As part of our commitment to support the migrant rights movement, we have recently been spending time supporting the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights (GLAHR) in Atlanta, Georgia ever since GA passed HB87, a copycat bill of Arizona’s SB1070 anti-immigrant law. GLAHR has been supporting the Georgia immigrant community for years and is on the front lines of the campaign to challenge HB87.
While keeping our eyes out for action opportunities that elevate the demands of movements on the front lines, Ruckus is also working locally to build action skills and strategy. Building capacity means building a common framework among communities, organizations and allies through nonviolent direct action trainings as well as developing the ability to train for and craft direct actions that elevate the struggle of impacted peoples. This is Ruckus’s approach to supporting movements and our work in Georgia is no exception.
Our support of GLAHR started when they called for a National Day of Non-Compliance and action to follow. We dispatched Ruckus team members to support and build art and support messaging towards the historic march in Atlanta on July 2nd.
To follow up, and build momentum for the campaign, in August we facilitated an all-day nonviolent direct action training (entirely in spanish!) exploring topics including defining nonviolence, de-escalation and action planning. Then we spent the rest of the week with members of GLAHR’s staff diving deeper into some tools and exercises designed to draw out ideas and action planning ability. Ultimately, these staff members will be able to facilitate trainings and action planning brainstorms for the GLAHR community in Atlanta, and throughout the state of Georgia.
We hope to continue building with the GLAHR community, both supporting actions and the building the skills necessary to win!