Introduction

Hey, my name is Logan Greenwood and I am a senior with a concentration in International Studies with a focus on Gender and Educational Justice and a minor in Women and Gender Studies.  My participation in social movements or community activism surrounds issues surrounding gender(s) (could you have guessed?) and the LGBTQIA community as a whole.  I have participated in a few "gay rights" marches in DC, HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns, I worked with the Fund for Public Interest Research one summer going door to door, speaking with people about the importance of environmental responsibility- things like overfishing, energy and the same old climate change speech everyone has already heard.  that wasn't necessarily my cup of tea, i guess. My most invested interest or passion is with women's education, as a global issue, and I say issue because way too many women and girls are denied education, by their government, communities and families alike.  I don't always mean formal, classroom education, but also education about healthcare, their political rights, literacy training, family planning, and their birthrights to happiness, dignity and a life of self sustainability.  This is the one issue that I would absolutely die for, if my death meant that every woman and girl in this world got an EQUAL opportunity for the SAME education and chances to participate in the livelihood of their choosing- I would be gone ten minutes ago.  really.  I am very interested in how gender plays out in post traumatic or post conflict situations, particularly with forced migration, civilian armed forces and urban poverty.
This summer, I spent six weeks in the Philippines and all of the work we did surrounded issues of human rights, particularly trafficking of women and girls, urban poverty, environmental injustice, and corruption of government, particularly Oplan Bantay Laya, which is the counterinsurgency initiative from former President Gloria Arroyo, which led to countless extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances, hostage and kidnapping situations and paranoia to an entire community of human rights workers.  We worked with the organization KARAPATAN, which is the most well known human rights org in the Philippines, these are the people who go missing and are killed for doing the work they do. I could go on about the specifics, but they are a social movement that I was able to see a piece of while I was there.
Grassroots peacebuilding, activism and mobilization are many times the only ways to spark a flame when it comes to a cause like any of the ones i've mentioned.  I am setting my life up to hopefully work with an organization that promotes, humbly assists and facilitates opportunities for women to be a part of the global movement for gender equality- whether this is with education, an income generating skill(s), or community building and solidarity- but only if this is all done so in a NON giver-receiver model.  I am determined to not be a part of a movement that covers basic needs for the time being, while also perpetuates dependency, victimization and generational shame on communities.

I am very excited for this course as I hope it's going to give me some background on the concept of community activism and social movements, but also the logistics and most importantly the self-proclaimed failures of those before me.  I think that a life of justice work is a life of failures- and that's really not fatalistic as it sounds, but rather the ability to make a mistake, see it, reflect on what that means for you and your future work, make changes and move on. this is impossible to avoid and I think that this weeds out a lot of people that are in justice work for the wrong reasons anyways :) the end.