Organizers are trained to believe that we don’t predict the future, we create it. And that is exactly what almost 100 people from across the South did over Memorial Day weekend in Atlanta. We gathered because we love our hometowns. We gathered to strategize and build toward a South whose land, air, and water is not polluted by hyper scale data centers. We gathered because we believe everyone deserves affordable utilities. We gathered because we need one another to survive and to create a future we all deserve and we believe organizing is how we get there.
Organizers are thinking ahead, we are never thinking alone – Sam Master, Baltimore, MD
On our opening night we broke bread and had some fun! We teamed up with everyone from our state or nearby states. We brainstormed a chant, dance, cheer, tag line that represents our community. We also drew a map of our states of where there are current organizing fights or victories.
SONG believes in the power of public pressure campaigns and community organizing to make material improvements in our people’s lives. On Saturday we dug deep and began to better understand how the Trump regime and Tech billionaires are working hand in hand to prop one another up. We grounded ourselves in personal testimony to our power and those who came before us and dug into the elements of a campaign. We had a workshop block focused on how to pick a target and a pick a demand, and given the issue of data centers is increasingly bipartisan, we focused our second workshop on how to work across differences and in coalition.
All 80 participants are in varying stages of their campaign development – some know data centers are a problem where they live and want to do something about it, others have attended a few city council or county commissioner meetings and want to take the next step, and others are actively campaigning to stop a data center from coming to their town or to implement a moratorium. Because of this, we paired everyone with campaign coaches to gain insight and guidance and to craft a six month campaign plan.
“I am so happy y’all invited me. Thank you so much. I don’t feel hopeless or alone anymore.” – Cassandra, Augusta, GA
On our closing day Sunday SONG was crystal clear – we want to know what you need and want from SONG. We invite you to join us in the fight across the south to stop data centers. We invite you to become a member of SONG and to join us for our monthly campaign call to connect with other organizers standing up and winning data center campaigns.
Throughout the weekend our meeting space was buzzing with laughter, protest art creation, singing, and 15 babies and kids in the space with us!
Black, brown, and white organizers came from hollers, small towns, and big cities across the south in varying stages of campaign development. Because and despite our various identities and geographies, we are united in our desire to run and win campaigns that center the communities we deserve as we stop the proliferation of data centers!
