Our events are called Actionshops™ - "The People's process"
- a social twist on a workshop!
PAST ACTIONSHOP EVENTS: Restaurants, coffee shops, college campuses - large and small events!
Actionshop Topic: Planet Earth / Living Sustainably - "The Power is Yours"
Location:Santa Clara University (Silicon Valley, CA)
Participants: 30 students
Action:Over a six-week period college Actionbuddies got together once a week in a "Captain Planet - The Power is Yours" theme created by the president of the Student Green Club. Students took a different action each week to reduce their carbon footprint, sampled local organic delights and other planet-friendly items, and talked about which actions were harder than others to do! (Thanks Tim!)
Actionshop Topic: Planet Earth / Living Sustainably
Location:Starbuckses (NY,NY)
Participants:2
Action: Two "thirty-something year old" female friends got together over a six month period - one travelled long distance for work, and summarized Mayor Bloomberg's "GreenNYC" plans from 200 pages to 8 pages on plane rides. The other friend turned them into friendly one-page documents to be used at "Green Happy Action Hours." (Thanks Alicia!)
Actionshop Topic: Human Rights / Darfur
Location:Barbounia Restaurant (NY, NY)
Participants:10 adults (21-55 yrs old)
Action:Discussed NY Times Op Ed by Nicholas Kristof and VANITY FAIR "Enter China" article; added new items to Darfur information kit for future Actioners, including a much needed map of Africa!- that'll come in handy! Note: one person read the VF article (35 minutes to read) and then summarized it for everyone at the following meeting.We realized we needed to divide up the "homework!"
Actionshop Topic: Human Rights / Darfur - Women's Rights to Non-Violence Focus
Location: Harvard University - Darfur Student Action Group(Boston, MA)
Participants: 50 students
Action: Viewed a documentary film, then ate Thai food while discussing the film and items in the information kit - including: the role of news media in Sudan and possibly creating a project with an American or British University Journalism students in the region, and reaching out to Olympic sponsors. Students want an alternative advocacy action to "boycotting the Olympics" which was currently being proposed by many Darfur interest groups.
Actionshop Topic: Human Rights / Democratic Republic of the Congo - Women's Rights
Location:SUNY New Paltz (New Paltz, NY) and 60 Main coffee shop
Participants: 80 students, with two Women's Studies majors interns
Actiongroups:Over a three month period, two women's studies interns became Actionbuddies and hosted a variety of events on and off-campus to raise awareness and facilitate action. Various Actiongroups were formed including: film screening HBO "The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo", PBS "LUMO" and news screenings (ABC-60 Minutes), teach-ins on campus (using V-Day materials), joining The Friends of the Congo "Cell Out" campaign, and organizing and mailing advocacy post cards to NY state senators...and much, much more! (Thanks April and Johanna!)
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