Come to the Peace News Summer Camp

Join people from across the broad spectrum of the British peace movement for five days of exploration, celebration and empowerment. Bring your contribution to a hothouse of creativity, a small self-governed society run by democratic camp meetings, a viable example of the kind of world we are trying to bring about. The Peace News Summer Camp helps build a radical movement for the future by building a living community today.

We will be learning from other movements, struggling with challenging issues, creating more cohesion in a segmented peace movement and debating nonviolence. Workshops will range from theoretical discussion (an introduction to Chomsky’s Politics) to practical planning for actions later in the year. Fifty years of activist experience will be represented, along with fresh faces and new blood.

Fed by local organic fruit and veg (lovingly cooked by the wonderful Veggies of Nottingham), we’re camping in a family-friendly and renewably-powered way from 23-27 July near Faringdon, Oxfordshire, to make the world a better place.

A report of the first Peace News Summer Camp

The first-ever Peace News Summer Camp was held at Westmill Farm near Watchfield in Oxfordshire from 23-27 July. Over 120 people came to take part in discussions, trainings and debates on topics as varied as nonviolence (does it protect the state?), education (can education be libertarian?), and the fate of the anti-war movement (who’s more to blame for our limitations, the Stop The War Coalition or the anti-authoritarian wing of the movement?).

Fuelled by wonderful (vegan) food from Veggies of Nottingham, we constructed or erected water pipelines and taps, compost toilets, marquees, fire pits, a bar, a mini wind turbine (visible behind it, five giant turbines across the road) and a community.

Read all this report from the Peace News

Reports and photos from the camp

Camps and criminals by Bibi van der Zee
New Statesman, 30 July 2009

from www.paxmundi.info

setting up the camp
by Emily Johns

from roystpierre.com

What to bring

If you are staying overnight at the camp you should bring:

• a tent, sleeping bag and sleeping mat and any other equipment you may need
• warm clothes as it can get chilly at night
• waterproof clothes and boots
• money for paying your contribution to the camp and for paying for food (unless you have paid online)
• a torch would also be useful.

You do not need to bring plates/cutlery etc. The camp will be renewably powered and will have running water and basic washing facilities.

See you there!

full programme now available

The full programme for the camp is now available for download in PDF format. The programme also includes information on practicalities that everyone coming to the camp should read.

Still time to book for the Camp

We are less than two weeks away from The First-Ever (so far as we know) Peace News Summer Camp – book now to make sure of delicious food from Veggies of Nottingham (£8 per day).

The camp features David Gribble, libertarian educator; Leslie Barson on home ed resistance; a poetry night for Adrian Mitchell; Smash EDO & Nottingham Disarm; drawing sessions; whole camp debates on 2003 and Where Next For The Anti-War Movement; peace education; ‘Does Nonviolence Protect The State?’ debate; calm interventions for resistance; Anti-Militarist Network/NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Edinburgh; tripods, lock-ons and climbing workshops; short Chomsky’s Politics course; Islamophobia and the “war on terror”; and much much more. See here for details on the programme

Great kids’ area with child-friendly food at child-friendly times.

People are coming from Spain for this camp!

It’s in Watchfield, Oxfordshire, site of the last Free Festival and the first Big Green Gathering (we got told today). See more on the location and how to get there here.

£15-£50 for the whole camp. Under-14s free.

You can book online here

Help welcome!

If you are available to help set up the camp in the few days before it starts and tat down after it finishes on Monday 27th, your help would be really appreciated! There will be a merry crew gathering from Monday 20 July.  Please contact us to let us know.

Programme and workshop details available

An outline of the programme with details of when and what (most of) the workshops will be at the camp is now available online! See here.

Local B&Bs

For those of you who don’t want to actually camp at the camp, a good place to start looking for accommodation is here: http://www.faringdon.org

Workshop details

There will be over 40 workshop sessions at the camp. A full programme will be online nearer the date but here is a selection:

- ‘Chomsky’s Politics’ with Milan Rai (Peace News)
- ‘Libertarian Education’ with David Gribble (author ‘Real Education: Varieties of Freedom’) and Leslie Barson (The Otherwise Club)
- ‘Local Anti-Arms Trade Campaigning’ with Smash EDO and Nottingham Against Militarism
- ‘Protest Camps’ with Faslane Peace Camp
- ‘Using the System – how activists can utilise the planning, legal and parliamentary systems’ with Juliet McBride (Aldermaston Women’s Peace Camp) and Andrew Wood who won a recent legal challenge against police surveillance of activists
- ‘Faith-based Resistance’ with Susan Clarkson (Oxford Catholic Worker)
- ‘Strategy Skills’ and ‘Consensus Decision-making’ with Seeds for Change (www.seedsforchange.org.uk)
- ‘Civil Liberties’ with the Repeal SOCPA campaign, Jim Brann (London CND) and others
- ‘Worker’s control and Parecon’ with Mark Evans (Project for a Participatory Society)
- ‘Nonviolence, armed self-defence and participatory democracy: lessons from the Black freedom struggle’ with Gabriel Carlyle (Voices UK)

Details of camp and online payment now available!

See About the camp for all kinds of useful practical details about the camp such as where it is, how to get there and how much it costs etc. You can now pay online for entrance to the camp and for food – see here