The RISE UP 2002 Conference has started. Hundreds of participants collected at Perloff Quad on UCLA campus this morning for the opening plenary; and are presently filling the classrooms of both Royce and Rolfe Hall in the first series of workshops. The conference has been organized by the Coalition of Imokalee Workers (CIW)as part of the Taco Bell Truth Tour.
The present, on-going, workshops include two which attracted overflow crowds:
- The Student/Farmworker Strategy Session (called by members of the Student/Farmworkers alliance);
- The Comite Zapatista de Los Angeles's teach in.
The other sessions, all of which are also very well attended, include:
- A member to member exchange organized by POWER, LIFT, and the Korean Immigrant Workers Advocates (KIWA);
- US/Mexico Border organizing (organized by Action LA);
- Today's media and the struggle for popular power (Onward Collective);
- Organizing the Working Class Under Imperialism (Miami Workers Center & POWER);
- The Growing Divide (United For a Fair Economy);
- Economic Human Rights (Kensington Welfare Rights Union (KWRU) and the Women's Economic Agenda Project (WEAP));
- Food and Social Justice (Food and Social Justice Project); and
- Human rights and the anti-war movement (POWER - SoCal).
Original: RISE UP 2002: Hundreds of activists join with Farmworkers at UCLA