From 19- 25 July, a delegation of 7 young ACR comrades attended the Fourth International’s 40th Youth Camp in Belgium. We travelled together from London before convening with the Scottish delegation for the rest of the journey through the Belgian countryside, all the way down to Virton, Belgium explain Paris Wilder and Jess MacKenzie

Over 7 days we created a strong presence at the camp, developing our international connections as well as developing connections with our own delegations as we immersed ourselves in camp life.

Contribution

Despite this being the first time any of the ACR attendees had been to the camp, we threw ourselves into the activities. Highlights included:

• Delivering three workshops – “Targeting of trans youth under the healthcare system” (Lauren and Val), “Militarisation of police and repression” (Anastasia) and “How to organise workers in feminised sectors” (Paris and Jess). 
• Running a permanent commission on ecosocialism, which is producing a report for further climate action and has set up a signal group for general collaboration with international comrades. Information from this commission was most incorporated into an Ecosocialist Action Network Climate Assembly. 
• Paris giving a speech on consent at the camp in the opening rally.
• General camp duties like running the bar and security watch.

Experience

As a delegation, we met daily to discuss ideas and feelings about the camp, turning them into practical applications to bring home to ACR. This resulted in the creation of a Youth Caucus to continue these discussions. We also created international links with comrades from France, Denmark and Brazil, just to name a few. One of our comrades went to great lengths to find and bring two Romanian comrades to the camp to introduce the Romanian left to what’s happening in the Fourth International. Both comrades were a brilliant addition to the camp bringing a much needed left perspective from Eastern Europe when the camp felt very Western Europe heavy.

As well as embodying the spirit of internationalism, the camp also embodied the spirit of liberation in its embrace of Trans, Queer and Female liberation. Specific parties for LGBTQ+ and those oppressed by Patriarchy were self organised to ensure spaces for this expression were not just present but prioritised. Trans comrades provided a space for practical advice on transitioning and taking hormones to those at the camp showing the power of mutual aid and self organisation in oppressed groups. In this way, the camp offered a brief look into how a society liberated of oppressive gender and sexuality norms, can function beautifully, looking out for and empowering one another.

Like any self organised away camp, the camp also had its challenges – cold showers, power outages and flooded tents proved tricky at times – however, the camp ran nightly coordination meetings to sort these issues. The process encouraged common ownership over the camp’s running, creating a culture of open communication and healthy debate. Whilst somewhat frustrating at the time, these disagreements forced us to reckon with the idea of self organisation as a practice, and how as revolutionary socialists, we practice radical compassion and address conflict in a non-traditional way; the camp forced us to consider argument as dance instead of war.

This was the first youth camp for all ACR delegates and felt very daunting at the beginning. However, by the end we came out stronger activists having experienced a small slice of self organised socialism – with all its ups and downs! –  and engrossed ourselves in political discussion with different young people from across the globe. As ACR grows, we hope to build an even bigger delegation to send to the camp next year and further develop our relationship with the Fourth International.