WEBVTT - Dual Power Gathering Midwest 0:00:05.240 --> 0:00:07.200 It. 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:10.280 It could happen here. It's it's the podcast that's happening here. 0:00:10.480 --> 0:00:13.119 That's not why we called it that. But you know, 0:00:13.240 --> 0:00:15.120 such as such as such, such as such as the 0:00:15.160 --> 0:00:19.360 world uh. And today I'm going to be talking about 0:00:19.520 --> 0:00:21.640 one of one of one of our I don't want 0:00:21.640 --> 0:00:24.040 to say rare, but we're we're doing one of our 0:00:24.040 --> 0:00:26.759 how do we put the World Back Together? Episodes And 0:00:26.800 --> 0:00:28.440 in order to do that, I'm going to be talking 0:00:28.440 --> 0:00:30.680 with Mira and Koran, who are two organizers for the 0:00:30.760 --> 0:00:35.560 Dual Power Gathering Bidwest that's happening in what like two 0:00:35.600 --> 0:00:39.720 months ish. Yeah, it's Coryan, Mira. Welcome to the show. 0:00:41.120 --> 0:00:41.279 Hi. 0:00:41.400 --> 0:00:43.239 Thanks, it's great to be on. 0:00:44.280 --> 0:00:47.120 Yeah, it's great. It's great to have you too. Okay, 0:00:47.159 --> 0:00:49.960 So I guess I should I guess we should start 0:00:49.960 --> 0:00:51.800 with so this is this is well, I don't know 0:00:51.840 --> 0:00:55.200 if seconds the right term. The first of these happens 0:00:56.480 --> 0:00:59.480 last year in Indiana? Is it last? 0:00:59.520 --> 0:00:59.600 Ye? 0:00:59.640 --> 0:01:02.240 Yeah, I was last year. I had to I had 0:01:02.240 --> 0:01:05.480 to make it. I had to do a quick checking 0:01:05.520 --> 0:01:08.120 my memory to make sure that twenty twenty two was 0:01:08.120 --> 0:01:10.520 in fact last year, and we haven't. Somehow, So we 0:01:10.520 --> 0:01:13.720 got to the twenty twenty four. Already, Oh boy, things 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:16.520 are things that things are going great here. But yeah, 0:01:16.680 --> 0:01:18.679 I wanted to, I guess start with talking about what 0:01:18.760 --> 0:01:22.280 the dual power gathering is and yeah, like what what 0:01:22.280 --> 0:01:24.000 what happened at the first one and how did it go? 0:01:26.560 --> 0:01:31.520 Yeah, so dual power gathering. I guess maybe a thing 0:01:31.600 --> 0:01:33.319 to start with is what is dual power? 0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:35.640 Yeah, we haven't talked about that in a bit, Yeah, 0:01:35.880 --> 0:01:37.720 I can. We explained it for new people. 0:01:38.760 --> 0:01:43.160 The maybe the best way to put it is something 0:01:43.880 --> 0:01:45.800 that maybe a lot of people have heard before, which 0:01:45.840 --> 0:01:47.960 is building a new world in the shell of the old. 0:01:48.280 --> 0:01:57.120 So we live in a society, right unfortunately, So there's 0:01:57.120 --> 0:01:59.560 a lot of institutions that we have to deal with, 0:01:59.840 --> 0:02:04.000 and for a lot of people it's essential to rely 0:02:04.080 --> 0:02:07.840 on these institutions because there's not other options. And as anarchists, 0:02:08.600 --> 0:02:11.640 it's kind of our goal to build those other options. 0:02:12.480 --> 0:02:16.200 And dual power is that building a second power in 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:23.000 opposition to the state powers. So you know, like tech stuff, 0:02:23.440 --> 0:02:29.720 so internet, mesh, networks, just alternative infrastructures, alternative medical care. 0:02:30.880 --> 0:02:35.320 Though I'm sure that specific phrasing can imply something else 0:02:35.320 --> 0:02:36.400 which I did not mean, but. 0:02:37.800 --> 0:02:38.200 It's just. 0:02:40.560 --> 0:02:44.720 Working with communities to try to not rely on the state. 0:02:45.560 --> 0:02:48.360 And so dual power Gathering is bringing together, you know, 0:02:48.400 --> 0:02:51.639 a bunch of people from orgs and independent activists and 0:02:51.840 --> 0:02:53.840 honestly people who just want to get involved and don't 0:02:53.840 --> 0:03:00.000 know a lot to help build those counter structures. And honestly, 0:03:00.120 --> 0:03:03.920 this cool Zone Media brought a lot of people went 0:03:03.960 --> 0:03:08.600 to the podcast from last year, so it seems like 0:03:08.639 --> 0:03:10.800 your audience really really likes this stuff. 