National Nurses United

country and made everything for sale through deregulation, privatization, and austerity measures. But oppression engenders resistance. Our nurses have been involved in much of it, in national, regional, and local campaigns for healthcare, labor rights, environmental, and racial justice, and in speaking out against poverty, income inequality, hunger, and homelessness. "Much as we love Bernie Sanders, he didn't do it by himself," noted Piven. "He did it because the movements made a Sanders campaign possible. Movements and elec- toral politics nourish each other. But elec- toral politics can also smother movements. So our challenge now is how to keep the movements alive. Movements flourish when there are politicians in office who have reasons to be afraid of them." "We can't forget that it was social move- ments that produced the conditions that made governing thinkable," social activist and author Naomi Klein told a reporter. "It was winning enough victories, enough local battles—increases in minimum wage, bans on fracking—that made people feel like, 'Wow, well, maybe we could govern.'" Electoral politics are a part of the move- ment, but they are not the movement itself. "Politicians will do nothing," Klein added, "unless they are backed by social movements and accountable to those movements." We are proud of the accomplishments we've achieved, and with forming new allies who inspire us with stories like these: United Students Against Sweatshops activist Andrea Flores described a collec- tive rising by workers at a Wendy's who were fed up with a broken air conditioning unit in "hot, dusty" El Paso, Texas. "You know what workers did? They went on strike because they know silence never won rights; they aren't handed from above, they're forced by pressures from below," said Flores. "Only struggle produces social change. One hour before the strike was scheduled to begin, we received news they ordered a new AC unit." And from another student activist, Dominique Scott, who related a successful fight to compel the University of Mississippi to take down its flag containing the Confed- erate symbol. "We were able to bring together marginal- ized communities that had never been in conversations before," said Scott. "Because we built student power we showed students what was possible. In standing in soli- darity with other students, we showed not only the campus but also the world that anything is possible through solidarity, and through organizing and working together," said Scott. Nurses are now an integral part of that organizing and work- ing together, linking arms with so many who appreciate the voice, the experience, the passion, and the power nurses bring. "As I travel around this coun- try to every state, to every place there is struggle, to every place there is suffering, to every place there is need, I always get there a little late because National Nurses United members and activists are there first," noted journalist and activist John Nichols. "I want to thank RoseAnn so deeply for opening up this space for us," said Klein. "You knew that we would need to gather, that we would need a place to look each other in the eye, to talk, to strategize, to plan next steps." "And I just want to thank you and National Nurses United for your courage, the joy you bring to this movement, the fact that you have stood with all of our move- ments without hesitation, without those political calculations and just done what's right, again and again and again. And it has not gone unnoticed," Klein added. "It is fitting to have stumped alongside so many of you across this nation," said Rosario Dawson, "because nurses know the long game. They understand how long care takes, they understand how much time and patience is required for change, and that is the moment that we are in right now." Recordings of the People's Summit ses - sions may be viewed at https:// vimeo.com/ nationalnursesunited/videos. RoseAnn DeMoro is executive director of National Nurses United. M A R C H | A P R I L 2 0 1 6 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 15 From top: NNU allies shared organizing success stories from the field. From left, Joseph Geevarghese, two unidentified, Mark Schlosberg of Food and Water Watch, Dante Barry of Million Hoodies Movement for Justice, Tara Houska of Honor the Earth, unidentified, Cesar Vargas of Dreamer movement, Linda Sarsour of MPower, Erika Andiola of Dreamer movement, and NNU member Allysha Almada, RN; Dominique Scott of United Students Against Sweat- shops explains how they forced Univ. of Mississippi to remove state flag with Con- federate symbol from campus.

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