8th Annual Local to Global Justice Teach-in

Recently, the 8th Annual Local to Global Justice Teach-in took place at the ASU Tempe campus - after nearly a year of planning. The Teach-in has become an outstanding space for education and sharing of experiences and knowledge between scholars and activists that work on social justice and a wide range of human rights and sustainability issues. The goal of this event is to bring together students, faculty, and community members in order to learn from each other and discuss contemporary social problems and possible solutions. The theme of this year's teach-in was "Relcaim the Commons," which was intended to raise awareness about the commons and public goods such as the environment, education, public transportation, community building, etc.

This well attended two-day event (450-500 attend each year) provides student and community organizations the opportunity to present workshops on social justice issues or share information through tabling or demonstrations/skill shares. At the most recent Teach-in, more than 30 workshops brought to life a wide range of topics, including: Human Trafficking, Community Gardens, LGBTQ Rights, Fair Trade, Environmentally-friendly practices, Indigenous People's rights, etc. Organizations such as Amnesty International, Women beyond Borders, Students for Justice in Palestine, No More Deaths, LGBTQ Coalition, Arizona Community Media Foundation, and Arizona Institute for Peace and Education were among the more than 30 organizations that participated.

In addition to this, since last year Local to Global Justice has introduced an entire section dedicated to educating youth ages 3 to 17 on issues of human rights and social justice - planned by youth and mentored by graduate students at ASU. In its second year, youth attendance tripled. With 26 workshops for children, ages 3-17 to choose from, the Local to Global Justice Teach-in provided a unique forum for children to explore various social justice issues and to build relationships with other youth oriented social justice groups in the Phoenix area. Although only in its second year, the Local to Global Justice Youth has created strong ties with Phoenix's COMPUGIRLS program, another group dedicated to creating awareness of social justice issues.

For the 2009 event, the organizing committee envisioned having more impact on the ASU community. With this goal in mind, we came up with different strategies and activities: classroom presentations, one-on-one meetings with faculty that taught courses related to social justice, and allied with student organizations. For the first time we included in the organization of this year's teach-in the planning of a parade with the participation of the Backbone Campaign. For us, artistic expressions are crucial to educating and raising social consciousness, because of this we went ahead and planned a special Art for Social Change workshop the Wednesday before the Teach-in. The next day, we organized a table at the World Festival and with the help of the Backbone Campaign we were able to install a 20-foot-long interactive U.S. Constitution, a huge inflatable earth and several puppets. All day on Thursday we interacted with students, faculty and staff about the importance of democracy, freedom and justice. People were invited to sign the Constitution and feel empowered to create a new society. The following day the parade Procession for the Future took place. By means of grassroots organizing and collaborating side by side with ASU administration, more than 80 people showed up willing to participate in the parade. The parade invited people to think about the type of society they would like to live in, and was a space of solidarity and community building. People across campus stopped for a moment doing what they were doing, to appreciate with astonishment this exciting and colorful procession, never before in the history of ASU campus a parade like this had taken place.

The Teach-in featured a closing panel of Local to Global Justice founders, including Sahee Kil, Luis Fernandez and Kyrsten Sinema - discussing how their work attempts to reclaim the commons and how they view the evolution of L2GJ. This panel served as a reminder of the role of L2GJ in the development of community activists and to strengthening the relations between the University and grassroots organizations. Past Local to Global Justice members are now successful community activists (Matt Besenfelder, Sean Whitcomb), university professors (Luis Fernandez, Sang-Hea Kil), legislators (Kyrsten Sinema), and educators (Elissa Larkin, Lauren Cycyck). There are many stories we could share about each one of these individuals but because of space limitation we would like to focus on one of them. Sang-Hea Kil co-founded Local to Global Justice in 2001 at that time she was a graduate student in Justice Studies. After graduating from ASU she assumed her current position at Asst. Professor at San Jose University, where she is replicating the idea of Local to Global Justice and has instituted a conference with the same name and a housing community that emphasizes anti-oppressive practices and inclusive community. This is one of many stories of how Local to Global Justice has changed lives, fostered enduring activist connections, and worked for change and social justice.

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