0:03:12.080 --> 0:03:13.600 I'm sad. I'm sad I wasn't able to go to 0:03:13.639 --> 0:03:16.720 last year's I was in the process of like setting 0:03:16.760 --> 0:03:18.320 up for and then I had a COVID scare. It 0:03:18.360 --> 0:03:20.760 had to like lock down for like an entire week 0:03:20.800 --> 0:03:23.840 in it, and it turned out that I didn't have it. 0:03:24.040 --> 0:03:27.200 But I mean, I'm very sad. 0:03:27.840 --> 0:03:29.760 I preferred that you didn't spread COVID. 0:03:29.960 --> 0:03:32.000 Yeah. I was like, you know, okay, let let's let's 0:03:32.040 --> 0:03:36.160 not like endanger people's lives. That seems better than in 0:03:36.200 --> 0:03:37.200 fact doing that. 0:03:37.680 --> 0:03:40.520 And on that note, since there's been questions both other events, 0:03:40.960 --> 0:03:45.760 we will be having mass requirements and at the event 0:03:45.800 --> 0:03:48.880 to make sure the immunal compromise people are not being excluded. 0:03:49.000 --> 0:03:50.120 I want to make that clear. 0:03:50.920 --> 0:03:52.480 Yeah, and this is this is like you know, so 0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:54.640 I like the last one from my understanding, you like, 0:03:54.880 --> 0:03:55.960 you know it was it was a bunch of it 0:03:56.000 --> 0:03:57.960 was a bunch of people like camping in the dunes basically, 0:03:59.000 --> 0:04:00.960 And is this one also going to be sort of 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:02.440 like mostly an outdoor thing. 0:04:03.200 --> 0:04:05.560 Yeah, so it's going to be We're not just going 0:04:05.600 --> 0:04:07.360 to say the location here and you can find that 0:04:07.400 --> 0:04:15.360 out through registering, but the location is just near Chicago 0:04:15.600 --> 0:04:19.040 and it's similarly outside. It's a big open space, not 0:04:19.120 --> 0:04:23.480 a lot of trees, which is sad this year. But yeah, 0:04:23.600 --> 0:04:26.000 it'll be mostly camping, but there's cabins and people can 0:04:26.040 --> 0:04:27.120 stand in hotels nearby. 0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:27.599 Also. 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:30.680 Yeah, so I guess okay, we've taught, we've talked a 0:04:30.680 --> 0:04:33.920 bit about what dual power is and sort of building 0:04:34.000 --> 0:04:37.039 this kind of counterpower and building you know, like and 0:04:37.080 --> 0:04:38.800 like I guess I just want to say a little 0:04:38.800 --> 0:04:41.760 bit like these are like dual power institutions are just 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:44.520 a lot of the things that you know, just we 0:04:44.560 --> 0:04:47.479 talk about building or like people you know or we've 0:04:47.520 --> 0:04:49.240 been involved in building and these are these these can 0:04:49.279 --> 0:04:52.560 be things like tennis unions like different like different well 0:04:52.760 --> 0:04:56.800 different like regular unions like caucuses and unions. I like 0:04:56.920 --> 0:04:59.600 mutual aid networks like worker centers and so's. You know, 0:04:59.600 --> 0:05:02.560 there's also for things that can be involved in this 0:05:02.839 --> 0:05:05.800 by so now now now having gotten we've gotten through 0:05:05.880 --> 0:05:10.080 dual power, we've sort of gotten through gathering, but we 0:05:10.080 --> 0:05:11.600 should I should, Yeah, I want to ask a bit 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:14.200 more about like what what Okay, what what happens at 0:05:14.200 --> 0:05:15.680 the thing when you go to it? 0:05:16.640 --> 0:05:22.760 Yeah. So it's built on the unconference model of doing things, 0:05:22.760 --> 0:05:26.159 which in essence is able to kind of counteract the 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:28.919 idea that we need to have a sort of structured 0:05:29.640 --> 0:05:32.200 