On this week’s Talking Radical Radio, Tanya Andrusieczko talks about her process of dreaming up the first feminist summer camp in Saskatoon, and then working to make it a reality this year.
None of us would evolve politically without opportunities to encounter new, critical ideas about the world — such encounters may not be sufficient for political growth, but they are necessary. And even better than merely encountering new ideas is having opportunities to work through them with other people — to discuss, to debate, to mutually self-educate, and to make meaning together in ways much more likely to allow the ideas to seep into our choices and actions. And more than just being about individual growth, such encounter and dialogue are central to how movements happen and grow. Yet for all of that, movements in North America today don’t tend to be all that intentional about creating spaces where such encounter and dialgogue can happen. Sure, there will be sporadic teach-ins about the issue of the moment, and planning meetings and public events are often informally spaces for such learning-together. But given its importance, we’re not usually all that deliberate about it.
Andruscieczko’s most recent project suggests one way that movements might do just that. She felt the need for a space to have deliberate, serious, sustained conversation about feminist ideas, and she also wanted to find a way to become politically involved in what is still a relatively new-to-her community in Saskatoon. So she decided she would organize a Feminist Summer Camp. The same 20 participants are getting together one night a week for ten weeks to cover a wide range of feminist topics. They are hearing speakers, they are discussing ideas, they are building skills. And Andruscieczko hopes they will all leave the camp better able to intervene in feminist ways in their own everyday lives, and perhaps some will be inspired to new collective feminist activity as well. I spoke with her about her path to this work, about the format of the camp, and about what she hopes it will achieve.
To learn more about Saskatoon’s feminist summer camp, click here.
Talking Radical Radio brings you grassroots voices from across Canada. We give you the chance to hear many different people that are facing many different struggles talk about what they do, why they do it, and how they do it, in the belief that such listening is a crucial step in strengthening all of our efforts to change the world. To learn more about the show in general, visit the recently revamped website here. You can learn about suggesting topics for future shows here.
Talking Radical Radio is brought to you by Scott Neigh, a writer, media producer, and activist based in Sudbury, Ontario, and the author of two books examining Canadian history through the stories of activists.
