November 17th – 6:00-7:30pm
The new context of pandemics, global climate crises, and political upheaval is overturning ideas of what is possible in socially provisioning our human needs and in ways of living on this planet, both for people invested in the status quo and for those who were already exploring alternatives. How can a better world be realized out of the present turmoil?
For VASEN’s November Learn-in, we will explore the People’s Movement Assembly (PMA) as a method for building and governing power in the hands of those who are excluded and expelled from the places where their destinies are affected and their worlds are shaped.
Speakers will include brandon king, a community leader who has organized PMAs with Cooperation Jackson in Mississippi, and Matthew Slaats, who will share what he is learning about historic Rural Black Assemblies in southern Virginia.
Resources
Peoples Movements Assembly – http://www.peoplesmovementassembly.org/
Produced by the Southern Movement Assembly in 2022, the PMA is a tool for organizing people’s movement assemblies that gather people to make decisions for collective action and power.
National Association for the Southern Poor
Starting in the late 1960’s, the NASP was an effort to build Black Rural Assemblies through out the south to respond to ongoing poverty.
Modibo Kadalie – Intimate Direct Democracy
https://on-our-own-authority-publishing.square.site/product/kadalie-intimate-direct-democracy/26
It’s Going Down – Modibo Kadalie On Capitalism, Slavery, And The Rise Of Maroon Resistance In The Great Dismal Swamp
Institute for Social Ecology Training Session on Assemblies
Assembly – Hardt and Negri – https://bookshop.org/p/books/assembly-michael-hardt/11675042?ean=9780190906320
Virginia Solidarity Economy 