event that's you know, you do this at this point, 0:05:32.279 --> 0:05:33.960 you do this at this point, you do this at 0:05:33.960 --> 0:05:39.360 this point. It instead is meant to be built more 0:05:39.400 --> 0:05:46.520 towards libertarian socialist principles, and it is where people are 0:05:46.560 --> 0:05:50.159 able to kind of build their own agenda from the 0:05:50.200 --> 0:05:53.120 start of the event and kind of structure their day 0:05:53.200 --> 0:05:57.159 how they want to. So you can talk to these 0:05:57.200 --> 0:06:02.080 people to go to a skill sharing event on stop 0:06:02.080 --> 0:06:04.359 the Bleed training. You can talk to these people to 0:06:04.400 --> 0:06:11.080 go through a skill share event on how to facilitate meetings. 0:06:11.160 --> 0:06:13.920 You can talk to these folk to learn a bit 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:17.240 about anarchist history. You know, just all these different things 0:06:17.240 --> 0:06:21.320 that can be formatted however that you may so choose, 0:06:21.480 --> 0:06:25.039 and that are all kind of happening at the discretion 0:06:25.160 --> 0:06:30.080 of people who are involved. So it's very much so 0:06:30.400 --> 0:06:33.760 just up to you to build your own day, and 0:06:33.839 --> 0:06:35.480 of course you can also talk to other people there 0:06:35.520 --> 0:06:38.240 if you need some help. Plenty of the organizer is 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:42.160 involved are more than willing to help out and you know, 0:06:42.680 --> 0:06:46.520 lend people a hand in figuring out where everything is 0:06:46.560 --> 0:06:48.520 and what they might want to do and what other 0:06:48.560 --> 0:06:50.960 people are doing start their day around. But at the core, 0:06:51.240 --> 0:06:56.640 you know, it's built around individual choice, autonomy and just 0:06:56.720 --> 0:07:00.200 a non hierarchical method of going by it. 0:07:00.880 --> 0:07:02.680 So I can talk a little bit more about how 0:07:02.720 --> 0:07:08.279 that looked practically from last year. So the first night 0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:10.200 I wasn't there, so I can't talk much about that, 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:12.880 but it was it was just mostly getting to know everybody. 0:07:13.120 --> 0:07:19.200 People were coming and throughout the night because work and 0:07:19.240 --> 0:07:23.760 all that on a Friday. But then that Saturday, after breakfast, 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:25.920 which I don't even remember, it was like oat meal 0:07:26.040 --> 0:07:29.520 or something, we got together in this assembly area and 0:07:29.840 --> 0:07:34.040 brought out whiteboards and marked out days and people like 0:07:34.120 --> 0:07:36.080 just stuck up what they wanted to talk about in 0:07:36.160 --> 0:07:41.720 a session on the board in a time slot, and 0:07:41.760 --> 0:07:45.880 then we got everyone to figure out, you know, which 0:07:45.880 --> 0:07:47.760 ones of these can be condensed. You know, do two 0:07:47.800 --> 0:07:51.000 people have similar ideas, can they talk about how they 0:07:51.080 --> 0:07:56.640 might want to have a session together, And then people 0:07:56.760 --> 0:07:58.680 just chose which sessions to go to. We kept the 0:07:58.680 --> 0:08:00.640 whiteboards up so people could see what was going on 0:08:00.760 --> 0:08:05.240 and where, and that worked out pretty well. I think 0:08:05.280 --> 0:08:08.080 the biggest concern from that was people wanted to go 0:08:08.120 --> 0:08:11.440 to everything. We simply did not have time, and they 0:08:11.480 --> 0:08:13.000 were like, can we make this a week And I 0:08:13.000 --> 0:08:18.480 think that's pushing money wise. It's expensive enough to rent 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:21.000 a campsite for a weekend, but it has. 0:08:20.960 --> 0:08:22.800 Like just a bunch of land they have sitting around 0:08:22.800 --> 0:08:24.080 they want to give to us for this. 0:08:25.840 --> 0:08:28.160 If you can, if