Washington. The Poor People’s Campaign, a revival of Reverend Martin Luther King’s final campaign in 1968, marches from across the country to this Saturday for an “ethical gathering and the March on Washington” to promote systemic change to address poverty, racism, militarism Called thousands of participants. Climate emergency in the world’s richest country.
With the Capitol in the background on Pennsylvania Avenue, speakers including religious leaders, federalists, environmentalists, social and immigrant movements, women’s rights to poor communities for employment, health, education, water and clean air, and fundamental rights.
The Rev. William Barber, co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, reiterated that in this country, about 140 million – about half the population – live in poverty or on the verge of it, adding that a great movement is being built on economic, social And most affected to transform the country with an agenda of environmental justice. “We are black, indigenous, Latino, Asian, white, old and young, gay (…) who we have been rejected by neoliberalism.”
Before a mosaic of race, age, religion, associations and organizations in various shirts and under their banners and banners – SEIU Service Union, Greenpeace, Veterans [militares] For La Paz, immigrant organizations from various states – Protestant, Catholic, Jewish and Muslim religious representatives – Barber declared that “we are not a rebellion, we are a resurrection” speaking of the continuation of past conflicts and the legacy of the Reverend King .
“We will no longer be silent,” he repeated, and that was the slogan and song of the day.
Liz Theoharis, campaign co-chair, speakers of local conflicts across the country from Alabama to Maine, Illinois to Florida, Indiana, Kansas and Oklahoma, offered their stories before travelers from dozens more states. economic impacts about inequality, access to health, education for the poor and much more, mass imprisonment (a man who was jailed for 23 years for a crime he did not speak out), and systemic systems of racism and fire guns Violence (son of the oldest victim, 86, in a mass shooting by a white supremacist in Buffalo last month).
Throughout the town hall a gospel choir and performers offer songs old and new, combining the old civil rights struggle with contemporary expressions.
The campaign states that “any nation that neglects nearly half of its citizens is in a moral, economic and political crisis (…) since March 2020, while hundreds of thousands of people have died, millions of people starve and Are on the verge of death. Kicked out of their homes, and still without health insurance or living wages, billionaires’ wealth has increased by $2 trillion.”
In its call, the campaign underscores that the purpose of this gathering is “for poor and low-income workers and our moral allies to declare that this system is killing all of us and that we cannot, we remain silent.” refuses to stay.
Victor Alvarez of the Asheville Popular Committee for Social Justice, part of the “El Colectivo” coalition of immigrant organizations in North Carolina, told La Jornada that he and his allies participate in these struggles for human rights in the United States and for immigration. Improvement. The Mexican state native, who moved 20 years ago, says fighting in North Carolina has involved countering racism and anti-immigrant waves, and that “we come to this country to work, we We contribute our lives, during the pandemic we risk our lives to run this country.” He affirmed that he would not bow down until reform was achieved, and with it, supported other struggles for social justice on both sides of the border.
Philosopher and public intellectual Cornell West told protesters that African-Americans in such conflicts “repeatedly responded with 400 years of hate, love proposals”. He stressed that the goal is to “challenge both the neo-fascist Republicans and the lukewarm neoliberal Democrats” to achieve a transformation here “and to live in solidarity with the conflicts in Africa, Asia and Latin America (…). Inside the empire but don’t be a part of it.”
The campaign is promoting an initiative called the “Third Reconstruction” – a reference to the transformation of the First Reconstruction after the Civil War and the Second Reconstruction of the civil rights struggle of the last century – which sets out a series of public policies to end poverty. By confronting systemic racism, inequality, militarism and a climate crisis that has its greatest consequences for the poorest and most vulnerable, both inside and outside this country.
The Poor People’s Campaign, with an organizational presence in 45 out of 50 states, was launched in 2018 as a continuation of Raja’s work and now has a network of over 250 affiliated organizations that have supported and/or supported this assembly. or participated. , including. AFL-CIO Labor Union, Sunrise Environmental Movement, National Council of Churches, Islamic Circle of North America, Planned Parenthood, various national unions – including SEIU, AFT (Teachers) UE, UFCW and AFSCME – Friends Committee on National Law, among Greenpeace other. [www.poorpeoplescampaign.org],
