Quarterly Newsflash: Marching for System Change, Policy Submissions, and a Successful ACA Activist-Building Course
A 2024 first-quarter newsflash from the ACA team
The first quarter of the new year has been a busy and fulfilling season at ACA. We hit the ground running when the team returned from our annual organisational break in mid-January and it’s been go-go-go ever since – with many milestones along the way.
Before we dive into the second quarter of 2024, here’s a brief look at what we have been up to so far:
January
Getting back into the (work) groove
After returning from a much-needed organisational break – and practicing what we preach when it comes to radical rest – we spent the second half of January setting intentions, mapping goals, connecting with partner organisations, aligning programmatic strategies, and preparing for an impactful year ahead.
Testifying at the Open Secrets People’s Hearing for Energy Profiteers
To date, few attempts have been made to support communities affected by the energy and climate crisis, nor involve them in decision-making about South Africa’s energy future. The Open Secrets People’s Hearing for Energy Profiteers is a platform for affected communities, activists, and civil society experts to advocate through their testimonies for the prioritisation of human and environmental rights in efforts to address the energy crisis and the climate crisis.
During the 2024 hearing, ACA team members – Sibusiso Mazomba, Gabriel Klaasen, and Sarah Robyn Farrell – shared a testimony on the effects of coal and the need for a people-led just transition. They emphasized that we, as young people in South Africa, have a vision for our future — a future where those in power make the health and welfare of all South Africans a priority.
February
Hosting our first online Activist Gathering of the year
Our bi-monthly online Activist Gatherings are a safe space for young activists, from across the continent, to connect, reflect, and build solidarity. For the first gathering of 2024, we focussed on how we can collectively strengthen our activist journeys in the year ahead. People shared what they are looking forward to, how they are planning to deepen their work, and what kind of community support would help them strengthen their commitments.
Helping South Africans understand the national Integrated Resources Plan
The South Africa Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) is a government policy document that outlines the country’s strategy for the development of its energy sector over a specific period.
Currently, there’s a new draft IRP 2023 in the works. But it is not progressive or ambitious enough and it’s clear that the South African government is not headed in the right direction with what needs to be a Just Energy Future.
With this in mind, we hosted an online consultation to share information about what South Africa’s IRP is, what it focuses on, and how this affects our energy system. This online consultation was not only a knowledge-building session. It also taught participants how they can take action and make their own written submissions to the draft IRP.
The ACA Team also made an oral and written submission to the draft IRP drawing on the insights from this consultation. And three ACA team members – Sibusiso Mazomba, Gabriel Klaasen, and Masego Mokgwetsi – wrote a published op-ed on why energy poverty, loadshedding, and climate concerns must be addressed by the new draft IRP.
Launching the ACA Op-Ed Writing Circle
Op-eds have always held a special place in our hearts at ACA. Over the years, we have used this written medium to express the frustrations of young people, build our movement, and advocate for our visions for a more just future.
In 2024, we want to commit to making op-eds a more regular part of our change-making work. So, we launched the first-ever ACA Op-Ed Writing Circle. The ACA writing circle aims to be a supportive, collaborative space for us to meet, brainstorm ideas, and craft impactful op-eds that demand intersectional climate action.
It’s a space for young people from across the continent to sharpen their writing skills, learn from others, get published, and make a difference. In February, we held our first online group session and launched a three-part tutorial series on how to write a good op-ed.
Hosting an educational workshop on systems of rest for justice and the planet
We need to collectively imagine and build alternative systems that prioritize rest, care, and ecological balance. For our first in-person educational workshop of the year, we explored sustainable systems of rest, because we believe that it’s important that we develop practical strategies for integrating rest into our work, activism, and advocacy.
This workshop covered practical strategies for how rest can enhance our personal resilience and the fight for justice.
Unpacking the intersections of land, housing, and climate justice
In South Africa, and across the world, human settlements are becoming increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. This includes unprecedented extreme weather events, ranging from severe storms, floods, fires, and drought.
