NY Occupiers Open "Freedom School" Summer Camp

The Occupy Wall Street movement has faced many hurdles, not the least of which are the elements, which humans have been struggling to overcome since our ancestors first evolved. When Occupy first made national headlines in September 2011, skeptics predicted that winter temperatures would kill the movement. They didn’t.

Now, some may be wondering if summer heatwaves will wither OWS’s enthusiasm, but if recent actions around the nation are any indication, Occupy Wall Street’s roots run far too deep to succumb to a little heat. Nevertheless, occupiers have started to get creative in their event planning tactics. There’s the Occupy The Hood “Rep Your Hood” Blowout BBQ coming up next weekend, and earlier this week, the opening of the unofficial Occupy summer camp.

Modeled after the civil-rights-era Freedom Schools, the Brooklyn-based Paul Robeson Freedom School Summer Day Camp, is meant to keep young brains from melting in front of a video game all summer.

Run by original occupiers Justin Wedes and Rodney Deas (Deas was the inspiration for the boombox-toting Radio Raheem character in Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing”), the camp offers reading, writing, history, and basic math in addition to hands on activities and field trips. The camp’s “counselors” infuse their knowledge on all subjects with a dose of revolutionary thinking, encouraging “campers” to challenge traditional thinking and get involved in their communities.

“Our mission is to build an empowering community of youth and adult leader-educators whose work is to nurture and liberate our minds, bodies and collective spirit; to liberate our minds from mental oppression through culturally-relevant curriculum in the arts, sciences and histories; to liberate our bodies from hurtful consumerism through physical training and changing our relationship to food; and to liberate our collective spirit to re-affirm our commitment to each other, our shared heritage and our local community, reads the day camp’s Facebook page.

So far, the school only has a handful of campers and a tiny operating budget. But enthusiasm is high and the vibe is positive. If you’re in the Brooklyn area and want to contribute, volunteer, or attend, check out the camp’s website to learn more.

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Read more: freedom schools, nyc, occupy wall street, ows, summer camp

Image via Paul Robeson Freedom School Summer Day Camp

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Hope F.

12:23AM PDT on Jul 20, 2012

this just plain excites me!

July 20
send a green star

Past Member .

8:38AM PDT on Jul 19, 2012

yes

July 19
send a green star

Jennifer C.

5:02PM PDT on Jul 18, 2012

Thanks.

July 18
send a green star

Vicky P.

4:00PM PDT on Jul 18, 2012

great

Charlene R.

4:55PM PDT on Jul 17, 2012

It's good to see that Rudy B. is here, to remind us how _fearful_ the Tea Party Republican GOP actually is.
Remember how much _fear_ they have. They fear: Women, Communists, Russians, Women, Latinos, Muslims, Women, LGBT's, and give them time, they'll find another group to fear and hate.
Of course, they are unconscious to the fact, that the fear they hate, is themselves.

July 17
send a green star

4:43PM PDT on Jul 17, 2012

Doesn't it warm the 'cockles of your heart', to know that the BAD GUYS, aren't the only ones with determination?

Thank heavens for their persistence.

Carole L.

3:14PM PDT on Jul 17, 2012

go OWS!

3:02PM PDT on Jul 17, 2012

if the socialist Occupiers are not quiters, then why only three kids showed up to Commie Camp? They were advertising it for months.....

RudyB

Carl O.

2:15PM PDT on Jul 17, 2012

Great idea. It is time to turn away from the "Greed is Good" "As long as I've got mine screw everybody else" era and head forward into the past. Back to working together for the collective good. And the children are our hope for tomorrow. It certainly isn't Karl Rove, the Koch Brothers and FOX News' agenda of lies, misinformation, disinformnatiuon, disunity and intolerance. The only benefit that I see from watching FOX News is that it is cheaper than having a frontal lobotomy though the results are the same.

Linda T.

2:12PM PDT on Jul 17, 2012

I'll give it to the NY Occupiers they are not quitters and show real tenacity. Great news.