Sep 15, Sep 22, Sep 29, & Oct 6, 4-6:30pm ET (1-3:30pm PT), Online,

Sliding scale $75 - $300 fee for training - No one turned away for lack of funds

Sessions will be recorded. Live attendance is not mandatory.

Comrades in Struggle - Overcoming race and class bias for the benefit of all - Online Training with White Awake

Facilitators: Eleanor Hancock and David Dean / Guest Teachers: Sumaya Awad and Rabbi Alissa Wise

“Chauvinism degrades and brutalizes the working class, dulls its class consciousness, and makes sections of the working class pliant tools in the hands of their [actual] enemy.” - CPUSA National Education Committee, 1949

“I love the focus on building true solidarity and understanding the root causes of bias. It was an unexpectedly deep approach compared to the ways I've seen others address bias as more of a psychological phenomenon, rather than a structural phenomenon that protects certain power relations.” - Comrades in Struggle participant testimony

The genocide in Gaza nears its one-year anniversary; congress applauds Netanyahu and welcomes him with open arms; glimmers of hope aside, the Democratic party begins to transfer power to a new generation of billionaire-funded “centrists” while fascism rises here and around the world; working people in the United States struggle with inflation and a broken health care system while our taxes fund terror abroad; and the summer of 2024 is the hottest on record. 

This far-reaching system of exploitation and war continues to be fueled by ruling class propaganda meant to divide and dehumanize. As a global 99%, we have a desperate need to come together and wield our collective power for the common good.
 
It is within this context that White Awake is opening its fall programming with our fourth annual anti-bias training, a training designed to help participants unlearn racial and class biases, understand how bias is instilled into the masses to divide and rule, and gain skills for empowering others to see this manipulation and move toward solidarity. Previously held as a white caucus, this year's training is open to all.

In this training we’ll share tools and best practices for catching and interrupting bias within ourselves while directing our participants to the place where deep transformation actually occurs: the comradeship that grows from solidarity-based struggle for social change. The course will include a strong focus on anti-Palestinian racism and antisemitism alongside many forms of racial and class bias that continue to be weaponized in our society.   

This training will help you:

• Gain historical knowledge about how biased beliefs and behaviors have been strategically instilled into the masses over time by a ruling class intent on domination through division.

• Identify a variety of common race and class biases with a special focus on anti-Palestinian bias and antisemitism to help us respond to the current moment. 

• Learn concrete tools for noticing these biases when they arise within us, grounding ourselves emotionally and eliminating their distortions. 

• Learn effective strategies centered on compassion and comradeship for helping others address bias in themselves. 

• Find opportunities to get involved with organizations that are using these strategies to unite the multiracial 99% to create the world that all of us need.

While contemporary implicit bias trainings have their origins in a corporate reaction to the passage of anti-discrimination legislation of the 60’s (and were designed with the primary purpose of protecting these organizations from litigation), Comrades in Struggle will be held in the spirit of radical political parties and labor organizations of the past who did this work for the explicit purpose of building strong, diverse coalitions to challenge ruling class power.

White Awake is an organization that specializes in educational programs for white people, and many of our courses are held as a caucus. This course, however, is not a caucus - all are welcome to join. For more information, see the Participant Agreements & Ground Rules document for the class.

To register and for speaker bios: Announcing: "Comrades in Struggle" 2024 / anti-bias training for our time (mailchi.mp)