Never Again. Again. – notes from the Campus Progress National Conference

Post by Gina Del Tito, Dickinson College

The setting was safe: four cozy black chairs against a blue backdrop, the occupants of the chairs themselves comfortably diverse, male/female, black/white. Was it the recipe for the perfect panel?  Moderator Candice Knezevic, RAISE Hope for the Congo’s campaign manager, opened the Working Session on Human Rights, deeming Crimes Against Humanity the issue of a generation and positing that which we had heard before: “How do we ensure that ‘Never Again’ never, happens, again?” But our question for the session sought specificity: “What can we, as young progressive student activists do to prevent crimes against humanity?” Turns out maybe more than we might think.

Adam Sterling started things rolling on a good note describing the nuances of financing atrocities. He spoke of his own personal experiences with divestment campaigns growing the on-the-ground impact of small student organizations and letter writing campaigns into national legislation, in his case the Sudan Accountability Act. His words were perfectly tuned for student activists, a concrete example of awesome work that students at UCLA had done.

Judithe Registre of Women for Women International (WfWI) spoke beautifully about the impact of conflict on women. “My body cannot be the ground upon which you fight this war,” she intoned in her melodic and accented voice. Despite her passion about violence against women as an international issue and inspirational words about rape as a weapon of war, her testimony, while moving was less apt for students who live in the United States and are unable to work directly with victims of gender violence as WfWI does. The women’s empowerment that Registre and her fellows do is stellar motivation and a great aspiration for post-graduate work. But what do we do right now? How can we effect change while still maintaining our status as students, and not flunking out of college?

Jimmie Briggs did not have a lot of answers either. His slightly disdainful air in speaking about his accomplishments was a turn off for me, belittling the incredible work that he was describing. When he saw a distinct lack of a youth component to the movement against gender violence, he began working within the Hip-Hop movement to engage young men to “ManUP,” the name of his organization. He saw a way to use Hip Hop artists and culture as well as the world of sports for advocacy and change.