Andre Banks, an internationally recognized activist and strategic advisor, delivered the lecture “Designing Resistance: Remaking the Movement for Human Rights,” at the inaugural Elena Diane Curris Lecture on Global Issues Tuesday night in the Cal State Long Beach University Theater.
The presentation, which focused on using technology to mobilize and organize activists and groups across the globe, was hosted by the CSULB Global Studies Institute in an effort to increase global competence among students.
Students, faculty and staff, including CSULB President Jane Close Conoley, sat in the University Theater to hear the inaugural speaker.
“There’s never been a point in history where an average person has had more ability to innovate themselves, to shape and change and be a part of the development of new technologies that will shape how we all live our lives,” Banks said.
Relating technology to the advancement of human rights, Banks gave a few examples from the organization All Out, which he co-founded. All Out is an international nonprofit which focuses on LGBT issues as issues of international human rights.
Banks said that by using technology to create discourse with people across the globe regarding LGBT issues, his group was able to come up with creative and effective ways to combat injustice across borders.
When it was announced that the 2009 Winter Olympics would be held in Sochi, Russia, Banks said that All Out was alarmed, due to known human rights abuses of LGBT people in the country.
Using technology as a tool, more than 1 million All Out members were able to circulate petitions and lobby Olympic sponsors regarding the violence LGBT people face in Russia.
Banks said that All Out partnered with American Apparel and some Olympic athletes to create and advertise the Principle 6 clothing line, named after the International Olympic Committee Principle 6 which prohibits discrimination.
Due to a petition to the IOC with more than 300,000 signatures, the IOC later publicly stated that the Principle 6 discrimination clause includes discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Banks credits the victory to technology and brainstorming at a global level.
Richard Marcus, director of CSULB’s Global Studies Institute, said that having this global competency is “critical to all CSULB graduates.”
In an opening statement, Conoley reiterated the importance of human rights, now more than ever. She encouraged civil discourse in order for students to empower themselves and those around them.
Yet, Banks said that despite the progress that has been made, it appears that human rights is losing it’s “mojo,” as governments continue to enact policies and laws which create inequality among peoples based on “who they are or who they love.” He urged those in the audience to remember that all people are born in equal dignity and deserve protection.
“The way that human rights are articulated is through policy,” Banks said. “So when we talk about how we treat undocumented people in the United States, when we talk about mass incarceration in the United States, when we talk about the refugee crises that are happening in various parts of the world, the way that we respond to those crises show how serious we are about human rights, shows whether we actually care about people being free and equal.”
