LEEF! Summer Gathering 2021

Earth First! Summer 2021 gathering
from https://leefgreatlakes.wordpress.com/about/

LEEF! Is hosting the Summer Gathering in the Great Lakes region June 26th-July 1st, 2021. We are excited to see you in the woods, reconnect and grow the movement together!

For the second time in the recent history of our movement the Summer Gathering is taking place in the Great Lakes Bioregion on Anishinaabe territory presently occupied by the state of Minnesota. We welcome you to the land of beautiful prairies, cliffs, dunes, lakes, forests, fens, wetlands and marshes! The region is also filled with many creatures resisting the tight strangle of pipelines, prisons, frack wells, poisoned water, gentrification, nuclear power and super highways.

We recognize the challenges that are facing the world including the Covid-19 pandemic, a rise in overt white supremacy, state and federal repression, police murders and more. We aspire to make space to heal together while we continue to build the movement.

We’re excited for the week of workshops, panels, celebration, and mayhem. As the many-headed hydra of global capitalism, patriarchy, and white supremacy continues to suck the joy and life out of existence, we hope that the Convergence can be a venue for eco-defenders, anarchists, and revolutionaries to learn from each other, share skills, dream, train, and strategize.

While still committed to the idea of adding the fourth EF! tenant of “Decolonize,” we feel like we have much more work to do building solidarity with indigenous and frontline communities. We have connected and continued communication with frontline indigenous activists and elders prior to planning the summer gathering and will continue to work hard to maintain contact to uphold a respectful space.

We also face the repeating struggles of how to build a camp that is safe and accessible for everyone attending, from long-time EarthFirst!ers to inner city folks, to our college-age friends newly radicalized from the bullshit politics of the big greens. There’s no one right way to think about most of the issues we all face, and we probably will mess up a few things. That being said, we tried damn hard to resolve some of these issues and hope that the conversations continue. We’d love to talk more about our shortcomings and share our successes (and everything in between).

So let’s ramp shit up. Let’s monkeywrench the misogynists in our movement. Let’s sabotage white supremacy wherever it rears its ugly head. Let’s climb the sand dunes of our dreams and shut down the pipelines of our nightmares. Let’s build communities that sustain and support all of us. Let’s build communities ready to fight. 2021 feels like a good year for winning.

For a world without cops, borders, or bulldozers,

No Compromise,
2021 Summer Gathering Organizing Crew

date: 
Saturday, June 26, 2021 - 00:00 to Thursday, July 1, 2021 - 23:45