Sponsored Events
Health Without Borders
Health Without Borders was a series of public conversations on migration, health, and human rights held January 26th-27th, included two days of events at UNC, Duke, and El Pueblo Inc. The schedule included workshops, brown bag lunches, seminars, and film screenings with invited guests from Mexico’s National Institute of Public Health and local community organizations with an exceptional turnout.
Popular Movements Today
“Popular Movements Today” was held on January 19th at during Martin Luther King week in the Nelson Mandela Auditorium. Over one hundred people attended a panel discussion comprised of four activists from contemporary movements from around the world. They discussed how their movements relate to each other and how they relate to movements in Dr. King’s time. There was a strong focus on asking how students today can involve themselves in progressive social change. The event was organized and emceed by the Campus Y, and introduced by Global Studies lecturer, Dr. Michal Osterweil.
Panelists included: Richard Muhammad, member of Occupy Wall Street Think Tank Working Group and Global Democracy Alliance Working Group; Mariem Masmoudi, co-founder of SAWTY, the organization serving as “the voice of the youth” in post-revolution Tunisia; UNC senior Robert Campbell, prominent local environmental justice activist; and Loida Ginocchio-Silva, member of the NC DREAM Team, a grassroots organization composed of undocumented youth and their allies and dedicated to the creation of a sustainable, community-led immigrant rights movement in NC. Miss Silva inspired many with her speech at the Campus Y 150th Anniversary last year, and we were glad to welcome her back to UNC to participate in our panel.
Battle For Brooklyn
With local organization Stone Circles, we co-sponsored a screening of the documentary, Battle for Brooklyn on February 8th in the Nelson Mandela Auditorium, followed by a panel on development and gentrification. The panel included the film maker, town officials and community members. The film depicts the struggle against a large development project in a Brooklyn neighborhood, flagging not only the issue of gentrification in the US, but also broader questions about development globally, in particular how big money can influence the political and real estate process.