getting people from different backgrounds, politics, and privileges, closer to the same page. Because of the positive feedback we received about the Anti-Oppression workshop, and the amazing conversations that were inspired from the group, I've decided to put up some of the reading materials here on the blog throughout the next few days.

The following posts are some food for thought, in hopes that the issues brought up will lubricate those anti-oppression gears in yer mind towards a society based in collective consensus rather than domination and hierarchy.

Stay tuned, and enjoy!

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