Labour Party youth camp...sounds odd to me...

[GKirk]

...does anyone know what that entails? I am of course referring to the awful event that happened in Norway.

[MadHound]

1. It was a summer camp for the children of Labor party members.

Nothing odd, nothing sinister.

[FreakinDJ]

2. Actually I thought it was a pretty good idea - DU Camp for Kids

Have a 1 or 2 week summer camp where kids could see unfiltered history and true Progressive/Liberal/Democratic ideals.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. indurancevile found this link from before the massacre:

Labour’s summer camp opens

July 21, 2011

Around 1,000 young supporters of Norway’s Labour Party were making their way over to Utøya this week, an island in the Tyrifjord that’s often viewed as an incubator for future Labour Party leaders. Detractors call it a breeding ground for a relatively small clique of would-be power mongers.

The summer camp for members of Labour’s youth group AUF (Arbeidernes ungdomsfylking) has launched the political careers of many a Labour Party leader. Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg was a fixture at the camp in his youth and remains keen to visit every summer. Both he, Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and former Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland were due to make appearances at this year’s camp during its five-day run that began Wednesday...

Pedersen, quite possibly a future Labour Party leader or government minister himself if Labour keeps winning elections, said the “best thing” about the camp is “meeting lots of folks who have the same values as you do.” Newspaper Vårt Land, however, recently put another slant on the Utøya camp, reporting that the Labour Party historically is run by a tight network of politicians linked by family relations, marriage and friendships who also have a tendency to take on key roles not only in government but in business and Norway’s powerful bureaucracy as well. Many tend to meet in their youth on the island midway between Oslo and Hønefoss.

http://www.newsinenglish.no/2011/07/21/labours-summer-camp-opens

[alcibiades_mystery]

4. In Europe, they have youth branches of the various political parties

This is, of course, strange for Americans, who tend to completely infantilize and depoliticize kids (unless they are involved in a crime, at which point even 11 year olds can be considered "adults"); so, Americans hear something like "Labour Party Youth Camp" and some immediately call up images of the Nazi youth, etc. The "Nazi youth" was not a National Socialist invention: there were and remain many such youth-driven party organizations. You could compare this, I guess, to something like the college Republicans or Democrats, but it starts earlier (high school age), since political affiliation tends to be cultivated at an earlier age.

Needless to say, we have many organizations that bring young people into politics at all levels, so the distinction is really terminological rather than substantial.

[Davis_X_Machina]

5. Not just Europe...

The Arbeiter Ring (Worker's Circle), the Jewish secular Socialist organization, has had a kid's summer camp since 1927.

[alcibiades_mystery]

8. Yes, it's quite common

I was just noting the specific configuration in Europe. It surely applies elsewhere, too.

[iamthebandfanman]

10. yeah, here in america its only okay to indoctrinate your kids at religious camps. n/t

[alcibiades_mystery]

11. Ha!

When I said

"we have many organizations that bring young people into politics at all levels"

I was thinking precisely of those camps.

;-)

[Lex]

6. Please explain how it sounds "odd"?

:shrug:

[GKirk]

12. Here in the states do we have...

...Democratic Party Youth Camps or Republican Party Youth Camps?

[pennylane100]

7. Well it sounds odd to me that you would think it sounds odd.

Doesn't half the population of our country;s youth spend part of their summer at various types of camps.

[Lex]

9. exactly so

wtf?