Join us April 23-27, 2024, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the UCSC Right Livelihood Center. We will inaugurate UCSC’s new role as Global Secretariat of the Right Livelihood College network, launch an international student network, launch faculty-laureate research clusters, and more. Events are free and open to the public.

Learn more about the conference and register for events at: https://rightlivelihood.ucsc.edu/conference

Featuring International Speakers: Phylis Omido, Juan Pablo Orrego, and International Student Delegates.

Phyllis Omido – dubbed the “Erin Brockovich of East Africa” – is a Kenyan environmental activist leading the battle for the justice and health of the Owino Uhuru community that has suffered from lead poisoning ever since a battery smelting plant began operating in their village. Omido’s use of litigation, advocacy, and media engagement has set vital legal precedents, affirming people’s right to a clean and healthy environment and the state’s responsibility to safeguard it.

Juan Pablo Orrego is a Chilean musician and environmentalist who has worked for decades to preserve the Biobío River, one of South America’s most spectacular and ecologically significant rivers. The campaign has become a symbol of the environmental and social struggle still ongoing in the country, connecting the dots between energy policy, environment, indigenous people’s rights, monopolies, and the neo-liberal development goals of the establishment.

We will be joined by a cadre of thirteen students from the Global Campus of Human Rights, a network comprised of over 100 universities, and the Right Livelihood College, a network with campuses in Nigeria, India, Thailand, Chile, Argentina, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, and UC Santa Cruz.

This event is co-sponsored by the Institute for Social Transformation, Division of Social Sciences, UCSC Foundation, Kamieniecki Lecture Fund Endowment, Merrill, Porter and Stevenson Colleges, Global Campus of Human Rights, Student Fee Advisory Committee, Dolores Huerta Research Center for the Americas, The Humanities Institute, Politics Democratic Discourse and Engagement Initiative, Legal Studies Department, Silicon Valley Leadership Group, Division of Student Affairs and Success, and The Jack and Peggy Baskin Endowed Chair in Feminist Studies.