The next 3 days of workshops haves 3 different themes: Consciousness. Vision. Strategy. Thursday's focus is "Consciousness," meaning most of the workshops covered history, frameworks and ideas.

Among the many workshops I had to choose from, some of interest included:

* You Can't Kill the Spirit: Solidarity Organizing in the Movement to Build New Orleans (Catalyst Project and People's Hurricane Relief Fund)

* Say What? Dramatic Reading and Discussion of US Lies to UN about Gulf Coast Reconstruction (AEHR, CriticalResist, PHRF, NLCHP, USHR, Ntw)

* Another Media is Possible: Challenging Portrayals of Women (Women's Movement Now -- YWTF Miami Chapter)  

*Developing Revolutionary Consciousness (SOUL)

*Immigration, the IMF, and the War in Iraq, Why We Will Never Be Legal (Audre Lorde Project) 

For my first workshop of the day, I attended the "Media History Timeline" workshop presented by the New York-based Global Action Project. The workshop began with a screening of the video of Rodney King being beat by LAPD police officers. Despite the wide age range present in the room, everyone affirmed that the image was one of the most defining media moments of their time, not only affecting the course of U.S. history, but signaling the new role of grassroots, community-based media in our society. I was reminded just how potent images are, and the importance of controlling the stories told by and about our communities. 

It was a full house at the "Right to the City: Building a National Movement Against Displacement and Gentrification" workshop hosted by Tenants and Workers United), as people from diverse backgrounds and communities discussed the root causes of displacement and gentrification and shared their impacts on their communities. I was very impressed that there was both Spanish and Chinese-language translation via radio sets, as well as 3-language power point visuals. A small detail, but one that showed a conscious effort towards being inclusive.