From April 27th – 29th, a crew from the CIW, Interfaith Action, and the Student/Farmworker Alliance traveled to New York City to participate in the “Clean Clothes, Fair Food” conference, the first ever joint conference of the Alliance for Fair Food and Sweatfree Communities. Fresh off the victory in Chicago, the CIW/IA/SFA crew brought the energy and momentum of the growing movement for Fair Food to the gathering.

But they were far from alone in bringing a great energy to the exciting conference. Dozens of presenters from national and international organizations — including Kalpona Akter, pictured here above, from the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity — kept the dialogue fresh and drew strength from each other’s successes and struggles.

Of course, no conference on social change can be deemed a success without an exciting action, and this conference didn’t disappoint.

That afternoon, the conference hit the streets of New York — Times Square, specifically. But rather than go, as most visitors to the famed tourist mecca do, to gawk at the colorfully dressed locals, the colorfully dressed locals came to gawk at the conference goers and the spirited protest…

… the protest, its chants and and its signs, took over the sidewalk in front of the 40th Street Burger King…

… leaving little doubt as to its message…

… or to the commitment of its participants to carry that message from the country’s busiest streets…

… to the very heart of Burger King, where a CIW representative, joined by religious leaders from New York and the Alliance for Fair Food, delivered the Burger King Manager’s letter to the Times Square manager.

The protest ended with some spirited speeches that harkened back to the free speech rallies of the turn of the last century that stirred New York’s immigrant worker community in their fight for human dignity. Here, Brian O’Shaughnessy, Executive Director of the New York State Labor-Religion Coalition, addresses the crowd from atop the soap box…

… while, here, Francisca Cortez of the CIW follows up with her own rousing speech from the box.

The day ended with one of the most moving evenings in this campaign’s history, a performance by Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir. The group employs another time-honored form of communication and social organization — the circuit riding, revival-preaching pastor accompanied by his traditional gospel choir — and combines it with a first-class, seven-piece band to put on an unforgettable show demanding an end to thoughtless consumerism and a return to the true values of human rights and dignity that are the foundation of all modern faiths.

Rev. Noelle Damico of the AFF — accompanied by her own one-man choir, her son August — welcomed Reverend Billy and his crew in the name of the conference…

… and was followed by the CIW, who themselves extended a most sincere invitation to the Choir to bring their unique spirit and energy to Miami for the coming actions there in the Burger King campaign — an invitation that was readily accepted! Can I get a “Changealluah”!

And the night came to a close as Rev. Billy and his Choir left the crowd at the historic Broadway Presbyterian Church on its feet and calling for more… but the Reverend and his crew had a job to do, and they did it, stepping out of the church and heading next door to the Starbucks, holding an impromptu concert for the coffee chain’s shocked customers before wrapping up the evening’s festivities. Friends, the “shopacalypse” is upon us!