WORKERS RUN THE WORLD

United States

Dr. Cornel West is the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Chair at Union Theological Seminary where he teaches courses in Philosophy of Religion, African American Critical Thought, and other subjects. He is passionate about keeping alive Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy of telling the truth and bearing witness to love and justice. He is a former Professor of the Practice of Public Philosophy at Harvard University and Professor Emeritus at Princeton University. He is best known for his books Race Matters and Democracy Matters. His recent book, Black Prophetic Fire, explores nineteenth and twentieth-century African American leaders and their visionary legacies.

Honduras

​​Mercedes Perez leads CASM's activities to support the safe, dignified and sustainable reintegration of people returning from migration, including those who have survived deportation, and has followed up on the migratory exoduses or CARAVANAS MIGRATORIAS that in recent years have left Honduras for the US. She is currently coordinating the response to migrants in transit through the border area between Honduras and Nicaragua (Cubans, Haitians, Venezuelans and Africans) who pass through Honduras to continue their route to the US.

Guatemala

Daniel Pascual is an indigenous rights defender from Guatemala's K'iche' community. An activist from an early age, Daniel is the current coordinator of the Committee for Peasant Unity - Comite de Unidad Campesina (CUC).

United States

Felipe Caceres is a proud girl dad, born and raised in North East Los Angeles, educated in LAUSD schools. While attending Cal State LA and earning his JD from Social Justice Law School People's College of Law, he worked as a Teachers assistant in LAUSD and a Lyft driver before becoming a Labor Organizer. Since 2015 he has organized fast food workers with the Fight for 15 and a union, gig workers with the Mobile Workers Alliance. He is currently a coordinating committee member of the California Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival and a Board member of the SEIU International Latino Caucus.

United States

Hugo Soto-Martínez is a socialist labor organizer born and raised in South Central LA to Mexican immigrant parents. His parents were street vendors, and at the age of 16 Soto-Martínez started working to support his family at a non-union hotel in Downtown LA. Right before graduating from UC Irvine, a coworker approached him about forming a union and he dropped everything to join the fight. Since organizing his workplace with UNITE HERE Local 11, he has seen firsthand how unions can win material gains for workers. He organized with UNITE HERE Local 11 and is a member of the DSA who is currently running for City Council District 13 in Los Angeles.

United States

Jollene Levid is a Regional Organizer at United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) and was part of the team that organized through the 2019 UTLA strike. She has been a union organizer for the last 18 years in Los Angeles and for two short campaigns in the Philippines. She is a member of the anti-imperialist, transnational feminist organization AF3IRM, currently serving on its International Committee. Jollene is a social worker, mother, and bookworm with a relentless hope in the collective power of the women, the workers, the people.

Cuba (Video)

Misael Rodríguez Llanes is the General Secretary of the National Union of Construction Workers. Llanes has a Bachelors in Social Sciences and is knowledgeable about union work with a specialty in the construction sector. He has experience that includes 23 years as a union leader. He is a young, prepared person who is faithful to the Cuban Revolution and the union sector, proven through long-standing dedication from the base, as a worker and a union guide.

Moderator

Stephanie Weatherbee Brito is a former labor organizer with UNITE HERE, popular educator, and part of the International Peoples’ Assembly.