WRL has created an interactive workshop that explores how communities are impacted by militarism as well as what they might do about it - locally and around the world. You Can't Tear Us Apart: Tear Gas, Militarism and Local/Global Solidarity is specially designed for US-based community groups that want to connect their ongoing organizing - whether that be focused on racial or economic justice, ending mass incarceration, or supporting international struggles - to a movement against militarism in all its forms.
The workshop is about 90 minutes and its sections include:
1. Introductions (5 - 10 minutes)
2. "The World of Tear Gas" - Gallery Walk (30 - 40 minutes)
3. Themes and Patterns - Small Group Conversations (20 minutes)
4. The Big Picture of Militarism - Takeaways (20 minutes)
5. Evaluation (5 minutes)
Some of its specific goals are for participants to:
-collectively define "militarism"
-situate the history of domestic tear gas use within the broader history of the militarization of the police and mass incarceration in the US
-become familiar with some of the key companies responsible for the manufacture of so-called "non-lethal technologies"
-learn more about the social movements and political organizing repressed through the use of tear gas
-explore how the Facing Tear Gas campaign may be able to support participants' political work and how people can participate in solidarity with global movements
Special thanks to Toolbox for Education and Social Action (TESA) for their help in bringing this workshop about!