you can make whatever ranch or 0:08:28.160 --> 0:08:32.400 farm you have like accessible for people, then yes, please 0:08:32.440 --> 0:08:39.800 reach out for future gatherings. But the most important part 0:08:39.840 --> 0:08:47.600 I think was that the gathering model allowed all different 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:51.679 groups there who had similar interests. For example, there was 0:08:51.760 --> 0:08:56.640 a POC caucus to self organize. There's also like a 0:08:56.679 --> 0:09:00.200 sex workers group. They were able to come together on 0:09:00.240 --> 0:09:02.800 their own figure out what's going on. And it wasn't 0:09:02.840 --> 0:09:06.679 based on what organizers thought was important. It was based 0:09:06.679 --> 0:09:10.720 on what participants thought was important. And I think that 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:13.560 also facilitated a lot of networking. You were able to see, hey, 0:09:13.559 --> 0:09:20.480 there's a DIY medicine circle going on in this campsite. 0:09:20.520 --> 0:09:22.040 Well I'm going to go maybe stop by. I might 0:09:22.080 --> 0:09:23.320 not say the whole time, but I'm going to check 0:09:23.320 --> 0:09:25.640 it out. See if I'm interested, see if I like 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:32.760 I like the people there. And it allowed for especially 0:09:32.800 --> 0:09:39.840 newer folks to interact with veterans veteran activists and just 0:09:40.000 --> 0:09:45.320 engage with stuff they might have only felt interested in 0:09:45.400 --> 0:09:51.880 slightly and actually get involved and contribute. So yeah, that's 0:09:51.960 --> 0:09:56.040 how it practically went for the unconference, and we didn't 0:09:56.040 --> 0:09:59.880 hear that many complaints about it, accept that it maybe 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:02.800 some time sessions were not time, like the time was 0:10:02.800 --> 0:10:07.360 too short or too long, or that it wasn't like 0:10:07.640 --> 0:10:08.320 a week or two. 0:10:12.440 --> 0:10:14.200 Yeah, I mean, you know, and then that that's stuff 0:10:14.200 --> 0:10:17.640 that like it's especially the first time you're running an 0:10:17.679 --> 0:10:20.880 event like stuff, stuff like that happens, and you know, 0:10:20.960 --> 0:10:27.320 we can okay, this is I have not an enormous 0:10:27.320 --> 0:10:29.760 amount of experience running like panels and stuff. But like 0:10:29.800 --> 0:10:33.760 I've done it, and it's like God, getting the timing 0:10:33.840 --> 0:10:36.880 right is really hard and very annoying, but it's you know, 0:10:37.000 --> 0:10:38.559 this is this is a this is a thing that 0:10:39.240 --> 0:10:42.080 subsequent events will can and will sort of iterate on 0:10:42.200 --> 0:10:45.439 and get better at, because you know, I guess what 0:10:45.440 --> 0:10:47.000 what what what what of One of the things that 0:10:47.000 --> 0:10:48.880 we are in fact learning at these is how to 0:10:48.960 --> 0:10:52.560 do these things that you know, I guess in this 0:10:52.600 --> 0:10:53.720 way hasn't been done before. 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:57.040 Yeah, and it's not i mean not technically not been 0:10:57.040 --> 0:11:01.080 done before, but not done it this way. Yeah, like 0:11:01.080 --> 0:11:03.559 like those crime think convergences or like the bashback. 0:11:03.679 --> 0:11:08.600 But yeah, yeah, well I think it's an interesting thing too, 0:11:08.679 --> 0:11:11.400 on a sort of like I don't know, I think 0:11:11.440 --> 0:11:13.040 I think there's a way in which this is in 0:11:13.080 --> 0:11:15.600 some sense kind of getting back to like older like 0:11:16.559 --> 0:11:19.960 models of anarchist organizing that kind of like I'm not 0:11:19.960 --> 0:11:23.120 gonna say they disappeared, but there'd been sort of less 0:11:23.120 --> 0:11:26.360 of them due to like, you know, we just sort 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:28.480 of like political shifts and like shifts in the way 0:11:28.520 --> 0:11:31.120 people organized and like just what kinds of stuff were 0:11:31.120 --> 0:11:35.000 happening at any given time and so you know, and 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:36.800 I think that the consequence of this is a lot 0:11:36.800 --> 0:11:39.480 of people sort of relearning or you know, relearning and 0:11:39.520 --> 0:11:46.280 inventing things that like had been known. But you know, ever, ever, 0:11:46.360 --> 0:11:49.040 everyone's working through it together, and you know, it turns 0:11:49.080 --> 0:11:52.360 out we're like we're pretty good at building things. 