Social Justice through Economic Resistance

Offered with support from the American Friends Service Committee and Philadelphians Organized to Witness Empower and Rebuild

From the Free Produce Movement to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and divestment campaigns to end apartheid in South Africa, people of faith and workers of all stripes have applied collective economic resistance to pursue greater freedom, dignity, justice, and peace. The world today confronts climate change, mounting corporate power on a global scale, seemingly perpetual war in many regions, and widening wealth and income inequality.

How then, can we apply the wisdom of our elders to the unique realities of our time? Disputes about the morality and efficacy of economic resistance tactics have stirred controversy in faith communities, including among Quakers. We will examine how economic resistance tools have been used successfully to achieve greater justice and equality and how they can be applied to the particular challenges of the 21st century. Together, we will create a learning community with an increased understanding of how boycotts, strikes, divestment, and similar tactics can be effectively used within our commitment to a nonviolent social change strategy.

Queries:

• What economic resistance tactics have you seen used in the past? How are they being used today?
• What of worship and Light do you find in economic resistance tactics?
• What organizations or structures do you think are needed to support the success of economic resistance? What do they look like in your town, city, state, country?

Because we want to make this conference as accessible as possible, we are offering a tiered registration scale from $300 to $850. Click the following link for registration information regarding sliding scale.

After reviewing information regarding our sliding scale registration, we invite you to reflect on your needs and register at the financial level to which you feel led. If you need further financial assistance, scholarships are available – please call 610-566-4507, ext. 122 for information.

>> Click here to register <<<

If you have registration questions, please call 610-566-4507, ext. 137.

There will be:

• Front-line experts to fill us in on the history and current usage of the economic resistance tactics of divestment, boycott, sanctions, and bargaining;
• Examination of the unique challenges and opportunities of economic resistance in the twenty first century;
• Discussion and consideration of the unique role of unions in bargaining for the common good;
• Exercises in planning a strategic nonviolent campaign with winning steps that increase our momentum and draw wider participation – using creativity, drama, humor, and people power;
• Reflection groups to process our experiences in small groups.

Confirmed Leaders (more to come)

Mary Adamson is Registered Nurse at Temple University Hospital where she is an elected board member for The Temple University Hospital Nurses Association. Mary came to Temple because she wanted to work at a hospital where the nurses were unionized, and early on in her tenure at Temple in 2010 she helped lead the 28 day strike.

Kate Aronoff is a Brooklyn-based independent journalist. Her writing on climate change, social movements, and American politics has appeared in The Guardian, The New York Times, Jacobin, The Atlantic, Dissent, The Nation, and Harpers among other outlets. Kate was previously a Schumann Fellow at In These Times, the Communications Manager at the New Economy Coalition, and a researcher for Mark and Paul Engler’s This Is An Uprising: How Non-Violent Revolt Is Shaping The 21st Century (Nation Books, 2016). She is currently co-editing a forthcoming anthology about democratic socialism in America.

Dalit Baum, Ph.D., is the co-founder of Who Profits from the Occupation, and of the Coalition of Women for Peace in Israel. Dalit is a feminist scholar and teacher, who has been teaching about militarism and about the global economy from a feminist perspective in Israeli and American universities. She has been active with various groups in the Israeli anti-occupation and democracy movement, including Black Laundry, Boycott from Within, Zochrot, Anarchists against the Wall and Women in Black. Dalit has headed the Economic Activism for Palestine Program of Global Exchange. She has worked for AFSC in the San Francisco office since 2013 and currently serves the organization as Director of Economic Activism.

Eileen Flanagan is a member of Chestnut Hill Meeting and a former teacher at Pendle Hill. She has been clerk of Earth Quaker Action Team (EQAT) for the past four years, helping to shape the strategy that pressured PNC Bank out of financing mountaintop removal coal mining. Eileen shares what she has learned about effective and spiritually grounded activism through her online course, We Were Made for this Moment, which has included hundreds of people since the November election. An award-winning author, she speaks to international audiences on topics ranging from personal empowerment and spirituality to climate justice and its intersections with race and class. Read more about her work at eileenflanagan.com.

