United Workers

We kicked off the Fair Development Conference with an evening of music, food, and keynote speeches. The three guest keynotes included: Janaina Stronzake with the MST in Brazil, Marian Kramer with Michigan Welfare Rights Union, and Jan Rehmann, professor at Union Theological Seminary and co-author of Pedagogy of the Poor. In addition to our guest keynotes, three leaders with the United Workers spoke about our work: Michael Coleman, Armando Tema, and Janice Watson. Here are some of the videos of these inspiring and rousing speeches. More to come!

Check out the Real News Network’s coverage of last week’s Fair Development Conference.

Below is audio for most of the Fair Development Conference Workshops. To read descriptions about the different workshops click here. To download any of the audio files in MP3 format click here.

Fair Development Conference: Block 1

Fair Development Conference: Block 2

Fair Development Conference: Block 3

Fair Development Conference: Block 4

Throughout the Fair Development Conference, participants, panelists and United Workers’ members were asked what Fair Development means to them. A few of those interviews can be seen below, building, expanding and collectively envisioning how Fair Development both stands in opposition to poverty zone development like that of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor and extends to struggles across the country for land, healthcare, housing, love and dignity; or in short, people’s basic human rights.

Wow! What a powerful weekend. From Brazil to Detroit, more than 400 social movement activists and grassroots organizers participated in the Fair Development Conference to connect local struggles to a growing global movement for economic human rights and justice. Participants converged in Baltimore to take part in discussions, workshops and actions to build solidarity across issues of social, economic and environmental justice ranging from universal healthcare to anti-war organizing, all under the banner of “fair development for everyone.”

Check out the website for videos and photos posted over the course of the weekend

It was truly an inspiring event, from beginning to end. From the first night where we started by sharing a meal together to build community and listen to six commanding and clear keynote speakers set the tone and call to action for the collective task of building a global movement to end poverty for all.

Videos of the speeches are forthcoming.

On Saturday, over 40 grassroots, cultural, community, and labor leaders and groups presented in 24 workshops to exchange strategies and solutions for building power to put forward alternative visions of economic development based on fair development principles of respecting human rights, maximizing public benefits, and sustainability. The Fair Development Conference created a space for in-depth dialogue on how to stop private corporations and banks from reaping unprecedented profits as the economic crisis continues to ravage communities across the globe.

In a workshop entitled, “Resource Grabs,” we heard from Adam Hall of the Keeper of the Mountains Foundation discuss the devastating effects that mountain top removal has had on the level of poverty and health of communities in West Virginia, including his family farm that had extended back generations and generations. The Vermont Workers Center shared insights into what led to their successful Healthcare is a Human Right Campaign. Marisela Gomez, former director of the Save Middle East Action Committee (SMEAC), gave a thorough presentation on the history of Johns Hopkins controversial redevelopment of East Baltimore that led to unprecedented displacement of residents.

If you came to the Fair Development Conference and just couldn’t go to every workshop you were interested in or if you just missed the conference, have no fear. Our amazing internal media team audio recorded just about every session. We will be posting all these soon, so be on the lookout.

Baltimore is a great example of how development affects ordinary people’s lives and on Sunday, we focused our attention on one of those examples, the Inner Harbor. Over 150 harbor workers, grassroots allies, and community members gathered for the “Haunted Harbor March.” See photos and from this playful and dramatic action.

After two days of amazing conversations, presentations, and workshops with social movement activists and organizers from all over the country and the globe, we closed the Fair Development Conference by taking that energy and spirit to the Inner Harbor.

On the eve of Halloween, harbor workers, grassroots allies, conference goers, and community members gathered to take part in telling the story of, “The Haunted Harbor: A Terrifying Tale of Poverty-Zone Development.” Dressed as zombie developers, ghosts of “poverty wages” and “disrespect,” and the protagonists of this story, the “Poverty Busters,” we took to the harbor making stops along the way to perform our play and hear from harbor workers and grassroots allies from the Baltimore Algebra Project, Occupy Baltimore, Coalition of Immokalee Workers, the Keeper of the Mountains Foundation, Vermont Workers Center, Media Mobilizing Project, and the Poverty Initiative.

