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Direct Action Everywhere!

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Thursday, August 28th 2014

7:30 pm

Free School Classroom

What if everything we think we know about social change... is wrong?  The growth of the Arab Spring, global LGBTQ rights, and the animal rights movement in notable countries around the world (which have, in some cases, seen up to 15% vegetarian surges in a single year) are powerful examples of sudden and systemic change. Can we achieve the same incredible mobilizations for progressive causes in the US?  Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) co-founders Wayne Hsiung (former behavioral law and economics scholar and long-time social justice activist) and Ronnie Rose (cinema expert and student of critical theory) are taking to the East Coast to answer that question. Based on the pioneering work of the greatest thinkers in sociology, political science, economics, and psychology, their talk has already triggered incredible buzz out West, including at the national animal rights conference in LA. It just might upend your views on social change. Topics include:  - the essential elements of successful social movements;  - how the conventional wisdom in environmentalism, animal advocacy, and other progressive causes has fallen short (e.g. focus on individuals over systems, neglect of ideas, and fear of being unpopular);  - what Justin Bieber can teach us about social change (seriously); and  - what DxE has learned from successful movements to create empowered activist networks… and push toward real and permanent change  Whether you are a leafleter, an admirer of the ELF, or both, there will be much to learn and discuss. Moreover, there will be insights useful for both seasoned activists and newcomers. Please join us in thinking hard about how to make a better world! 

SPEAKER BIOS

Wayne Hsiung is an attorney, co-founding organizer of Direct Action Everywhere (DxE), and coordinator for Animal Liberationists of Color. He was lead organizer of the international Earthlings March (which mobilized thousands of activists in 17 countries), served as a law professor at Northwestern (where he co-authored research with Harvard’s Cass Sunstein), and has organized for social justice issues since 1999, including programs for low income youth and against capital punishment. Wayne studied behavioral economics as a NSF Graduate Fellow at MIT and an Olin Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School and blogs at The Liberationist about social change. He has spoken on animal rights issues at Northwestern, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Chicago, and Stanford and recently presented on the science of social change at the national animal rights conference. Prior to DxE, Wayne was an attorney at two national law firms where he litigated consumer fraud class actions and maintained a pro bono animal law practice. Despite holding two graduate degrees, he is regularly outwitted by his four furry companions.

Ronnie Rose is a writer, videographer, and co-founding organizer of Direct Action Everywhere (DxE). His video short “It starts with you…” launched DxE with a viral bang in 2013, and he recently organized and led DxE’s West Coast speaking tour. He has been interviewed about DxE’s work by RGB vegan, blogs for The Liberationist, and cares for a feral cat colony in San Jose. Ronnie has undertaken investigative videography at animal abusing enterprises, graduated summa cum laude from the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he was a student of literature and critical theory, and spends too much of his free time watching pretentious European films

ABOUT DxE

Direct Action Everywhere is an animal rights network working to stop violence and discrimination against animals. Beginning in 2013 in the Bay Area with only a few activists and ambitious ideas, the DxE network has grown exponentially with its flagship campaign, “It’s Not Food, It’s Violence,” reaching 41 cities across 12 countries and generating national news coverage.

DxE works with Animal Liberationists of Color to highlight voices that have been traditionally underrepresented in the animal rights movement and has mobilized activists in cities as far-flung as Chennai, India; Antalya, Turkey; La Paz, Bolivia; and Vancouver, Canada. DxE is strongly committed to building diverse, intersectional movements.

ABOUT THE TOUR

Organizers from the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, Providence, and Philadelphia chapters of Direct Action Everywhere will speak about the origins of the network, its organizing principles, and its current campaigns. This will also be a place for discussion, where we will trade ideas. The second day of each tour stop will be a day of action, where we will collectively plan and implement a creative demonstration. We hope to build intersectional activist networks through face-to-face interaction.

Until every animal is free. ---------------------- Website: www.directactioneverywhere.com Facebook: facebook.com/directactioneverywhere Instagram: @directactioneverywhere Twitter:@DxEverywhere (https://twitter.com/DxEverywhere) Email: dxe@directactioneverywhere.com Campaign Video: http://youtu.be/-xfZgCuUKQ0

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