Milwaukee, WI – On Sunday, December 7, the Milwaukee Anti-War Committee (MAC) hosted a commemoration of International Human Rights Day, answering the national call for a week of action by the Anti-War Action Network. International Human Rights Day, observed annually on December 10, marks the anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) by the United Nations in 1948.
The event began with a march, followed by a program portion featuring a panel of local organizers, a keynote speaker, and the presentation of the 4th annual Lucille Berrien Humanitarian Award.
Dozens of determined people braved the frigid temperatures and snowy streets during the march. Gathering at Zao MKE Church, attendees heard speeches by the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Milwaukee 4 Yemen, and the Young Workers Committee of the Milwaukee Area Labor Council.
“We must stand up and fight for better worker protections, and that can only be done with the recognition of a union,” said Rhen Lutz of the Young Workers Committee. They went on to add, “With these union protections – free speech against workplace harassment, the ability to bargain for protections that outweigh any law, to strike, to challenge unfair labor practices – we can defend our fellow immigrant workers and say hell no to Trump and ICE!”
After the first three speeches, the group headed out for the march, carrying signs saying, “March for human rights” and chanting, “Money for jobs and education, not for wars and occupation!” and “Up, up with liberation, down, down with deportation!” Onlookers and cars passing by gave thumbs up, shouted “Free Palestine!” and applauded as the crowd made a loop back to Zao MKE Church.
Once back at Zao, two more speeches from Milwaukee 4 Sudan and Freedom Road Socialist Organization closed out the march portion of the event.
Piper Hogan of Freedom Road Socialist Organization stated, “The United States is an empire in decline, and Trump’s political strategy is only going to accelerate that decline.”
Hogan added, “A symptom of that decline is the U.S. ruling class committing more and more human rights abuses against their own people. They have ramped up political attacks on transgender people and against abortion rights. These attacks are an attempt to reinforce traditional gender roles rooted in the oppression of women. On the other hand, Trump’s war on immigrants is an attempt to wall off the U.S. economy from the rest of the world.”
The group headed inside Zao MKE Church, where others joined them to begin the program. The program emcee, MAC education co-chair Christina Stradwick, told the crowd, “This year’s 77th anniversary of the UDHR comes amidst the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Although there is a supposed ‘ceasefire’ in place, Palestinians continue to be killed at the hands of Israel. This ‘ceasefire’ is part of Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza which purports to offer a path toward peace but in truth blocks self-determination for the Palestinian people.”
Next, five speakers spanning work in Black liberation, Palestinian liberation, reproductive justice, student organizing and anti-war took the stage for a panel.
“Whether you are undocumented or not, specifically with this new ICE processing center that they have on the North Side, there are a lot of Black folks that live there. And why should they care if they’re not immigrants? Well, do you want feds in your neighborhood? Do you think that they’re just going to target folks that are undocumented? No! For us, it’s being able to make the issue personalized and having the broader conversation of how these are all interconnected,” said Angela Lang of Black Leaders Organizing for Communities (BLOC).
After the panel, keynote speaker Omar Flores from the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression addressed the crowd. Flores read aloud selections from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, asking the around 50 audience members to engage in providing examples of when the U.S. had violated any right – the takeaway being that the U.S. has egregiously violated every one of them throughout its history.
Finally, Sam Charnon of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization presented the Lucille Berrien Humanitarian Award, named after a beloved longtime Milwaukee community activist, to Bara Omari of the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund in Milwaukee, for her integral role as a community with UWM’s Popular University for Palestine encampment and her dedication to nurturing the next generation of leaders through mentorship and relationship building.
The event, also serving as a fundraiser for Zao MKE Church, a staple in the Milwaukee organizing community, raised hundreds of dollars in donations. At a time when human rights are under attack by the Trump administration domestically and abroad, International Human Rights Day was an opportunity to get together and reflect on the past, and to inspire the fight now and in the future.
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