Calendar

Register: CPT Summer Reading Circle | Freedom Is a Constant Struggle

Schedule:

Saturday 6 July 10am CT

Chapter 1: Progressive Struggles against Insidious Capitalist Individualism
Chapter 2: Ferguson Reminds Us of the Importance of a Global Context
Chapter 3: We have to Talk about Systemic Change

Saturday 13 July 10am CT

Chapter 4: On Palestine, G4S, and the Prison-Industrial Complex
Chapter 5: Closures and Continuities
Chapter 6: From Michael Brown to Assata Shakur, the Racist State of America Persists

Saturday 20 July 10am CT

Chapter 7: The Truth Telling Project: Violence in America
Chapter 8: Feminism and Abolition: Theories and Practices for Twenty-First Century

Saturday 27 July 10am CT

Chapter 9: Political Activism and Protest from the 1960s to the Age of Obama
Chapter 10: Transnational Solidarities

Let’s read together Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the foundations of a movement by Angela Davis

‘Freedom is a Constant Struggle’ is a compilation of speeches and essays by feminist scholar and political activist Angela Davis. As a prison abolitionist and Black woman in the United States, Davis leans into an intersectional understanding of movement organizing and guides her work by pulling together several global struggles including Ferguson and the Black liberation movement alongside Palestine and the anti-colonial movement. In the book’s forward, Dr. Cornel West attests that “her ubiquitous lecturing, marvelous teaching, and courageous solidarity in every corner of the globe keep candles of hope burning in the cold and chilling days of neoliberal hegemony.” 

Join us for conversation of hope in our summer reading circle, as we move through the book over the course of four weeks and learn from each other through response and discussion that stems from the text.  

Purchase a hard copy at your local bookstore, lend from your local library, purchase online, or view an online PDF.

Schedule:

Saturday 6 July 10am CT

Chapter 1: Progressive Struggles against Insidious Capitalist Individualism
Chapter 2: Ferguson Reminds Us of the Importance of a Global Context
Chapter 3: We have to Talk about Systemic Change

Saturday 13 July 10am CT

Chapter 4: On Palestine, G4S, and the Prison-Industrial Complex
Chapter 5: Closures and Continuities
Chapter 6: From Michael Brown to Assata Shakur, the Racist State of America Persists

Saturday 20 July 10am CT

Chapter 7: The Truth Telling Project: Violence in America
Chapter 8: Feminism and Abolition: Theories and Practices for Twenty-First Century

Saturday 27 July 10am CT

Chapter 9: Political Activism and Protest from the 1960s to the Age of Obama
Chapter 10: Transnational Solidarities

source: Cleveland Owns

This August, in partnership with our allies at Co-op Cincy and Co-op Dayton, Cleveland Owns is launching the next version of Co-op U, our 14-week co-op incubator for groups looking to launch worker-owned businesses.

Please find more information at this application form! 

Do you have a team and idea for a worker-owned cooperative business you’re looking to turn into reality? If so we encourage you to apply to join this state-wide cohort with sponsorship from Cleveland Owns.

This past spring we ran Co-op U for the first time. People’s Plumbing, a new plumbing co-op in Cleveland participated. One of their founding worker-owners, Emma Folkerts, had this to say about their experience with the program:

“I highly recommend participating in the course! Before Co-op U, People’s Plumbing worked a few jobs, but we struggled to find work and we were overwhelmed with everything we needed to do to start our co-op. As part of Co-op U, we conducted interviews and did financial modeling.

"Now we apply the skills and knowledge that we learned through Co-op U every day. And we built connections because of Cleveland Owns. We can now cover our expenses and pay ourselves each month, and we plan to buy a van and hire another plumber in the upcoming months. We would not be where we are today without Co-Op U and Cleveland Owns!"

We are excited for other Cleveland co-ops to start down the same path.

Cleveland Owns is an economic democracy incubator that builds cooperative businesses and leads campaigns for community control of resources. We know that in racial capitalism, ownership matters, so we're organizing multiracial, grassroots cooperatives that enable member owners to build wealth and power. We're working towards a Cleveland owned by its residents.

source: Cleveland Owns

Cleveland Owns is excited to announce that we are beginning to explore cooperative HOUSING in Cleveland through a program being put together by the incredible educator and our friend Prerna Agarwal. The first step is a housing-focused Co-op Circle on July 25.

