FACES OF THE FALLEN

This project aims to highlight the millions of Americans who have suffered economic human rights violations in the richest country in the history of the world--those who have been laid off, denied healthcare, lived in shelters, had their children taken away, and gone without food for their families.

We will highlight these untold stories by holding TRUTH COMMISSIONS. In each of our communities on a local and statewide level, we will hold Truth Commissions highlighting these widespread, hidden, preventable economic human rights violations. This will all lead up to a large National Truth Commission in Cleveland, OH in Summer 2006, and an unprecedented Truth Commission on Poverty in the US at the World Social Forum in Kenya in January 2007.

THE CURRENT SITUATION:

While US foreign policy finds us engaged in conflicts in different parts of the world, there is an unreported but deadly war going on within our own borders. This war on America's poor and working families has left many of us without our economic human rights to food, housing, healthcare, education, communication and living wage jobs. There are now over 31 million Americans living in poverty. 12.2 million children in our nation are poor, with over 1.35 million of them homeless. Over 43 million Americans have no healthcare and there are currently almost 10 million unemployed Americans.

Part of the reason that this war on the poor continues and why the poor are not surviving, is that our suffering has been made invisible. The poor have been disappeared from not only the welfare rolls and the workforce, but from the media and the political debates. Our stories are not told and our images are not seen. Our invisibility has allowed our situation to be ignored by our politicians, who have not placed a priority on addressing the increasing number of poor families and our worsening conditions. We know that in order to win this war and to survive, the faces of America's poor must be shown. If the general public knew our stories and saw our faces, we know that something would be done. The timing is critical. We need economic human rights to be a priority or many of us who have been abandoned by political parties in the past, simply will not make it.

All we have left is our voice.

We Need Your Help to Document the Faces Of the Fallen:

This project essentially has two parts: documenting the faces and stories of economic human rights violations experienced by poor and working Americans; and telling those stories and showing those faces in every arena we can.

Since 1998, the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign has been documenting economic human rights violations across the United States. This evidence has been taken to the United Nations and other international bodies, where we have officially presented our grievances on behalf of poor people in this country. Many people in other countries do not believe that poverty really exists in the United States. By bringing these stories to the international level, we intend to let the truth be known to the whole world.

We're asking everyone we know to get out into their community and conduct face to face interviews with people who are experiencing economic human rights violations. We need you to talk with people about what's going on in their lives and invite them to share their story with the world by including it in the Faces of the Fallen Truth Commission Project.

What is a Truth Commission:

A Truth Commission is a space where we can tell the truth about what is happening in our communities. It is a space where we can show that what all our economic human rights violations have in common is that they could have been prevented. It is an organized forum for exposing our plight and our fight.

Historically, Truth Commissions have been held in various parts of the world to shine a light on the suffering there and to bring about reconciliation. Truth Commissions have been instrumental in movements for change in South Africa, Peru, Argentina, Chile, and many other countries. We will hold Truth Commissions in the US to shine a light on the economic violence we are forced to endure. We will put a face on those whose rights are being violated and a face on those who are violating our rights. We can no longer stand to be neutral in this war.

• We will highlight the stories and faces of the fallen from each region of the country on the PPEHRC website.

• This fall we will be compiling the stories into a multimedia exhibit to be shown on college campuses and community centers across the country. Please contact us about bringing the exhibit to your area.

Contact the Campaign to find out information about Faces of the Fallen documentation in your area.


www.economichumanrights.org | www.marchforourlives.org