Ecosocialist Summer Camp 2023 - An Ecosocialist’s Paradise

Nicole McCarthy

The 2nd annual RISE & Rupture Ecosocialist Summer Camp was a roaring success!

Surrounded by the stunning views of Connemara, we all felt closer to nature, though the bare hills bereft of the former forest were a reminder of what we have lost.

Education

This year we had 62 activists and supporters attend over 3 days of discussion, an increase from last year. We were joined by international comrades from Belgium, Brazil, Greece and Spain. We also had a guest appearance from Sinn Fein TD Mairead Farrell for our Saturday evening debate ‘What kind of Left Government do we need?’.

RISE strives to create an atmosphere of open and productive debating, which was really helped by this input from those outside of our organisation. 

The sessions covered a wide range of topics from Marx’s environmentalism, land and our food system, to housing, and building a movement against the far right. 

Given the significance of our anti-racist work this year, it was only right that our camp kicked off on Friday evening with a plenary on ‘Building a Movement Against the Far Right.’ The session gave activists an opportunity to learn about the struggle against the far right in Greece and Belgium, share their experiences and discuss how we can unite to tackle the hatred and lies spreading through our communities. 

During the day on Saturday and Sunday, we broke into smaller groups in parallel sessions to make room for deeper discussions on each topic. On Saturday morning, we held sessions on ‘Resisting Attacks on our Reproductive Rights’, ‘The Future of the Irish Language’ and ‘Learning from Socialists Internationally.’ 

After a lunch break and some free time to enjoy the beautiful nature around us, in the afternoon we held sessions on  ‘Understanding Capitalism’, ‘How to Build Successful Campaigns’ and –unsurprisingly, the days most popular breakout session at an ecosocialist summer camp– ‘Marx's Environmentalism’.

The Left Government debate that evening between People Before Profit TD, Paul Murphy and Sinn Fein TD, Mairead Farrell was one of the most anticipated events of the camp.

While many left the debate with a sense of disappointment having learned nothing new of Sinn Fein’s policies or strategy, most also acknowledged Farrell’s bravery and good faith in taking on this debate in  a room full of ecosocialists, where there was most likely going to be a lot of questions for her and not many votes to be won for Sinn Fein.

Paul Murphy outlined a vision for a left government with socialist policies, one that would genuinely take on the powers of the landlords and big business and fight for ecosocialist change, and challenged the positions Sinn Fein has been putting forward on the same topic. However, the Sinn Fein TD  preferred to focus on the commonalities with People Before Profit, with an unchanged refusal to rule out  coalition with the establishment parties, raising some further eyebrows in the crowd. 

On Sunday morning, campers could choose between ‘Class Struggle Organising’, ‘Neutrality and the Drive to Militarisation’ with another international guest speaker from the Anticapitalistas in Spain joining online and ‘Land: What should we do about our Food System?.’ As with Marx’s environmentalism, the land and food session garnered the most interest. As ecosocialists, RISE and many of our supporters feel these climate and environment issues are central to our politics. 

And in the afternoon, campers chose between ‘Defending the “T” in LGBTQI+’, ‘Building a Housing Movement’ and ‘Marxist Philosophy: The Dialectics of Revolution.’

The camp programme combined more introductory sessions for those newer to politics with more complex topics and discussions on how to build and grow the movement. The smaller sessions and the free time in between gave campers the space to discuss at ease and in depth whatever topic they were most interested in.

Inspiration 

Given the positive feedback after the Saturday morning ‘Class Struggle Organising’ workshop, we will certainly be exploring the idea of more interactive sessions for next year.

It was important to us to include a session on workers' struggles at our ecosocialist camp to emphasize that our fight is not just about the green stuff or the workplace stuff, but that ecosocialist politics is about the bigger picture. We need to arm ourselves with an understanding of why and how they are all connected.

It’s very obvious that we can’t stay in an environmental silo, talking about what we would like to see as the ideal food supply chain - although a very important conversation to have, we need to be involved in the class struggle fight.

The Bank Holiday weekend (thanks to class struggle organising for that!) was filled with education and inspiration for all those who attended. We shared ideas through the workshops and plenaries but also in our free time throughout the day and into the wee hours of the night for some. 

One highlight of the camp was the organised fun –perhaps the most controversial topic of all. The organised social activities were very successful, they included a lively ceili and an extremely competitive table quiz that went all the way to a tie breaker round. 

Personal thoughts

A personal highlight for me was being involved in one of the most rousing versions of the Internationale I have ever had the pleasure of participating in.

The song was not just simply played at the end of the camp. We took the time to explain to the campers why this was an important song to the international socialist movement. 

The Internationale was written in May 1871 after the Paris Commune had fallen.

The Paris Commune began on 18 March 1871 and for the 72 days that followed, the workers of Paris organised themselves democratically and laid down principles that continue to guide socialist revolutionaries to this day, including all elected representatives subject to recall at any time and being paid a worker’s wage.

This song is still inspiring revolutionaries worldwide, as we hope to fulfil the dreams of the communards and establish an ecosocialist society for ourselves.

As our camp came to an end, I felt we had all learned something from each other and I left feeling better politically and theoretically armed for the fight we face going forward. The ideas discussed will help to fuel our work going forward through People Before Profit, RISE and in our media work through Rupture Magazine and Rupture Radio.

If you’re interested in joining the fight for an ecosocialist alternative please consider joining RISE or People Before Profit.

We have already started planning the camp for next year - hope to see you there!