8/14 Screening of Soma: An Anarchist Therapy in Watsonville

SOMA: an anarchist therapy

With difficulty walking, and half-blinded from torture by the Brazilian military dictatorship, 79 year-old Roberto Freire continues to develop somatherapy, completing his life's work. Incorporating the ideas of Wilhelm Reich, the politics of anarchism, and the culture of capoeira angola, Soma is used by therapists organized in anarchist collectives to fight the psychological effects of authoritarianism. Nick Cooper travelled to Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Bahia, and São Paulo to find the exercises, principles, voices, and movement of somatherapy.
more info and trailer: http://somadocumentary.com


workshop: Nazis Vs. Zapatistas: The Struggle Against Cooptation

Lao-Tsu, the author of the Tao Te Ching and Subcomandante Marcos, of the Zapatistas both talk about the power of water -- seemingly weaker, but ultimately stronger than the more familiar power of swords. To struggle against oppression in ways that don't create other oppressions, we will explore the anti-fascist non-hierarchical currents in history, philosophy, psychology, criticism, and organizing tactics.

Working with Indymedia, Food Not Bombs and other non-hierarchical groups, Nick Cooper became interested in horizontal structures for change, traveling to Brazil in 2003 and 2005 to study Soma Therapy, and to Chiapas, Mexico in 2004 to study Zapatismo. Also, wanting to study fascist and pre-fascist organizing directly, Nick has been attending conferences, meetings, presentations and fund-raisers of the far right, including: The Ku Klux Klan, Focus on the Family / Lovewonout, Republican Party of Texas, Lyndon LaRouche, The Minutemen, and Tom DeLay. The workshop examines philosophies, structures and psychology, comparing authoritarian models to those that are consensual, communitarian or autonomous. Informed by Zapatista principles, Wilhelm Reich's Mass Psychology of Fascism, and Hannah Arendt's Origins of Totalitarianism, the workshop develops a skill set for identifying, challenging and defeating the authoritarian tool of cooptation.
more info: http://www.nickcooper.com/antipowerworkshop.htm