Free lodging. Free food. Free fellowship.
Come support Tim Martin’s trial by day. Enjoy community building by night:
Tim Martin goes to trial April Fool’s Day – for standing up for his children and for all of us. He and Joanna Smith acted to demand our leaders act responsibly for a change (imagine that!). With the group Declare Emergency, they demanded the president declare a climate emergency at the National Gallery of Art. Now Tim is being tried and faces up to ten years imprisonment and a $500,000 fine.
The April 1 trial date is poignant.
Community Building Events will be each night from March 31 – April 3, starting at 6:30pm. We’ll have free food & free fellowship & free lodging.
Here’s a rundown of the events. Sign up for as many as you’d like:
Monday March 31: Practice People’s Assembly with Dr. Paul Zeitz.
Dr. Zeitz is a preventive medicine physician, epidemiologist, author, and an award-winning advocate for global justice and human rights. With over 35 years of experience in advocacy, campaigning, and political movement leadership, Dr. Zeitz has consistently demonstrated an unwavering commitment to creating a more equitable and compassionate world.
People’s assemblies are gatherings where ordinary citizens come together to deliberate on issues that affect their community or society, making decisions through direct participation rather than relying on elected representatives. Unlike representative systems where elected officials decide policies, people’s assemblies empower individuals to engage directly in decision-making processes. They’re also designed to be egalitarian, encouraging open discussion, debate, and ultimately, collective decisions that reflect the community’s will. And by involving citizens directly, people’s assemblies aim to increase political accountability and re-engage individuals who might feel alienated by traditional political systems.
University of Maryland professor Sunil Dasgupta and Tim Martin discuss Tim’s trial and how he got here.
Tuesday April 1: Learn The Dignity Index, designed to prevent violence, ease divisions, and solve problems. Facilitated by Amelia Beaei Pardo.
Chicago based educator Amelia Beaei Pardo facilitates a participatory event that will offer a framework to open your mind and build connections. Learn how to respond to challenging situations using your own innate dignity through role playing. Watch, listen, and discuss role plays of others.
Wednesday April 2: University of Maryland professor Sunil Dasgupta and Tim Martin discuss Tim’s trial and how he got here.
Dr. Sunil Dasgupta is a UMBC political scientist and heads the university’s political science program at the Universities at Shady Grove in Montgomery County, MD. He is the host of a cheeky local news podcast called “I Hate Politics,” which tries to stem the decline in local news using community journalists embedded in existing local institutions such as education and social institutions.
Subscribe to I Hate Politics here!
Thursday April 3: Tim Martin, a North Carolina based architect-engineer, put his career on hold to agitate for a better world for all of us, including his two teenage sons. He’ll present Our Better Relationships.
Our Better Relationships focuses on what we need to do and where we need to go in order to create better stories and better relationships. It’s about the state of the world today and the journey we are all on together: Our Better Relationships will enable us to find new ways of living that don’t require excessive, exploitative, or appropriative consumption, which we frequently think we need in order to salve the trauma of coercive separation from ourselves, each other and nature.