Hey Friends of Ruckus!
We’ve had an action packed few months! We’ve been on the move training and supporting our movements, and visioning our next steps to dynamically assist a growing movement of justice activists. We’ve got alot in store for 2016, but here’s a little of what we’ve been up to in the past few months:
Indigenous Peoples Power Project (IP3)
2016 marked ten years since our first IP3 Training for Trainers. Over the past ten years, we’ve seen over 250 Indigenous leaders take and lead powerful direct actions both locally and internationally. This year, we called in the next generation of action trainers and practitioners to a Training for Indigenous Direct Action Trainers. 30 Indigenous direct action organizers from fights across North America gathered for four days of strategy, direct action theory, and non-violent direct action training skills.
IP3 and Ruckus recognize the critical role of Indigenous Peoples in movements of resistance and the struggles for self determination, sovereignty, human rights, climate justice and so much more. We believe in expanding power from within communities to fight for the solutions to ecological destruction and for self-determination.
Ruckus is excited to announce the launch of The Combahee Alliance, a direct action training project that will train hundreds of justice-loving freedom fighters to use creative tactics to confront targets, rapidly respond in critical movement moments, and build the power and capacity of organizers across the nation!
The Combahee Alliance includes Transgender, Gender Varient & Intersex Justice Project (TGIJP), Black Lives Matter (BLM), Southerners on New Ground (SONG), Community Justice Network for Youth (CJNY), The BlackOUT! Collective, The Highlander Research and Education Center, and The Ruckus Society.
We’re in an exciting political moment where risky interventions are necessary, Black leadership must be invested in, and Black and Brown unity must be built. The Combahee
Alliance is launching a two year training initiative to deepen direct action skills in the pursuit of Black Liberation. We’ll keep you posted as trainings happen!
Actions Ruckus Supported this Summer:
Ruckus helped support Ferguson Artivsts this summer as they deployed a balloon banner in front of the St. Louis arch with the message that “Racism STILL Lives Here #Fightback”.
Check out this video of the Ferguson Artivists action below:
Link: https://youtu.be/tm2yap5Oxk8
UN Conference of Parties – Climate Negotiations (COP 21)
The biggest climate summit of the decade is just a week away!
Ruckus and IP3 will be in attendance, supporting a climate justice delegation of over 100 people deep from communities and organizations on the frontlines of climate disaster and solutions including the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), Grassroots Global Justice (GGJ) and the Climate Justice Alliance (CJA). Stay tuned for a report back from the IP3 team on the ground in Paris.
In Solidarity & In Action,
The Ruckus Society