0:11:53.200 --> 0:11:54.520 Yeah. 0:11:54.920 --> 0:11:58.120 Yeah. Like one thing that I think is really cool 0:11:58.280 --> 0:12:03.120 about DPG that kind of shines through is seeing how 0:12:04.040 --> 0:12:07.480 something like building an event like this, Like when I 0:12:07.600 --> 0:12:10.640 first got involved, you know, I pictured building an event 0:12:10.720 --> 0:12:13.520 like this is a huge ordeal. You know, it was 0:12:15.080 --> 0:12:17.760 you needed all these big connections, You needed to know 0:12:17.800 --> 0:12:19.400 a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy, 0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:25.320 and needed so many different resources at your disposal. It 0:12:25.360 --> 0:12:28.200 never really hit me that this could be something that 0:12:28.360 --> 0:12:31.640 just regular people could just up and decide to do. 0:12:32.040 --> 0:12:33.280 It's not to say it doesn't take a lot of 0:12:33.280 --> 0:12:36.840 effort and work. It does, but it's still ultimately something 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:40.040 that is in the power of people to do if 0:12:40.080 --> 0:12:43.520 they really set themselves onto it and are able to 0:12:44.240 --> 0:12:49.120 find enough helping hands, both physically and in terms of 0:12:49.160 --> 0:12:52.480 the actual event. So it's like it's really cool to 0:12:52.520 --> 0:12:57.200 see just everyone coming together in the organizing process and 0:12:57.240 --> 0:13:00.640 it just being a very organic, natural thing. It's like, 0:13:01.720 --> 0:13:04.920 I don't know, you see it a lot with like 0:13:05.000 --> 0:13:10.719 other specific events I've done food not bomb stuff, and 0:13:10.760 --> 0:13:14.679 I've seen it there too, but like it's different when 0:13:14.720 --> 0:13:18.760 it's something that you typically for Sea, at least I 0:13:18.800 --> 0:13:22.600 did for Sea as like, oh, you know, building a 0:13:22.679 --> 0:13:27.360 whole weekend long event, you know you need, yeah, have 0:13:27.440 --> 0:13:29.599 corporate big shots doing that, you know, how can you 0:13:29.640 --> 0:13:31.000 expect the little guys to do that? 0:13:34.160 --> 0:13:37.679 And Yeah, it's also cool to see people just jump 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:40.880 in and help who might not even have other organizing experience. 0:13:42.480 --> 0:13:45.880 This last year too, near the end of the planning 0:13:45.880 --> 0:13:49.079 for the gathering, there were so many people joining little 0:13:49.120 --> 0:13:52.719 circles on planning food and transportation logistics and how can 0:13:52.800 --> 0:14:00.800 I contribute? And I think the resounding result was people 0:14:00.800 --> 0:14:02.720 finding political hope. That was a term I heard a 0:14:02.720 --> 0:14:07.400 lot from from individuals who both went and helped organize 0:14:07.440 --> 0:14:10.040 the last one. And we're hoping to create a similar, 0:14:10.360 --> 0:14:11.600 similar thing this time. 0:14:11.960 --> 0:14:14.839 Yeah, and that's something that like, I don't know, I 0:14:14.920 --> 0:14:16.800 think I think everyone can use a bit more of 0:14:16.880 --> 0:14:19.160 right now. In a sort of in a very sort 0:14:19.160 --> 0:14:23.000 of depressing and bleak, like there's there's there's a lot 0:14:23.040 --> 0:14:25.280 of bad there's a lot of bad stuff happening, and 0:14:25.720 --> 0:14:27.520 the ability to generate hope, and I you know, you 0:14:27.520 --> 0:14:28.640 