Thousand Kites at the Allied Media Conference

Posted 06/21/11

With its national partners (Prison Legal News, AdvoCare, DARE, Critical Resistance, Detention Watch Network) Kites will host a three days of workshops, trainings and discussion in the power of using radio, video, theater and communication stategies to address the U.S. criminal justice system.  Workshops include:

1) "Movements, Litigation, and Legislation"
A new "digital divide" has emerged with Latinos and African Americans being the hardest hit by the recent FCC vote on net neutrality. Phones not only keep us connected, but cell phones play an increasing role in social movements.

2) "Radio that Cross Prison Walls"
This session will provide the hands on tools and resources needed for community educators, teachers, and other practitioners who want to integrate cell phone literacy, mobile broadband policy, wireless issues, an open Internet and other media policy issues into a learning environment through teaching modules, multimedia, and interactive workshops.

3) "Fighting No Parole in Virginia"
What do people-centered media policies look like? How can we shape our local communication infrastructures to create greater access, participation and community ownership?  Digital Justice Coalitions (DJCs) are emerging across the country to explore these questions and take actions that shape media policies at the grassroots level.

4) “Phone Justice for Prisoners and Detainees”
Whether wireline or wireless, phones and phone calls are a vital part of our communication system, and a piece of technology that many of us take for granted. Yet for prisoners, the homeless, immigrants and immigrant detainees, it’s a different story—phone calls are a privilege, not a right. This panel will feature audio, video stories, action research tools and case studies to expose the communication rights challenges these communities face.

5) "Flipping the Script on Detention & Deportation"
The Obama Administration and DHS have identified the so-called "criminal alien" as the primary target of the current deportation machinery. This workshop will give a brief overview of the US immigration detention and deportation system and will explain how immigration law, the War on Drugs and the War on Terror have used similar language such as “criminal,” “alien,” “illegal,” and “terrorist” to garner support and dramatically increase rates of detention and deportation. The workshop will highlight current campaigns and strategies to fight the negative framing and also create space for dialogue on how to shift the debate away from this harmful terminology.

6) "End the School to Prison Pipeline!”
This intergenerational workshop/strategy session brings together youth organizers, participatory researchers, filmmakers, game designers, policy advocates, and mobile media activists to create a transmedia strategy about the School to Prison Pipeline. The workshop is designed to get hands on and share knowledge to connect to education, organizing, framing, and policy advocacy. We'll brainstorm as a group, break down into small groups to focus on specific platforms facilitated by experienced media makers, then reconvene to create a production and distribution strategies that will engage multiple audiences, from the communities most affected, to policy makers, to broadcast audiences.

7)"Using Media to Fight the Police"
This session will use a recent campaign against gang injunctions in Oakland, CA, to explore the power and possibility of using media tools in service of a multi-pronged campaign strategy. Combining, mainstream media pieces with viral video, visual art, music, and social media, Oakland's Stop the Injunctions Coalition has been able to successfully shift the terms of the debate on gang injunctions and make a strong case against the use of policing period.
In this session presenters will offer an overview of the approach taken by this coalition and solicit ideas about ways to augment the effectiveness of media strategies related to grassroots campaigns.

8) “Artists Against Incarceration”

This session will focus on the role of art in building a movement against the prison industrial complex by formerly and currently incarcerated people and their allies. We will look to past movements, such as the Civil Rights movement, for models of how art (songs, poems, images) can sway mainstream cultural consciousness on issues of human rights. Furthermore, we will examine how art can be taught in prisons in ways that empower incarcerated people rather than pacifying them. Finally, we will discuss how to support the work of formerly incarcerated artists and provide opportunities for them not only in prison but after they've been released. We will explore the humanizing, transformative potential of different artforms, and how they have been used by incarcerated artists and their allies.

For more information visit http://alliedmedia.org