Applications will open in April. If you want to apply early, write us at training@feros.be
Exploring Class
We’re happy to invite you to a 2-day workshop exploring class privilege. The aims of this workshop are to:
- build a collective understanding and vocabulary around class & class privilege
- support participants to increase their understanding of their own class position
- examine the ways in which class dynamics show up in our groups and movements
- support a culture of mutual aid, redistribution and accountability
Who is this training for ?
This is a training for people who are active in movements for social and ecological justice who are genuinely curious to reflect on the topic of class privilege, their own class position and the responsibilities that come with that.
Facilitation style & content warning
Our facilitation is based in experiential learning. Our methods engage participants on the level of heart (emotions), head (thinking and concepts) and hands (practical experience / embodiment). We aim to create a group culture of collective care, where active listening and accountability bring a greater sense of safety and inclusivity.
In this particular workshop you’ll be asked to share not only your personal experiences around class but you will also be asked challenging questions regarding the cultural capital (education, social codes) and wealth (income, inheritance, family property etc) you have access to. You will see examples of the questions in the application form. Of course everything that is shared in your forms or during this workshop will remain confidential.
While we will look at the ways class intersects with other forms of oppression, especially race, gender and disability, the focus of this workshop is firmly on exploring social class. That means that if you are a person of color, transgender person or a disabled person with access to class privilege, you will find yourself in the position of ally and will be expected to think about redistribution (which can be within your own community). Please contact us if you have any concerns about that.
Practical info & accessibility
We will confirm the venue later, but it will be within Bruxelles and accessible by public transport.
Doors open at 9h30 and we will start the workshop at 10h sharp. Depending on participant needs we might implement a safety protocol for respiratory virus’ which means you need to be present at 9h45 latest. We close around 18h30.
We will provide tea, coffee, biscuits, and a vegan lunch on both days.
The venue was selected to meet as many neurodivergent accessibility criteria as possible (sensory sensitivities, type of lighting, ambient noise, multiple rooms, etc.). Given our limited budget, we were unfortunately not able to find a “perfect” space. The venue is not wheelchair accessible, there are some stairs to enter the main room and stairs to go to the toilet.
A quiet space is available for isolation, noise-canceling headphones available. Wide chairs without armrests for larger-bodied people.
We alternate seated and standing exercises, but you are welcome to stay seated, stand up, or leave the room at any time. This workshop is open to everyone, regardless of physical condition. However, we want to point out that the venue and the workshop content are unfortunately not fully accessible for people with reduced mobility. For any specific needs, please contact us : training@feros.be or leave us a voice message via DM (Messenger or Instagram).
The workshop will be facilitated in English. Facilitators may be able to provide occasional translatation to Dutch or French and you may express yourself in this language if that’s more accessible to you.
Financial contribution
We strive to offer our activities to those who need them, whatever their financial capacity. As a young collective, we have no fixed income and rely mostly on participant donations to organise our activities. Even though this is a try-out workshop, we do not consider it appropriate to ask working class facilitators to facilitate on this topic for free and will make the same costs as for a regular workshop.
Money should not be an obstacle to taking part in this workshop. The actual cost is 110 euros per person. We encourage all those who can to give more, to create space for those who can contribute less financially. In particular, we are asking white, able-bodied, university-educated or otherwise privileged participants to contribute more, up to 220 euros per person.
We will send you our bank details after you have attended the workshop. If you would like to make an anonymous donation, please contact us.
The trainers
This training will be facilitated by Eleke (she/her), Robin (he/they) and Mon (she/he/they). Eleke and Robin come from different experiences within the working class. Mon joins this team as an ally from an owning class family and takes this work on as uncompensated volunteer work.
We are (have been) active in various movements and campaigns, including the environmental justice movement, solidarity with Palestine, youth work, the squatters’ movement, (queer) feminism, resource justice, trans rights, anti-racism.
Our trainer contingent is mixed in terms of gender (identity), sexuality, social class, level of education, physical disability, (mental) health, neurodiversity, level of English, income, family composition, work situation, family wealth, living situation.
All trainers are white and hold a Belgian passport.
We are between 30 and 40 years old. We like baking, hiking, growing things, writing poetry/songs, listening to fantasy books and dancing, among other things.
About Feros and background of this work
Feros is a Belgian collective of facilitators organising workshops and activities around radical collective care, inclusivity and queer feminist self-defence. In this way we support individuals, groups, collectives and organisations that work towards social and ecological justice.
All of our trainings are firmly rooted in a queer, intersectional, decolonial feminist political analysis. We organise both open workshops, to which anyone can apply, and bespoke workshops for existing organisations, groups or collectives, working towards social- and ecological justice.
In 2022 we started a project around classism in leftist groups. We organised several conversations in “chosen mixity” working class to talk about the barriers we face in activist spaces. One of the conclusions of these conversations was that many activists in Belgian leftist groups don’t know how to position themselves when it comes to class.
In 2025 four of our volunteers followed a training of trainers on “exploring class” in the UK run by the founders of the class work project and ARC (a revolutionary class).
In 2026 Feros will start offering 2 day workshops: “exploring class privilege” in Belgium. The first open workshop is planned for May 30, 31. To prepare for this we’re organising a try-out version of the workshop which is invitation only on 7,8 February.