UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality & Democracy
@challengeineq.bsky.social
700 followers 340 following 49 posts
The Institute seeks to advance radical democracy through research, critical thought, and alliances with social movements & racial justice activism. https://challengeinequality.luskin.ucla.edu/
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challengeineq.bsky.social
📣Announcing the 2026 #UCLA Activist-in-Residence CALL FOR APPLICATIONS in partnership w/the UCLA Asian American Studies Center. Spread the word to LA-based community organizers, movement leaders & artists. Deadline is Oct. 29>> Learn more & apply 👇 challengeinequality.luskin.ucla.edu/activist-in-...
Activist-in-Residence | Challenge Inequality
challengeinequality.luskin.ucla.edu
challengeineq.bsky.social
We invite you to join us in-person on Friday, November 14th for a convening to discuss our newest publication, BEYOND SANCTUARY, and its relevance to the moment at hand. RSVP>> beyondsanctuary.eventbrite.com
challengeineq.bsky.social
Tenants around the country are being taken advantage of by giant corporate landlords — but we have the power to fight back. Join @debtcollective.bsky.social on Oct. 1st @ 5pm PT/8pm ET to learn more & shift tenant power for the better: debtcollective.org/event/debt-s...
Reposted by UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality & Democracy
debtcollective.bsky.social
Tenants around the nation are being deceived, taken advantage of and abused by their giant, profit-driven corporate landlords.

We've had enough.

Join us on October 1st as we announce a new legal-tech tool that could shift tenant power for the better.
debtcollective.org/event/debt-s...
Debt Strike! Abolish Corporate Landlords & Build Tenant Power
The rent is too damn high — and corporate landlords are to blame! Join the Debt Collective as we make a huge announcement: we’re launching a national Back-Rent Debt Strike against the fifth largest…
debtcollective.org
challengeineq.bsky.social
📣Announcing the 2026 #UCLA Activist-in-Residence CALL FOR APPLICATIONS in partnership w/the UCLA Asian American Studies Center. Spread the word to LA-based community organizers, movement leaders & artists. Deadline is Oct. 29>> Learn more & apply 👇 challengeinequality.luskin.ucla.edu/activist-in-...
Activist-in-Residence | Challenge Inequality
challengeinequality.luskin.ucla.edu
Reposted by UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality & Democracy
debtcollective.bsky.social
"The rental debt strike borrows from the successful student debt playbook: small groups generating national media attention, moral framing that shifts blame from individuals to institutions, and strategic targeting of powerful actors’ alleged misconduct."
www.vox.com/policy/46235...
Tenants say it’s time for landlords to cancel back rent debt
Tenants are going on strike against their landlords.
www.vox.com
Reposted by UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality & Democracy
debtcollective.bsky.social
New: We're sparking a coordinated form of economic resistance that has never been done in the housing space.

We're organizing a debt-strike.

Rental debtors around the country will refuse to pay their back-rent debt to a giant corporate landlord.

And we're going to win.
Reposted by UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality & Democracy
michelelancione.bsky.social
I had the pleasure of reading the manuscript of Beyond Sanctuary for @dukepress.bsky.social months ago, and I am now thrilled to see it in print.

Edited by Ananya Roy and Veronika Zablotsky. Read it, share it, it is really worth it.

