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Bay Area Hidden Histories and Worker Cooperative Tours
We're planning several amazing tours to showcase the hidden histories of the Bay Area, and the role worker cooperatives have played in shaping these histories. Check back for more details; for now here are some of tours in the works. NOTE RECENT TIME CHANGES.
Friday 8/6 - 9am-noon
Arizmendi Association Tour -- Start at the CheeseBoard (to be confirmed), the mother ship of the Arizmendi Association with a discussion of the origins and philosophy of the Arizmendi Association, one of the most exciting, innovative and successful cooperative development initiatives in the country. Then tour two of the East Bay Arizmendi bakeries - and sample the product! Led by founders and members of the Arizmendi Association. ($10)
Radical Media Tour -- Visit Inkworks printshop, Design Action Collective design and media shop, and AK Press, radical book publisher and distributor. Learn about the vibrant history of Bay Area publishing, printing and messaging in support of social movements. The tour will be led by Design Action worker and conference co-planner Nadia Khastagir. ($10)
Oakland Black Economic History Tour -- See a few of the spots that put Oakland on the map and continue keep it there as a hotspot of Black political thought and action. The tour ends at Mandela Food Cooperative, the first and only worker-owned grocery store in West Oakland, and includes a visit to People's Credit Union, which grows out of the Self-Help Credit Union. Tour leader to be announced. ($10)
Friday 8/6 - 1pm - 5pm
Labor History Bike Tour - From the pre-urban history of Indian Slavery to the earliest 8-hour day movement in the US, the ebb and flow of class war is traced. SF's radical working class organizations are shaped in part by racist complicity in genocide and slavery, but from the 1870s to the 1940s there are dozens of epic battles between owners and workers, culminating in the 1934 General Strike and its aftermath. This is an entirely different look, during a four hour bike tour, at San Francisco labor history. Led by Critical Mass founder and local activist/designer/thinker/historian Chris Carlsson. ($20)
Food Systems Tour - Visit venerable Bay Area worker-owned food cooperatives Rainbow Grocery and Other Avenues, and hear about the history of the wild and woolly food politics of the 1970s. Learn about the DIY distribution networks, the Food Conspiracies, the various political strands involved, and the amazing amount of organizing around food politics that spwaned and shapes these cooperatives. Tour leader to be announced. ($10)
Queer History Tour --Take a walking tour of the spots that have literally shaped our national and local history, with an emphasis on in-the-streets radical queer and women's activism. This is a walking tour of the Castro and the Mission districts, with a possible stop at the GLBT Historical Society and ending at Modern Times Bookstore. The tour will be led by Ruth Mahaney, collective member at Modern Times Bookstore, former City College of San Francisco GLBT Studies instructor and local historian who lived through the times she'll be describing. ($5)
Still in the planning stages: the Bay Area Cooperative Showcase likely at the conference site.
Attendees will pay a minimal cost for tours, to cover tour guides' time and in some cases transport to the various sites.
