February 11, 2019
For Immediate Release: contact Mike Miles 715 472 8721 or Diane Leutgeb Muson (218) 565-3660
Pipeline Activists Address National Farm Conference
Four Catholic Worker activists who shut down an Enbridge pipeline on February 4, 2019 will be sharing the keynote address at the Catholic Worker National Farm Gathering Saturday, February 15 at 10:00 am. The conference is taking place at the West Denmark Parish Hall, 2478 170th St, Luck, Wisconsin. This is the first public event they will be speaking at since they were arrested after entering a gated facility near Grand Rapids, Minnesota where they stopped the flow of oil through the pipeline by turning valves off. Their next court appearance is February 19.
The Catholic Worker Movement was started in New York City in 1933 by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin as a faith based response to human misery caused by the Great Depression. Their approach involved what they called Personalism: taking individual and collective responsibility for those who were suffering from the first major collapse of capitalism. The programs they enacted were houses of hospitality and soup lines for displaced persons, education through round table discussions and journalism, and farming communes.
The hospitality and newspapers spread throughout the United States but the farming communes initially faltered due to the lack of skilled farmers and access to land. This changed dramatically within the last 10 years with the emergence of over 25 CW farms across the US and internationally. The failures of industrial agriculture and the rise of regenerative, organic farming has fueled the surge as young people head back to the land to promote the production of nutritious food, honest labor, and climate solutions through biological farming practices.
The event in Luck marks the 5th biennial CW farm conference with over 60 participants registered from all over the US. The upper Mississippi valley is home to four CW farms who are jointly hosting the conference. Activities will include cooking(with mostly locally/seasonally grown farm products), topical discussions, a tour of a CW farm, folk dancing, and a talent show. Everyone who eats is invited to participate and conspire as to how to convert our agro-industrial overlords to change their ways to healing the planet, our health, and just production for all.
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