ARC 109

Thank You!

Thanks so much to everyone for coming to the ARC09 Movement Summit. Your kind words and encouragements are really appreciated.

The event brought together over 300 folks from Chicago and beyond and took place at Little Village Lawndale High School on May 2nd. The ARC09 Movement Summit included panel sessions, breakouts, an arts exhibition, resource fair, and words from local artists FM Supreme and King Keith.

The goal of the summit was to build relationships, sharpen our analysis, and promote collaborations and connections across the broad swath of social justice issues and organizations.

 

 

Why May 2nd? Marking the close of the first one hundred days of the Obama administration, the Movement Summit provided an opportunity for progressive activists to come together and take stock of the state of the world and the state of our movement. And with every passing day, the need for these kinds of gatherings and assessments are all the more urgent. We know we cannot rely on Washington to find the answers.

Whether the issue is building a just economy, providing health care for all, ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, or ending the death penalty, the insights and experiences of grassroots organizers are vital to moving the nation in a progressive direction.

Most of the day was documented in photo, video and audio, which will be shared with you all as soon as possible!

To join our listserv, kindly send a message to info@arc109.org.

Stay connected for upcoming happenings. Much peace and blessings!

---

The ARC09 Movement Summit Included:

10:00-11:50 a.m.  Welcome, Multi-Media Presentation, Opening Plenary
Alice Kim, anti-death penalty/street peace activist and organizer of public programs for social justice
Barbara Ransby, historian, feminist, writer and co-founder of African American Women in Defense of Ourselves and Ella's Daughters

Greetings and update from May Day March for immigrant and workers rights
Jorge Mujica, March 10 Coalition and immigrant rights organizer

Multimedia Presentation
Veronica Stein, artist, activist and member of Ella's Daughters
Trish McWilliams, artist, activist and member of Ella's Daughters

What moment are we in? What's the political state of affairs and implications for movement building?

Bill Ayers (moderator) is a long-time activist opposing war and militarization and working for education reform. He is a prolific writer, focusing on issues related to teaching and social justice.

Christi Ketchum is Director of Atlanta-based Project South, youth organizer, and one of the coordinators and hosts for the U.S. Social Forum

Manju Rajendran is with Females United For Action, young women and genderqueer youth from Chicago using media justice organizing to stop violence, as part of the Women and Girls Collective Action Network. She is also a member of Ubuntu and Southerners On New Ground (SONG), and a contributor to Left Turn Magazine. She has worked with Hip Hop Against Racist War, Highlander Center, and Heirs to a Fighting Tradition.

Nadia Hijab is a senior fellow at Institute for Palestinian Studies, a prominent Palestinian-American analyst, author and former journalist who comments frequently on human rights and the Middle East, focusing on the situation of the Palestinians in particular. She is author of Womanpower: The Arab Debate on Women at Work

Carl Rosen is the Western Region President of the United Electrical Workers and co-organizer/supporter of the Republic Windows and Doors struggle.


11:50: Words from King Keith, poet and active member of Kuumba Lynx and Southwest Youth Collaborative.

12:00 noon - 1:00 p.m. Lunch

1:00 - 2:30 pm - Breaking out and Making Connections Sessions
These sessions are designed to give us all a chance to talk more directly with one another about key issues and questions.  Formats and style of each workshop/session will be different but we ask that all sessions try to be as participatory as possible and have a designated note-taker and report back person.   We also ask that each session explore the following key questions:  1) What are the burning questions or challenges facing the issue around which you are organizing?  2) How does your issue connect to and intersect with other key issues and how can we make the connection more real? 3) What are the key facts on the ground that other progressives need to know - how do we become more literate in one another's areas of focus?  4) What are new strategies we could/should employ for advancing your issue and for movement building overall?

1. What does a people-centered economy look like?
James Thindwa, Executive Director, Chicago Jobs with Justice
Kristen Cox, resource developer, cultural organizer, public programmer, and community facilitator who works with Institute for Policy Studies and other organizations
Bill Barclay, Committee for New Priorities
Rose Brewer, University of Minnesota Professor, author of Color of Wealth: The Story Behind the U.S. Racial Wealth Divide, and longtime activist)
Martha Biondi, chair, Chicago Workers' Rights Board

2. A Day at Statesville: Re-thinking Prisons
A Reading by former prisoners
Jim Chapman, attorney and President of Illinois Institute for Community Law Barbara Becnel, author, anti-death penalty activist, and co-producer of the Golden Globe nominated film Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story Frank Edwards, a Rogers Park based organizer and researcher who focuses on independent media and prison abolition
Dara Cooper, a D.C. based activist working on food justice, social justice trainings, and the liberation of U.S. political prisoners/exiles
Alice Kim, anti-death penalty/street peace activist and organizer of public programs for social justice

