Skillshares And Trainings

On this page you’ll find a menu of skillshares we can offer. We can come and present a one hour workshop, do a one day skillshare event, or even full on multi-day trainings! Our skillshares vary a lot, and the list is always growing – everything from Anarchism for Beginners to Consent & Radical Relationships to Tactical Direct Action.

If you’re interested in having a skillshare presented in your town let us know, and we’ll contact the trainers to try and make it happen! We do ask that you provide food and housing for trainers (we’re not picky!), and help with covering travel costs. We strive to reduce the impact of our activities, and will always try to send a trainer who lives nearby.

Send an e-mail to skillshare (a) neanarchist.net, including a phone number, your city and state, what workshops you want, and any information about the event that the skillshare will be presented at. We can’t always guarantee a trainer is available, but we can always let you know when one is available.

General¶

(These are workshops that many people in our network can give – they are generally available wherever we are, or wherever we can travel to.)

• Direct Action 101
  What is direct action? Why use it? This training goes over the basics of how to use direct action effectively and strategically. Direct action can be tricky and intimidating to pull off, but with a little bit of experience anyone can do it! This training includes historical examples of successful direct actions and will explore the group’s feelings around nonviolence and other topics. Skills covered include forming affinity groups, de-escalation and conflict management, consensus, legal, strategic action planning, blockades, and basic police tactics. This training can be adapted according to the needs and experience of a group.

• Know Your Rights
  To fight police abuse effectively you need to know your rights. There are some things you should do, some things you must do and some things you cannot do. This workshop covers your rights during both mass mobilizations and in your day to day life.

• Security Culture
  So what’s a security culture? It’s a culture where the people know their rights, and more importantly, assert them. Those who belong to a security culture also know what behavior compromises security, and they are quick to educate and reprimand those who – out of ignorance, forgetfulness, or personal weakness – partake in non-secure behavior. This security consciousness becomes a “culture” when the group as a whole makes security violations socially and morally unacceptable within the group. This skillshare provides information on how to create a security culture, basic guidelines and practices, and how to deal with chronic security problems.

• Facilitation and Consensus
  Consensus is a process for group decision-making. It is a method where an entire group of people can come to an agreement. The input and ideas of all participants are gathered and synthesized to arrive at a final decision acceptable to all. Through consensus, we are not only working to achieve better solutions, but also to promote the growth of community and trust. This workshop covers the basics of facilitation and consensus, as well as building “real life” facilitation skills.

• Anarchist Labor and Community Organizing
  This is an introduction to grassroots community and labor organizing from an anarchist perspective. This skillshare can cover how to get people interested and involved, how to hold meetings and events, anti-oppression, and other practical organizing skills. Our presenters come from lots of different backgrounds, so let us know about your local situation and we can try to match you with someone!

• Anarchism for Beginners
  What is anarchism? What do anarchists believe? What background and history does the anarchist movement come from? We can help explore these issues and clear up common misconceptions about anarchism. This can be framed as either a presentation or a panel with several members.

• Media 101
  This workshop covers the basics of doing media work and outreach to complement strategic campaigns for social justice. Topics included are writing press releases, media wrangling, relationship-building, creating media packets, the difference between press conferences and action media work, the importance of role rotation, and other collective and radical philosophies that have been effective. Role playing and discussion are used, and provide participants to take back to their local campaigns.

Specialized Skillshares¶

(These are skillshares that are done by trainers with a specialty in the subject; they often go more in depth and cover more advanced material than in our general skillshares. These trainers may need additional assistance with travel, depending on where you are.)

• Health and Safety at Militant Protests (Stay Healthy So You Can Stay In The Streets!)
  This skillshare covers how to prepare and act before, during, and after a demonstration, knowledge which is essential to the safety and effectiveness of every activist. Topics include what to bring and wear, what to know, what to do if you get sick, basic preventative measures, what to do during the demonstration, what to do if you are exposed to chemical weapons (tear gas, pepper spray), if you are arrested, and follow-up care.

• Affinity Group Medic
  Highly trained street medics are great to have around, but they might not always be in proximity to your affinity group – this is where your affinity group (AG) medic comes into play. AG medics are the first line of defense; every affinity group should have one! AG medics operate not just among groups, but as a part of them, and as such have the unique role of being familiar with those who they will most likely be called to treat. We teach how to think on your feet and improvise while dealing with basic first aid issues, as well as preventative treatment and warning signs.

