Changing the World: An Exploration of a Few Social Movements

Lou Weeks

We will study parts of the Civil Rights movement, the movement to end apartheid in South Africa, the American labor movement, the gay rights movement, and as a counter example the Nazi movement in Germany. Some of the questions we will tackle are: How does a movement differ from a revolution, a political party, a religion, a mob? How are movements structured? What are the conditions that give rise to movements? What is the role of leadership in a movement? I have been involved in some of these movements and have been captivated by the transformational change that movement participants experience.

Lou is the Organizing Director for Unite-Here Local 1, the union of hospitality workers in Chicago, Illinois. He has been an organizer for 26 years.

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