[FlyingBrickAnnouncements] Mission Statement and Core Principles (Draft)

[Nathan Stickel]

Please look over this shit and think about it y'all! I would be ok with
some more discussion on the listserv if others are cool with that!

Flying Brick Mission Statement:

At the Flying Brick Library, we strive to be a social and informational hub
for anyone interested in radical politics in the Richmond area. We wish to
provide a safe, sober, clean, and inclusive space for anyone interested in
getting involved, and any group needing a space to hold meetings, events,
or distribute literature is welcome to contact us or come to a meeting to
introduce themselves.

Why "radical" politics?

(define root of the word radical)
We define our politics as "radical" because we aim to get to the "root" of
our society's ills. This means not only confronting classism, racism,
homophobia, and other forms of oppression on a surface level, but
attempting to educate and agitate for a radically different view of the
world. We imagine a world where we are not forced to define ourselves
through capitalism, white supremacy, or patriarchy. We imagine a world
where our identities and our survival aren't tied to our "usefulness" to
corporations and governments. We imagine a world where we don't have to
yell, fight, and bleed, just to obtain freedoms we should already have.

Why a house?

Currently in Richmond, it is close to impossible to maintain a public space
that is sustainable, without making it a business. This in itself is
relevant to why we see a problem with the ever engulfing force of capital:
Our lack of public space. Throughout the world, globalized capitalism is
making it increasingly hard for people to gather, socialize, and come
together about anything, much less to discuss the ills of our world,
without paying a hefty price. And those prices are always rising. Any who
can't afford space, are criminalized and repressed. By opening a home to
our community, we can allow free access to literature, media, the internet,
social space, and other resources that we could never provide at even an
affordable price if we had to maintain a large commercial space that would
require ever increasing taxes, fines, and expenses to maintain.


Input:
Steve - more emphasis on gender?
Ellen - self-possession, emphasis on defining ourselves
Allison - queer positive community
Janissa - mission statement should be about what we do, principles is the
"why"

Points of Unity:
- Community Autonomy. Self determination for all communities, networked
together to make each of us stronger
- Popular Education
- dismantling hierarchy
- understanding value as human need, not as defined by capital and
capitalist culture.
- location in Richmond, the South, and the US. Its relation to our
understanding of imperialism and racism.
- South is a scapegoat for US problems, and a testing ground for fucked
policies.
- Arts and Activism, creative action
- opposition to police, courts, and prisons
- accessible language

-- 
Always with Solidarity

Nathan
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