FIERCE VULNERABILITY
Building a Radical Movement of Healing

Friday, May 20th @ 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM
Saturday, May 21st @ 9:30 AM - 5:30 PM
Sunday, May 22nd @ 9:30 AM - 5:30 PM
All Sessions Required

Ventura, CA 
This is an in-person workshop. Protocols will be in place for COVID safety (see below for details)

How do we build a movement that has the militancy to occupy a government building and see it as an act of healing?

How do we build a movement that can shut down a highway while creating a culture of opening up?

How do we stop injustice in its tracks while acknowledging the interconnectedness of all people?

How do we protect ourselves while having a relationship with our heart-brokenness?

How can we view vulnerability as a strength, not as a weakness?

How do we heal and transform ourselves, our relationships and our world?

Because our world is in crisis. Our social systems are being torn apart, our economic systems has created historic levels of wealth disparity and our ecological system is on the brink of collapse. The need for a powerful movement that nurtures a radical, fundamental transformation has never been greater. The desperation seems to be in the air we breathe and can be felt in the depth of our hearts.

Yet our need is not only a transformation of systems and laws and policies. What we yearn for is a fundamental transformation of our hearts, our values and our relationships – to ourselves, to each other and to the earth.

Fierce Vulnerability…..

...is an attempt to build such a movement. One that understands the assertiveness that is needed to address the crises of our times. One that sees social change as a radical act of healing. One that is committed to Beloved Community and reconciliation of all. One that knows that each of us need to heal as much as anyone that we may point our fingers at. One that sees that violence hurts all parties. One that will never see any individual as disposable, unworthy of dignity or incapable of transformation.

...believes that it is our vulnerability that is our greatest strength. It is vulnerability that makes us whole, and that wholeness is the only thing that can undo generations of investment into injustice.

...is a reimagining of direct action movements. How do we engage in the critical work of nonviolent direct action with the fierceness to confront systems of injustice face-to-face, while maintaining the vulnerability to speak from our hearts about our yearning to heal?

Join us and let us explore together how we heal, how we fight, and how we are to be with each other in these critical times. 

WHO IS THIS FOR
Fierce Vulnerability is part of the onboarding process for the Fierce Vulnerability Network – a decentralized constellation of direct action teams poised at the intersection of racial healing and climate justice.

While some time will be spent discussing the specifics of this Network and registration priority will be given to those interested in joining, this workshop is open to anyone who is interested in learning more about the Fierce Vulnerability model of social change and developing their skills in nonviolent direct action.

COVID PROTOCOLS
Due to the ongoing COVID pandemic, we will limit the number of participants for this event. Please register early, and let us know if you are not able to make it so that we can give your spot to someone on the wait-list. 

We will continue to monitor the pandemic and will follow all guidance of local and federal health authorities. Participants will be asked to be masked at all times except meals, and PPE will be made available. The location is indoors, but has large garage/roll out doors that will allow for plenty of ventilation. 

FACILITATORS

Vickie Ya-Rong Chang (she/her), a Core Member at East Point Peace Academy, is the daughter of Chinese immigrants and was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. In her work as a psychologist and writer, she is dedicated to personal = collective liberation. She supports Asian and Pacific Islander movement spaces through offering awareness and somatic practices, which are fundamental to her individual and group counseling work. She is strengthened by her connection to Chinese ancestral practices and shaped by her relationship with the people, culture, and land of the Sangre de Cristo mountains, first settled by the Puebloans, Ute, Jicarilla Apache, and Navajo/Diné; the holy hill Arunachala in India; and the Divine Buddha Temple in Taiwan.

Kazu Haga (he/him) is a Core Member at East Point Peace Academy and the Ahimsa Collective, and is the author of Healing Resistance: A Radically Different Response to Harm. He has been engaged in social change work since the age of 17. At 18, he would go on to spend one-year living in Buddhist monasteries throughout South Asia studying the relationship between nonviolence and Buddhist dharma. He has over 20 years of experience in nonviolence, restorative justice, trainings and organizing and has been trained by elders such as Dr. Bernard Lafayette and Rev. James Lawson.

This training is being hosted and organized by local organizers Paul Aist, Jeff Otterbein, Tim Nafziger, Amisha DeYoung-Dominguez and Nicolette Walker.

HOW MUCH WILL IT COST?
All events at the East Point Peace Academy are offered on a Gift Economy. This means that there is no fee to register, and everybody is welcome to attend regardless of their ability to pay. An opportunity will be offered to participants to give gifts to support the work of our organization and to support the facilitators. No amount is too small or too large.

LOCATION
This is an in-person workshop, with participants expected to be in attendance for the entire time. The workshop will take place in Ventura, CA. The exact location will be emailed to you after you register.