could even think of it in sort of in just 0:14:28.640 --> 0:14:32.520 in terms of like morale, right, Like it's it's really 0:14:32.560 --> 0:14:35.640 really really hard to actually achieve or change anything if 0:14:36.080 --> 0:14:38.600 everyone has just sort of given up already, and you know, 0:14:38.720 --> 0:14:41.800 like being around other people and being like planning events 0:14:41.800 --> 0:14:44.280 with people and doing stuff with people like is a 0:14:44.400 --> 0:14:47.760 very very good way to you know, just sort of 0:14:47.800 --> 0:14:53.000 break the kind of like existential dread and like depression 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:56.440 of like living in and you know, sort of hopelessness 0:14:56.480 --> 0:15:00.320 of like living in in in this like dizzy aster 0:15:00.960 --> 0:15:02.200 that we've all been thrown into. 0:15:03.520 --> 0:15:09.400 Yeah. Something that somebody had mentioned at the last gathering 0:15:09.400 --> 0:15:14.200 that really stuck with me was that because of the 0:15:14.280 --> 0:15:20.040 uprising and COVID, most leftist organizing was formed through trauma bonding. Yeah, 0:15:20.080 --> 0:15:23.280 And it was really nice to form relationships outside of 0:15:23.320 --> 0:15:30.600 traumatic incidents and they felt longer lasting and much safer 0:15:31.040 --> 0:15:34.080 than relationships built during crisis. 0:15:35.240 --> 0:15:37.280 Yeah. And I think, you know, I mean, I think 0:15:37.560 --> 0:15:39.400 like I think that's just sort of important along those 0:15:39.440 --> 0:15:44.040 lines to remember, is that like like building relationships. There's 0:15:44.040 --> 0:15:48.280 a decent extent to which that's just all organizing is. Yeah, yeah, 0:15:48.280 --> 0:15:50.120 I mean it's it's not all organizing is, but it's 0:15:50.160 --> 0:15:52.280 it's a really important part of it, and the way 0:15:52.320 --> 0:15:54.560 that people are able to do this, especially in the 0:15:54.600 --> 0:15:57.400 wake of a bunch of like, you know, i mean, 0:15:57.440 --> 0:15:59.920 really sort of traumatic and horrible experiences people went through, 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:03.560 like yeah, glad we have a better way to do this. 0:16:14.080 --> 0:16:19.640 Yeah, Like, stuff like this is essentially well some of 0:16:19.680 --> 0:16:22.200 the only things that give me a sense of optimism 0:16:22.240 --> 0:16:25.640 for the future, because those who know me know I 0:16:25.760 --> 0:16:31.160 tend to be a very pessimistic person. I don't look 0:16:31.200 --> 0:16:36.280 at current events, to put it concisely, and say, oh, wow, 0:16:36.360 --> 0:16:40.400 things are going pretty topsy turvy out there. I'm so. 0:16:41.000 --> 0:16:44.200 But when we have stuff like this going on that's 0:16:45.120 --> 0:16:50.320 just built at the level of, hey, we're people trying 0:16:50.400 --> 0:16:57.240 to make things better and prevent the chaos from the 0:16:57.280 --> 0:17:02.160 outside world and the world around us from just consuming everything, 0:17:02.360 --> 0:17:06.400 It's like it gives a nice sense of the community 0:17:06.440 --> 0:17:08.199 and a nice sense of hey, we're not alone in this, 0:17:08.440 --> 0:17:12.439 and that maybe tomorrow things will be a little bit 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:13.480 better than they were today. 0:17:14.119 --> 0:17:19.200 Yeah, it's especially important in my opinion. I the first gathering, 0:17:19.440 --> 0:17:22.400 I was not living in a city as I do now. 0:17:22.840 --> 0:17:26.520 I was living in not a city that people in 0:17:26.560 --> 0:17:30.359 big cities would call a city. I was in Nebraska, and. 0:17:30.720 --> 0:17:33.080 I was going to make a joke about Davenport or something, 0:17:36.200 --> 0:17:38.000 and that's kind of Daport. 0:17:41.160 --> 0:17:45.359 Yeah. So being able to meet other rural organizers in 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:49.600 various places, especially honestly the Appalachia region, which I did 0:17:49.680 --> 0:17:55.800 not realize was so related in their struggles, was important 0:17:55.920 --> 0:18:00.119 because no matter how much I wanted to network, there 0:18:00.200 --> 0:18:03.800 wasn't really that opportunity as much as there is in cities. 