THREAD about Camp Mniluzahan, one of the most unique Indigenous-run, volunteer-run, and consensual+ mutual-aid based projects I know of.

#LandBack

1/x

After an impromptu creation on forested tribal land just west of Rapid City, the camp has become highly organized with:

➡️ Large, warm army tents
➡️ A food pantry+mess hall
➡️ Meal train+transportation systems
➡️ Downtown drop site for local+mailed in donations

2/x

The camp does not have structured leadership, strict admission policies, and steps that residents must take to continue receiving services like some nonprofits do. The goal is to keep people alive and safe, treat residents with dignity and avoid criminalization.

3/x

The camp is not a charity or nonprofit. It centers around Lakota values, communal decision making and mutual aid. Volunteers serve as advocates, offering assistance to homeless people who want it, but not forcing anything on them.

4/x

The camp is on land that used to belong to the massive Rapid City Indian Boarding School property. It’s one of two parcels that the Department of Interior entrusted to the Oglala, Rosebud + Cheyenne River Sioux tribes in 2017. The sovereign land is right outside Rapid City.

5/x

Hungover & bored, might do a thread of my favourite little known stories about The KLF/The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu

When they won at the Brits, their award later turned up buried near Stonehenge. They have a long standing interest in the place & K2 Plant Hire at one stage expressed interest in 'fixing it up', which would entail grinding all the stones down & making them into nice oblong blocks

which would then be replaced just as they were. K2 Plant Hire's feeling was that the place had been allowed to fall into disrepair & it was a great shame. Sadly the plan never materialised.

When they released their first record, 1987: WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?, its bizarre use of sampling technology was met with surprise & disbelief, not least by a London DJ named Tony Thorpe.
He said "I had to meet these guys because I couldn't believe how shit they were."

"I was sampling James Brown, they were sampling the fucking Beatles & Dave Brubeck."
Tony Thorpe became a key part of their arsenal, crafting the machine-tooled Stadium House that made them the best-selling singles band of 1992.

1/ I really enjoyed interviewing @xuenay about his writing strategy for bridging different perspectives. My writing has improved a ton from integrating this strategy!

So how does @xuenay do

2/ Like with all of these models, this is inspired by interview @xuenay but not necessarily endorsed by him. There's a necessary translation process that goes from his head to my head to paper!

3/Let's first talk about beliefs and motivations. What's his primary motivation to start this process?

For him, it's a process of seeing people disagree, and feeling a visceral sense of frustration at people talking post each other.

5/ For him, it's almost a proprioceptive sense of two different shapes. One person is saying circle, and the other is hearing square. It's really important to make these shapes match up!

6/ There are two underlying values here. The less salient one is wanting a sense of admiration from others. It's really nice to get praise for creating good explanations that unify two viewpoints.