Empowered Minds Unleashed: ILPS' Solidarity School and WA-BLOC's Summer Freedom Schools

Local activists and organizers subvert classic approaches to education.

by Victor Simoes

The International League of Peoples' Struggle (ILPS) Solidarity School and Washington Building Leaders of Change (WA-BLOC) Freedom Schools are redefining the learning experience offered by academic institutions. Organized by a collaboration of passionate educators, grassroots organizations, and community effort, these two programs extend the educational journey beyond the standardized curriculum, drawing inspiration from the historic Freedom Schools of the Civil Rights Movement.

Freedom Schools were a 1960s American education reform movement that sought to change the goals of formal education through alternative and independent community schools. This initiative aimed to identify and counter the underlying white supremacist and colonial values present in standard school curriculums while emancipating its participants and creating politically active students.

WA-BLOC's 2023 Freedom Schools Program, which begins on July 10, is a comprehensive summer school initiative spanning five weeks at Emerson Elementary in Seattle. The program is designed to address the disparities prevalent in conventional classroom settings, fostering a restorative, joyful, and captivating learning environment tailored explicitly for Black and Brown youth.

WA-BLOC is a grassroots organization with a mission of cultivating and empowering leaders for social change. Their vision is transforming South Seattle into a place where Black and Brown people can excel through year-round educational programming that aims to dismantle systems of racism.

The organization's summer program, inspired by the Children's Defense Fund's models for youth learning and social action and the original Freedom Schools, revolves around two key aspects: fostering rigorous academic learning and nurturing the development of social-emotional skills. The program explores various themes by addressing five fundamental questions: "Who am I?", "Who are my people?", "What's going on in my community?", "What makes us powerful?", and "What's our freedom dream?"

To find answers to these questions, the program engages students in critically interpreting textual sources, ranging from books and oral storytelling to visual media and incorporating culturally relevant and anti-racist literature, such as Ibtihaj Muhammad's The Proudest Blue and Sonia Sotomayor's Just Ask! Be Different, Be Brave, Be You. Students engage in pivotal subjects related to their identities, such as culture, race, and gender.

2023 will mark the first year WA-BLOC solely develops its programming for the Freedom Schools. In previous years, the program was developed in partnership with the Children's Defense Fund.

"We are pretty excited about it because we've been able to really take a lot of the things that are particular to the communities we serve and really dive into them," said Katie Brantley, WA-BLOC's Freedom Schools program manager.

The program schedule includes four instructional days (Monday through Thursday) and one field trip day (Friday) per week. Throughout the five weeks, students will actively develop social action projects to alleviate community concerns. In previous years, students have organized marches advocating for transit justice, written speeches to raise awareness about gun violence, and produced videos to promote campaigns against the construction of new youth jails.

You can visit their website to learn more about WA-BLOC's educational programs and how to get involved.

Just this past weekend, July 1—2, ILPS' 2023 Solidarity School took place at the University of Washington campus. The program included double the workshops offered in 2022, with over 20 organizations sharing skills, lessons, and their campaigns. The event also provided networking opportunities, communal meals, a banner-drop action, a panel on State repression, and cultural performances.

"It is a great place for new organizers, longtime organizers, and activists to join together in unity and struggle," said Carly Brook, secretary general of the ILPS Seattle-Tacoma chapter.

This year's workshops were under two major umbrella themes related to significant campaigns ILPS is waging: "No to APEC!" and "Defend Peoples' Struggle! End Biden's Countering Domestic Terrorism (CDT) Program!"

The "No to APEC!" campaign seeks to oppose the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) ministerial meetings in Seattle happening in August. According to Brook, this international trade negotiation will impact aspects of society from labor rights and wages to climate action. "That's why we are bringing together the demands of working people, climate activists, international solidarity organizations, women and oppressed nations that have been marginalized by 'free' trade agreements established and dominated by the capitalist class," said Brook.

The second campaign, "Defend Peoples' Struggle! End Biden's CDT Program!", opposes the National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism, the main counter-insurgency program proposed by the Biden-Harris administration.

Repression faced by activists in the U.S. and abroad was showcased on a panel which included one member of the Tampa 5, student protestors defending affirmative action and DEI who are facing felony charges for a peaceful protest; Samidoun, a Palestinian prisoner solidarity group; Stop Cop City movement, an organization fighting against increases in police militarization and training; and Bayan, a Filipino national democratic liberation organization.

Beyond the event at the end of the month, the ILPS and PNW People Over Profit Summit and Mobilization will serve as a platform to expose and oppose APEC's presence in Seattle. Additionally, ILPS invites individuals and organizations to join the "Defend Peoples' Struggle! End Biden's CDT Program!" campaign to expand its reach and impact further.

To learn more about ILPS and the Pacific Northwest People Over Profit's Peoples' Summit, you can visit the campaign's website.

Featured Image: Members of participating organizations unite for a group picture during the ILPS Solidarity School in 2022. Last year's program offered 13 workshops, while this year's school will offer 21 workshops. (Photo courtesy of ILPS.)