Listen to story:

Download: mp3 (Duration: 30:07)

Upgrade your subscription now to access the EXTENDED CUT of this interview, not available to anyone except Rising Up paid subscribers.

FEATURING JEANETTE HUEZO - Our nation and our world is overrun by billionaires and bigots, but they are few and we are many. On this series, exclusive to subscribers of Rising Up With Sonali and viewers of Free Speech TV, we’ll hear from organizers in the movements for social justice, and dig into the nuts and bolts of values, strategies, tactics, narratives, and building power.

This week on Rising Up for Justice, we'll feature Jeannette Huezo, Executive Director and Senior Popular Educator at United for a Fair Economy. Jeanette, who is originally from El Salvador, has led transformative work on racial and economic justice, popular education, language justice, and healing for liberation since 2001.

Through her leadership and organizing, she has empowered immigrants, women, workers, Black communities, Indigenous communities, and other communities of color to build collective power and help shape a more just and equitable society.

ROUGH TRANSCRIPT:

Sonali Kolhatkar: So first, tell me a little bit about United for a Fair Economy itself. What is the organization's main goals, and how do you go about putting them together? How do you go about achieving those goals? 

Jeanette Huezo: UFE has 22 years of existence, and from the beginning, we started working around the economic inequality issues that have been affecting everyone. And how we are doing our main goal is support social movement that have been working for racial and economic justice. 

We have been doing this since the beginning, creating some political economic analysis for the people to understand how the system is working for some people and for others, it's not. Also, we are doing a lot of supporting on leadership development, supporting network and coalitions. We are doing a lot of that work that we believe that people need to speak each other, and sometimes they are doing the same work, but they are not working together. We are doing that. In that way, they can really build power together.

Already have an account? Sign in