Coinciding with International Human Rights Day this week hundreds of activists from around the nation will gather for the bi-annual conference of the U.S. Human Rights Network from December 9-11. The conference traditionally happens in Atlanta, Georgia, but this year, in protest of Georgia’s draconian new immigration law, and consistent with a subsequent economic boycott of Georgia, it was moved to Los Angeles. The conference is being held at the Radisson Hotel near LAX, a hotel with a unionized work force. The US Human Rights Network is a coalition comprising over 300 community organizations that formed out of a 2002 conference at Howard University Law School. It’s goal is to strengthen the work of human rights activists in the United States. The network recognizes that economic rights are intimately tied to human rights, and recently released a statement in support of the Occupy Los Angeles movement and Occupy movements nationwide. This year’s conference features important activists like Sister Song’s Loretta Ross, Haiti Action Committee, Pierre LaBossierre, and former Green Party Vice Presidential candidate Rosa Clemente.

Uprising host Sonali Kolhatkar spoke with US Human Rights Network Co-Director, Kali Akuno on December 7th 2011.

Watch the interview here:

Find out more about the conference at www.ushrnetwork.org.

Martina Steiner recorded this interview.