“We have moved into an era where we are called upon to raise certain basic questions about the whole society. We are still called upon to give aid to the beggar who finds himself in misery and agony on life’s highway. But one day, we must ask the question of whether an edifice which produces beggars must not be restructured and refurbished. That is where we are now.” 

- Dr. Martin Luther King, SCLC Retreat, South Carolina, May 1967

On December 9, Media Mobilizing Project’s 6th annual Community Building Dinner welcomed more than 200 members of our network to Local 22’s union hall for an evening of reflection, celebration, food, music and media.

Last Wednesday, the Media Mobilizing Project network was honored to host MST's Janaina Stronzake for a conversation about strategies and practices for building a mass movement led by poor and working people.

MST stands for Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra, or Landless Workers Movement. Started in 1984, the MST is now the largest poor people’s organization in the western hemisphere and a leader in global movements of the poor.  

The last night of discussions on poverty in America—”The Fight of the Poor”—directs attention to groups and communities organizing a movement to end poverty across the country. The segment includes interviews and discussion of the United Workers in Baltimore, The Coalition of Immokalee Workers in Florida, Domestic Workers United in New York, Direct Action Welfare Group in West Virginia and Iraq Veterans Against the War, The Vermont Workers Center, Michigan Welfare Rights Organization and the Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign.