If you are an ally and want to help with this, it would be great for you to reach out to more WOC and QPOC in free software and free culture to join the group! Please forward widely http://freeculture.org/blog/2013/01/31/announcing-the-empowermentors-collec… ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Students for Free Culture <webleader+rss-bot(a)freeculture.orgDate: Thu, Jan 31, 2013 at 11:15 AM Subject: [FC-discuss] Announcing the Empowermentors Collective: a group for women of color and queer people of color To: discuss(a)freeculture.org _This has been cross-posted at the Free Software Foundation blog [here][1]._ The [Empowermentors Collective][2] is a new space by and for women of color and queer people of color within free software and free culture. We recognize the need to address deep-seated cultural norms within the free software and free culture communities which, under the guise of openness, have excused and perpetuated alienating behavior. It is imperative that we acknowledge that there are systemic structures of control embedded in our society which permeate our movement. Refusing to do so in an effort to compartmentalize and focus on our own goals is detrimental to our success. We cannot afford to be an inward-facing movement. To expose and undo this culture of exclusion, we would like to support the recently established Empowermentors Collective, a community for intersectionally marginalized identities. This type of intentional space also opens up the potential for much needed coalition building and advances our own understanding of how technology and media are inseparable from our experiences and ourselves, our bodies. As [the description][3] reads: discussion network by and for women of color and queer people of color. We are a group of community members with a strong commitment to furthering free software and free culture through an intersectionally marginalized lens and making a more welcoming space out of these communities. We therefore necessarily also work against and do not tolerate oppression in all its forms: ableism, racism, cissexism, heterosexism, sexism, classism, etc. space for people with disabilities, people of color, women, and people self-identified as queer or LGBT. encourage participants to host workshops and skillshares geared towards intersectionally marginalized identities. culture communities. free culture. accessibility in free software projects. classes, and skillshares. Students for Free Culture and the Free Software Foundation are proud to support this effort to identify, expose, and confront crucial issues within our communities; to bridge our movement with our contemporaries in the critical intersectional analysis of oppression, hierarchy, and domination; and to develop our own philosophy at the cutting-edge of feminist, queer, critical race, and cyborg theory. If you are a woman of color or queer person of color in the free software or free culture community and are interested in being a part of the Empowermentors Collective, please [join the mailing list][4] and the #empowermentors IRC channel on freenode. If you are an ally to these issues, please help spread the word! [1]: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/announcing-the- empowermentors-collective-a-group-for-women-of-color-and-queer-people- of-color [2]: http://libreplanet.org/wiki/Group:Empowermentors [3]: http://libreplanet.org/wiki/Group:Empowermentors#About_us [4]: http://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/empowermentors URL: http://freeculture.org/blog/2013/01/31/announcing-the-empowermentors-collec… _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list Discuss(a)freeculture.org http://lists.freeculture.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss FAQ: http://wiki.freeculture.org/Fc-discuss -- Campaigns Organizer, Free Software Foundation: www.fsf.org Board of Directors, Students for Free Culture: www.freeculture.org Blog: http://thesilentnumber.me - StatusNet Microblog: http://identi.ca/kxra Email: kxra(a)fsf.org - SMS: +1.617.340.3661 Jabber/XMPP: kxra(a)fsf.org - IRC: kxra @freenode @oftc @indymedia