Myself and another CATU member were recently invited to attend an action training camp hosted by NDN collective, an indigenous activist organisation in America. The camp took place in the Black Hills in South Dakota, a beautiful mountain range that was taken from the Lakota people by the US government after gold deposits were discovered there.

We were presented with 4 tracks to choose from to take part in over the week: blockades, climbing, arts, tactical media. I chose the blockades track, where I learnt about how to build effective body blockades, how to construct lockboxes and how to plan out an action. These tactics are regularly employed by indigenous activists in America to try and stop the exploitation of native land for natural resources by large companies. We ended the week by staging a mock action where participants had to stop the arrival of a drilling rig.

While the training itself was great, the best part of the trip was undoubtedly getting to meet people from many different native backgrounds. There were participants from all over the US, Alaska, Mexico and Canada. The people I met were beyond kind and welcoming and absolutely made the trip. I even got to meet a tenant organiser from Louisville, Kentucky, who very kindly gifted me two t-shirts from their tenants union!

It was very interesting to learn about native American culture. For example we were invited to take part in inipi, a Lakota ceremony in which you sit in a dark room while water is poured over hot rocks. I also got to learn how to play handgame, a traditional guessing game in which I became the greatest Irish player of all time.

Thank you to NDN collective and all of the participants for the knowledge, laughs and kindness.