Tom Kertes

Willie is a leader in the movement to end poverty led by the poor. He is one of my mentors and he works to expand human potential by developing leaders from the ranks of the poor, by uniting people around human rights values and through education and scholarship. He spoke at the opening of the Justice Theater Conference in Baltimore, organized by the United Workers.

I work with the United Workers (an organization fighting to secure human rights for everyone and founded by homeless day labourers in Baltimore) and helped with some of the planning for last weekend’s Justice Theater Conference.  So even though I could not make it to the event, I felt like I was there in spirit.  The conference brought together leaders and organizers as cultural workers, working through the arts to build power for justice and human rights.  It is part of the lead up to the May 1 Our Harbor Day participation play that will retell our history of struggles and victories of human rights justice.  A cast of hundreds will author and act out the play, using theater as a metaphor and a means for building power.  From what I hear, the conference was an incredible experience!  Here are some photos of the event (click to see all the photos):

Image source: UNfreemedia.org

The New York Times has an op-ed on Partners in Health, a human rights organization working with people in Haiti to support the development of the country’s health care sector. Earlier in the week my good friends of the Coalition of the Immokalee Workers sent out an email with information about the organization’s commitment to providing supports for effective and community-based development of infrastructure. Visit Partners in Health for information about how to donate to the humanitarian efforts of the organization. Here is more about the organization, from the op-end:

This week, the list of things that Haiti needs, things like jobs and food and reforestation, has suddenly grown a great deal longer. The earthquake struck mainly the capital and its environs, the most densely populated part of the country, where organizations like the Red Cross and the United Nations have their headquarters. A lot of the places that could have been used for disaster relief — including the central hospital, such as it was — are now themselves disaster areas.

But there are effective aid organizations working in Haiti. At least one has not been crippled by the earthquake. Partners in Health, or in Haitian Creole Zanmi Lasante, has been the largest health care provider in rural Haiti. (I serve on this organization’s development committee.) It operates, in partnership with the Haitian Ministry of Health, some 10 hospitals and clinics, all far from the capital and all still intact. As a result of this calamity, Partners in Health probably just became the largest health care provider still standing in all Haiti.

Fortunately, it also offers a solid model for independence — a model where only a handful of Americans are involved in day-to-day operations, and Haitians run the show. Efforts like this could provide one way for Haiti, as it rebuilds, to renew the promise of its revolution. read more

An email from my good friends with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, who have many close ties to Haiti:

Surely by now most of you will have heard about the unimaginable disaster that has befallen Haiti, and in particular Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince.

Late yesterday, a powerful earthquake destroyed much of the already desperate country’s infrastructure and killed untold numbers of men, women, and children. As bad as the immmediate destruction must be, its aftermath will almost certainly be worse.

We ask that you hold the people of Haiti in your thoughts and prayers today — and in the weeks and months to come, as well, as they recover from this devastating blow.

We have two suggestions at this time:

1. If you are interested in donating to the relief efforts, Zanmi Lasante (http://www.pih.org, the superb community-based health organization led by our friend and fellow RFK Human Rights Award laureate Loune Vlaud) is a place you where you can rest assured that your donation will be put to good and effective use. Click here (https://donate.pih.org/page/contribute/haiti_earthquake?source=earthquake&subsource=email) if you would like to make a donation.

2. If you are interested in following news at it emerges from Haiti, you can check out the Haiti news page (http://www.unfreemedia.com/americas/haiti) at the new blog, UNFree Media

Thank you.

Today’s been a day of mostly work.  Facilitated staff debrief of Fair Food Solidarity Tour and prepared next phase messaging materials.  Will hang out with friends tomorrow, might go to movie with Greg.

Here’s photos from the office:

I usually don’t get to see United Workers radio interviews in the studio, in part because I make everyone nervous.  But also there’s no need for me to be there, and I’m often out of town.  But today we were invited to talk about the Fair Food Solidarity Tour on the Marc Steiner show (link to audio file) and because we had little advance time it made sense for me to head down to the studio and do some prep on the way there.  I listened from the control room, and managed to avoid pacing or running my hands through my hair even once!

The interview was great – and even included a call-in from Immokalee.  I had a chance at the end of the show to remind Marc of the role he played in the living wages victory at Camden Yards, and to say thank you for this.  Marc asked a key question of Tom Perez in the lead up to the hunger strike, at a time in the United Workers history when the organization hadn’t even been invited as guests on his show.  We were just breaking out of being virtual unknowns to the media and political establishment at the time, and it meant a lot to have a question about Camden Yards working conditions asked directly to state’s top labour official.

Marc’s show is a testament to the powerful role that independent and thought provoking journalism has for a community, and also to one person’s commitment to a community.  Marc maintains objectivity and fairness, welcoming diverse voices and points of view to his show, but does not forget that the little person needs a voice even more than the most powerful amongst us.

The United Workers will be ramping up the pressure at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, according to a post today on the organization’s blog:

During the tour we were moved by the stories of worker abuses exposed by the CIW and its allies. Major corporations like the Publix grocery chain, Aramark and Giant need to be held to account and do their part in ending these abuses. We were also moved by the example of the CIW, in their extraordinarily effective efforts to draw attention to abuses and force businesses to change course and do the right thing. One way they do this is through drama, culture and effective communication of values and ideas. We think the CIW serves as a model for community organizations by focusing on leadership development, human rights values and effective action for change. While we went to Florida last week to express solidarity with farm workers, we also went to Immokalee to continue learning from such an effective model in community and human rights organizing. The Fair Food Solidarity Tour was actually sandwiched between two great examples. We started by going North to Philadelphia’s MMP, who provided examples for how to organize in a city much like Baltimore. Then we went South to Immokalee’s CIW, who provided examples for how to sustain winning campaigns in the new labor economy.

Visit CIW’s website to learn more.

The United Workers writes this update from Immokalee, as part of the Fair Food Solidarity Tour:

Solidarity is a mindset and a value based on the belief that everyone is inherently worthy of dignity and respect. We are all human, and that is what binds us together and obligates us to struggle together for our shared respect and dignity. The specific context of our struggles differ, and we benefit strategically by fighting locally and building strong local organizations. But the ultimate struggle is the same, whether we are taxi drivers, domestic workers, students, media mobilizers, restaurant workers, child care workers, day laborers, stadium cleaners, retail workers or farm workers. This tour is about being human together, coming together in the only way possible if we are to be truly human. It about singing together, conversing together, joking and laughing, standing up together and joining in solidarity together.