2019 Seabeck Conference
East Point Peace Academy & Western Washington Fellowship of Reconciliation
are pleased to present
Fierce Vulnerability
Direct Action that Heals and Transforms
Friday, June 28th – Monday, July 1st, 2019
61st Annual Fellowship of Reconciliation NW Regional Conference at Seabeck, WA
During the weekend at Seabeck I became deeply aware of the strong need we have for intergenerational solidarity… I’ve just never so acutely understood how ineffective we are as a community if we don’t value each other in all capacities, especially when age and the cultural symbolism of life stages are so innately part of the human experience…we need to be building intergenerational solidarity for our own individual benefit as well as that of our efforts toward nonviolent action.
23 yr. old 2019 Mike Yarrow Peace Fellow
A new approach!
Traditionally we have had multiple workshops on a variety of issues under a common theme. In recognition of activists’ needs at this particular point in time, all of our 200-250 attendees will share a single focus. You are invited to join us for a long weekend of learning and growing and practicing in community.
What is Fierce Vulnerability?
- How do we stop injustice in its tracks while acknowledging the interconnectedness of all people?
- How do we protect ourselves while nurturing a relationship with our broken-heartednness?
- How do we build a movement that can shut down a highway while creating a culture of opening up?
- How do we build a movement with the militancy to occupy a government building and the sensitivity to see it as an act of healing?
- How can we come to experience vulnerability as a strength, not a weakness?
Our world is in crisis. Our social systems are being torn apart, our economic systems have created historic levels of wealth disparity, and earth’s life support systems are on the brink of collapse. The need for a powerful direct action movement that nurtures a radical, fundamental transformation has never been greater. Despair 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. A movement that understands the assertiveness that is needed to address the crises of our times. A movement that sees social change as a radical act of healing. A movement that knows that each of us needs to heal as much as those we may feel compelled to blame. A movement that knows that violence hurts all parties. A movement that will never see any individual as disposable, undeserving of dignity, or incapable of transformation.
Fierce Vulnerability is born of the conviction that our vulnerability is our greatest strength. Vulnerability makes us whole, and that wholeness is the only thing that can undo generations of investment in plunder and exploitation.
Join us and let us explore together what it might look like to enter into movement spaces with the courage to be our whole selves, sometimes courageous, sometimes fearful, sometimes clear, sometimes confused, sometimes joyous, sometimes grieving, often a mixture of all of these. We seek to bring ourselves as we are, in service to life, growing in our capacity to be fierce in our vulnerability and vulnerable in our ferocity.
To learn more about our cosponsor, visit East Point Peace Academy.
Breaking Free from the Cycle of Trauma and Shame
All of us have been traumatized living within a dehumanizing and genocidal civilization. This trauma is too often perpetuated and passed on through the weapon of shame. Having seen the toxic and paralyzing effect of a culture of shaming on activist communities, we commit to not perpetuating trauma and shame. We strive to honor each other’s trauma with empathy, and rather than internalizing and passing on that trauma, we seek to hold it with compassion and love. We commit to not forgetting the injustices that have caused trauma, while remembering how easily we ourselves can justify harming others. Resisting the tendency toward shame allows us the space for the difficult process of being accountable for genuine guilt, repentance, and healing.
Would you like to help us publicize this conference?
Click on the image, below, to download and print a flyer your can post in your community.
