PLEASE DO NOT FORWARD THIS INVITATION. If there are people that you’d like to suggest that we invite, please email us at 411@LeftRoots.net. Please include the person’s name, email, their race/ethnicity and gender as well as a short explanation as to why you think they’d be a good fit as part of LeftRoots.
The focus of the Boot-Camp is to give participants an introduction to some of the core ideas that LeftRoots’ believe social movement leftists should be engaging with. Topics will include team building; the impacts of capitalist hegemony on the ambitions of social movements; lessons from socialist experiments and the innovations of 21st century socialism; the role of cadre and cadre organizations and political instruments in making transformative change; and the need for strategy.
This will be the first time that LeftRoots is running the Boot-Camp online. Although it will be modified for the platform, the core ideas will be the same as the ideas explored in the previous iterations of the Boot-Camps LeftRoots has held in the Bay Area. Each session will revolve around a set of assigned readings and will feature presentations, small group discussions and some fun surprises.
The deadline to apply for this round of the Boot-Camp is May 14.
Is that really the deadline or can I get an extension?
Yes, May 14 is the real deadline.
In fact, we’d ask that folks submit their applications as soon as possible. We will be offering the Boot-Camp sessions on Sundays from 9am to 1pm PT. If a large number of people absolutely cannot make that time, we may consider holding an additional session. That decision will be informed by the early applications that we receive, so get yours in now!
You should have access to a computer that has stable internet connection and a webcam. The audio will be carried over the internet so your computer should be able to handle the audio, but for those who prefer, there will probably be a phone-in option. However, all of the participants are expected to be at a computer with a webcam— so we can see the faces of the comrades we’re building a movement with.
No. After submitting your application, LeftRoots will notify you as to whether you will be invited to participate in the Boot-Camp.
In addition to the basic requirements of being a social movement leftist aligned with LeftRoots Points of Unity, we will be enrolling folks making sure that we have a class of participants that is a super-majority people of color and a super-majority women and gender-oppressed folks.
Once we’ve finalized the slots in this class, we’ll send out acceptance letters, and we’ll ask you to confirm your participation.
No.
If you’re not able to make the Boot-Camp, you can become a LeftRoots Compa. To get more info about Compas, click here.
Yes, there will be assigned readings for each of the Boot-Camp sessions. On average, there are about 30 – 50 pages of readings per session. Some will be more theory; others will be more historical. All of them are great readings which we believe will spark some exciting and important conversations, so we expect all participants to do all of the sessions readings.
In light of the revelations made by Edward Snowden and the horrors of the COINTEL program, we believe that everyone should be concerned about the state’s ability and willingness to use all of its means to sneak and spy into our lives. But all of LeftRoots’ work is completely public, completely legal.
That said, we also know that the greatest source of political security is strong movement work— work that is public and unapologetic and that engages thousands of people. Given that most Left politics were largely sabotaged and belittled during the last few decades, LeftRoots believes that it is important to begin to take up a collective effort to make liberatory politics more compelling, more community-based and more popular. While we will conduct the Boot-Camp using security protocols, we believe that that Boot-Camp is one contribution to putting liberation back on the agenda.