0:18:03.840 --> 0:18:08.000 And in cities there's a doesn't mean you're necessarily meeting 0:18:08.040 --> 0:18:10.760 more people or people that you necessarily would like to 0:18:10.880 --> 0:18:15.960 organize with. There's just there's often more need and not 0:18:16.000 --> 0:18:17.600 necessarily more anarchists. 0:18:18.160 --> 0:18:21.760 Yeah. Yeah, And I mean, you know, it's something we've 0:18:21.760 --> 0:18:25.879 talked about before, but we we've basically built it. Well okay, well, 0:18:26.040 --> 0:18:28.439 I say we we didn't really build this, but this 0:18:28.440 --> 0:18:31.120 wholsom that we lived in, the social system that we 0:18:31.160 --> 0:18:33.879 live in has been built sort of very specifically and 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:37.560 very deliberately to isolate people. And yeah, and you know, 0:18:38.520 --> 0:18:40.919 there's the sort of functions in different ways depending on 0:18:40.960 --> 0:18:46.280 sort of geography and like regional stuff. But yeah, like 0:18:46.320 --> 0:18:48.320 I think, I think this is you know, an important 0:18:48.320 --> 0:18:51.359 tool to sort of break that and to bring people 0:18:51.400 --> 0:18:55.320 together and to bring like I don't know, like I think, 0:18:55.320 --> 0:18:56.920 I think like another part of this we haven't talked 0:18:56.920 --> 0:19:00.400 about as much as like just like really incredible things 0:19:00.400 --> 0:19:03.560 happen when you bring people together from struggles that like 0:19:05.040 --> 0:19:09.760 turn out to be very similar. But like aren't like 0:19:09.960 --> 0:19:13.520 aren't usually involved with each other, Like aren't you sort 0:19:13.560 --> 0:19:17.240 of like not like I haven't haven't been able to 0:19:17.280 --> 0:19:20.000 sort of like link up before you get very sort 0:19:20.040 --> 0:19:22.119 of like I don't know, you get a lot of 0:19:22.160 --> 0:19:26.400 really interesting sort of like ideas and strategic stuff from it. 0:19:29.200 --> 0:19:36.560 Yeah, Like one thing that I've noticed, especially and because 0:19:36.600 --> 0:19:41.800 I've done a lot of small town rural organizing, is 0:19:41.840 --> 0:19:47.919 that you can kind of easily develop like very isolating 0:19:48.000 --> 0:19:55.080 communities and isolating radical cultures and like specific regions. And 0:19:55.440 --> 0:19:59.160 it's not a great pitfall and full into because you 0:19:59.240 --> 0:20:01.920 miss out of developments that might happen else sort of 0:20:02.080 --> 0:20:03.719 nice out of a lot of other things that might 0:20:03.840 --> 0:20:09.440 happening in other regions and even beyond just regions going 0:20:09.480 --> 0:20:19.400 into specific intersectional issues like different different organizers who might 0:20:19.440 --> 0:20:26.320 focus specifically on racism versus corphobia, versus ableism. Then there's 0:20:26.359 --> 0:20:30.840 all things to learn from each other. Yeah, there's all interconnectedism. 0:20:30.880 --> 0:20:34.960 When you tie that into interconnectedness of different regions, there's 0:20:35.080 --> 0:20:36.879 just a big need for things to be kind of 0:20:36.920 --> 0:20:41.840 like a large web of connectivity instead of just you know, oh, 0:20:43.520 --> 0:20:47.920 things are kept separate and now we're stuck developing on 0:20:48.000 --> 0:20:50.120 our road and that's that's never fun. 0:20:50.920 --> 0:20:55.080 Yeah, and you know what, I guess start circling the 0:20:55.080 --> 0:20:57.760 sort of back around to the cecific events. The thing 0:20:57.800 --> 0:21:01.800 that y'all are doing to combat this is the is 0:21:01.840 --> 0:21:03.919 the Dual Power gathering in Midwest. So I wanted to 0:21:03.960 --> 0:21:07.359 talk a little bit about like, well, okay, when is 0:21:07.359 --> 0:21:10.040 this happening and also what are the plans so far 0:21:10.240 --> 0:21:13.439 for what it's going to look like and what people 0:21:13.480 --> 0:21:14.280 are going to be doing. 