In this first of two podcasts with renowned scholar David Harvey, Chris Caruso shares his insights from 30 years of organizing with the poor and dispossessed in the U.S. Chris explains how he came to understand not only the brutal reality that exists for millions of people in the U.S., but also the powerful forms of resistance and brilliant insights their struggle offers to our collective understanding of social change.
Beginning in the early 90s as a college student, Chris worked closely with the Kensington Welfare Rights Union (KWRU) and the National Union of the Homeless (NUH). Both of these organizations made important breakthroughs in the tactical and strategic organization of poor people in the U.S. Many of the leaders involved with those struggles went on to help launch today’s Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, which carries on the work of building a movement to end poverty led by the poor across all lines of division.
Chris also discusses his pioneering work in the use of digital and social media for movement building, in particular how it was used with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) to help build involvement on college campuses across the country and win unprecedented victories against fast-food giants and supermarket chains. Listen to the podcast to learn more about this rich and important history of social struggle in the U.S.
[aesop_image img=”https://kairoscenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/ChrisCas.jpg” panorama=”off” alt=”Chris Caruso” align=”center” lightbox=”on” caption=”Chris Caruso (top left) and other leaders from the Kensington Welfare Rights Union (KWRU), in Philadelphia, PA during the early 1990s.” captionposition=”left” revealfx=”off” overlay_revealfx=”off”]