• Chemical Weapons & Police Tactics
  Modern police tactics emphasize the use of “less-lethal” weapons rather than direct application of force through nightsticks and bullets. Among the most popular tools in this class of weapons are chemical agents like pepper spray and teargas. While often promoted as being virtually harmless, these chemicals can actually be quite dangerous, but with proper knowledge and preparation many of their effects can be controlled or avoided entirely. We’ll also cover warning signs that police may use chemical weapons, and under what conditions they are most likely to. This workshop can be customized to include detailed information on all known “less-lethal” weapons, their effects, and when they will be employed by law enforcement.

• Tactical Direct Action/Street Tactics/Police Tactics
  This skillshare is an extended version of the Direct Action 101 skillshare. It covers police maneuvers and command structure, blockades, lockdowns, and other advanced tactics. It can be customized for particular situations and time lengths.

• Radical Menstruation/De-mystifying Lady Bits
  In a culture that steeps the female body in mythology and sells extremely unhealthy products to remedy imagined conditions, this workshop enthusiastically and positively describes the reality of vulvas and vaginas for those who happen to be equipped with them. In addition to smashing myths about the female body, general health, proper care, sexual health, menstruation and menstrual products are topics addressed. A fairly comprehensive workshop, participants are especially delighted by interacting with the wide variety of alternative menstrual products that are healthier both for our bodies and for the planet we live on.

• Consent & Radical Relationships
  This skillshare will introduce participants to a definition of consent based on clarity, mutuality, and enthusiastic participation. Participants will discuss the ways in which gender role socialization and traditional expectations about sex and sexuality create barriers for open communication with intimate partners. Participants will brainstorm creative and comfortable ways of giving and obtaining clear consent, as well as exploring alternative relationship models.

• Men Can Stop Rape
  Rape and other forms of sexual violence confine the lives of men as well as women. It is not enough to simply notice that a problem exists. Participants are pushed to translate their awareness of the problem into action and become peer leaders, rather than bystanders, in making their relationships and their communities safer and stronger. Topics include men’s role in rape prevention, supporting survivors, language of rape culture, strategies for challenging rape culture, rape and racism, rape and homophobia, and linking oppressions.

• Basic Activist Technology
  It’s possible to save hours each day by knowing how to make technology work for you. We’ll cover skills like setting up a POP Email Client, maintaining your computer, open source software, designing outreach materials, email lists, and more.

• PGP Email Encryption & Electronic Security Culture
  As the internet, emails, and phone calls become an increasing part of our organizing, we need to learn the implications to security culture and how to keep ourselves most secure. We’ll cover PGP email encryption, anonymous browsing, as well as covering examples of how technology has worked both to the advantage and disadvantage of activists, and the role electronic communication has played in legal cases.

• Corporate Campaigning
  It’s possible to take on a major corporation and win. With careful planning and utilizing a diversity of tactics, activists have won concessions, bankrupted companies, and caused major economic loss and disincentive for scrupulous business practices. We’ll cover some high profile successful campaigns, and models for planning campaigns, from start to finish.

• Grassroots Disaster Relief
  As so-called “natural” disasters become more frequent and severe, we need to be prepared to mobilize responses in our own communities instead of waiting for state and corporate-sponsored institutions to save us and address the root causes, such as catastrophic climate change. This skillshare covers the history of grassroots disaster relief in the past few years under the banner of “Solidarity, Not Charity!”, and the skills and day-to-day activities that kept these projects running, as well as the trainers own personal experiences doing relief work.

• Climate Justice 101
  Presented by members of Rising Tide North America and based on the Rising Tide Climate Action Tour, this skillshare/workshop brings the global struggle for climate justice to the belly of the beast, connecting the dots between the overarching crisis of climate change and the grassroots struggles of communities resisting the fossil fuels industry’s assault on their land and culture. We focus on two mutually-beneficial strategies: sparking and supporting local struggles against fossil fuel infrastructure, and building real, sustainable alternatives that foster community and decrease our dependence on the industries and institutions destroying the planet.

Note: we define “climate-related” in a broad sense. Work around food sovereignty, preserving and restoring ecosystems, indigenous rights, mining, power plants, environmental justice, bikes, and energy production/consumption are all important pieces of the climate web. We also believe that climate change can only be addressed by exposing the intersections between the oppression of humans and the earth. The people hardest hit by climate-induced natural disasters have been and will continue to be those most disenfranchised by our society and least responsible for the emission of greenhouse gases: the poor, women, and people of color. RTNA is committed to challenging all forms of oppression in our organizing.