“Creating Power From Below”: How the people of New Orleans organised following Hurricane Katrina
Scott Crow was in New Orleans on August 29th 2005, when levees and the US government failed the city in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. In response, Crow co-founded the Common Ground Collective, a relief effort based on solidarity, not charity. This volunteer group built medical clinics, distributed food & water and created community gardens. They also resisted home demolitions, white militias, police brutality and FEMA’s incompetence.
This was only one chapter in a life shaped by Anarchism.
Drawing on his acclaimed book “Black Flags and Windmills”, Crow’s engaging presentation illustrates through stories, analysis and the history of radical movements how individuals and communities can find collective liberation and change their own worlds by creating power from below.
It covers how the ideas, philosophies and practices of Anarchism have grown, shaping and influencing modern political movements and tendencies from the post-Seattle alternative globalization movements, the Occupy uprisings, environmental and animal rights movements and beyond. Crow also discusses the rise of the surveillance state and the implications of political activism being labelled ‘terrorism’.
Equal parts personal story, radical history and organizing philosophies, this presentation asks questions about how we engage in social change, the real and perceived challenges presented by the state and power and dares us to rethink how we engage in creating sustainable and liberatory futures.
FREE ENTRY – ALL WELCOME
Organised by Sussex Anarchists