Free access: read.dukeupress.edu/books/book/3...
Beyond Sanctuary: The Humanism of a World in Motion
The contributors to Beyond Sanctuary examine how the liberal democracies of the West recognize and include racial others through technologies of state powe
read.dukeupress.edu
challengeineq.bsky.social
As we gear up for the academic year, we're looking back at the 2025 capstone research projects supported by @challengeineq.bsky.social. We're endlessly impressed by the research questions our grad students take on & develop. Read the full reports👇 challengeinequality.luskin.ucla.edu/student-rese...
challengeineq.bsky.social
📖Just out from @dukepress.bsky.social>> Thinking across the U.S. and Europe BEYOND SANCTUARY critically examines liberal democratic policies of sanctuary and asylum and foregrounds migrant movements, those that demand a world beyond borders>> challengeinequality.luskin.ucla.edu/2025/08/20/b...
Beyond Sanctuary: The Humanism of a World in Motion | Challenge Inequality
Book via Duke University Press co-edited by Ananya Roy and Veronika Zablotsky
challengeinequality.luskin.ucla.edu
Reposted by UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality & Democracy
uclairle.bsky.social
Joel Montano (@challengeineq.bsky.social) shares best practices for following capital through land, how to connect firms to individuals, and how to map out real estate empires. 🏠📊
challengeineq.bsky.social
🕊️Rest in Power Benito Flores
lapublicpress.bsky.social
‘Reclaimer’ Benito Flores dies while resisting eviction from El Sereno home.
An organizer remembers Flores as “ a beautiful human being who wanted nothing more than to … not have to worry about being displaced.”
lapublicpress.org/2025/07/recl...
‘Reclaimer’ Benito Flores dies while resisting eviction from El Sereno home
An organizer remembers Flores as “ a beautiful human being who wanted nothing more than to … not have to worry about being displaced.”
lapublicpress.org
challengeineq.bsky.social
Brilliant organizers & artists make for brilliant discussions. Shoutouts to #UCLA Activists-in-Residence Lupita Limón Corrales & @jaisuazo.bsky.social for bringing light💫 to struggle @uclaftvarchive.bsky.social. The "(Dis)placement" 📽️series continues thru August>> cinema.ucla.edu/events/displ...
challengeineq.bsky.social
📽️Looking forward to this on Friday, July 18 @ 7:30pm 👇
uclaftvarchive.bsky.social
“Razing Liberty Square” director Katja Esson & “Moonlight” co-writer Tarell Alvin McCraney in person Fri 7/18!

This program focuses on the historically Black neighborhood of Liberty City, Miami, and the fight against gentrification.

Co-presented by @challengeineq.bsky.social
Free: ucla.in/4lpdaUE
Above: A young boy near a housing complex. Below: A young boy looking out at the ocean.
challengeineq.bsky.social
REMINDER: This Sunday @ 7pm>> "Fluctuations of Home: Short Films From LA to DC" feat. #UCLA Activists-in-Residence @jaisuazo.bsky.social & Lupita Limon Corrales. Proud to co-sponsor this @uclaftvarchive.bsky.social film series, "(Dis)Placement: Fluctuations of Home." cinema.ucla.edu/events/fluct...
challengeineq.bsky.social
If you missed this fascinating talk organized by @davidgraeberinst.bsky.social, tune in at your convenience👇

Featuring our very own Associate Faculty Director Hannah Appel, this brilliant trio explore how the legacies of imperialism & debt continue to shape the world order.
davidgraeberinst.bsky.social
On Monday we have an event.

A talk with Michael Hudson, Steven Keen and Hannah Appel! They will discuss Debt, Empire and the Future of the economy.

It will be streamed live on our Youtube page.

www.youtube.com/live/FAgj66z...
Michael Hudson in conversation with Steve Keen & Hannah Appel
YouTube video by Institute of David Graeber
www.youtube.com
challengeineq.bsky.social
📻Interview w/@challengeineq.bsky.social researcher, Alex Ferrer>> Data from the #TenantPowerToolkit along with interviews reveal significantly disproportionate evictions of Black tenants in LA by REITs which have long-lasting effects on tenants' credit & housing access. www.kcrw.com/news/shows/p...
‘Wall you can't get over’: When corporate landlord denies relief payments
Some Black tenants are disproportionately being evicted by Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) in LA, a new UCLA study finds. KCRW hears from two sisters who’ve experienced this.
www.kcrw.com
challengeineq.bsky.social
Thx to @reporterliz.bsky.social for this coverage. Meaningful relationships w/communities on the frontlines of struggle along w/public scholarship are key to abolishing structures of inequality. Full report co-published w/Venice Justice Committee👇 challengeinequality.luskin.ucla.edu/2025/06/25/k...
Reposted by UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality & Democracy
uclaftvarchive.bsky.social
“(Dis)placement: Fluctuations of Home”
Jul 13–Aug 17

The films in this series examine the fragile, shifting meaning of home — not just as shelter, but as identity, belonging and collective memory — in Los Angeles and global contexts.

