Art has the power to reach—and move—people beyond what traditional education and organizing can do. And today, a growing number of activists around the world are using art to challenge war and militarism in their communities.
On March 30, AFSC staff members Minerva Mendoza, Tabitha Mustafa, and Erin Polley joined media relations director Alexis Moore for “Cultural organizing: Art as a tool for social change,” a live-streamed discussion. Here’s a recap.
Pam and Ron Ferguson were invited to lead programmed worship at AFSC's Annual Corporation meeting on March 5, 2016.
Ron and Pam Ferguson are Quakers from Kansas and Idaho who spent 9 years with the Mennonite Central Committee in Southern Sudan working with refugees and in Uganda doing development and peace building. For the last 17 years they've been released for ministry at Winchester Friends Meeting in Winchester, Indiana where they've been active in jail ministry, managing a food pantry and participating on the General Committee of Friends Committee on Na
Pam and Ron Ferguson were invited to lead programmed worship at AFSC's Annual Corporation meeting on March 5, 2016.
Colonization requires constant action. By definition, a process is implied. Initially, colonization is simply acquiring dominion over the people, land, and all therein the land. As a result, as Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic once said, “countries under foreign command quickly forget their history, their past, their tradition, their national symbols, their way of living, often their own literary language.”
In opposition to regressive policies pushed by the governor and state legislature including draconian cuts to Medicaid, unemployment benefits, and public education funding, Dr. Barber has mobilized the Forward Together Moral Monday Movement, a multi-racial, multi-generational movement of thousands for protests at the NC General Assembly the people’s house, and around the state. Hundreds, including Dr. Barber himself, have also engaged in non-violent civil disobedience to expose what the politicians in North Carolina are trying to do in the dark.
Rev. Dr. William Barber, II addressed the AFSC Corporation Meeting on March 3rd, 2016. He spoke about the legacy of Quaker history, the Forward Together Moral Mondays movement, and how to create deep change through moral fusion politics, bringing people together to overcome the forces of resistance to build the Third Reconstruction. Watch the full talk here. Videography by Alex Wiles. - Lucy
Tabitha Mustafa is a native New Orleanian who is grounded in the city’s social justice community. She currently serves as Program Associate for AFSC’s New Orleans office, and is an organizer for Peace by Piece (PxP). With PxP, she is committed to supporting and mobilizing Black youth and young adults to establish sustainable, autonomous, and equitable communities. More.