Published on Feb 3, 2009
Just one way Astraea grantee partners are engaging in movement building to achieve a common vision for social justice hit the news this week. FIERCE, a membership-based organization that builds the leadership and power of LGBTQ youth of color, joined a media-grabbing civil disobedience planned by Right to the City Alliance, of which FIERCE is a member. Right to the City Alliance is a national coalition that is building a nationwide urban movement for housing, education, health, racial justice and democracy.
Excellent coverage by Feministe
Excerpt: You cant hear much more on the video than this is what democracy looks like, but thats precisely the point of the disruption. Decisions about the future of this city shouldnt be by a Trilateral Commission or a Bilderbergers forum, and we’ve already seen what happens when bankers, and bankers on the other side of the revolving door, get carte blanche to decide how to shore up the economy their banks. The protest was organized by Right to the City, a national coalition of community organizing projects. Here in New York, that includes CAAAV (Organizing Asian Communities), FIERCE, Community Voices Heard, FUREE, JFREJ, Mothers on the Move and quite a few other local grassroots projects that you should know about. I know that one group, Picture the Homeless, has been trying for months to get a meeting with Bloomberg to get him to hear the voices of homeless people who are affected by the citys policies. He refuses to meet with them. That’s why disruption becomes necessary.
This is what democracy really should look like: grassroots movements of LGBTQ youth of color, women who’ve had to deal with welfare, mothers trying to save the communities of the South Bronx, progressive people of faith, women of color working for low-income families, Latin@ immigrant communities, Asian women against violence, the list goes on and on. I’m proud to see this kind of action bringing together so many different movements. [Read the whole post and watch video]