It was an incredible action, but the most powerful moment came when after three years of being denied access to march through our harbor, we took the promenade along the Inner Harbor in full view of workers and consumers. We stopped in the ampitheater in the center of Harborplace to tell the real story of the harbor, the story that is hidden, made invisible, but that workers know all too well. As Raquel Rojas, former Cheesecake Factory cook, recounted the wage theft and sexual harassment she experienced and witnessed, workers congregated on the balconies and at doorways to hear her story. Emboldened by our actions, we marched to the Cheesecake Factory where we stopped and chanted so all could hear our demands for worker dignity.

As we came to our final stop at the former location of the ESPN Zone and the new location of Phillips Seafood, one of the worst human rights violators in the harbor, it was a bittersweet moment. It was a bittersweet moment, because in the tale we performed, we as “Poverty Busters” had zapped the human rights abuses out of this dimension, freeing the harbor from the ghosts of poverty-zone development. But as we emerged from our playful fantasy, we knew the human rights abuses still existed and the harbor had yet to be transformed into a Human Rights Zone. We know that the road to Fair Development is long and has and will continue to require commitment, leadership and effective grassroots organizing to release the heart of our city from the shackles of poverty-zone development. It was also a bittersweet moment because the Fair Development Conference had officially come to an end and it was time to say good-bye to friends both new and old. We had shared and learned so much over the course of the weekend, we were inspired by the many stories of struggle and victory, reaffirming our collective commitment to building a united movement to create a just and equitable world for all.

The many pieces of fabric that made up the quilt of a collective vision of Fair Development were constructed throughout the day in the many workshops, conversations, meals shared and stories swapped. The intricacies of Fair Development became more defined as people elaborated on the three concepts of maximizing public benefits, respect for human rights and sustainability.

The Fair Development Photo Booth was one of the many places host to dozens of participants to express their vision for Fair Development. It quickly turned into a space for breaking down barriers of age and language where all could communicate a desire for a hopeful future. Check the photos out here:

While some expressed their sentiments on cardboard, still others conducted a series of short interviews. Check them out!

Finally, be sure to take a peruse through the many photos that captured the over twenty-five different workshops:

Over 150 people gathered at St. Johns Church (2640) for the first night of the Fair Development Conference. The night began with people slowly trickling in, but soon filled the church space by the time the keynote speakers hit the stage. A musical trio opened up the conference with serenading sounds of justice and peace. Soon to follow was the main event of six, that’s right six keynote speakers, weaving a collective quilt illuminating not only the plight of the poor, but the fight of the poor in fighting for Fair Development and building a movement capable of ending poverty in the face of the growing economic crisis and deprivation for the many. Although stories ranged from the struggle here at Camden Yards and the Inner Harbor to the struggle for land in Brazil, privatization of public resources in Detroit and beyond, strip-mining in Guatemala, and the growing gap between the expanding poor and rich, they told a collective story of workers coming together to globalize the struggle for human rights, hope and dignity.

See photos from the first day here:

In preparation for participants to arrive to St. Johns Church to hear the Keynote speakers, the United Workers takes a moment to come together in a Unity Circle to express love, gratitude and leadership for each other and all those that will join them today.

After months of organizing, listening and planning with communities across Baltimore, the country and Brazil, the moment has arrived: Day 1 of the Fair Development Conference!

This weekend is sure to be historic for all of us as we come together to strategize and reflect on the current economic crisis, the state of social movements and collectively create a vision for a more just world that respects the human and ecological rights of everyone, everywhere.

Be sure to check the website regularly as we will be posting content constantly throughout the weekend. You can also follow us on facebook along with following AND (your) tweeting about the conference on twitter and by using the search hashtag #fairdev.

Pick up this week’s Baltimore City Paper or go online to read their article on the United Workers upcoming Fair Development Conference. In other news, the United Workers appeared on the Marc Steiner show with the Marian Kramer of the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization and Sarah Weintraub of the Vermont Worker Center. The two media pieces draw connections between Fair Development, the Occupy Movements and the nature of a system built on poverty and poverty-zone development. If you missed the Steiner show you can have a listen here.

