Maybe it’s the Occupy movement’s proliferation of direct action tactics over the past eight months. Maybe it’s people being beyond fed up in our failed political system and shifting their “theory of change” from the ballot box to the streets. Or maybe it’s the unending flow of big actions and mobilizations from May Day to bank shareholder meetings and people realizing that we need more and more skills development. But it seems like there is an awful lot of action camps coming up this summer.
These camps are great spaces for not only teaching people organizing and action skills, but also networking and building our communities, and our movements. Not to mention lots of fun post-camp direct actions that always accompany them.
It’s the bonding at these camps around late night campfires or in long action planning meetings that builds strong lasting relationships that power us through long hard struggle. I’ve been to lots of action camps over the years and I definitely feel a sense of large family or a clan that bands together in fighting to stop environmental destruction and oppression.
Here’s a list of some of the enviro direct action camps happening this summer. All free and open to the public.
Mountain Justice May 19-26, Pipestem, WV: “Join us as we build pressure and momentum in stopping strip mining and other exploitative resource extraction in Appalachia. This Summer Action Camp is the place to learn new skills, expand on ones you already have; strengthen ties, meet new friends and get ready for bigger events later in the year.”
Wild Feral Futures June 16-24, San Juan Mountains, Colorado: “We are very happy to announce that, for the 4th year running, the Wild Roots Feral Futures (WRFF) eco-defense, direct action, and rewilding encampment will take place in the forests of Southwest Colorado this coming June, 2012. WRFF is an informal, completely free and non-commercial, and loosely organized camp-out operating on (less than a) shoe-string budget, formed entirely off of donated, scavenged, or liberated supplies and sustained through 100% volunteer effort. Though we foster a collective communality and pool resources, we encourage total self-sufficiency (which we find to be the very source and foundation of true mutual sharing and abundance).”
Earth First! Round River Rendezvous! July 1-7, Somewhere in the Marcellus Shale: “Marcellus Shale Earth First! is working side by side with many local groups, attending meetings, offering workshops and trainings, and helping to build a campaign of direct action that is putting increasing pressure on the drillers, to show all of those fighting fracking that there is effective resistance growing in rural areas. One of MSEF!’s primary goals is to be an uncompromising presence in defense of the healthy waterways and forest ecosystems being polluted and fragmented by the gas industry in the Eastern states.”
