Khalil Nieves from the Institute for Justice and Equity visits UB. Together with the students from the Identity Design, they collaborated with Khalil in an effort to promote the emergence of the IJE in the international community of socially conscious people.
From the IJE:
IJE is a social justice institute. It systematically prepares people to continue contributing to creating a just, equitable and sustainable world for all peoples. We do this through a comprehensive educational program and by developing people who are competent organizers and teachers. We help them develop a deep understanding of the social, political, scientific and technological trends inaugurated in the world since 1492.
We believe that humanity is a transitional period where western domination has been and is being challenged. Our understanding of history is that in 1492 Europe began a process of conquest of the world that divided humanity into conquerors and the conquered. This conquest was so that Europeans could amass wealth and power over other peoples. During these 500 years people have successfully resisted, and because of that resistance, the peoples of the world have created a new era. This era is emerging, but unclear. However, we know that if the peoples of the world continue to organize, patiently develop their current and emerging reform movements and independent countries, that we can continue moving towards a just, equitable and sustainable world. IJE consciously looks for people who are humble, have a deep sense of responsibility, and have a broad and comprehensive understanding of human development and civilizations since 1492.
(( James Jensen gets an ear full ))
These are committed to becoming competent, familiar with scientific technology, cultural, social, economic and political trends and dedicated to a lifetime of working to develop their people, movements to continue this evolution.
OUR core preparation is a 12-month program that systemically studies our era — the era of western conquest and consolidation of the planet in core and periphery nations where Europe and European descendants have dominated the world to the detriment of the majority of the world’s peoples. We systematically study the historical, political, economic, scientific, technological, cultural, sociological and ideological dimensions of western civilization and how it has divided humanity into a planet based on race, gender, class, wealth and access to the world’s resources.
During the second four months, students then look at how people are creating alternative models, movements and practices. During this state students refine their collaborative projects. The last four months students live in the collaborating country and actively continue working on their project. Projects could be solar powered community cafes in rural areas.