Mobilizing Across Movements for a Just Recovery
The Center for Economic and Social Rights is planning a series of community calls in late March and early April on mobilizing across movements for a just recovery from COVID-19. Our aim is to bring people together for peer-to-peer learning about the work different groups are doing to transform the economy in the wake of COVID-19 and how it might be strengthened by aligning agendas.
These community calls will be a space to share experiences, hear new ideas, exchange lessons learned, and collectively strategize on ways a human rights perspective might add to demands for economic transformation. We’re inviting current and potential partners and allies around the world from across the social, economic, and environmental justice movements, whose work we admire and are keen to build synergies with.
As the socioeconomic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to take its toll across the world—supercharging inequality within and between countries—demands are growing to transform our economy to guarantee all of us the right to a dignified life. But, over a year into the crisis, the landscape is still mostly business as usual. In our work, we’ve seen some rhetorical commitment to centering rights in recovery efforts. But, for the most part, this has not translated into momentum around a clear policy agenda. With the rollout of vaccines in parts of the world promising a return to “normal” for some, the window of opportunity to win these demands appears to be shrinking fast.
Building collective power across movements for social, economic, and environmental justice is more essential than ever. But it’s become even harder to do. So many of us are in firefighting mode—supporting communities facing dire situations and resisting measures that would make those situations even worse. On top of that, so much of our work has shifted to virtual spaces. We’re navigating how various social inequities play in group dynamics online. All of this has made it harder to have the critical conversations we need to break out of our silos.
We see value in exploring these issues collectively. We’ll reflect on questions such as:
- What shifts, if any, have you observed in the way that demands for justice have been made as the COVID-19 crisis has unfolded?
- Where are you seeing receptiveness and where are you seeing resistance to bringing human rights into debates about a just recovery?
- How are you broadening your reach and impact online? What should we be doing more of, less of, differently in virtual spaces to amplify efforts to align social, economic, and environmental justice?
We know Zoom fatigue is real! We really value everyone’s time and want to ensure it’s well spent. So we’re experimenting with this format to create an inclusive space to have informal, but thoughtfully facilitated, discussions; make new connections; and build solidarity.
The calls are scheduled to accommodate various time zones and you can RSVP for them via Doodle.