Radical Visions: Anarchism, Socialism, Pacifism, Feminism, Multiculturalism, Environmentalism, Globalism

In this participatory workshop, we will discuss visions of participatory, inclusive, and nonviolent future societies.
If people don’t believe there is a better way of fundamentally restructuring society, it depresses movements for social change. How are radical philosophies stereotyped and distorted? I will share some possible alternative definitions to try to reclaim them both from dominant frames and from some of their repressive proponents.
We will then break up into small groups, with each group brainstorming ideas for restructuring an aspect of society from each perspective. One small group will envision a better educational system, for example. What would an anarchist educational system look like? What would a feminist educational system look like? Etc.

Finally, we’ll report back on some of our most creative/thought provoking ideas to the large group.
The purpose of the workshop is to look at each of the political philosophies listed above, not as rigid dogmas in competition with each other, but as flexibly complementary sources of inspiration and struggle.
Sam Diener is co-founder of the new Peacework blog, which works to chronicle current struggles for nonviolent social change, build on the past, and envision better futures.