From the 23rd to the 28th of July, the Alternative Information & Development Centre (AIDC) hosted the first Winter Edition of our annual Youth Camp series—six days of political education, debate, art, and community building right here at our Cape Town offices.
Twenty-four young activists came together from over eight organisations across four provinces, united by a shared commitment to understanding and ultimately transforming the conditions that shape their communities.
The programme was deliberately ambitious. Participants moved from foundational questions—what is power, what is an economy, what is the state—into sharper political terrain as they interrogated the Marikana Massacre as a case study in capitalism, unpacked the structural roots of unemployment in South Africa, and traced a genealogy from primitive accumulation to the ways in which patriarchy, racism and xenophobia work to maintain this accumulation under a capitalist system. Sessions on Eskom, smart meters, and local government grounded these ideas in the everyday realities of service delivery and energy justice that participants experience day to day.
Woven throughout the seminars and discussions were Kahoot quizzes to ensure retention, group games on class and power to demonstrate how capitalism operates, and a zine-making workshop that gave participants tangible skills for creating popular education. Coupled with group work, presentations, and documentary screenings, this approach aimed to give participants space to process what they were learning in more creative and dialogical ways. Evenings brought the group together for a braai at the AIDC offices, a movie night, and dinner at a local restaurant —reminders that solidarity is built as much around community as around a shared analysis.
By the final day, the camp moved from reflection to action. Participants took part in a power mapping exercise for their own organisations and worked together on ‘The Way Forward’, not just as individuals representing their organisations but as youth united in tackling the issues of their time.
This Winter Edition was intentionally smaller in scale, as its purpose was to go beyond simply imparting knowledge and to capacitate a group of young activists to facilitate that education themselves. Rather than remaining participants, members of this cohort are now stepping into the role of co-organisers for our Annual Youth Camp in December, which will host more than twice as many participants as before. In preparation for this, attendees of the Winter Edition have joined smaller working groups focusing on different organisational elements including logistics, political education, facilitation, and media and communications. In other words, this camp was a precursor: a space to build the skills, confidence, and collective ownership needed for these young activists to lead.
We’re proud of the seriousness, curiosity, and warmth that this group brought to six extensive days of learning, and we’re excited to see what they build as we head towards December.
