June 20, 2016
Posts Tagged: immokalee
March 19, 2014
Now is the time!
From Elena Stein & Claire Comiskey
Dear friends,
The “Now is the Time” Tour came to a rallying close on Saturday as over 1,000 people gathered in Lakeland to complete the 24-hour vigil and set off marching up the main thoroughfare to downtown Lakeland. 
The 24-hour witness outside an iconic Publix in the company’s hometown — staged from mid-day Friday to mid-day Saturday — proved to be the most poignant close to witness and community-building in ten cities over ten days. Click on the must-see video to the right for a sense of the confrontation between Publix officials and religious leaders during Friday’s candlelight rally (or check out a written reflection from the Rev. Lindsay Comstock, Executive Director of National Farm Worker Ministry) as well as the powerful, guiding words that the faith delegation shared upon return, fueling the vigil participants for the long, chilly night ahead.
April 2, 2011
Farm workers inspire (and feed) the world
On Thursday, a special group of folks from around the world joined in a spirited protest with farm workers from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), students and people of faith from various churches in the area. The protest took place in front of a Publix supermarket in Naples, Florida. The CIW has been asking Publix to work with them to end poverty wages and abuses in the fields. Pictured is Dr. Aruna Gnanadason from India, who is one of 30 people gathered for a Justice Reading consultation with the World Council of Reformed Churches here in Fort Myers. We spent the first day together with the farm workers in Immokalee to ground our consultation in current justice issues of worker exploitation, mistreatment of immigrants and modern-day slavery. (See the press release from the WCRC on the protest) * Here are photos and story from Naples Daily News – “Farmworkers target Publix in protest over wages and working conditions” * Here are photos and videos from the Coalition’s recent “Do the right thing tour!” * Find out how to act in support in the farm workers’ Campaign for Fair Food During our “immersion” day with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, we heard the history of the CIW and the farm workers’ struggle and amazing organizing to claim their rights and dignity. We walked through the town seeing the ridiculously-expensive RVs that many of the farm workers rent on a weekly basis. And we saw the solidarity and service center Mision Peniel.
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September 30, 2010
Soccer fun at the US Social Forum
At the United States Social Forum in Detroit, members of the Poverty Initiative as well as the Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign, Coalition of Immokalee Workers, Picture the Homeless, and NESRI rallied for a solidarity soccer game, as a sign of solidarity with the struggles of the South African poor, in particular the Abahlali baseMjondolo, who are fighting displacement caused by the World Cup.
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