Allied Media Conference

Q & A following the film with members of the Palestine Education Project

Slingshot Hip Hop braids together the stories of young Palestinians living in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank as they discover Hip Hop and employ it as a tool to surmount divisions imposed by occupation and poverty. From internal checkpoints and Separation Walls to gender norms and generational differences, this is the story of young people crossing the borders that separate them. There will be a discussion with the director and producers following the film.

Participants: Aurora Harris, Broadside Press; Ron Scott, For My People; Khary Frazier, The Michigan Citizen; Shea Howell, The Michigan Citizen; Zak Rosen, Detroit Today; Oya Amakisi, Amakisi Unlimited; Arvell Jones and Desmond Jones, Encode Media; Nkenge Zola, U of D Mercy Digital Media Studies Department
Facilitator: Lottie Spady, Free D Media

Jennifer Granholm has earmarked millions of dollars for her "21st century jobs" initiative. Detroit is home to hundreds of independent recording studios based out of peoples basements, garages and bathrooms. Free D media (In Our Own Backyard) has instituted a program to offer media-based cooperative economics skills to displaced workers in Detroit. Motown Records was started with an $800 loan from the Gordy family "co-op"in a house on W. Grand Blvd! What kind of economic future for Detroit can we advance through independent media?

Followed by discussion with Mabel Williams

NEGROES WITH GUNS tells the dramatic story of the often-forgotten civil rights leader who urged African Americans to arm themselves against violent racists. For eight years, Williams and his family lived in exile, first in Cuba and then in China. In Havana, Williams began to broadcast a 50,000-watt radio program called "Radio Free Dixie." The radio show fused cutting-edge music with news of the black freedom movement and Williams’ editorials, which, among other things, urged blacks not to fight in Vietnam. According to the filmmakers, NEGROES WITH GUNS helps to “restore Rob and Mabel Williams to their rightful place as important civil rights figures who defied the white power structure without the protection of large numbers or the attention of television cameras.

Presenters: Capital D, All Natural INC.; Invincible, Emergence Music; Bec Young and Pete Yahnke, Just Seeds Visual Resistance Artist Cooperative; Jessica Care Moore, Moore Black Press

This interactive session will move from a multimedia process of envisioning the type of interdependent economies we as independent artists need in order to thrive and evolve, then to a dialog around the specific challenges we face in creating what we envision. Participants will take an up close look at the ins and outs of 4 organizations working to develop alternative economies for independent media makers--Just Seeds, a national collective of visual artists; Moore Black Press, the independent publishing company of Detroit poet Jessica Care Moore; the Chicago-based All Natural, Founders of the label All Natural, Inc.,and Emergence Media a brand new label currently 'emerging' from Detroit.

Presenters: Malkia Cyril, Center for Media Justice; Edyael Casaperalta, Center for Rural Strategies; Joshua Breitbart, People’s Production House; more TBA

This session is an open conversation about the challenges and opportunities that urban and rural communities face. Our goal is to explore avenues of rural+urban collaboration via dialogue, imagination, and media. In one word, our goal is to UNITE! Our conversation will feature three components: 1) small group discussions about the challenges and opportunities of urban and rural, their differences and similarities, and how media contributes to amplifying challenges and creating opportunities; 2) stories of successful rural+urban collaborations from panelists and the audience; and 3) writing/live-blogging of insights and action steps that emerge from the conversation. Whether you are from a rural or urban community, or somewhere in between, come UNITE and make our efforts stronger for all.

Presenters: Ryan Pinion, Stacy Milbern, Isabel Macdonald

When was the last time you heard or saw people with disabilities represented in the media? Part 1 of this session will break down the most common frames of discussion when it comes to disability in the media: sickness, medicine and charity. We will then present alternative representations of disability not commonly portrayed in the media and share current and historical information about the Disability Rights Movement in this country. During Part 2 of this session, the group FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) will share concrete tools for monitoring the media, documenting unfair and inaccurate coverage, and using this documentation as part of campaigns to achieve more accountable coverage. Participants will have the chance to practice these tools on recent media reports involving harmful representations of disability in the media, and ultimately will walk away with tools that they can apply to any campaign for social justice. You will also receive concrete tools for addressing ableism and inaccessibility issues within your own organization!

Presenters: Victoria Law; Kameelah Rasheed; Dannette Hoarde, Women and Prison: A Site for Resistance; Anthony Rayson, South Chicago ABC Zine Distro

While working towards the long-term goal of prison abolition, we must also take on more immediate efforts to support those silenced by incarceration. Those dedicated to independent media should consider reaching out to and collaborating with those lacking media access as a way to amplify marginalized voices and to make the movement for participatory media more inclusive. This session will include a discussion with independent media makers and prison activists on current initiatives, barriers and possibilities of media access for prisoners, sustainability and growth of prisoner-focused media.

Presenters: The Beehive Collective

The purpose of this workshop is to build connections between activists that use words, and those that speak in pictures, to help create more accessible, powerful campaigns for the important issues of our time. The Beehive Collective has been creating and distributing anti-copyright, educational artwork for the past 7 years about social and environmental issues from biotechnology to the FTAA. In this workshop, we will use 'mind-mapping' as a tool to collect, organize and share the ideas generated by the whole group.

Presenters: DeAnne Cuellar, Texas Media Empowerment Project; Brenna Wolf, Riseup Networks; Chuck Robinson, Texas Media Empowerment Project

Where is the internet going and what does it mean for you and your friends? What does digital security mean for social justice movements? This interactive workshop will address how to use computers safely and securely in activism and organizing. Learn how and why to navigate social networking sites without giving up too much of your personal data (or your soul). Facilitators include tech activists from the Texas Media Empowerment Project and Riseup Networks.

How can we use media to build coalitions among black and Arab communities? What could black/Arab solidarity mean? Organizers from Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC), Arab American Action Network, Palestine/Israel Education Project, Arab Women Active in Arts and Media (AWAAM), and Detroit's black/Arab solidarity group will come together in this caucus to share their work and collectively answer these questions. Everyone interested in black/Arab coalition building is welcome.