CATU MAY DAY SUMMER SCHOOL WEEKEND
28TH APR - 1ST MAY 2023 | DUBLIN CITY
A weekend of union learning, CATU and friends will share the knowledge and skills needed to take collective action to resist the housing crisis and those who profiteer from it!
The lifting of the eviction ban has marked a new stage in the housing emergency, we are now facing waves of evictions on top of the already extortionate rents, the mass overcrowding, the ridiculous house prices, and the widespread slum conditions. Meanwhile, government housing strategy is focused on keeping rents and house prices high, and otherwise ignoring the crisis.
Everyone deserves a safe, dignified, and secure home, but nothing will change until tenants of all kinds get organised to build the collective power needed to say no more. Housing union organising allows you to fight back against evictions, defend each other’s rights, and build a better society in the communities where we work and live.
An important part of union struggle is in union education and training, this is how we learn how to work together and build collective power, through a shared set of demands and practices. Over the course of the weekend CATU will host workshops, interactive discussions, and community socials; and many of these events will be facilitated by guest representatives from housing movements internationally as part of an international exchange of knowledge and skills.
Weekend overview
DAY 1
FRI 28TH APR
Housing Unions Internationally:
Talk | Public Housing: A Necessary Demand
Talk | Housing movements and property politics in Barcelona
Social | Table QuizÂ
DAY 2
SAT 29TH APR
Workshop | Anti-Racist Organising Workshop
Workshop | Community Organising
Workshop | Communication
Social | BBQ & Dancing
DAY 3
SUN 30TH APR
Cooking For Freedom Solidarity DinnerÂ
Location: TBCÂ
DAY 4
MON 1ST MAY
May Day March
Location: City Centre
FULL PROGRAMME & TICKETS
DAY ONE
INDOORS: A4 SOUNDS GALLERY*
*Outdoor hangouts during the social later in the evening
Housing Unions Internationally
Fri 28th April | 5pm - 11pm
Talks & discussions, social
Booking Required
The housing crisis is not simply an Irish problem, there is a housing crisis in almost every city in the world. Radical housing researchers Melissa GarcÃa Lamarca and Neil Gray will lead interactive discussions that will give a wider perspective on the causes of the housing crisis and share examples of organised housing union resistance.
Melissa Garcia Lamarca will discuss the housing movement in Spain and the recent emergence of housing unions there, and Neil Gray will talk about the demands for rent controls and universal public housing, by the housing union Living Rent in Scotland.
These open discussions will be followed by a social.
17:15Â
Neil Gray Public Housing: A Necessary Demand
19:00
Melissa GarcÃa Lamarca : Housing movements and property politics in Barcelona
20:30Â
Table Quiz & Social
Accessibility
This event is masked.
Our accessibility information is below.
DAY TWO
Workshop
Booking Required
In this guest workshop facilitated by the Greater Manchester Tenants Unionm, participants will learn tactics and principles for anti-racist community organising.
Accessibility
This event is masked.
Our accessibility information is below.
Workshop
Booking Required
Community organising means bringing people into the union who aren’t usually engaged in political activity or already political activists, so that new people are empowered to be involved and take ownership. In this CATU workshop, participants will learn to identify issues that affect many people simultaneously and organise around these.
Accessibility
This event is masked.
Our accessibility information is below.
Workshop
Booking Required
Communication is an important aspect of organising tied to recruitment and gaining support among the wider public for campaigns and actions. In this guest workshop, the London Renters Union will facilitate a workshop on union communications.
Accessibility
This event is masked.
Our accessibility information is below.
CATU ORAL HISTORY RESEARCH GROUP: 1972 RENT STRIKE EXHIBITION & BBQ
SAT 29th April | 6pm - 11pm
EXHIBITION, SOCIAL
Booking Required
A sneak peak into the CATU Oral History Reserch Group’s upcoming publication on the 1972 Rent Strike. The exhibition will feature pages from the newspaper and some audio recordings from the research. We’ll also be having music and a BBQ in our garden. Food will be provided, feel free to bring along some more. BYOB.Â
Accessibility
Masks to be woren indoors.
Our accessibility information is below.Â
DAY THREE
INDOORS:
Google Maps Link (TBC)
Please note: This event is not taking place at A4 Sounds.
SUN 29th April | 12pm - 5pm
SOCIAL
Booking Required
Cooking For Freedom’s Solidarity Dinner with RAMSI, MASI & CATU.
Information coming soon.
Location to be confirmed
Accessibility
This event is unmasked.
Accessibility information is below.
Please note: This event is not taking place at A4 Sounds.
