Post by Elliot Folan, originally posted on his blog Musings of a Teen Green
I thought, since I’ve got time, I’d get around to blogging about the People & Planet summer gathering, which I went to last week.
It looked like a really interesting and educational event even before I went, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. I learnt about campaigning on campus, lobbying decision makers, escalation strategies, tar sands etc. – essentially I learnt activist skills that I really feel I need. P&P (as they are known) put it all into one place and made it interesting and engaging.
Some things weren’t quite so fantastic; the workshop on diversity wasn’t particularly engaging and went on for a bit too long. But the other workshops more than made up for that.
The direct action workshop, in particular, was the one thing that stands out to me. As someone who’s obviously taken forms of direct action before, it wasn’t something that was new to me. But having someone actually train you for action and train you in planning for it – and being surrounded by people who were all prepared to take action as well – was entirely new.
In a similar way, talking with P&P activists outside of the actual sessions (such as round the campfire or over lunch) also radicalised me even more. I’m almost certainly now prepared to get arrested whilst taking direct action, if that helps the cause I’m fighting for. Understandably I used to be afraid of it. Not anymore.
One of the best feelings I had was the sense of international solidarity, something I hadn’t really experienced before. The Buy Right campaign – P&P’s campaign on getting University Vice Chancellors to sign up to the Worker’s Right Consortium – and the victories already gained on other similar campaigns gave me a sense that I can do something about world injustice. That’s not a feeling I’ve had before. That may surprise some people; but the truth is that I’ve been angry at world injustice but felt powerless to change it. I’ve taken some action when I can, but never really felt it would be effective. Now I do – because of People and Planet.
But it wasn’t just the stories from around the world that energised me. It was actually meeting two students from Texas who shared their personal experience. Part of the United Students against Sweatshops campaign, they talked about all the stuff they’d done to get their University President to sign up to the Worker’s Rights Consortium. It was quite amazing – and the feeling that P&P were doing the same thing, and fighting for the same thing, gave a sense of what everyone called “Transatlantic Solidarity”. Indeed the theme song of the weekend, I would say, was “Solidarity Forever” – thanks in main to another awesome student from the USA, who had been studying in Kent and came along too.
I also began to feel that it was possible to do something about environmental problems, too. Learning about fracking and the tar sands made me angry that companies and governments can be so disgraceful towards the environment – about which I’m unashamed to say I care very much. But having people around you who are determined to take action to protect the environment gives you a sense that there is something you can do. And that was an amazing feeling too.
You won’t be surprised to hear that I’m joining P&P when I go to the University of East Anglia in September. Funnily enough, two UEA students were at the summer gathering too – one of whom was a Green Party member! In fact, an amusing moment of the week was chatting away to one P&Per and finding she was the Co-Chair of the Scottish Young Greens.
All in all, I had a fantastic time, except when trying to put my tent away. That was nigh on impossible. Thanks to help from other people though, it was done!
I ended up with a cold by the time I got home, and my legs ached from sleeping on the ground. But what I wrote on the feedback form expresses my viewpoint:
“What else would you say about this event?
Too short”.