What does community control of housing mean? How can we take housing off of the speculative market to keep it perpetually affordable, while maintaining resident control? Come discuss these questions together and learn from some existing strategies. RSVP here. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSekjxcLtqWeo5mJT4JhFnbnugZElmDSCPVlkEVh2RD_93IDkg/viewform

Cleveland Owns is an economic democracy incubator that builds cooperative businesses and leads campaigns for community control of resources. We know that in racial capitalism, ownership matters, so we're organizing multiracial, grassroots cooperatives that enable member owners to build wealth and power. We're working towards a Cleveland owned by its residents.

This delegation will  focus on US-backed militarism in Honduras and its negative impact on communities struggling against the climate crisis by contextualizing the root causes of climate migration. Delegates will learn directly from frontline communities and organizations centering the experiences of Indigenous and campesino people who are witnesses and victims of hyper-militarism and who are at risk of being displaced because of climate aggravation. This delegation intends to spread awareness of how militarism exacerbates the climate crisiss which harms the living conditions of Indigenous and campesino communities. Climate and anti-war activists are strongly encouraged to apply, as well as students interested in global human rights and climate migration.

Delegation Fee: $2,000 fee + airfare (sliding scale range available for request on application

Delegation fee covers all meals, lodging, transportation, interpretation, and reading and activist tools

Sliding Scale: $1,000-$2,500+

The delegation fee covers all in-country expenses (lodging, travel, meals, interpretation, etc.) along with pre-travel resources, reading lists, and support. The delegation fee also covers our international team’s expenses for delegation preparation and coordination. Any amount paid over the delegation fee will go to support delegation scholarship and sliding scales, helping to ensure the delegations are more accessible to everyone. A delegation payment of $2,000 or more is ideal to cover all of your expenses and the broader delegation needs-- please pay this amount if you have institutional support or other financial resources. 

Application and $300 deposit due May 1st, 2024

The remaining balance, due June 15th, 2024

​Vaccination Policy: We require that all delegates be fully vaccinated and we ask that you please get your booster shot. Read our full vaccination policy here

​Refund policy: Read our full refund policy here

Register for #NoWar2024 - World BEYOND War

A global 3-day conference, streamed virtually, with in-person events in Sydney, Australia; Wanfried, Germany; Bogotá, Colombia; and Washington, DC, U.S. Join us virtually – or in-person in Australia, Germany, Colombia, and the U.S. – for the 3-day #NoWar2024 Conference to learn about the impact of the USA’s military base empire and how to resist it. The conference will travel virtually across the globe, visiting sites near U.S. military bases, from Australia, to Germany, to Colombia, with the concluding event in Washington, DC, the heart of the U.S. military base empire.  Foreign bases are being used and have made it easier for the United States to launch and execute disastrous wars, including those in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, and Libya. Across the political spectrum and even within the U.S. military there is growing recognition that many overseas bases should have been closed decades ago, but bureaucratic inertia and misguided political interests have kept them open.

Ending all wars means closing all military bases. The United States of America, unlike any other nation, maintains a massive network of foreign military bases around the world, over 900 bases in more than 90 countries and territories.

These bases are costly in a number of ways: financially, politically, socially, and environmentally. U.S. bases in foreign lands often raise geopolitical tensions, support undemocratic regimes, and serve as a recruiting tool for militant groups opposed to the U.S. presence and the governments its presence bolsters. In other cases, foreign bases are being used and have made it easier for the United States to launch and execute disastrous wars, including those in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, and Libya. Across the political spectrum and even within the U.S. military there is growing recognition that many overseas bases should have been closed decades ago, but bureaucratic inertia and misguided political interests have kept them open.

Join us virtually – or in-person in Australia, Germany, Colombia, and the U.S. – for the 3-day #NoWar2024 Conference to learn about the impact of the USA’s military base empire and how to resist it. The conference will travel virtually across the globe, visiting sites near U.S. military bases, from Australia, to Germany, to Colombia, with the concluding event in Washington, DC, the heart of the U.S. military base empire.