Breakout Sessions

The global movement for the liberation of Palestine has grown significantly in the last six months. The escalation of the israeli state's genocidal assault on Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank has ignited millions around the world to demand: an immediate and permanent ceasefire, an end to the occupation, the release of all Palestinian prisoners and detainees, the right of return for all Palestinian refugees and their descendants, and ultimately a free Palestine from the river to the sea. As the situation on the ground constantly changes, organizers also pivot to stay aligned with Palestinian leadership. This session will discuss the existing and emerging needs we are seeing in movement spaces as well as the strategies being used to address them.

Movement leaders across time and space map the arc of social change in lifetimes, advising that any strategy we engage in today has been shaped by the 100 years before us, and must be accountable to those who will be here 100 years from now. How can we best steward this long arc of social change? How do we build bridges across generations, navigate conflict, and build sustainable movement infrastructure that allows individuals from all generations to lead? In this breakout, we will hear from preeminent movement leaders on what intergenerational building means to them, why it is imperative for our current political moment, and how we can build sustainable movements against militarism and war that empower individuals from all generations.

In recent times, the idea of a feminist foreign policy has gained some momentum across the Global North, in particular, but not without some interest from a few Global South countries like Mexico. This session will look more closely at whether "foreign policy" even with a "feminist" prefix is able to advance a future where peace and justice prevail for all people and for our earth, given current global power dynamics and capitalist dominated economic systems. What would it take to reclaim the word ''peace" as feminists so that our movements can legitimately challenge the dominant framework of militarism? Is the current focus on a "feminist foreign policy" no more than neo-imperialism dressed in pink? What concerns emerge when we analyze such policies as they have played out in Sweden, France, and Canada? What have we learned from the disproportionate focus on "women's empowerment" and "reproductive access and choice" or simply funding more women's organizations? How might we imagine an approach that fundamentally shifts power away from dominant Global North economies and recognizes the presence of women in their range of roles from agricultural workers and farmers, to traders and business people, to mobilizers of social movements, and significant political and community leaders in their societies. Our breakout session will provide a space for sharing ideas, successful strategies that have been used, and thoughts about what we might be able to move forward within our own organizations, movements, and networks. We will explore potential areas for future collaboration, strategies to deepen resistance to current frameworks, and identify possible next steps for joint action.

Join a guided or independent collage project organized around different prompts. This breakout session provides participants a chance to make art that can help us envision peace and justice. We also offer this breakout session for folks who need more introversion time or a break from engaging to use it as a space for reflection and pause.

The militarism of the border and attacks on migrant communities is a crucial issue of U.S. policy. From the draconian anti-immigrant legislation taking place in Florida and having a domino effect in the southern states to the anti-black targeted deportation of Haitian communities and the border militarism crisis, we will discuss community-organizing approaches to resisting and advancing migrant justice.

What are the biggest opportunities and threats when it comes to funding feminist peace work right now? How can we map and understand the landscape of feminist peace work, and collectively ensure that it is resourced and strengthened? What connections and alliances can we make to navigate these realities, resource impactful work, and transform philanthropy to pursue feminist, demilitarized, and decolonized approaches to peace? This session will focus on interactive, small-group discussions geared towards generating lessons and strategic proposals that participants, operating inside and/or outside of philanthropy, can integrate into their work.

Today, our work to bridge movement ideals to policy has to shift to a complex reality of extraordinary corruption, insurrectionists, rising authoritarianism domestically and abroad, and a lack of political courage from the entrenched left. At the same time, we have true champions who can be partners in moving forward visionary change. In this session, we will discuss how we can update our theory of change to use Congressional advocacy in rapid-response and visionary campaigns to build a feminist peace and fight back against authoritarian attacks.

At this historic moment, anti-war feminists from the diaspora have an unprecedented opportunity to transform U.S. foreign policy and shift the United States away from a war economy and towards one built on a green and care economy. Not only do diaspora leaders, their scholarship, and their organizations provide historical context and crucial understanding of the impact of U.S. foreign policy on their homelands, they offer insight on the domestic implications of hawkish rhetoric and policies. By centering the voices of those most impacted by war, diaspora feminist peace activists are reinvigorating the country’s anti-war movement by making connections between the violence of U.S. foreign policy and the militarization of security and criminalization of dissent here at home. In this breakout session, we will share efforts by diaspora peace movements on key conflicts and identify strategies to join together to take on U.S. militarism at home and abroad, and transform our world towards feminist peace.

From prevention-based education to post-conflict reconciliation, there are a variety of ways in which the arts can be used to shift the dominant narrative away from militarism and towards peace. By using a selection of guiding questions, international case studies, and their own experiences, participants will critically analyse the ways in which the arts can be integrated into sustainable, holistic, and participatory feminist peacebuilding practices. Specific focus will be placed on the importance of measuring impact, the limitations to such an approach, and on opportunities for growth.

This session will focus on the inextricable links of feminism, Black and Indigenous liberation, and nuclear weapons abolition, and how emergent strategy can provide actionable ways to practice the liberated futures we’re working for. Attendees will learn about the disproportionate harms of nuclear weapons to women and genderqueer people, children, and Black and Indigenous communities; the historical efforts of feminist anti-nuclear organizing in particular led by Black women; and the importance and influence these communities can and do have to build a more just, equitable, caring, resilient, sustainable world free from nuclear weapons. Together, attendees will discuss how the threats of nuclear weapons intersect with the feminist struggles of their work and ways to implement emergent strategies into their organizing.

Across the world, military pollution and escalating wars are exacerbating impacts of climate crisis and violence in our communities. Climate justice requires demilitarization and centering feminist solutions.

Authoritarian regimes across the world are learning from each other, leading to the rise of a Global Right that shares tactics and beliefs rooted in hierarchy, exclusion, and domination. Activists are finding creative and strategic ways to counter these worrisome trends and protect marginalized communities who are on the receiving end of much of this violence and oppression. This breakout group connects activists across contexts and struggles to strategize how we can learn from each other to challenge authoritarian repression and consider ways to organize together against the rollback of rights and freedoms. It identifies similar patterns between white nationalists in the US and Hindutva in India, among other violent exclusionary systems and ideologies.