NATIONAL NEW FREEDOM BUS TOUR COMES TO ROCHESTER!

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NATIONAL NEW FREEDOM BUS TOUR COMES TO ROCHESTER!
 

 
Families across the country are feeling the crunch of layoffs and downsizing and yet we hear little of it in the news. Americans are bankrupted daily by healthcare crises and pay-cuts, yet no one seems to be asking why. This month, one well-organized group of poor working and non-working families is touring the country, asking some important questions.
 

 
The Poor Peoples’ Economic Human Rights Campaign, a network of nearly one hundred poor peoples’ organizations, has taken to the streets - on a month-long bus tour traversing the nation. The Campaign was begun in 1998 after the Kensington Welfare Rights Union launched the first new freedom bus tour. (The tour was the subject of a documentary, Outriders, produced by award-winning filmmakers Peter Kinoy and Pamela Yates).
 

 
In the past four years, the Campaign has grown to reach almost every state in the nation, and has sister organizations across the globe in Asia, South America and Europe. Organizations involved with the campaign work tirelessly every day to guarantee the rights to food, clothing, education, housing, and living wage jobs, to Americans and all those living under the thumb of inhumane economic policies worldwide.
 

 
Farmers in Immokalee Florida are demanding higher wages. Poor women in Idaho are uniting together for childcare. Textile union members are standing alongside sweatshop workers to speak out against free trade. Through protest, international law and political education, poor people world-wide are acting on their own behalf to get what they need to survive and thrive in a world where economic human rights are possible.
 

 
In an effort to bring to light the desperate poverty faced by so many in this country, the freedom riders are documenting economic human rights abuses in downsized and impoverished communities all along their route. These testimonies will be brought to a tribunal at the United Nations on the final day of the bus tour, which will be simulcast on the web atwww.economichumanrights.org. You can also check out the progress of the Tour at www.kwru.org.
 

 
THE FREEDOM BUS WILL BE COMING TO ROCHESTER ON DECEMBER 7TH. THE BUS STOP IS BEING SPONSORED BY: THE FEDERATION OF SOCIAL WORKERS; THE SOCIAL WELFARE ACTION ALLIANCE; METRO JUSTICE’S WELFARE RIGHTS TASK FORCE; THE ROCHESTER POOR PEOPLES’ COALITION; THE HOUSE OF MERCY; AND THE SUNY BROCKPORT STUDENT SOCIAL WORK ORGANIZATION.
 

 
WHERE: CENTRAL CHURCH OF CHRIST, 101 SOUTH PLYMOUTH AVENUE
 

 
WHEN: SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7TH, 8:00 P.M.
 

 
WHAT: SPEAKOUT ON ISSUES AFFECTING LOCAL POOR PEOPLE AND HEAR FROM THE FREEDOM RIDERS AS THEY NEAR THE END OF THEIR 30-DAY TOUR. FEATURED SPEAKER: CHERI HONKALA FROM THE KENSINGTON WELFARE RIGHTS UNION.
 

 
SUNDAY DECEMBER 8TH 10:00 A.M. A VIGIL AND RALLY WITH THE FREEDOM RIDERS IN FRONT OF SCHOOL #17 TO HIGHLIGHT THE FACT THAT ROCHESTER IS #11 IN THE NATION IN THE NUMBER OF ITS CHILDREN LIVING IN POVERTY
 

 
CONTACT MELISSA SYDOR AT 314-8426 OR SWAAROCHESTER@YAHOO.COM