Activism, Fighting Times, and the Fight Against Pancreatic Cancer | Jonathan Melrod

In this video, we speak with Jonathan Melrod, an activist and author of Fighting Times: Organizing on the Front Lines of the Class War. Jonathan shares his story of activism, fighting for a cause, and his battle with pancreatic cancer.

Jonathan's journey began in the 1950s when he was born into a politically and culturally quiescent society. He grew up to become an active participant in the student movement that opposed the Vietnam War and a supporter of Black liberation. In 1972, he left the campus for the factory, immersing himself in the day-to-day struggles of Milwaukee’s working class. After a mass workforce cutback imposed by AMC’s joint venture partner French automaker Renault, he left to attend Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco in 1985. Graduating summa cum laude with a JD, he opened a law firm in San Francisco, successfully representing hundreds of political refugees.

In 2004, Jonathan was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given only six months to a year to live. Undeterred, he marshalled both western and alternative treatments and, against all odds, beat the deadly disease.

In 2019, Jonathan married Filipina actress and human rights activist Maria Isabel Lopez and became politically active in the movement to defend the ancestral lands of the persecuted indigenous peoples of the Philippine archipelago "who are under attack by the army at the behest of foreign logging and mining interests." He has also become active in the human rights struggle defending imprisoned Filipino political prisoners.
https://www.jonathanmelrod.com/

#activism #politics #kajmasterclass #humanrights #capitalism