National Nurses United

intrinsically sustainable for the planet. "Care work is climate work. Medicare for All is a climate justice issue. Taking care of one another is low carbon!" said Klein. Their messages resonated with nurse attendees from across the world. "When you evaluate nursing internationally, there is no one like us," said Julio César García Cruceta, secretary general of the National Nurses Union of the Dominican Republic, through an interpreter. Interpretation services in multiple languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, and Korean, was a first for this CNA/NNOC assembly and made communication and connection among the global nursing unions possible. "We are the most dynamic profes- sion within the health care sector. We spend 24 hours a day, 365 days a year next to the patient. We need to have solidarity among ourselves. We need to be organized." Bonnie Castillo, RN and executive director of CNA/NNOC and National Nurses United, summed it up well. "As global nurses, our fights align in so many ways," said Castillo during the opening ple- nary Friday. "The reason that we are united in common struggle is because nurses everywhere know that the dominant value system driving this world right now needs to change. We can envision a world that prioritizes public health and safety, public good, and the safety of the planet…We can build a world of nurses' values." Kari Jones is a communications specialist at National Nurses United. J U LY | A U G U S T | S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9 W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G N A T I O N A L N U R S E 23 "Art has the power to transform society and galvanize social and polit- ical movements," said Bonnie Castillo, RN and executive director of California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Commit- tee and National Nurses United. Art played an important role at the 2019 Global Nurses Solidarity Assembly (GNSA) in September when the CNA/NNOC presented its first art exhibit, "Recognition: Labor Meets Art in Explorations of Identity and Social Justice." The group exhibition explored the acknowledgment of a person's existence, validity, identity, or legality within the context of gender, environmental, health care, and social equality—all issues discussed at GNSA. The art exhibit featured work by more than 20 artists from around the country, including Oakland, San Francisco, Min- neapolis, and Tampa, Fla. The dynamic work was layered with meaning, both personal and political, and included sculpture, paint- ing, and works on paper, such as linocut prints. After GNSA, the exhibit moved to Oakland, where it was on display at CNA/NNOC and NNU headquarters for two weeks. At the opening reception, artist Melanie Cervantes signed silkscreened posters she created for the exhibit. Nurses had the opportunity to discuss the artwork with some of the other artists as well. "Social justice issues have always been at the center of my art," says Berkeley artist Jos Sances, whose massive work "Or, the Whale" was on display in a scaled-down version. "We are proud to be a union that actively highlights the impor- tance of art in the labor and social justice movement," said Castillo. "I think it's important for all of us who are standing together and fighting for a better world to feel that same powerful connection between art and justice. We rely on art to inspire us, to connect us, to convey our ideas, and to embody our vision." —Chuleenan Svetvilas Labor meets art First CNA/NNOC art exhibit presented in Oakland

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