Here’s an excerpt from the City Paper article:

From February’s labor protests in Wisconsin to the 99 percenters currently camping out in New York’s Zuccotti Park, populist protest is suddenly all the rage. But movements for social change are nothing new. Take, for example, the United Workers, a Baltimore-based coalition of low-wage workers formed in 2002. In 2007, the United Workers lobbied for “living wages” at Camden Yards—and got them. Since then, the group has been campaigning on behalf of workers at the Inner Harbor, trying to institutionalize rights to health care and education.

To raise awareness of these efforts, the group has a history of putting on political events that go beyond the strictly political. In the past, that has resulted in street-side theatrical performances, a community fair, and, in true activist tradition, plenty of marches. This weekend, Oct. 28-30, UW hosts the Fair Development Conference, a gathering of grassroots organizations, political activists, community organizers, and other interested parties from as far as Brazil and as near as Baltimore . . .

The workshops, lectures, and presentations planned for the conference will take on much more than just the struggle for the soul of the harbor. And although fair development is the organizing principle behind the conference, the topic is interpreted broadly enough to include discussions on universal health care, permaculture design, and lessons drawn from the 19th-century movement to abolish slavery. One workshop will explore Johns Hopkins Hospital’s fraught relationship with the Middle East neighborhood, where it displaced hundreds of residents to build a controversial—and moribund—biotech park; another will spotlight worker-led organizations that have successfully lobbied for Taco Bell, Whole Foods, and other food-industry giants to raise wages for the people who pick their tomatoes.

To read the full article, go to http://citypaper.com

If work just ain’t fair
at the Harborplace
Who ya gonna call?
POVERTY BUSTERS!..

That’s right! For decades, the Inner Harbor has been haunted by labor and human rights abuses including: poverty wages, disrespect, sexual harassment, lack of healthcare, denying education opportunities, wage theft, unsafe work environments, and general exploitation for the sake of profit.

That’s why, Harbor workers, members and community artists have been preparing for a battle between between the “Poverty Busters” and the ghouls and goblins of Poverty-zone Development. On final day of the Fair Development Conference, Sunday, October 30^th, United Workers will lead a march from the Baltimore Development Corporation down to the Inner Harbor featuring “Poverty Busters” lighting up their proton packs and blasting these abuses out of this dimension, replacing them with our shared fair development principles of Human Rights, Sustainability, and maximizing public benefits.  During the march, harbor workers and community leaders from throughout the country will share how our struggles are connected and demonstrate that we have the strength and community power to save our Harbor from these monstrous abuses!

The march will feature participants from the Fair Development Conference, Harbor Workers, and allies from throughout the city and will feature Baltimore’s own Barrage Band Orchestra!

Check out the flickr photoset to see a preview of the Haunted Harbor in the making.

ACTION DETAILS

What: The Haunted Harbor March! A Terrifying Tale of Poverty Zone Development

When: Sun October 30^th 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Where: Gather at Charles St. & Lombard St.

The Media Mobilizing Project recently followed Tavis Smiley and Cornel West on a national Poverty Tour to make visible the plight and fight of the poor in the U.S. Last week, the Tavis Smiley show aired a five part series created by the Media Mobilizing Project encapsulating the stories, lessons, and struggles shared along this eye-opening journey. Ending on a truly inspiring note, the last segment focuses on groups and communities organizing to build a movement to end poverty. It includes interviews and discussion with The Coalition of Immokalee Workers in Florida, Domestic Workers United in New York, Direct Action Welfare Group in West Virginia and Iraq Veterans Against the War, The Vermont Workers Center, Michigan Welfare Rights Organization, the Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign and yours truly, the United Workers. Need a dose of inspiration? Check it out.

Watch The Poverty Tour Part 5 on PBS. See more from Tavis Smiley.

To learn more about the Media Mobilizing Project go here or come to their Saturday workshop at the Fair Development Conference.

