Changing Climates: Lessons Learned from Community Organizing in Puerto Rico

Oscar López Rivera

February 19, 2020

Event Description

After almost 36 years as a political prisoner, Oscar López Rivera’s sentence was commuted by President Obama in 2017. Since his release, he founded the Oscar López Rivera Foundation, Libertá, through which he has been leading efforts to strengthen grassroots community organizing, demanding the auditing and cancelation of the island's debt, and advocating for independence. In this talk, López Rivera will discuss the U.S. prison system, lessons he has learned from community organizing on the island, and Libertá’s current projects. 

Speaker

Oscar López Rivera is a Puerto Rican community organizer who fights for Puerto Rican sovereignty. 

Cosponsors

Co-sponsored by the Center for Latin American Studies, Boricuas in Berkeley, Bay Area Boricuas, Alt Breaks P.R. Berkeley, Department of Ethnic Studies, Big Ideas Prison Class, Berkeley Underground Scholars, Center for Research on Social Change, Chicanx Latinx Student Development, Department of Spanish & Portuguese, Ethnic Studies Library, Hispanic Engineers and Scientists, Poetry for the People, The American Cultures Center, UCB Graduate Assembly.