Welcome to The RYSE - The Radical Youth Space for Educations - our project to build a radical educational space for youth organisers, the space we need if together we are going to weave truly transformative social movements - aka:
A Home for our Generation to Learn the Art of Disobedience
This is a BIG project and there are loads of threads, we'll try to lay them all out here but if you've got any furter questions then please do email us and connect - for now though, here's what we are weaving:
The Practicalities
So, let's start with what The RYSE means in practice. For us there are 4 key practical elements to the project - radical education, building community, youth activism and creating space. Let's dive a bit deeper into each one.
Radical Education
Fundamentally The RYSE is an experiment in radical education - a chance for us to build upon the legacies of our chosen ancestors, like Paulo Freire, and the spaces that inspire us, like The Highlander Folk School. In practical terms, we're working as part of the PRALER process to build educational resources, run workshops and support our peers to do the same. We fundamentally believe in the power of Education and that if done right it is the heart of becoming our most true and powerful selves - and everyone is invited so make sure you check out our upcoming sessions page!
Building Community
As The RYSE, we see ourselves as part of building two communities - one of affinity and one of place. In affinity we stand with those of our generation and their communities rising in rebellion against imperialism, and for Planet Repairs. The place we live, as The RYSE, is in Stroud, Gloucestershire - a long time hotbed of eco/alternative living where we're very excited to connect with community projects, ecological farms, halls, kitchens, breweries, woods and more. These are the tapestries into which we're weaving The RYSE and the communities that we are committing to help build.
Youth Activism
In very simple terms The RYSE is built to serve the radical youth. To serve all those of our generation rising for change by creating a place to learn, to ground and connect in, and ultimately to become a home for us to return too. We believe in the power that youth hold, the role we play in challenging the present, the drive we have to build a better future, and yet we need support. The RYSE will be part of that support - linking youth with elders, running educational residentials, building learning communities and reclaiming a piece of the space we need.
Reclaiming Space
Youth and their communities in the UK are systemically denied access to space. Media campaigns name us as threats, laws are created to criminalise us, and so we have a generation that has grown in total dislocation from space, from land to call their own. As such, fundamental to The RYSE is the creation of our own physical space; a space youth can stand in and feel powerful. So far we've partnered with groups like the Trinity Rooms, held our own little space in town, helped take and run the SISTER Summer School and we've got new plans in the works, so watch this space!
Why The RYSE?
So, what are the deeper stories here? Well, while we've laid out some above, this work sits on a huge amount of personal learning and transformation within the team - alongside the histories and threads of resistance which we are looking to step into. As such, rather than write a bunch of paragraphs here the team sat down and recorded y'all a podcast. We talk through our personal experiences, inspirations, chosen ancestors, feelings of solidarity and more - its all crammed into 30mins, so have a listen and let us know what you think!
Seasonal Cycle
We are so disconnected from the cycles of the world. Stuck within modernity's addication to constant production, we are taught to always be on, always in 'go mode' - and yet we know this is burning us out, we know their must be other ways of living and working.
And so, at The RYSE, we're looking back in time and towards the more-than-human world, by organising our work along a 'seasonal cycle'. Designed so our work mirror's the energy of each season - allowing for regular reflection, rest and reimagination - its flow can be summarised as:
Winter - a darker time for deeper residential work in smaller groups. Inviting youth to, and from, Stroud to begin seeding the key conversations we want to bring to the world that year.
Spring - a time to take these key topics out into the world, to support and connect with youth in their local contexts. Starting/supporting campaigns and specific pushes here in Stroud and beyond.
Summer - bursting with life we will invite youth into bigger gatherings; skill sharing weekends, resistance jams and more - this is us in full bloom and sound, bringing the world to rights!
Autumn - as the cold returns, we will turn inward to reflect on all the year has brought. In havesting all this learning, we will reground and prepare for the following cycle to come.
^ click to enlarge and explore ^
We believe, that in these times of crisis, it is not about 'organising fast', its about 'organsing right'; it's about launching the spiral that starts small, yet - in its deeply grounded nature - is able to grow into the transformative energy we need. This is our attempt to re-root, and we're excited to see where it will take us.
The RYSE's Education Timeline
We're over 2 years old now and we've been hella busy - so as its Feb 2024 we thought we'd build a timeline of all our Educational Work so far for you all to explore. This isn't everything but it's a selection of highlights that should cover all the major themes of our work. If anything catches your eye then please do message us for more info, we're always happy to share and will hopefully get the session plans uploaded at some point so everyone can see them in full detail - enjoy!
^ click to enlarge and read through our journey so far ^
Timeline coming soon!
All our 'Pre-RYSE' work has been moved to this blog - do check it, years of learning in there!
Our Intentions
1. To work through popular education to support the young generation of activists in the UK, who are working for the liberation of all peoples.
2. To create a physical space for learning together amongst groups and organisations; connected to a movement-wide learning community, and making space to learn from movement elders and 'our-stories of resistance'.
3. Building a shared sense of purpose between the youth of the minority world and the Global Majority, working especially so our generation in the UK chooses the side of Planet Repairs.
Together these intentions inform and drive our work in developing The RYSE - they are the grounding on which we build and what we will always return to during our periods of reflection and re-rooting.
Our Educational Pillars
-
Trust the young people: so much about our society tells young people that we don't know whats best for them and aren't to be trusted. This destroys our agency and power and can't continue - instead we ground in Radical Trust and build from there.
-
Popular Education and Collective Learning: building in cycles from what the community already knows we believe wholeheartedly in the Zapatista quote: "Between all of us we know everything!"
-
Intergenerational Solidarity: we know the youth can't do it on our own and so we love working with Olders and Elders ready to dive in and come on a learning journey with us.
-
Grounding in our Radical Roots: we refuse the 'British Inheritance' of Empire and Kings - we're the children of the Diggers, of the Western Risers, of the Stroud Water Rioters and the countless more normal folk from these lands who fought for life!
-
Planet Repairs: our aim as part of the PRALER network - here at the nexus of Cognitive, Reparatory and Environmental Justice we find a true path back to Mother Earth and for collective liberation!
-
Internationalism: global systems built for destruction can only be countered by a Global Family of Resistance - "touch one, touch all!"
-
Action Learning: what Paulo Freire called Praxis, because neither theory or practice work in isolation - we learn to take action and in acting we learn how to change the world.
RYSE Blogs
The RYSE is growing and changing everyday - we're mad excited about this and we want you all to be involved - so please email us with any questions or hit us up using the social links below.
Big love and Power from us all!