All Star Lineup Gathers in Chicago June 17-19 to Escalate Progressive Movement

At a pivotal moment in a year which has seen enormous populist upsurge in the 2016 Presidential campaign, an all star line up of progressive and community leaders and activists will gather in Chicago June 17-19 for a People’s Summit.

Thousands are expected to join the three-day Summit, which is intended to step up the momentum and movement building associated with the populist moment and the broad grassroots organizing on progressive issues that has been underway with less media fanfare around the nation for years.

The Summit will also bring together many of the leaders and organizations who have participated in the Bernie Sanders campaign, as well as other community leaders and activists who have worked for social, political, and economic change for years. Sen. Sanders is one of the invited speakers.

What: People’s Summit
When: June 17-19, McCormick Place, Chicago
Program begins 7 p.m. Friday night, June 17. Continues through 12 noon, Sunday, June 19.

Website: http://www.thepeoplessummit.org
Twitter: @pplsummit

Confirmed speakers and participants include:

• Naomi Klein, environmental/social activist, author, “This Changes Everything”
• Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, veteran, Meritorious Service Medal awardee
• Rep. Raul Grijalva, co-chair Congressional Progressive Caucus
• RoseAnn DeMoro, Executive Director, National Nurses United
• Van Jones, CNN commentator/correspondent, President, co-Founder of Dream Corps, former White House green jobs advisor
• Rev. William Barber, architect of the Moral Mondays Movement, President, Repairers of the Breach
• Former Ohio State Sen. Nina Turner
• Rosario Dawson, actress/activist
• Josh Fox, documentary filmmaker, showing his new film “How to Love Everything Climate Can’t Change”
• Frances Fox Piven, author, activist
• Heather McGee, President, Demos
• Cook County Commissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia
• Juan Gonzalez, co-host Democracy Now, author, writer, “Harvest of Empire”
• Jim Hightower, American populist
• Shaun King, New York Daily News columnist, Occupy activist
• Rev. Lennox Yearwood, President, Hip-Hop Caucus
• George Goehl, Executive Director, People’s Action
• Tobita Chow, chair, People’s Lobby  
• Becky Bond, former Executive Director CREDO, director digital organizing Sanders campaign

A Vision of Change

The Summit opens Friday night, June 17 with presentations by Naomi Klein, Van Jones, RoseAnn DeMoro, and Juan Gonzalez outlining visions of social justice and continuing the progressive movement building going forward to the November election and beyond.

On Saturday morning, Rev. William Barber will join with leaders of social justice and environmental organizations to discuss how collective actions have already led to a number of significant victories for social change. Presenters include Dante Barry from A Million Hoodies: Movement for Justice, Elena Natano, of Neighbor-to-Neighbor, Linda Sarsour founder of MPOWER, and Mark Schlosberg, Food and Water Action Fund.  

That will be followed by additional presentations and discussions of how to continue the momentum to strengthen the unity of the broad diversity of movements around the country.

Later Saturday, Congress members Tulsi Gabbard, Raul Grijalva, former Ohio State Sen. Nina Turner, and Cook County Commissioner Jesse “Chuy” Garcia will lead discussion of formation of a “people’s agenda” that can help unify many movement activists.

Saturday’s program will also feature workshops on a broad range of topics including energy democracy and climate justice; racial and economic justice; ending voter suppression, mass incarceration, and deportations; the push for guaranteed healthcare through Medicare for all; student actions to raise wages, not tuition; and building a movement while interacting with an increasingly concentrated corporate media.

An additional highlight Saturday evening will feature a “People’s Speak” of dramatic theatrical readings by celebrated actors Rosario Dawson, Wallace Shawn, Max Carver, and Kendrick Sampson.

Sunday morning, the Summit concludes with a celebration of Juneteenth, an anniversary of the abolition of slavery, and discussions of how to bring actions back to local communities.

Summit endorsers/participants include National Nurses United, Peoples Action, Presente, People for Bernie, United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS), 350.0rg, Food and Water Action Fund, MillionHoodies: Movement for Justice, Physicians for a National Health Program, Iowa Citizens for Community Involvement Fund, Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), Progressive Maryland, the United Students Student Association, Progressive Democrats of America (PDA), African Americans for Bernie, Working Families Party, HealthCare Now, and Friends of the Earth.

What Summit endorsers are saying

“Community organizing – on healthcare, the climate crisis and environmental pollution, poverty, income inequality, racial justice, immigration rights, affordable housing, student debt – has been underway for many years, far from the media spotlight,” says DeMoro. “While electoral politics are an important part of the movement, they are not the movement itself. A signal accomplishment of the Bernie Sanders campaign has been to highlight so many of these issues, through the vehicle of a national Presidential campaign, and demonstrate the broad public support for real, transformative change.”

“As Bernie himself has said, our politics must shift from the horse race aspect to focus on policy options and building grassroots power for the working people of our country,” says People for Bernie’s Winnie Wong. “The Summit is an opportunity to come together as a community and process this moment together, in unity. We’ve got a lot to figure out: how to win platform fights at the DNC, how to support the grassroots across the country, and how to build a path to power in government and in our communities that includes all of us."