Free: ucla.in/43Pmv0H
Co-presented by @challengeineq.bsky.social
Demonstrators holding a sign that says "Comite de la Esperanza." Two women sitting and talking in a living room. A man teaching a boy to float in water. Two women and a baby sitting on a balcony.
Reposted by UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality & Democracy
joeyneverjoe.bsky.social
I got (a photo) published in an academic publication. A picture I took on my Olympus XA2 film camera during a bike ride accompanies a wonderful piece about LA and Palestine. @challengeineq.bsky.social pub Insurgent Ground can be found here:

escholarship.org/uc/item/6mf8...
A photo of downtown LA. A winding dirt path in the foreground. The LA skyline in the background. INSURGENT GROUND: LAND, HOUSING, PROPERTY
The Liberatory Politics of Land:
From Los Angeles to Palestine
Jessi Quizar, Mpho Raboeane, Kareem Rabie INSURGENT GROUND: LAND, HOUSING, PROPERTY
UCLA LUSKIN INSTITUTE ON
INEQUALITY AND DEMOCRACY
ORGANIZED 2016
INSURGENT GROUND:
LAND, HOUSING, PROPERTY
Edited by Ananya Roy, Terra Graziani, Annie Powers
PUBLISHED BY UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy
DESIGNED BY Em Dash
PUBLICATION MANAGEMENT BY Marisa Lemorande
PUBLICATION DATE May 5, 2025
ISBN 978-1-7351062-8-1
Photo credit (cover): Anthony Orendorff
challengeineq.bsky.social
"If some ppl prefer living in rundown RVs to the sorts of housing pgms offered, if any are offered to begin with, then govt officials ought to critically question the efficacy of their pgms rather than...destroying residents' vehicles & leaving them on the streets.” lapublicpress.org/2025/06/ucla...
LA laws criminalize Westside vehicle dwellers, plunging them into parking ticket debt
A UCLA survey of nearly 100 people living in their vehicles found many also report harassment from housed neighbors, businesses, and police.
lapublicpress.org
challengeineq.bsky.social
REPORT RELEASE: "Keep Moving" by the Venice Justice Committee & co-published by the Institute. Developed in collaboration w/organizers, community members w/lived experience of vehicle residency & university-based researchers. Report+virtual launch👇 challengeinequality.luskin.ucla.edu/2025/06/25/k...
“Keep Moving”: West LA Vehicle Residents Survey
A Venice Justice Committee Report via UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy
challengeinequality.luskin.ucla.edu
challengeineq.bsky.social
Earlier this month we celebrated our phenomenal 2025 cohort of #UCLA Activists-in-Residence: Kari Okubo, Romarilyn Ralston, Kaya Dantzler, @jaisuazo.bsky.social & Lupita Limón Corrales! "Turning the university inside out,” they shared invaluable community-rooted knowledge & pedagogy with our campus.
challengeineq.bsky.social
"Through her leadership, CSW not only expanded its institutional impact, but also reaffirmed its commitments to being a refuge for research in social justice and community collaboration." Congrats to our colleague, comrade, and friend, Prof. Grace Hong🔥 csw.ucla.edu/2025/06/11/a...
A Retrospective on the Directorship of Professor Grace Hong
Professor Grace Kyungwon Hong concludes her five-year tenure as Director of the UCLA Center for the Study of Women|Streisand Center.
csw.ucla.edu
challengeineq.bsky.social
👇Read this thread and then go read @rahimk.bsky.social's newest publication, "Indefensible Spaces: Policing and the Struggle for Housing." We've added it to our summer reading list 📚
rahimk.bsky.social
It's publication day for Indefensible Spaces: Policing and the Struggle for Housing, available in paper & free .epub! It traces a century of struggle over Los Angeles' periphery, culminating in the use of policing to expel and repress Black tenants. Here's a look at its chapters:
Reposted by UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality & Democracy