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Reclaiming our Democracy: Election Integrity & Grassroots Organizing
October 14, 2020 @ 11:00 am - 12:30 pm PDT
Free
In an era of accelerating climate change, global pandemic, and social unrest, the integrity of our coming presidential election and its impact on our democracy present seemingly existential challenges for our country.
How can we proactively engage with and respond to what could be a hotly contested election? What kind of organizing strategies should we, as part of a diverse grassroots social movement, prioritize in the short-term (pre-inauguration) and longer-term (post-inauguration)? What are the challenges and barriers to getting organized as a social movement during this critical moment?
Join the Transition US Politics & Policy National Working Group for a conversation with Kali Akuno of Cooperation Jackson and People’s Strike and David Cobb of Cooperation Humboldt, moderated by Marissa Mommaerts of Transition US, on these important questions and more.
Kali Akuno is a co-founder and co-director of Cooperation Jackson, and has been part of the movement calling for a People’s Strike as a response to the global inequities and injustices exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Kali served as the Director of Special Projects and External Funding in the Mayoral Administration of the late Chokwe Lumumba of Jackson, MS. His focus in this role was supporting cooperative development, the introduction of eco-friendly and carbon reduction methods of operation, and the promotion of human rights and international relations for the city. Kali also served as the Co-Director of the US Human Rights Network, the Executive Director of the Peoples’ Hurricane Relief Fund (PHRF) based in New Orleans, Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina. And was a co-founder of the School of Social Justice and Community Development (SSJCD), a public school serving the academic needs of low-income African American and Latino communities in Oakland, California.
David Cobb is a co-founder of Cooperation Humboldt and the Transition US Politics & Policy Working Group, and a member of the TUS Collaborative Design Council. David is a “people’s lawyer” who has sued corporate polluters, lobbied elected officials, run for political office himself, and been arrested for non-violent civil disobedience. He believes we must provoke–and win–a peaceful revolution for a peaceful, just, sustainable and cooperative society if we are to survive. David was born in rural Texas and worked as a laborer before going to college and Law School. He maintained a successful law practice in Houston for almost a decade before devoting himself to full-time social change efforts. In 2002 David ran for Attorney General of Texas, pledging to use the office to revoke the charters of corporations that repeatedly violate health, safety and environmental laws. In 2004, he ran for President of the United States on the Green Party ticket and forced a recount in Ohio that helped launch the Election Integrity movement. In 2010 he co-founded Move to Amend, a campaign for a constitutional amendment to abolish the illegitimate, court-created doctrines of “corporate constitutional rights” and “money equals speech.” In 2016 he served as the Campaign Manager for Jill Stein’s presidential campaign.
Marissa Mommaerts is the Transition US National Network Organizer and a member of the Politics & Policy in Transition Working Group.
