From: John Rushton (rushtoj@okstate.edu)
Date: Fri Oct 18 2002 - 15:46:51 EDT
Hey STARCies,
Report back from the STARC/Ruckus micro-camp hosted by ECO-OSU in
Stillwater, Oklahoma
last weekend!
The STARC/Ruckus micro-camp at Oklahoma State University was a huge
success! 56 activists
attended from all across the state, and even from Arkansas and Texas.
Workshops included
strategic campaign design, FTAA for beginners, anti-racism, non-violent
direct action,
legal/know your rights, creative action, and grassroots organizing.
Trainings were hosted by
Ruckus trainers Dara, Autumn, Kate, and Cesar, along with our own
amazing staffer, Riva. Dara and Autumn gave a killer anti-racism
training, the first exposure for nearly everyone in the room to the race
analysis STARC promotes. The grassroots organizing workshop given by
Dara and Riva and attended by everyone, was another highlight, providing
direction and forethought to our organizing strategy which until now has
been a matter of trial and error. On Saturday evening there was a
reception followed by an open-mike session where activists were able to
speak out about issues and tell what they are working on. Along with
the trainers, much thanks are due to Audrey Ward, volunteering in the
STARC office, who did a ton of work getting this off the ground on
STARC's end.
There was incredible excitement in the air the whole weekend. This is
one of the first events of its kind to take place in Oklahoma in recent
memory, and the event drew together many activists who had never before
met, along with many looking for an opportunity to get involved. There
is a tremendous amount of discovery and networking going on in the
Oklahoma activist community and through this event STARC played a key
role in pushing that process to the next level. Several people reported
to me afterwards that they never knew so many committed people lived in
Oklahoma and the conference was one of the most inspiring events of
their life. At the end of the conference a sign-up sheet was being
passed around independent of the organizers of the event for folks
interested in having a second conference in the spring. STARC and The
Ruckus Society provided skills and analysis that have been all but
unavailable in this part of the country, and that we probably would not
otherwise have gotten. After the workshops there was much discussion
about how to implement them into our work. Paired with the increasing
amount of activism being done here, you should expect to see some good
work coming out of Oklahoma in the near future.
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