To watch the rest of the videos in this series, go to http://www.pbs.org

The Sun has invited participants at the Occupy Baltimore protest in the Inner Harbor to contribute articles about their experience, views and goals. This entry is written by Clayton Conn, a photo/multimedia freelance journalist from Baltimore.

 Members of the United Workers, a Baltimore based human rights organization leading the fight for fair development — which respects human rights, maximizes public benefits and is sustainable — gave a workshop on Tuesday at the site of Occupy Baltimore.

The organization which is in the midst of a campaign for Fair Development in the Inner Harbor, spoke on the themes of jobs, privatization and economic human rights.

As critics continue to ask questions on the specific demands and goals of the Occupy Protests, the United Workers are among many groups locally and nationally providing concrete answers and strategies for solutions. In developing these answers, they will be hosting a Fair Development Conference at the end of this month (Fri. Oct 28-Sun. Oct. 30), with participants attending from around the world. The goals of this conference are to increase greater understanding of these challenging times, connect various fronts of struggle, share movement-building strategies and develop a collective vision for “fair development.”

Audio of the United Workers event is available here.

Did you know that the UN led a human rights investigation into the state of housing in America?  Learn all about it at the Fair Development Conference, at the dinner, panel, and film screening presented by the The National Economic and Social Rights Initiative. The documentary More Than A Roof follows the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing on her journey through the areas of the US hit hardest by the housing crisis. More than a Roof is ending a month-long national film tour in Baltimore at the Fair Development Conference! So, don’t miss this exciting opportunity.

Watch the trailer to get a sneak peek of some of the voices and stories that you will hear at Saturday evening’s special event.

After the screening, we’ll hear from some of the very same grassroots groups featured in the film. Max Rameau, Co-founder of the Take Back the Land Movement, Kendall Jackman from Picture the Homeless, Frank Sindaco from Northeast Pennsylvania Organizing Center  and others will discuss the U.S. housing crisis and how communities are demanding their human right to housing.

Dinner starts at 5pm on Saturday, October 29th!

Then after the panel, don’t miss the costume dance party from 7 – 10PM!

Participate in making the Fair Development Conference possible! We are looking for volunteers to help with everything from set-up to childcare to planning Sunday’s action. Pitch in for a few hours, or the whole weekend.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

We are excited to announce the featured speakers who will address the conference Friday evening. Our guests represent diverse perspectives in the movement for economic human rights for all, and we are proud that these three inspiring leaders will be joining us to share key lessons and analysis for building power.

Marian Kramer has been an organizer and leader in poor people’s movements, including the welfare rights movement since 1966. She is the former chair of the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization. She lives in Detroit, Michigan, where she continues to fight for human rights and an end to poverty.

Janaina Stronzake is a leader of Movimento Sem Terra (MST), or the Brazilian Landless Rural Workers‘ Movement. The MST has led more than 2,500 occupations of large estates in Brazil, leading to the settlement of around 370,000 families on the land. Janaina’s work focuses on the struggle of landless women.

Jan Rehmann teaches philosophy and social theories at Union Theological Seminary and at the Free University in Berlin. He is co-editor of the Historical-Critical Dictionary of Marxism (HKWM), and his most recent books are Theories of Ideology and Critique of Postmodernist Nietzscheanism.

FOOD FOR… DINNER!

We wouldn’t let you go hungry while you’re listening to our great speakers. Community dinner will be served at 7pm on Friday evening for all conference participants. (That’s one reason why it’s so important to register now.) And we’ve got a treat in store – the dinner will be made by United Workers members, many of whom are cooks in downtown restaurants. Why go to dinner in the Inner Harbor when the food can come to you?

SPREAD THE WORD

Please spread the word about the conference! We are dedicated to making this a grassroots conference, and we need your help to encourage members of your community to participate. Please forward this e-mail widely, or click here to invite friends on Facebook.

DETAILS

Friday Oct. 28, 2011: Dinner, welcome, and keynote

Saturday October 29: Workshops and discussions, film screening and dinner, and dance party.

Sunday October 30: Action event – check your e-mail for more updates on our action soon!

