At this year’s awesome George Brown College Labour Fair Conference, I shared five things I wish I knew when I first became politically active ten years earlier. What do you think of these things? What do you wish you knew when you started being politically active?

Here they are: 

1. Understand the political campaign

This blog post was written by Earthroots organizer and KI trip paddler David Sone. During August and September, a team of paddlers from KI Indigenous Nation paddled 350 km to raise awareness about their community's decision to protect their entire 13,025-square kilometre watershed under Indigenous Law.

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I will never look at a white rock in the same way again, at least not while camping in polar bear country.

At dusk after settling into camp on a large island in the Severn at the mouth of the Beaver River, Allan, who has been filming the far shore, calmly says "there's a polar bear over there."

Migration: An update from the KI Nation Paddlers, Sep., 3 2012

www.kilands.org

Peanut butter on Wassa crackers with honey for lunch again is getting maybe a little too familiar.

Our meal is interrupted by Ronald who points up river emphatically. We look but can't see anything new.

"Caribou," he whispers, "swimming."

Fish Pole: Aug. 29 Update from the KI Nation Paddlers

For lunch today we stopped by a fast-flowing stream that enters the Fawn from the west amid a grove of large old white spruces that form a great camping spot. Terry said that this place is named "Fish Pole" in the language. We didn't have to ask why.  

Within 20 minutes Richard had caught half a dozen gorgeous 2 pound Brook Trout. They are fascinating fish whose colourful spots blend perfectly into the pattern of the pebbled river bottom. Brook Trout need very clean, cold water to thrive as they do in these waters. The rivers up here have some of the healthiest Brook Trout populations anywhere.

An Ancient Route - August 24, 2012

Big Trout Lake is truly enormous.  It is 661 square km of of water that is clean enough to drink straight from the lake. Paddling even a small part of it makes for a long day and sore arms.   We were rewarded with a stunning sunset over the silhouette of stoic black spruce trees as we approached our first camp site.

The Tools for Change program has launched its 2012/2013 workshop series to provide Torontonians with the skills they need to advance social change.

During the 2012/2013 school year, Tools for Change will host 19 workshops, including training on media strategy, meeting facilitation, grassroots fundraising, campaign planning, social media, political writing, research skills, political writing, navigating conflict, direct action, public speaking, and more.

Tools for Change’s workshop topics were chosen by surveying past workshop participants, as well as members and volunteers of non-profits and activist groups from across Toronto; the most-requested workshops become part of this year’s series.

From August 24 to September 7, a team of paddlers from the KI Indigenous Nation will venture 400 km beyond the nearest road to travel the ancient trading route from their remote fly-in community to Hudson's Bay.

They are calling on Ontario to respect their deep connection to the wild Fawn River watershed – a foundation of their culture, and the threatened heart of the world's largest intact forest.

“The KI people have protected our entire home watershed through Indigenous Law,” said KI Chief Donny Morris. “Now we are calling on Ontario to respect our protection before this sacred landscape is poisoned by the diamond, gold, and metals mining companies who have set their sights on it.”

Check out this nice little brochure for people interested in designing creative direct actions. The booklet was developed by myself (Jessica Bell) and Joshua Kahn Russell, as well as Ruckus Society staff Sharon Lungo and Megan Swoboda. (And thank you to Cam Fenton for designing.) Instead of drilling into the nuts and bolts of executing an action, we decided to write a guide to help you dream up the 'what', meaning a direct action idea that is strategic, effective, doable, and awesome.

Marshall Ganz is one great social movement elder.  

He organized with Caser Chavez to build the United Farm Workers of America Union in the 1960s. He helped set the grassroots strategy that underpinned Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. Ganz has also spent the last decade or so teaching and writing about social movements at Harvard University. Ganz has a lot of useful information to share! His two websites (he's got the Practicing Democracy Network one and then his Harvard University one) are chock-full of ideas, tools and resources for organizers.

This article was written by Occupy organizer, Cheyenna Weber. It's a nice read. Thank you for writing this essay Cheyenna. For those in Toronto, Tools for Change is hosting a workshop on avoiding activist burnout on Thursday, January 26, 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.