Post by dk on Nov 19, 2006 19:35:18 GMT -5
Power Camp National Retreat 2004
Julie Lee
This was my second time attending the retreat and to be honest I was not too optimistic of any particular changes that the organizers claimed that they changed. Last year’s conference was dominated by primarily white-middle-class organizations, which did not want to speak or hear of any issues of race and class. I found that extraordinarily frustrating, but I agreed to go network because I heard some of the women from last year agreed to go back. So I packed my bags and left on October 31st for Montreal.
As soon as a I got onto the bus heading to the Laurentins, I realized that the atmosphere at this retreat was significantly different from the last one. There were more women of colour and one of the organizers was a woman of colour too. The age range varied from eleven years old to forty something. A big jump. But at that point, I was still pessimistic because it was early in the game. However, a day later all the participants arrived, Rachel the organizer took up her bargain and there was a change in the air. Last year, me and a few others criticized that the retreat was very white, not very youth friendly, very middle-aged and middle-class. It was better now, I could feel it. Tsigerida and I agreed to help organize and facilitate a Theatre of the Oppressed workshop with a few others. To do that we arrived a day earlier than most of the participants. The mixture of the group racially was rather impressive too and instantly, we materialized a workshop plan. I was very pleased to be a part of that team.
I think by adding more diversity this year, more in depth issues resonated as a result. And I think, it was necessary because issues such as race and class came up more than ever, in comparison to last year’s retreat and conference, and is something that definitely needed to be dealt with when organizations want to advocate for change and solidarities. Even within collective group meetings, the topic of race was ignored if not candy coated for everyone to swallow easier. During meals and personal conversations, topics such as white-privilege, invisible backpacks, racism, cultural appropriation and etc were being debated and learned. I found that it was not so much of the group exercises that I gained knowledge from but the dialogues which I had with individual participants and heated events that inspired me to think. For instance, a Black young woman had confronted of a White young woman of being racist. The White young woman said that “If I do anything or say anything to offend anyone, please tell me”, and I felt she meant well when she said this. However, by not recognizing her privilege as a White woman, she was relied people of colour to help her or clean up her messes. This whole incident created tension, however, I think this was so valuable because events like these happen all the time. Another example, would be that I broke into a group with some women after a collective meeting. A White middle aged and middle class educator, who worked up north stated that she was confused of why her students had called her a “White pregnant dog”. I called her on it and said that it was because of colonization. Once again tension exploded but I thought it was necessary. A reason why I think so much racial things was called upon this year was because there was so many more women of colour at this conference. The responsibility of our organization calling on issues concerning race were loosed up and I felt good about that.
In addition to the Theatre of the Oppressed workshop, Winnie, Tsigerida, and I did an Anti-racist, under twenty, Play back Theatre workshop. Early on we knew that we could not teach to the margins but had teach to the majority, therefore, our lesson plan had to cater to that in order to make it effective workshop. Tsigerida and I were primarily in charge of planning the workshop, meanwhile, Winnie gave us her wisdom to anything concerns which we would have. There was six participants and one was a racialized girl. It was a nice intimate group. Overall, the workshop was a smash but we did go through a few bumpy hills. As we facilitated, we had to take into consideration of all these girl’s backgrounds (geographic locations, class, age, race and knowledge of the topics being discussed). It was hard but we had our mentor, Winnie, by our side guiding us if anything Tisgerida and I could not handle. Yet again, the issue of race did not want to be discussed and it was understandable because of the tension it created in the past days. But by given examples of how systemic racism is embedded and affects our daily lives, I think we got through to the girls. However, there was one eighteen year old from Montreal, which, somewhat disrupted our workshop. It was basically the issues power dynamics. She became very defensive and would occasionally compare our topic to other unrelated long winded matters. Basically she wanted to be the centre of attention and made the other participants feel very uncomfortable. At one point, Winnie took action and had to talk to her. I was glad that she was there because, otherwise, I would not know what to do. Furthermore, I believe it was good to have this participant participate in our workshop because she became a prime example of what were trying to deconstruct for all the other girls. I think in the end, we did get educate the girls about systemic racism. Also, I learned that knowledge cannot be forced into people. Also, when people are willing to led us their ears, that is perhaps the time when we can effectively send our message individuals.
Meanwhile, I learned that Racism could be a form of violence too. I should of known that but I was too distracted by “sexy violence” (Physical and sexual violence most often portrayed by the media because it sells well). It was during the evenings playing the guitar and singing that I learned more about myself and the experiences of other delegates. Overall this adventure to Power Camp National’s Annual retreat was not only a Network and educational function but a journey for my personal growth as a young woman. I thank Power Camp National and Anti-Dote for the opportunity which enlightened me to pursue further into work in feminist work.
