The Poor People’s Campaign was a march on Washington D.C. to gain economic justice for poor people in the United States that began on this day in 1968, just one month after the assassination of one of its key organizers, MLK Jr.

The protest was also organized by Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and carried out under the leadership of Ralph Abernathy in the wake of King’s assassination.

After presenting an organized set of demands to Congress and executive agencies, participants set up a 3,000-person protest camp on the Washington Mall, where they stayed for six weeks in the spring of 1968.

Among those demands was a proposal for an “economic bill of rights” that included a commitment to full employment, a guaranteed annual income measure, and more low-income housing for poor Americans of all races.

"I think it is necessary for us to realize that we have moved from the era of civil rights to the era of human rights…

When we see that there must be a radical redistribution of economic and political power, then we see that for the last twelve years we have been in a reform movement…

That after Selma and the Voting Rights Bill, we moved into a new era, which must be an era of revolution…"

-MLK Jr., in a 1967 planning meeting

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  • Redcuban1959 [any]@hexbear.netEnglish
    7·
    6 hours ago

    FORMER URUGUAYAN PRESIDENT PEPE MUJICA PASSES AWAY

    José “Pepe” Mujica, former president of Uruguay and one of the greatest icons of the Latin American left, died on Tuesday (13) at the age of 89. Battling oesophageal cancer and an autoimmune disease, he was under palliative care and decided to stop treatment in January.

    Mujica was a guerrilla fighter, imprisoned for almost 15 years during the dictatorship, seven of them in solitary confinement. After re-democratization, he governed Uruguay between 2010 and 2015, always faithful to a simple style. He donated 90% of his salary, lived on a farm and drove an 82 VW Beetle. Under his leadership, Uruguay advanced progressive policies such as the legalization of abortion and the decriminalization of marijuana. “You need to give meaning to life. Fight for happiness, not just wealth.”