Frontlines of Struggle: Key Issues and Advances in the struggle for Human Rights in California
California has been a hotbed of social change, both progressive and conservative in orientation, since WWII. This plenary explores some of the most recent ground breaking developments in the struggle for human rights that have been advanced by grassroots activists and communities in the state. It highlights the victory to preserve Indigenous sacred
sites in Glen Cove, the courageous fight for human rights and dignity being waged by prisoners throughout the state, and the passage of ACR 129 which requires the state and local government to report on their compliance with the treaties ratified by the US Federal government.
Presenters:
Rev. Daniel Buford, Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute
Fanya Baruti, All of US or None
Mark Anquoe, International Indian Treaty
Global Struggles: Human Rights, US Foreign Policy and Global Social Movements
The plenary explored the critical intersections between local struggles and international or global struggles for human rights. It focused on the global struggle for access to clean water and the lessons learned from Cochabamba, Bolivia,the struggle against colonial occupation and the perversions of "humanitarian intervention" in Haiti, and the struggles of workers and the exploited 99% as exhibited by the General Strike in Oakland, CA on November 2nd and the ongoing struggle to win rights for marginalized and excluded workers in the Mississippi Delta.
Presenters:
Marcela Olivera, Bolivian Water Rights activist
Pierre LaBossiere, Haiti Action Committee
Clarence Thomas, Million Worker March
Jaribu Hill, Mississippi Workers Center for Human Rights
Building the Network, Building the Movement
This plenary focused on the critical need to build a strong and vibrant US Human Rights Network as a vehicle to build a powerful human rights movement to transform the United States into a country that genuinely respects, protects, and fulfills human rights for all.
Presenters:
Radhika Balakrishnan, Center for Women's Global Leaders and USHRN Board Chair
Jamil Dakwar, American Civil Liberties Union
Carlos Montes, Committee to Stop FBI Repression
Eric Mann, Labor/Community Strategy Center