0:21:15.280 --> 0:21:20.800 So it's August seventeenth through twentieth, and this year is 0:21:20.840 --> 0:21:25.520 going to be pretty similar to last year. And you 0:21:25.600 --> 0:21:29.560 can also look at Dual Power West, which had their 0:21:29.600 --> 0:21:33.080 gathering earlier this summer. There's a good if you go 0:21:33.119 --> 0:21:37.560 to Sabo Media, I think it's sabomedia dot no blocks 0:21:38.560 --> 0:21:42.680 dot org or whatever the no blogs addresses. You can 0:21:42.680 --> 0:21:46.280 look it up. They did a good report back on 0:21:46.400 --> 0:21:50.920 how that went, and we'll also have a documentary if 0:21:50.920 --> 0:21:51.800 people want to learn more. 0:21:51.920 --> 0:21:54.679 Sorry that's sidetracked, but we'll we'll put links to that 0:21:54.680 --> 0:21:55.200 in the description. 0:21:56.119 --> 0:21:58.520 So right now we're soliciting a lot of people to 0:21:58.560 --> 0:22:00.760 come and bring what they have to offer to the table. 0:22:01.160 --> 0:22:08.439 We are in the end stages of setting everything up 0:22:08.440 --> 0:22:12.320 and getting everything connected, and part of that is we 0:22:12.359 --> 0:22:15.639 want people to bring over what they want to share, 0:22:15.760 --> 0:22:19.440 you know, skills, they want to share cool things they've 0:22:19.520 --> 0:22:22.959 learned about leftist history, things that are important to know 0:22:23.280 --> 0:22:29.600 for modern day society, intersectional issues, discussions, basically anything that 0:22:29.640 --> 0:22:33.280 people could think of that might be worthwhile. Come on over, 0:22:34.040 --> 0:22:36.040 bring it in. We'd love to talk to people and 0:22:36.119 --> 0:22:40.879 hear more about it. So in terms of specifics so 0:22:40.960 --> 0:22:45.119 we might have planned that is where we're currently at. 0:22:45.359 --> 0:22:48.200 We're aiming for it to be like last year in 0:22:48.240 --> 0:22:53.320 that it's a skill share event and a discussion. Like 0:22:53.359 --> 0:22:59.760 I said, of discussions and just a way for people 0:22:59.840 --> 0:23:03.200 to you share what they know with each other. And 0:23:03.280 --> 0:23:05.400 a few of us currently involved. You know, we all 0:23:05.400 --> 0:23:09.160 have our own ideas. I personally want to talk about 0:23:09.520 --> 0:23:15.200 unions and kind of be like, hey, unionize your workplace, 0:23:16.720 --> 0:23:20.640 but that's more so just me and that it could 0:23:20.640 --> 0:23:22.600 be up to anyone, but what they want to do, 0:23:22.680 --> 0:23:27.080 kind of building off the Young conference model. It's if 0:23:27.080 --> 0:23:31.480 people want it, and you know, it's not like how 0:23:31.520 --> 0:23:34.760 to be a fascist one on one, then it's welcome. 0:23:35.359 --> 0:23:38.560 Some things we predict that will happen at the gathering 0:23:38.920 --> 0:23:42.440 will probably be circles on trans healthcare and abortion care. 0:23:42.840 --> 0:23:45.880 Given recent events. Well it doesn't even it's not really 0:23:45.920 --> 0:23:53.080 recent feeling anymore. But that plus, I think much more 0:23:53.080 --> 0:24:00.520 community defense is coming up because of those, and I 0:24:00.560 --> 0:24:05.560 think as always there's all the DIY folks who come 0:24:05.600 --> 0:24:09.719 in last year. Pretty cool, and I might overemphasize how 0:24:09.760 --> 0:24:13.080 much that's a part because I'm also one of those 0:24:13.240 --> 0:24:16.840 DIY people. It's a problem and an addiction at this point, 0:24:17.800 --> 0:24:22.119 but like you know, people who wanted to just build 0:24:22.119 --> 0:24:28.240 their own car, it's cool stuff. Yeah, the the random 0:24:28.280 --> 0:24:34.320 expertise of people coming was wonderful, and that all came 0:24:34.359 --> 0:24:37.680 together in ways I don't think anyone could have predicted, 0:24:39.040 --> 0:24:42.280 like literally the showing how to use batteries and how 0:24:42.280 --> 0:24:46.919