SWOPblogger

Casandra is and has been an incredible asset not only to our organization, but to her community.

She has mobilized against the war and has challenge the heightened military recruitment in our low-income schools in Albuquerque.

Casandra is coordinating the SWOP Summer Youth Recreation Program that includes 20 youth from all over Albuquerque. They are learning about Social Justice issues, Youth Rights Campaigns, Poetry and Filmmaking Workshops and next week... Globalization and Immigration.

Casandra will be attending the US Social Forum in the People's Freedom Caravan and is also making a baby that's due in September. :)

Thank you for your contributions to the movement for global justice Casandra! You are amazing.

Click here to read the entire article which highlights our allies like Genaro Lopez Rendon from Southwest Workers Union and Teresa Almaguer from PODER, SF.

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Casandra Stewart, Youth Intern with the Southwest Organizing Project, Albuquerque, New Mexico

SWOP is a statewide multi-racial, multi-issue, community based membership organization. Since 1980, SWOP has worked to make it possible for thousands of New Mexicans to begin to have a place and voice in social, economic and environmental decisions that affect their lives. Their mission is “working to empower our communities to realize racial and gender equality and social and economic justice.”

What is the work you’re involved in?

It’s a grassroots, community based organization. We work to empower the disenfranchised. We work with poor communities of color to make gender and racial equality a reality and to create social and economic justice.

We do door knocking. We talk about issues in the community. We get people involved in issues they see as pressing. We do a lot of empowerment work. We don’t speak for people, we go and find out what people care concerned about and work with them.

We have a youth rights campaign—we want to give young people better options, better choices than war or prison. We’ve been working on getting into schools. The administrations are so afraid to let people hear the other side. We’re working with the school board too—to exercise our right to present alternatives to students. But it’s hard to get access. In lower-income schools, administrations don’t want federal funding revoked. So they’re fearful of any type of criticism. But if you can’t get in through the administration, you get in through the students.

How do you see the work you’re doing intersecting with a larger movement or movements?

In New Mexico we’re good at empowering and strengthening local communities. We want to work on collaborating with national struggles and building strength, especially in the South. All the work we do here in New Mexico around water issues, racism and environmental racism, is all directly related to things going on in the South, New Orleans specifically. Our struggles are very similar.

The Freedom Caravan, which we are co-organizing, is a place to build strong, solid relationships—relationships that demonstrate a willingness to struggle and work together.

How do you see the US Social Forum relating with your work?

The Freedom Caravan started out as an idea of ours to get to the USSF. We want to caravan for the media attention but also for economic reasons—it’s cheaper than flying 100 people out. We’re raising money to make it happen. We made 500 enchiladas for Cinco de Mayo and sold ‘em for $10 a plate. People are committed to raising money for the delegation. Ally organizations and our membership are committed to sending people to Atlanta. All of our members’ costs are subsidized.

When we first pitched the idea of caravanning to other organizations, people were skeptical. How to get people to take 2 weeks off of work? But people totally committed. Here we are a month and a half before and two buses are completely booked by people who are gonna take two weeks to go across the country and to the USSF.

In each place the caravan goes we want to learn about local struggle, learn about how local struggles are similar, how to work together to create change.

Labels: atlanta, Left Turn Magazine, People's Freedom Caravan, USSF