Sep 13, 2008

Sep 11, 2008

anti-ops policies for brief gatherings


as a follow-up to my previous post on this subject, here's an example from the recent US climate convergence:

Anti-Oppression Policy:

The organizers of the Convergence for Climate Action believe that anti-oppression work is vital to community organizing and to building a movement to eliminate the exploitation of people and the planet. The Convergence for Climate Action will have anti-oppression workshops and participants will be strongly encouraged to participate.

In order to create a safe and productive environment for activism and community, we will not be tolerating behavior that demeans, marginalizes, or threatens people. Examples are offensive remarks about person’s gender, age, sexual orientation, race, mental health, culture, general appearances, income status, being a parent or a child, employed or unemployed, level of experience in activism, etc….

Any type of sexual, verbal, or physical assault will be taken especially seriously by the convergence organizers. On account of the short nature of the event and limited resources, convergence participants may be asked to immediately leave the event should they be accused of oppressive behavior.

We thank everyone for helping to make the convergence a safe, comfortable, productive and super fun environment!