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DAY FOUR
OUT DOORS: DUBLIN CITY CENTRE
Google Maps Link (TBC)
SUN 29th April | 12pm - 5pm
MARCH, ACTION
No Booking Required
May Day March in Dublin City Centre
Information coming soon.
Accessibility
This event is taking place outdoors and is unmasked.
Accessibility information is below.Â
ABOUT THE TEAM!
CATU Ireland is a union for communities and tenants, that means renters, council tenants, mortgage holders and people in emergency & precarious living situations. By a union they mean you, and your fellow members coming together to combat common problems. They are an organisation fighting for collective gains in the homes, communities and lives of all of their members.Â
Greater Manchester Tenants Union is a democratic, member-led union, working across the 10 boroughs of Greater Manchester. They organise and represent their members in the private and social rented sector. They fight for safe, secure and affordable housing for everyone. They are not affiliated to any political party.
The London Renters Union are a member-led, campaigning union taking action to transform the housing system and win home for people, not private profit. They were set up by a coalition of housing groups and social justice groups including Radical Housing Network, Take Back The City, Generation Rent, Digs (Hackney Renters), Rent Strike and People’s Empowerment Alliance for Custom House (PEACH). Our advisory network includes the New Economics Foundation, Advice4Renters, and the Migrants Rights Network.Â
MASI seeks justice, freedom and dignity for all asylum seekers. MASI is a platform for us as asylum seekers to join together in unity and purpose. MASI came together after the protests in Direct Provision centres in 2014. They believe that speaking together in one voice, moving together in one direction, they are much stronger, their voices much louder and more difficult to ignore and dismiss. For them, MASI is a way to take back power and demand freedon, justice, and dignity for all asylum seekers. MASI demads an end to direct provision, the right to work and education, residency for all in the system, and an end to the brutal deportation regime.
The Common Thread forms part of our WOWTE Programme. It is a series of experiments and happenings that serve as an ongoing public discussion, drawing out shared themes and engaging audiences in an ongoing conversation about the goals and strategies of social change: what kind of society do we want and how should we get there?
Read More:Â a4sounds.org/wowte
ACCESSIBILITY
DAY ONE & DAY TWO
A4 SOUNDSÂ
The events taking place on Day One and Day Two take place at the A4 Sounds Gallery and Garden.
COVID-19 Precautions
All events taking place indoors are masked.
Speakers will be unmasked when presenting.
Air purifiers with HEPA filters will be running throughout the talks and workshops.
A CO2 monitor will be in in the gallery.
Doors will be opened during breaks and between talks to ventillate the room.Â
All A4 staff are fully vaccinated and will take antigen tests on the day.
Talks & Workshops
All events taking place in the gallery are seated.
The seating will be white plastic canteen chairs.There will be a small number of chair pads available if needed. Additionally there will be 2 armchairs and one sofa available and a small number of cushions if more comfortable seating is required.
Speakers and hosts will be using microphones that be played through a PA system.
A microphone will used to take questions during the discussion.
The events will be live streamed on Dublin Digital Radio.
Refreshments will be available. Refreshments to be consumed in our garden area.
Please feel free to bring along your own snacks or drinks for any socials.
The BBQÂ
The BBQ will take place in our garden.
Food will be served.
The event is BYOB.
There will be music played on a PA System.
Available seating is described below.
Arriving at A4 Sounds
When you arrive at the gallery there is a kerb outside as part of the pavement which you may need to navigte depending on the direcion your arrive.
There is a small slope at the entrance at the desk where the material of the floor changes from cement to a tiled surface.
The door will be open and thre will be a member of the event team there to greet your at the front desk.
The front desk will be immediately in front of you approx 1m from the front door.
The Gallery
Our gallery is located on the ground floor and is accessible.
It is located about 5m from the front door.
There is a small ramp into the gallery space.
The floor is tiled.
Our garden can be accessed via the gallery.
Bathrooms:
Our bathrooms are gender-neutral
Our bathrooms are not accessible.
They are located on the first floor via a flight of stairs (approx 22 steps) so may provide difficulties for folk with movement impairments.
The Garden
The door to the outdoor area is straight across from the gallery door, and a distance of approx 5m.
The outdoor area has heating which can be turned on and off to suit yout needs.
The outdoor area has a garden with a covered seating area with wooden benchs, wooden and plastic stools.Â
Cushions can be taken from the gallery space outside.
There are additionl wooden benches which are not covered.
To the back of the garden there is a mezzanine accessed by approx 15 seps with wooden benches.Â
DAY THREE
This event will be unmasked.
Location to be confirmed.
Accessibility information will be updated when available.
DAY FOUR
This event will take place outdoors in the city centre.
Accessibility information will be updated when available.