The basic idea

No more publication. Focus instead on buying some land to create a permanent base for large-scale face-to-face events, including Peace News Summer Camp.

1) What are the main things we would do, if we chose this option?

We would buy some land and install basic event infrastructure (water supply, sinks, compost toilets, some permanent structures, perhaps solar electricity). We would rent out the land commercially and also use it for movement events, prioritising peace movement events.

2) What are the main needs the project is serving?

The focus of this project would be on community-building and movement-building face-to-face events, strengthening human bonds of solidarity and support. It would support the strengthening of grassroots movements.

3) What is the hole that this project is filling? (Are we sure somebody else isn’t already doing this? How much would we be adding?)

Taking just the Peace News Summer Camp aspect, there is no annual peace movement grassroots activist gathering equivalent to the Earth First! Summer Gathering (in the radical environmental movement).

There has been a weakening of in-person peace movement activity in recent years, partly because of COVID and the rise of Zoom events.

4) How would we define the ‘success’ of this project?

Success would mean building a diverse national network of grassroots activists and activist communities and groups.

Success would mean creating genuinely accessible events, enabling wheelchair users to take a full part in whatever was offered.

Success would mean building a financially self-sufficient activist project able to cope with rising costs on all fronts.

5) What are some of the main pros and cons of adopting this option?

Pros:

• if we bought the marquees and other key equipment needed, and were able to store them on-site, that would make it a lot easier to hold our own larger-scale events such as Peace News Summer Camp

Cons:

• buying land is incredibly expensive
• managing land (and structures) can be time-consuming and require urgent attention, meaning having someone nearby to deal with unexpected crises as well as ongoing maintenance
• building up the basic infrastructure, especially if you’re making it wheelchair accessible, would require a large outlay at the start which you might not be able to cover financially for many years – unless you raised significant grants
• this would be a very seasonal project, with little or no activity half the year – unless there was an attached building available for rental/activities

6) How does what is happening in the world, right now and over the next five years or so, support or work against the success of this project?

There does seem to have been a major shift in the way people/activists want to meet, away from in-person and towards the virtual. This has accelerated the closure of some in-person venues including the Quakers’ Woodbrooke College.

However, there has also been something of a rebound, of some people realising the value of in-person events. There may be a growing hunger for meeting face-to-face.

With the return of Donald Trump and the rise of the far right, there may be greater demand for encouragement and strong social bonds among progressive folk.

7) Which kind(s) of people is the project focused on/prioritising?

Grassroots, low-income and tent-friendly activists. (It would be ideal if there could be some affordable indoor accommodation nearby.) This is not the kind of audience that generates large surpluses or profits, though….

8) Which organised group(s) could we partner with to help deliver this project?

• Activist Tat (who own, maintain and rent out marquees, compost toilets and other basic infrastructure to activist camps)
• Reclaim the Power
• Earth First! Summer Gathering
• Radical Routes

9) What skills/qualities/experience will be needed to deliver this project?

• Fundraising skills
• Practical skills (plumbing, carpentry, compost toilet knowledge and so on)
• Commercial events/rental skills (advertising and renting to weddings and other outdoor events)
• Land management skills
• Facilitation skills

10) What seems to be the minimum budget needed to deliver this project?

It might be possible to make this project work on five acres of land (roughly the size of the four small fields used by Peace News Summer Camp near Diss, Norfolk – though not counting the carparking area). The initial costs might be £100,000 for the land and £100,000 for the initial set-up of infrastructure and purchase of equipment (a single large marquee might cost £16,000).