This past weekend, The Ruckus Society took Bioneers by storm with a double session Introduction to Non-Violent Direct Action training.
Bioneers is an annual gathering of pioneers in the realm of evolution. The participants and presenters are a wide range of scientists, scholars, organizers and inventors. Thousands gather for the main conference in San Rafael, while thousands more gather at satellite sites around the country to hear the plenary speeches and then have their own local conferences.
Executive Director Adrienne Maree Brown joined 2005 Brower Youth Award winner LaConstance Shahid, filmmaker Shalini Kantayya and Native Movement Chair Evon Peter for a panel on youth leadership. Shahid and Peter both opened with spoken word pieces, and and Kantayya showed the trailer of her science fiction film "A Drop of Life", about the pending water crisis. Brown spoke to how excited she was to see this generation of youth leaders breaking the cycle of resource wars, shifting out of top-down national organizing structures, and thinking beyond the non-profit structure for long-term movement sustainability.
"If the oppression we face is systemic, then our movement building and our leadership development must also be systemic."
On Sunday, the last day of Bioneers, Brown engaged participants in the first training Ruckus offers, the Introduction to Non-Violent Direct Action.