event details posted by: layne begins: Apr 16, 7:00 pm ends: Apr 16, 10:00 pm location: 3417 Spruce St, Houston Hall, Ben Franklin Room

Max Rameau, an organizer with Take Back the Land, will be speaking at the University of Pennsylvania. Take Back the Land is a Miami-based grassroots group that has been moving families into foreclosed homes and reclaiming public land since 2006. Max Rameau is coming to Philly to talk about the national Take Back the Land Campaign and work with communities in Philadelphia facing similar struggles. This is a great opportunity to hear from someone doing direct work to confront both gentrification and the economic crisis. Please join us!

“We assert our right to the land in our community and to use public space for the public good- specifically, to house, feed and provide community space for the poor, particularly in low income black communities. As such, we are Taking Back the Land and empowering the black community, not the politicians, to determine how to use land for the benefit of the community.”
- Take Back the Land Miami

Take Back the Land has partnered with organizations across the country, including the US Human Rights Network, Picture the Homeless, the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, and the Kensington Welfare Rights Union to create a national Take Back the Land campaign beginning on May 1, 2010. The campaign centers around the principles that housing is a human right, local communities should have control over their own housing, movements should be lead by those directly impacted, particularly low-income Black women, and people have the right to use direct action to reclaim community control.

For more information on Take Back the Land, check out www.takebacktheland.org

Sponsored by the Coalition to Save the Libraries and Students Confronting Racism and White Privilege