Celebrating the Growing Healthcare Is a Human Right Movement – Videos and Photos from Human Rights Day 2013

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On Human Rights Day, December 10th, 2013, NESRI and the Poverty Initiative held an event at the Church Center of the United Nations in honor of Peg Franzen, a community leader who made an incalculable contribution to growing the movement for health care as a human right.  Over a hundred of us gathered to pay tribute to Peg Franzen and watch the inimitable Laura Flanders of GRITtv lead us through a lively exchange with organizers from the Healthcare is a Human Right Campaigns in Vermont, Maine, Maryland and Pennsylvania.  

In the first part of the evening we paid tribute to Peg with videos statements from U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and Ben Cohen & Jerry Greenfield, a video featuring Peg in action, and remarks from Kate Kanelstein of the Vermont Workers’ Center, Mari Cordes of the Vermont Federation of Nurses, Paul Cillo of the Public Assets Institute, Colleen Wessel-McCoy of the Poverty Initiative, Sarah Bigney of the Maine AFL-CIO, and Joyce Werntgen, Peg Franzen’s life partner and movement leader herself, who generously came from Vermont to accept our tribute to their family.  

 

Tribute to Peg Franzen Video – Human Rights Day, December 10th, 2013

 

In the second half of the evening Laura Flanders of GRITtv facilitated a seamless dialogue amongst James Haslam of the Vermont Workers’ Center, DrewChristopher Joy of the Southern Maine Workers’ Center, Sergio Espana of United Workers in Maryland, Nijmie Dzurinko of Put People First! Pennsylvania, and our own Anja Rudiger at NESRI.  These cutting-edge organizers highlighted their commitment to human rights values and vision, and to putting people at the center of the struggle.   

 

Healthcare Is a Human Right Roundtable Discussion Video – Human Rights Day, December 10th, 2013

 

Below is a set of photos from the evening.