3. Feminist Organizing at the Grassroots
Barbara Ransby, historian, feminist, writer and co-founder of African American Women in Defense of Ourselves and Ella's Daughters
Premilla Nadasen, community activist and scholar who's research focuses on African American's women's history and welfare policy
Ainsley LeSure, graduate student at the University of Chicago who works with the Black Youth Project and is interested in critical race theory and African American political thought

4.  Pushing the Boundaries: GLBTQ communities and movements for Social Justice
Yasmin Nair, academic, activist and writer who works on queer issues and other     projects
Joey Mogul, attorney with the People's Law office who is actively engaged in and writing about queers in prison and gendered punishment
Lara Brooks,  Howard Brown's Broadway Youth Center
Manju Rajendran, Females United for Action/Women and Girls Collective Action Network

5. How to strengthen peace movements, oppose all wars, and demilitarize our economy and culture and stand in solidarity with veterans and their families?

Bernardine Dohrn, human rights legal scholar and activist, former leader of anti-Vietnam war movement,

Bamshad Mobahser, National Steering Committee of United for Peace and Justice, and member of Oak Park Coalition for Truth and Justice

Representatives from Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW)

6. Sustaining Ourselves, Sustaining Our Communities: Self-care Within the Movement
Hannah Wallerstein, activist and youth advocate who works on restorative justice, and anti-violence issues globally and locally
Adaku Utah, youth advocate working at DePaul University and previously with Chicago Foundation for Women

7. Democracy and Education
Dave Stovall, activist, educator, and volunteer teacher at Little Village Lawndale High School
Therese Quinn*, activist and educator working on demilitarization of schools

8. Palestine and its relevance to issues of regional and global stability
Lynette Jackson, researcher, scholar and human rights advocate
Nadia Hijab, senior fellow at the Institute for Palestine Studies and media commentator on human rights and the Middle East
Peter Sporn, Arab Jewish Partnership for Peace and Justice in the Middle East
Ranya Hassan, Students for Justice in Palestine

9. How can the movement for environmental justice unite all of our struggles?
Harishi Patel, youth activist working with communities in Chicago and Uganda, Southwest Youth Collaborative, Project Focus
Nwamaka Agbo, Green-Collar Jobs Campaign Statewide Organizer for the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in Oakland, California
Lillian Molina and Carolina Marcias, Little Village Environmental Justice Organization
Dave Craft*, Director of the Nuclear Energy Information Service

10. Pressing for a single payer healthcare system
Tom Wilson, healthcare rights activist, Chicago Single Payer Action Network, Illinois Single Payer Coalition, Access Living,
Linda Murray*, physician and longtime activist for quality    affordable healthcare

11. Immigration and Low Wage Workers' Struggles
Jorge Mujica, March 10 Coalition
Erline Brown, Domestic Workers United, New York
Eric Rodriguez, Latino Union

12. Media Justice (and Popular Culture) within a changing landscape

Anne Elizabeth Moore, media activist, writer and critic of consumerism
Daniel Tucker, organizer focused primarily on urban places and spaces and interested in the intersections of art, politics, and social movements, editor of AREA Chicago
Karen Bond, National Black Coalition for Media Justice
Tania Unzueta, Radio Arte

2:45 - 4:00 p.m.  -- Report Back: Break-Out Session discussion --highlights and questions for the future

Moderated by:
Martha Biondi, historian, author and chair of Chicago Workers' Rights Board
Dave Marques, youth organizer and multi-media artist

4:00 - 5:00 p.m. Closing Plenary: Making Connections, Making the Movement

Barbara Ransby, historian, feminist, writer and co-founder of African American Women in Defense of Ourselves and Ella's Daughters

Harishi Patel, youth activist working with communities in Chicago and Uganda, Southwest Youth Collaborative, Project Focus

James Thindwa, executive director, Chicago Jobs with Justice

5:00 p.m. Words from FM Supreme

5:00 - 5:30 Unwind, enjoy the Arts exhibition & resource tables



Later that night, all enjoyed an after-celebration, graciously hosted by Quennect4 that featured:

* Rebel Diaz (hip hop)

* Los Vicios de Papa (latin ska fusion)

* Bagwis (Filipino cultural workers collective)

* Rebel Rhythm Collective (liberation jazz)

* DJ Brotha Onaci (of the Chicago Freedom School)

* Live Art by HugoStyle & Genevieve, plus vendors, art gallery, doc audio installation.


Don't hestitate to email info@arc109.org with inquiries.

Check us on Facebook Here.