Two weeks after the election, 30 people from 24 organizations across the South came together at Highlander in a gathering called Southern Strategies: The Economy and The Elections. This was the third strategy session convened in the last fifteen months by Highlander with collaborative partners. Its purpose was to:
- learn from each other’s analysis of the moment;
- understand the impact of this moment for the people we work with, our organizations and the movement;
- recognize and maximize organizing opportunities to move forward;
- clarify shared interests and prioritize steps for collaborative education and action.
 Participants in Southern Strategies III. More pictures from the gathering are available here. |
For one shared action, the group decided to create a series of Southern Manifestos that would serve as organizing and movement building tools with our organizations and our communities, contribute to broader understanding of the region, and create avenues for collaborative action to address the needs of our region, particularly the structural reasons that have led to long-standing inequities.
Dividing into committees of Coordinated Action, Social Movement Convergence, Communication Infrastructure, Consciousness Raising, and Resources & Economic Sustainability, people created 6-month action plans toward the shared goal of the Southern Manifestos as well as developed other mid- and long-range goals for their committees.
Those attending Southern Strategies III came from the following groups: Alternate ROOTs; Appalshop; Asociacion Latina; Center for Rural Strategies; Colectivo Flatlander; Grassroots Global Justice Alliance; Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama; Highlander Center; Mid South Peace and Justice Center; Mississippi Worker’s Center for Human Rights; MLK Community Center of Parks and Recreation; Oasis Center; OUR Voice; Oasis Center; Power U; Project South; SC Progressive Network; Southerners on New Ground; Southeast Regional Economic Justice Network; Southern Coalition for Justice; Southern Echo; Southern Energy Network; Student Environmental Action Coalition; TN Alliance for Progress.
The planning and facilitation team consisted of representatives from Appalshop, Colectivo Flatlander, Grassroots Global Justice, Highlander Center, and Southern Energy Network.
Pictures from the gathering are available here. For a report on the first two sessions, click here.