The Total Liberation Project is being organized by dozens of student groups and activists at the Evergreen State College with the goal of exploring a wide range of more holistic visions of resistance and liberation; visions that do not privilege any particular type of oppression over any other, yet which still successfully respect and further the autonomy of all movements within a greater context of solidarity.

For example, we want to move beyond both the orthodox Marxist idea that class society is the basis of all other oppression, as well as the anarchist idea that it is the state that is the basis of all other oppressions. Likewise we want to transcend the somewhat newer ideas of first and second-wave feminism that gender is the basis or the idea that racism is what is at the basis of all other oppressions.

Rather we want to conceptualize and put into practice visions and theories that say that ALL of these types of oppression are of central importance, and that these are really just the beginning of an understanding of how our truly multifaceted world really works.

Aside from the theoretical underpinnings of which we are constituted, there are other major differences between the Total Liberation Project and what one would normally think of as a typical activist conference. One is that we intend this to be more than just a conference bound by time constraints; we intend to carry this project out beyond April 2002 through the proliferation of the website and the publishing of a rather large pamphlet by the same name. Both of these will serve as portals to a wide range of radically holistic theories, and will include the text from presenters' speeches and debates that occur during the month of April.

Another major difference is in how we have organized: the policy of Total Liberation has been to do everything we can to have an equal number of white women, women of color, white men and men of color both presenting the theoretical lectures as well as doing the practical workshops.

The reasons for this should be obvious: we want our means to be in line with the ends we propose. At the same time, we fully recognize that even this small effort is problematic as it does not account for a balance between all the many types (possibly thousands) of oppression. However, we feel that even by taking this small step we are going far beyond what many conferences that purport to be about "liberation" have done in the past.

Tentative Schedule:

Friday A19

12) Todd May on Poststructuralist Anarchism and Contingent Holism; TESC

4) Susan Parenti on theater, feminism and liberation at TESC

Saturday A20

2) G8 Teach-in at Seattle Central Community College (SCCC) with Special Guests the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) the Anti-Capitalist Convergence (le CLAC) and Lorenzo Komboa Ervin.

4) Reclaim the Streets Action Against the World Bank / IMF; at SCCC

6) Anti-Capitalist Convergence March Against the World Bank / IMF; at SCCC

Sunday A21

12-6) All-Day Holistic Anti-oppression Workshop with Leticia Nieto; TESC

Monday A22

12) Radical theories of education at TESC

8-10) Michael Moore on George W. Bush and "Stupid White Men" at Evergreen CRC.

Tuesday A23

12) Linda Hogan on the Sacred Hoop and indigenous worldviews of liberation at TESC (unconfirmed)

7) Dan Chodorkoff on the theory of Social Ecology at TESC

Wednesday A24

12) Arthur Miller on bridging environmental, indigenous and working class movements at TESC

6) Elizabeth Martinez on "Where is the Color in the Antiglobalization Movement Today?" at TESC

Thursday A25

12) Lorenzo Komboa Ervin on anarchism and people of color at the TESC

7) Michael Albert on Complimentary Holism at TESC

9) Hardcore and Hip-Hop Show: Vitamin X, Merciful Allah, November Group and Higher Ground of Struggle at TESC (unconfirmed).

Friday A26

12-1:30) Aragorn Moser at TESC Library Lobby

6-8) John Zerzan at TESCLibrary Lobby

8-11) Anarchist "Smackdown" Debate! Featuring the Number 3 Collective, Killing King Abacus (unconfirmed), John Zerzan, Arthur Miller, Aragorn Moser and more at TESC Lecture Hall 1

11-2) Party at the Beach House

Saturday A27

9-10:15) Womyn's self-defense by FIST at TESC

10:15-11:30) Police Brutality and Homelessness by Pat Tassoni at TESC

12-1:15) Legal Self-Defense by the Midnight Legal Collective at TESC

1:15-2:30) Street Self-Defense by Gregory C. Lewis at TESC

3:30 - 4:45) Building a nationwide anarchist organization by No. 3 Collective at TESC

5 - 6:15) Organizing in communities of color by L. Ervin at TESC

5-10) Breakdancing Competition (ASIA) at the TESC Library Lobby

Sunday A28

OMJP Conference (see announcement same page)

Monday A29

8-10) Every Woman's Delegation at the TESC Library Lobby

Tuesday A30

7-9) Linda Evans on the Prison-Industrial Complex at the TESC

Wednesday M1

12) Mayday Celebration and Reclaim the Streets Action in Olympia with the Infernal Noise Brigade, etc

Contact Us!

Total Liberation Project

c/o Evergreen Political Information Center

Evergreen State College Olympia, Washington 98502

(360)867-6144 * ringfingers@yahoo.com

Come to one of our meetings: we are meeting every Monday from 6:30-8 PM at Clancy's Pub downtown and every Thursday from 4:30-5:30 pm at TESC CAB 320 in Olympia.