Fighting Casino Capitalism: An Interactive Workshop on Successful Economic Justice Campaigns

This fun, interactive workshop will explore successful campaigns for economic justice in Philadelphia and around the country.

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Come learn in a participatory, experiential style:

• How Casino-Free Philadelphia moved from "not in my backyard" opposition to a full-frontal attack not only on casinos but on the casino capitalism and economic injustice that precipitates them.
• How communities with little background in radical politics were able to adopt tactics of direct action and civil disobedience, cementing their commitment to community self-determination.
• How participating in a citywide "coalition for essential services" connected the funding of casinos with the closing of schools, libraries, hospitals and shelters around a sustained campaign for economic justice.
• How students, local business owners, grandmothers, activists and clergy sat down in front of bulldozers -- and were acquitted of all charges.
• How Freedom Rides from the US Civil Rights Movement inspired the first-ever direct action inside a casino.
• How creative protests highlighting the jobs that would be lost and money that would be extracted from the local community scared away the biggest Vegas developer.
• How we exposed machine Democrats and corporatist Republicans, and how "average people" suddenly realized a sustainable city would only be brought about through their own efforts.

Although our focus will be on fighting back against casinos, there are clear lessons for economic justice campaigns of all kinds, and the strategies explored in this workshop will be useful for a variety of issues.

More about us: www.CasinoFreePhila.org or our USSF profile