|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
After a long and eventful four year wait, Indigenous Peoples Power Project is excited to announce the return of our annual action skills training camps with participants from across Turtle Island. Between September 12th through the 16th of this year, IP3 staff, community members and trainers gathered with Indigenous activists and organizers on Duwamish / Muckleshoot Territory, otherwise known as Seattle, Washington to skill up in Nonviolent Direct Action, Creative Resistance, Climbing, Kayaktivism, and Blockades. The event was held at Heron’s Nest, a Landback, Outdoor Education, and Restorative Justice project perched above the Duwamish River in the urban heart of the industrial Duwamish River Valley, where IP3 and camp participants were warmly welcomed by Duwamish tribal elders, sharing in community, ceremony, and solidarity through 5 days of action skills training. Since officially becoming a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in June of 2020, IP3 was tasked with building out our Nonviolent Direct Action training curriculum, holding training for trainers events to skill up and strengthen our training pool, holding our first ever virtual action camp in 2022, and building our capacity as an organization all while navigating the challenges of the Covid 19 pandemic. As we set out to meet these goals and move our communities forward, there were some who were skeptical that IP3 would make it through, but WE ARE STILL HERE!
In the months leading up to Skedit Action Camp, IP3, with the help of our friends, allies, collaborators and sponsors were able to secure the necessary camp gear and equipment to host camp participants as well as support IP3 trainers in their individual tracks. As trainers and staff touched down the day prior to camp, our goal was to create a space where folks would feel a sense of connection, community, and belonging, and this wonderful bunch came together quickly to prepare for the arrival of our guests. While navigating the challenges of building camp in a new location and getting to know the lay of the land, it was exciting to watch as trainers prepped their track spaces, logistics crew setup canopies to welcome guests, kitchen staff setting up food cart and dining area to build connections through food and watch on as our little village came together. We know through experience when working with frontline communities, activists and organizers that building an intentional space for wellness, healing and ceremony is the foundation of the work we do. To keep our little village centered in these ways, a wellness station, plant medicine station, and medic tent with traditional medicines were provided to keep our camper’s hearts, minds, and bodies centered in community. As our crew worked through the night on final touches, spirits were high with laughter, waiting for an amazing week ahead.
As guests arrived and settled into camp life for the week, our first day was spent making connections and getting folks prepped for their individual tracks. IP3 trainers invited campers into their new spaces, getting them up to speed with agendas through the week, our kitchen staff started with meal prep to keep them full and happy, and groups eventually made their way through the land, on the water, and in the trees for a deep dive into direct action skills training. Along with our regular daily training workshops, evenings included gatherings by the fire, night climbs, art builds, karaoke, and a first ever action camp fashion show organized by one of our trainees. The week came with it’s share of challenges and milestones that brought this community closer together, and in the end, when our new found family made their ways back home, we realized the culmination of the work started nearly 20 years earlier as a dream. Since those early days of Indigenous direct action training at IP3, we remain committed to the mission and values built by those before us. To put into words the experience of Skedit Action Camp would be impossible; you would have had to be there to feel the energy, the connections, and the lifelong relationships built around a shared vision, but we’ll be back at it in 2024. To our board of directors, IP3 trainers, Heron’s Nest, funding partners, cooks, contractors, translators, communities, families and participants, we are so grateful for you and the work you do to make our world a better place. Until next time.
This is Indigenous joy…
Nic Sanford Belgard of
Indigenous Peoples Power Project
To view our camp photo galleries, please visit:
Watch the Skedit Action Camp music video, “Assimilate” by the homie, Calina Lawrence below.
