“A Kayaktivist Story” – Short Film by Indigenous Peoples Power Project

by | Aug 15, 2022

“A Kayaktivist Story” – Short Film by Indigenous Peoples Power Project

by | Aug 15, 2022

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As we approach the beginning of fall season, we wanted to take some time to reflect on our work through an eventful summer and keep you up to date on all the wonderful things we’ve been able to accomplish with friends, allies, and community. In early June, Indigenous Peoples Power Project attended a mini action camp in partnership with Ruckus Society, Indigenous Environmental Network, and Pueblo Action Network in Albuquerque, NM where we offered support in the Arts Track. This was an incredible experience that introduced us to new communities, and helped to expand our work in new regions. The following week, as our team made their way back from New Mexico, we held our first ever Kayaktivist Camp with Mosquito Fleet, a regional network of paddlers, sailors, and community activists fighting for climate justice and a fossil free environment through creative on water direct action and grassroots movement building. This was an event that brought our entire staff together, Mosquito Fleet trainers and a handful of participants to learn the basics of kayaktivism and direct action on the water.

With little time in between, our team was invited by the Klamath Tribes and community members in Southern Oregon to assist with an art build for the Save the C’waam and Koptu rally. This event brought family and community together to learn creative resistance techniques and strategies in direct actions, and was followed by a two day rally to advocate for the C’waam and Koptu, an endangered species of fish found only in the Upper Klamath Lake. In the meantime, IP3 stayed busy preparing our nonviolent direct action (NVDA) curriculum, hosting our ongoing interview series, Skoden Talks w/ The Homies, preparing for our climbing Training for Trainers in October, and the return of our in person action camp in November. As we look forward to an eventful fall season, we are thankful for these experiences, the relationships we’ve made, and look forward to using them as the foundation to further our mission to provide nonviolent direct action training, campaign support, and community organizing tools to support Indigenous communities taking action in defense of their homelands.

In honor of these new relationships and opportunities, we wanted to share a bit of our Kayaktivist Camp experience with you in a creative way, and are excited to announce the release of our short film, “A Kayaktivist Story.” This film features original performances by Indigenous artist/musician, Ron Vincent Belgard, and Indigenous poet/author, Shuína Skó. Huge shout out to the Mosquito Fleet team and those who flew in from all over Turtle Island to participate! We look forward to Kayaktivist Camps in the future, and to adding Kayaktivism as a new training track of IP3 Action. So without further ado, please enjoy our new video, “A Kayaktivist Story,” and please feel free to like, share, and subscribe to stay up to date on our work.

A’ho like that in a good way!

The IP3 Action Team

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