This online information and capacity-building session, held in partnership with Ndifuna Ukwazi, helped participants understand the relationship between human settlements and the climate and unpacked ways to enhance resilience.
This online consultation also taught participants how they can take action and develop a submission for the recently released South African White Paper for Human Settlement. The ACA team also made a submission drawing on the insights from this session.
Interrogating whether international conferences on climate justice are still relevant
As COP28 has come and gone, our first educational online workshops for the year explored whether international conferences on climate justice are still relevant. For our Back2Basics Workshop, we looked at how these international conferences have been meaningful and if they contributed anything toward the fight against climate change. This was followed by an ACA Dialogue panel discussion that unpacked the important discussions that took place during COP28 and the resolutions made.
March
Hosting an activist-building course based on our ACA Activist Guide
A year ago, we launched our ACA Activist Guide, which is a living document that seeks to help aspiring changemakers of all generations make a more just world a reality. To celebrate one year of it being in the world, we hosted a four-part workshop series – one each Saturday in March – to help a group of curious changemakers from across Cape Town understand how they can implement the resources included in the guide.
The workshop series was titled “From Climate Literacy to Action” and focused on building a foundation of climate literacy, understanding the history and present of climate justice and how it affects us, unpacking ways we can advocate for Afrocentric climate justice, and taking action, individually and collectively, for climate justice.
Participants left with a deepened understanding of the intersections of climate justice, as well as a skillset to create change in their own communities, using the activist guide as a tool.
Facilitating an ACA Media Training
Interacting with journalists and the media is a common occurrence in movement-building work. With this in mind, we hosted an ACA Media Training to share various media engagement skills and tactics with our network and organisational team. We workshopped a vast range of skills including how to prepare for interviews, how to get your message across, how to prepare for media questioning on the day of an action, and so much more.
This media training was followed by a March for System Change media primer that we held at Bertha House, while making powerful posters that were carried on the day of the march.
Marching for System Change and decentralised actions
Another huge milestone in the first quarter was the March for System Change, which ACA was the primary organiser of. On 21 March, almost 2000 people from different sectors, organisations, and communities across Cape Town came together for a mass action to call for deep systemic change. We called for justice in the areas of food, energy, water, land and housing, transport, global solidarity, and an end to gender-based violence.
The march took place on Human Rights Day, 30 years into SA’s democracy, which is why it was more important than ever to come together as a collective voice to demand comprehensive systemic change for the betterment of people, the planet, and future generations.
Despite difficult conditions and failures on the part of the City of Cape Town to provide adequate law enforcement support, our demands were heard loud and clear and were received by representatives of the presidency. More than that, coming together showed us that while we each advocate for our own movements, our visions are connected, and we are stronger when we come together as a united front.
In addition to the march in Cape Town, various decentralised actions which were aligned with the vision and demands of the March for System Change were held in Zimbabwe and Malawi. These actions were hosted by ACA Ambassadors based in those countries.
To further drive home the calls for change, members of the organising coalition for the March for System Change came together to pen a published op-ed centered around our demands,what systems change means in practice and how we can all be a part of it.
Supporting and amplifying the work of activists in our network
In the first quarter of the year, we also hosted three online sessions with our 2023/2024 Ambassador group in preparation for them to present their final Ambassador Projects before they graduate.
And, we spotlighted two activists – Sairusha Govindsamy and Dayanca Pather – from our Youth Activist Network to learn more about their journeys and the work they are committed to.
Learning about climate solutions in the Global South
We ended March off with our March online educational workshops on community-driven climate solutions in the Global South. Our interactive Back2Basics Workshop helped us understand how to build powerful climate solutions in our different communities. We broke down key concepts, explored essential tools, and shared valuable resources to help participants take action.
This was followed by our ACA Dialogue panel discussion where we further unpacked practical strategies for developing and implementing effective community-based initiatives.
The year has been off to an impactful start and we look forward to seeing what the rest of it holds!
