From Complicity to Movement
A response to Travis Diehl’s
Op-Ed: An Ultra-red Line
October 12, 2017
“But is it enough for artists to be aware of the reality of their complicity?”
Exactly. In 2012 Ultra-red convened School of Echoes Los Angeles to cultivate a network of popular educators and organizers committed to moving beyond complicity. And in 2015 School of Echoes organized L.A. Tenants Union. Today, L.A. Tenants Union has hundreds of active members across the city (many of whom are artists). L.A. Tenants Union has seven neighborhood chapters, or Locals, that meet twice a month. These Locals organize tenants building by building to defend and nurture community. L.A. Tenants Union has eight committees handling such things as policy and research, media, social housing research, immigrant defense, and Language Justice. The union’s outreach committee provides support to autonomous tenants unions around California and as far away as Virginia. All of this work is driven by an understanding that acknowledging complicity is not enough. It is not enough to acknowledge complicity as an artist or even as a renter. Substantive change requires organizing a movement. We invite you to become a member of L.A. Tenants Union and get involved in that movement.
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Members of L.A. Tenants Union. Photo: Timo Saarelma