Anthony Giancatarino is a dad of two girls and current resident of Mount Airy and member of St. Vincent dePaul Parish in Germantown. Anthony‘s work with POWER will support the policy research and strategy of the the Green Jobs subgroup within the Economic Dignity team. His work is part of a fellowship housed at the Movement Strategy Innovation Center. Anthony‘s work is designed to identify and support the strategy and alignment of organizations and networks working at the intersection of the renewable energy transition, community ownership, and racial and economic justice. Prior to this work, Anthony spent seven years at the Center for Social Inclusion, working with community organizations to support policy strategies to achieve racial equity in energy democracy, food equity, and transparency, participation, and accountability in governance. Anthony holds an Masters of Public Administration from NYU and a degree in Theology and Political Science from the University of Scranton..

Reverend Greg Holston, Executive Director of Philadelphians Organized to Witness, Empower and Rebuild (POWER), is a recognized racial and economic justice community activist and the Senior Pastor of New Vision United Methodist Church. By promoting fairer workforce policies, he was instrumental in the improvement of job opportunities and skills development for the underserved and disadvantaged in the Philadelphia area. Reverend Holston holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana University of Pa., a Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University, a Masters of Education degree from Cheyney University, and a Masters of Divinity degree from Lutheran Theological Seminary of Philadelphia. He is an experienced pastor, businessman, activist, entrepreneur, college professor, speaker and community activist. However, his most important role is serving as a devoted and loving husband to Deborah, his beautiful wife and father to the four children they share, Taheerah, Jamila, Nia and Nasser.

Antione Little Jr. is the business manager of AFSCME DC 33, Local 427 – the sanitation worker’s union for the City of Philadelphia. He is also on the steering committee of 215 People’s Alliance, a racial and economic justice group in the city, where he is a leader in 215PA’s education work around the Our City Our Schools campaign. He is a lifelong resident of North Philadelphia and the father of seven children.

Ausar-Mesh Amen is a third generation natural healer. His father, a southern sharecropper, herbalist, blacksmith, and engineer passed down valuable information on the healing properties of plants to Ausar. In turn, Ausar-Mesh has shared this knowledge and wisdom through lectures, workshops, and community organizing in the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood of Baltimore City. Topics include: DIY self watering planter boxes, raw foods, sprouting, juicing, wellness, static composting and DIY vermicomposting bins. For the past nine years Ausar-Mesh has worked with grassroots organizations, community centers, schools, and churches. He infuses practical “Old farm wisdom” and indigenous people’s food cultivation in the Urban Agriculture workshops to empower the community. Ausar-Mesh’s formal education includes a major in oceanography and a minor in geology. He is a graduate of CASA’s Beginner Farming Training program, Baltimore Orchard Projects; Fruit and Nut Tree Academy, Facility Compost Technician for Chesapeake Compost. He has trained and worked with local organic farmers like Calvert Gift Organic Farm, Urban Oasis Park Heights, The Greener Garden, Morgan State Community Garden, UDC Muirkirk Farm, and Real Food Farms. Along with intense drive, he has great passion for empowering others. In 2015, Ausar-Mesh has led a Young Farmers at Connections School and In Gilmore Homes focusing on agriculture, culinary arts, and holistic health. Currently he is the Farm Manager for the Tubman House Farms & Fannie Lou Hamer & Sundiata Acoli Farm, and the Co-owner of Garden Of Vegan Catering.

Paula Paul is a member of St. Benedict/St. Athanasius’s Parish congregation in West Oak Lane, Philadelphia. She has also been a member of POWER (Philadelphians Organized to Witness, Empower and Rebuild) from its inception and founding convention in September, 2011. Paula serves on POWER’s Economic Dignity Team and Co-Chairs the Power Local Green jobs committee. The focus of both committees is to raise people up from poverty through living wages and clean energy jobs. Our mission is to make Philadelphia a city of opportunity that works for all.

Alexa Ross co-founded Philly Thrive, an environmental justice organization, where she currently works as a community organizer. Cultivating Philly Thrive for the past two years has given Alexa the opportunity to follow her instinct for locally-rooted, relationship-powered organizing as a key strategy for addressing the climate crisis. Alexa is also a peer counseling teacher and a member of the Maypop Collective, an affinity group of six diverse climate justice organizers.

Jessica Way is a registered nurse and a high school teacher in the Philadelphia School District. She is a proud member of the Caucus of Working Educators, a caucus within the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers serving on the organizing and statewide committees.  She was a lead organizer for the May Day of Action which brought out hundreds of teachers on May Day to protest the lack of a contract and the deteriorating working conditions within the school buildings.

Travel directions to Pendle Hill. Click to view the flyer.