June 20th, 2024
8:00 PM Eastern Time (US & Canada)

Organized by the Social Welfare Action Alliance (SWAA)

Our NASW code of ethics reminds us that “Social workers promote social justice and social change with and on behalf of clients,” and one of our core values is social justice. Social and political action are written into our ethical standards of practice. “Social workers should advocate for living conditions conducive to the fulfillment of basic human needs and should promote social, economic, political, and cultural values and institutions that are compatible with the realization of social justice.” https://www.socialworkers.org/About/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics/Code-of-Ethics-English/Social-Workers-Ethical-Responsibilities-to-the-Broader-Society

Join us in conversation as we discuss the significance of social protest and social work practice:

• To what extent do you think social workers have an obligation to participate in and organize protests?
• What are the barriers for social workers when it comes to participating or organizing protests?
• If you have participated in social protests, what motivated you to do so? Did you have any concerns about the ethics of protest strategies or actions?

#RadChat Co-hosts

Larry Bresler is the Executive Director of the Organize! Ohio, an organization that advances grassroots community organizing and assists community organizing efforts as a strategy for progressive change in Ohio. He has a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Case Western Reserve and a Law Degree from Cleveland State University. He has over 50 years’ experience community organizing, and advocacy primarily focused on issues of poverty.  He also has  served as an adjunct professor at the Case Western Reserve University School of Applied Social Sciences since 2006 where he  has taught a wide range of classes relating to macro practice and poverty.

Barbara Kasper, MA, MSW (she/her) is a retired SUNY Brockport social work professor whose primary interests are macro practice, community organizing and women and gender studies. She has a long history of organizing events and actions focused on violence against women, economic human rights, neighborhood empowerment, campus women’s centers, ending poverty and homelessness, and social work student organizing. She is currently the National Convener for the Social Welfare Action Alliance and is committed to building a “home base” for radical social workers.