John Prendergast at UMass Lowell

John Prendergast will be speaking on “Success Stories in Student and Celebrity Activism” at UMass Lowell, hosted by the Peace and Conflict Studies Institute (PACSI) and the Greeley Scholar for Peace Studies Advisory Committee.

 

Join human rights activist and bestselling author John Prendergast as he draws on decades of experience with social movements that have had a major impact in Africa, and provides a number of vignettes in which students and celebrities have made a difference on issues of importance to them. 

Feb. 15 
12:30 to 2 p.m. 
O'Leary Mezzanine 
61 Wilder St., Lowell  

The discussion will highlight how social change is possible when people organize to counter injustice, when they move from being Bystanders to Upstanders. In almost every case of dramatic or even incremental social change, behind it is a social movement: anti-slavery, civil rights, women, labor, environment, peace, LGBT, etc. Students are always in the vanguard of these efforts, and celebrities are usually major components of a successful strategy as well. There are also dramatic success stories when social movements in the US and internationally ally themselves in solidarity with change agents on the frontlines of the injustice: sweatshops, modern slavery, wars, diseases, poverty. 

John Prendergast, a human-rights activist and bestselling author who has worked for peace in Africa for more than 25 years, was the 2012-13 Greeley Scholarfor Peace Studies at UMass Lowell. He is the co-founder of the Enough Project, an initiative to end genocide and crimes against humanity, which is affiliated with the Center for American Progress. 

For more information, contact [email protected].