Pop Up Discussion: Living with Activism: Adversity, Hope and Resistance

Event Date: 

Tuesday, November 19, 2019 - 11:30am to 1:00pm
Activism. Organizing. Social Movements. 
 
While these terms are often mentioned in academic and popular writing - what do they mean in practice? What does organizing look like? How do social movements take shape and make change? What does it mean to be an activist? What sacrifices are activists willing to make? 
 
On Thursday, November 21st, Ady Barkan (a leading organizer at the Center for Popular Democracy, and founder of the Be a Hero campaign) will deliver a public lecture exploring the existential questions he has faced in the wake of his terminal diagnosis with ALS: Which injustices must we accept and which ones demand our resistance? How should we spend our precious time on earth, and how should we die?
 
In preparation for this public lecture, the Blum Center on Poverty, Inequality, and Democracy is pleased to host a Pop Up Discussion on activism, organizing and change on Tuesday, November 19th from 11:30AM-1PM in 2320 Girvetz Hall. The discussion will focus on Ady Barkan's new book - Eyes to the Wind: A Memoir of Love and Death, Hope and Resistance
 
The Pop Up Discussion will be guided by Dr. Jia-Ching Chen (Professor of Global Studies, UCSB) who will discuss the role of social movements in making change, his professional experience as an activist and organizer before entering academia (and how he continues his activism today), as well as his support of Ady Barkan and the Center for Popular Democracy. 
 
Please RSVP for the Pop Up Discussion by Monday, November 18th at 12PM to Joanne Nowak (joanne.nowak@ucsb.edu). For information about accessibility, please contact Joanne Nowak. The first dozen students who RSVP will receive a free copy of Eyes to the Wind.