Questions or comments? Please e-mail us at conference@unitedworkers.org

The 2011 Fair Development Conference is a going to be an incredible convergence of some of the most dynamic and effective organizers and scholars locally, nationally and even globally.

Check out the amazing program of workshops, events, and actions here!

People are traveling far and wide to share stories and strategies for building the power needed to develop our communities and economies in ways that respect the inherent worth of all people. From the Dominican Republic, Vermont, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, West Virginia, New York, Pennsylvania and elsewhere, organizers, artists, faith leaders, and students will be making their way to Baltimore to participate in the Fair Development Conference. We hope that you will make your way too.

So don’t miss out, register online today!

Be on the lookout for additional updates on Fair Development Conference events, actions, and news.

Here’s a list of just some of the participation groups

Amnesty International
Baltimore Algebra Project
Baltimore Bicycle Works
Baltimore Jewish Voice for Peace
BPSOS
Campaign to Restore National Housing Rights
Centro de los Trabajadores Unidos en la Lucha
Civilian Soldier Alliance (CivSol)
Coalition for Economic Justice
Coalition of Immokalee Workers
Community Law Center
Democracy Collaborative
Dignity in Schools Campaign
Fight for a Fair Economy
Generations for Peace and Democracy
Good Jobs Better Baltimore
Iraq Veterans Against the War
Justicia Global
Keeper of the Mountains Foundation
Media Mobilizing Project
Michigan Welfare Rights Organization
Milk Not Jails
Movimento Sem Terra (MST)
NAACP
Northeast Pennsylvania Organizing Center
National Economic and Social Rights Initiative
Philadelphia Student Union
Picture the Homeless
Poverty Initiative
Puppet Underground
Real Food Challenge
South Asia Solidarity Initiative
Spectres of Liberty
Take Back the Land Madison
Take Back the Land Movement
Unite HERE!
United Workers
Urban Justice Center
Vermont Workers Center
War Resisters League
West Baltimore Strategic Alliance
And More!

The deadline to submit a workshop proposal for the Fair Development Conference is Monday, August 15th. So far there are some pretty exciting proposals in the works. Everything from the intersection of human rights and economic development to media and movement building, from successful worker-led corporate accountability campaigns to sustainable worker-owned cooperatives, from nuts & bolts trainings on organizing and developing an effective campaign to analysis of the current political economy. But there is still time to add to this growing program and we encourage you to take part in making the Fair Development Conference a powerful and comprehensive national conversation. To learn more about submitting a proposal, go here.

Also, we’ve just set-up on online registration for the Fair Development Conference. So let us know you’re coming and register today!

We encourage you to participate in the Fair Development Conference by submitting a proposal for a workshop, panel, training or presentation. The themes we would like to highlight include:

Analysis of current development practices, with in-depth looks at the economic crisis, service-sector Poverty-zones, mountaintop removal, prisons, corporate monopolies, etc.

Solutions that encompass the alternative world we want to create, such as communal ownership of resources; human rights to dignity, housing, healthcare and education; equitable and sustainable use of public resources; etc.

Strategies for movement building, including organizing models and skills, strategic campaign development, creative tactics, alternative media, faith-based approaches, etc.

We welcome a mixture of formats and proposals from both individuals and organizations. There will be 60- and 90-minute sessions. Based on space and time, we might suggest collaboration if proposals are similar. In your proposal please include a title with a one-sentence description, your partners in organizing, a longer description of the workshop and how your idea relates to the conference themes, session format, and who the workshop is geared towards.

In discussing this vision of Fair Development, we seek to create a space that puts these values into practice. The conference will emphasize the full participation of all attendants through dialogue and exchange, popular education presentations, multiple media formats and documentation, arts and cultural expression, inclusion of faith perspectives, Spanish/English interpretation, childcare, and youth engagement.

Deadline: Monday, August 15, 2011

Please email proposals to conference@unitedworkers.org

Or mail to

United Workers

P.O. Box 41547

Baltimore, MD 21203

Download, Request for Proposals (PDF)

Be a part of the planning!

To learn more about how you can participate in the planning of the Fair Development Conference, come to the Community Interest Meeting on July 20th or email conference@unitedworkers.org