Julie Lee
This was my second time attending the retreat and to be honest I was not too optimistic of any particular changes that the organizers claimed that they changed. Last year’s conference was dominated by primarily white-middle-class organizations, which did not want to speak or hear of any issues of race and class. I found that extraordinarily frustrating, but I agreed to go network because I heard some of the women from last year agreed to go back. So I packed my bags and left on October 31st for Montreal.
As soon as a I got onto the bus heading to the Laurentins, I realized that the atmosphere at this retreat was significantly different from the last one. There were more women of colour and one of the organizers was a woman of colour too. The age range varied from eleven years old to forty something. A big jump. But at that point, I was still pessimistic because it was early in the game. However, a day later all the participants arrived, Rachel the organizer took up her bargain and there was a change in the air. Last year, me and a few others criticized that the retreat was very white, not very youth friendly, very middle-aged and middle-class. It was better now, I could feel it. Tsigerida and I agreed to help organize and facilitate a Theatre of the Oppressed workshop with a few others. To do that we arrived a day earlier than most of the participants. The mixture of the group racially was rather impressive too and instantly, we materialized a workshop plan. I was very pleased to be a part of that team.
I think by adding more diversity this year, more in depth issues resonated as a result. And I think, it was necessary because issues such as race and class came up more than ever, in comparison to last year’s retreat and conference, and is something that definitely needed to be dealt with when organizations want to advocate for change and solidarities. Even within collective group meetings, the topic of race was ignored if not candy coated for everyone to swallow easier. During meals and personal conversations, topics such as white-privilege, invisible backpacks, racism, cultural appropriation and etc were being debated and learned. I found that it was not so much of the group exercises that I gained knowledge from but the dialogues which I had with individual participants and heated events that inspired me to think. For instance, a Black young woman had confronted of a White young woman of being racist. The White young woman said that “If I do anything or say anything to offend anyone, please tell me”, and I felt she meant well when she said this. However, by not recognizing her privilege as a White woman, she was relied people of colour to help her or clean up her messes. This whole incident created tension, however, I think this was so valuable because events like these happen all the time. Another example, would be that I broke into a group with some women after a collective meeting. A White middle aged and middle class educator, who worked up north stated that she was confused of why her students had called her a “White pregnant dog”. I called her on it and said that it was because of colonization. Once again tension exploded but I thought it was necessary. A reason why I think so much racial things was called upon this year was because there was so many more women of colour at this conference. The responsibility of our organization calling on issues concerning race were loosed up and I felt good about that.
In addition to the Theatre of the Oppressed workshop, Winnie, Tsigerida, and I did an Anti-racist, under twenty, Play back Theatre workshop. Early on we knew that we could not teach to the margins but had teach to the majority, therefore, our lesson plan had to cater to that in order to make it effective workshop. Tsigerida and I were primarily in charge of planning the workshop, meanwhile, Winnie gave us her wisdom to anything concerns which we would have. There was six participants and one was a racialized girl. It was a nice intimate group. Overall, the workshop was a smash but we did go through a few bumpy hills. As we facilitated, we had to take into consideration of all these girl’s backgrounds (geographic locations, class, age, race and knowledge of the topics being discussed). It was hard but we had our mentor, Winnie, by our side guiding us if anything Tisgerida and I could not handle. Yet again, the issue of race did not want to be discussed and it was understandable because of the tension it created in the past days. But by given examples of how systemic racism is embedded and affects our daily lives, I think we got through to the girls. However, there was one eighteen year old from Montreal, which, somewhat disrupted our workshop. It was basically the issues power dynamics. She became very defensive and would occasionally compare our topic to other unrelated long winded matters. Basically she wanted to be the centre of attention and made the other participants feel very uncomfortable. At one point, Winnie took action and had to talk to her. I was glad that she was there because, otherwise, I would not know what to do. Furthermore, I believe it was good to have this participant participate in our workshop because she became a prime example of what were trying to deconstruct for all the other girls. I think in the end, we did get educate the girls about systemic racism. Also, I learned that knowledge cannot be forced into people. Also, when people are willing to led us their ears, that is perhaps the time when we can effectively send our message individuals.
Meanwhile, I learned that Racism could be a form of violence too. I should of known that but I was too distracted by “sexy violence” (Physical and sexual violence most often portrayed by the media because it sells well). It was during the evenings playing the guitar and singing that I learned more about myself and the experiences of other delegates. Overall this adventure to Power Camp National’s Annual retreat was not only a Network and educational function but a journey for my personal growth as a young woman. I thank Power Camp National and Anti-Dote for the opportunity which enlightened me to pursue further into work in feminist work.