The meetings of peasant and rural struggles are getting closer and we are in the process of making the last preparations before the camp starts. After more than a year of work, you are reading a first communiqué that presents the aims of our camp, reveals the planned programme and clarifies some points about the functioning of our structures. Much is not yet fully worked out, but you will find the latest information on the website lpr-camp.org. With just over a month to go, there is much to be excited about. We look forward to seeing you all at the end of August!
To facilitate the logistics of the camp, we ask all participants to register. You can also make a financial contribution via our Helloasso page (https://rb.gy/800jy).
For organisational questions please contact: rencontreslpr[at]riseup.net.
For press people: there will be limited time slots for media work during the camp. Details can be found on the website or via: presse[at]lpr-camp.org.
Dozens of groups and hundreds of comrades are expected at the camp planned near the village of Bure, where we will gather from 26 August to 3 September. This is a self-managed, transnational antiatom camp whose smooth running will depend on all of us. We also rely on volunteering, self-management and donations to make the event as accessible as possible for everyone.
Politically, we plan to hold dozens of workshops, nearly 100 talks and panel discussions, as well as some walks to :
> Open up our struggles and build new solidarity.
> To debate and network with the actors of peasant and rural struggles here and elsewhere.
> To strengthen the anti-nuclear struggles and in particular the struggle against the CIGEO atomic-repository-project.
The meetings will also be enriched by an exceptional cultural programme and celebratory moments. In particular, there will be:
> Theatre, film screenings, podcasts, concerts, festivals and exhibitions.
Below you will find a beta version of the programme planned to date (A) and the text for positioning in relation to potential conflicts (B). Enjoy reading, have a nice summer and see you soon between Meuse and Haute-Marne!
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(A)
THE PROGRAMME:
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(B) FOR FERTILE MEETINGS:
Positioning of the organising team* on conflicts within the movements present and their place value/support during the event.
By inviting people to participate in these transnational meetings, we primarily want to share a joyful militant moment and develop and strengthen the friendships and political alliances that unite us.
However, despite a base of shared values (especially anti-capitalist, ecological, anti-racist, anti-patriarchal and intersectional values), our militant communities are riddled with numerous fault lines: ideological divisions, differences in activist culture, interpersonal or inter-group conflicts that sometimes prevent us from living and fighting together. Everyone has their own limits and “red lines that must not be crossed”: Issues like the relationship to work and money, the relationship to non-human animals, “non-violence” or “renewable” energies are examples.
None of us is blameless, and for us “militant purity” is neither possible nor desirable if it amounts to exclusion. Similarly, we believe that there are no completely „safe“ people and spaces; we nevertheless try to approach this.
One aim of these encounters is to open up our struggles. Instead of making our conflicts invisible or excluding them from the camp, we propose to those who wish to do so, to work on them together in a safe and shared framework, perhaps unravelling them a little. We will provide moments of exchange to encourage this “entering into dialogue”: Supported discussions, but also a space for mediation and zones for silence and care.
Our attitude is not to “accept everything” and “protect” the people who perpetrate/organise violence: We will collectively put all our energy into preventing and managing discriminatory and violent behaviour (be it physical, verbal or psychological violence) in the camp in the best possible way. There will be an “ears” group, a group for dealing with sexual and sexualised violence, mediation trainings and a welcome booklet (which sets out some principles of life in the camp).
We want to defend a form of radicality that embraces our differences, imperfections and incoherencies and learn to deal with them.
For fertile encounters we should re-appropriate our conflicts!
*Group of people from Western Europe, predominantly white and healthy, from different social classes and with different gender identities, involved in peasant and/or rural and/or anti-nuclear struggles…and also struggling with their internal divisions =)
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