*GRASSROOTS ORGANIZING: Right to the City
Tony Roshan Samara
On January 11, 2007 at the Japanese American Cultural Community Center in Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles, Gihan Perera, the executive director of the Miami Workers Center, addressed an energetic crowd of over 100 community organizers, representing over 30 organizations and 8 major cities. They came to build a national urban justice movement around the concept of a Right to the City. The intention was to begin building collective capacity for local struggles to become a national movement. Perera declared, "We are leaving here with a game plan. This is a working meeting."