Arts and culture in just transition organizing

Excerpt, Common Dreams, May 2021, https://www.commondreams.org/views/2021/05/14/arts-and-culture-just-transition A central feature of the failed neoliberal experiment was the understanding that inequality of wealth and rights was accepted as a feature and force of economic growth, as Shoshanna Zuboff articulated in The Age of Surveillance Capitalism. In fact, our neoliberal economic system requires a continual supply of cheap land, natural resources, and labor to generate never …

Opportunity amid crisis: Invest in different structures, organizing alongside or outside of the traditional unions, base-building and nonprofit organizations, enriching our movement ecosystem and augmenting our work for the multi-year struggles ahead

Crisis presents movement opportunities of which we cannot yet conceive—but we can build the scaffolding, skills, and people who are able to vision, throw down and support in these times of crisis. May we strengthen the old and build the new. BUILD NEW INFRASTRUCTURE FOR A BROADER MOVEMENT By Jeff Ordower, Organizing Upgrade, February 25, 2021 | ORGANIZE! Organizers can draw so much …

Remembering our past through the lens of charismatic leaders is intentional: Collective organizing was the backbone of a struggle towards liberation

Excerpt from WHY WE SAY: FUCK BLACK HISTORY MONTH by Ready for Revolution, Hood Communist.February 5, 2021 | EDUCATE! Black History Month’s hyperfocus on remembering our past through the lens of charismatic leaders is intentional and should not be taken lightly. There exists a disconnect between Black radical history and the mainstream narratives of Black history that projects progress by collapsing gains made …

‘She had the courage to act on her knowledge’: Civil disobedience saved Pope Francis’ life when he was young. ‘I’ll always owe them so much. They fought for me to the end…They taught me what it is to use science but also to know when to go beyond it to meet particular needs.’

Pope Francis reveals an important story from his life, in his recent piece in the NYTimes, and also shares a quote: “Where the danger is, also grows the saving power.” That’s the genius in the human story: There’s always a way to escape destruction. Where humankind has to act is precisely there, in the threat itself; that’s where the door …

Idaho utility’s coal exit sparks NIMBY grid fight

Miranda Willson, E&E News, Nov 30, 2020 The interior of the Boardman Power Plant in Oregon, one of three coal plants from which Idaho Power previously sourced energy, is pictured. Idaho Power will stop burning coal by 2030 and plans to build a power line to bring new electricity sources to its service area. Ninjanabe/Wikipedia Following the moves of other electricity …

Direct Action Injustice

Over 60 People Have Driven Their Cars Into Protesters Since May By Ray Levy-Uyeda, Mic.com. At least 68 people have driven their cars into Black Lives Matter protesters since May 25. The incidents, most incited by civilians and some by police, represent an alarming trend in counter-protest violence against those marching in the streets. On foot, protesters are often defenseless against attacks …

Strategize and prepare for nonviolent action, now and through the fall

No matter who is elected this November, resistance will be required to change the systems responsible for the crises we face. In this article, George Lakey provides important information for developing and practicing nonviolent resistance to prepare for whatever happens this fall and beyond. One of our weak points is that many of us would rather moralize than strategize. Trump …

Leaked documents show police knew far-right extremists have been the real threat

Ryan Devereaux, The Intercept, July 15 2020 AS PROTESTS AGAINST police violence spread to every state in the U.S. and dramatic images flooded in from cities across the country, President Donald Trump and his attorney general spun an ominous story of opportunistic leftists exploiting a national trauma to sow chaos and disorder. They were the anti-fascists known as “antifa,” and according …

Mauna Kea Isn’t Just About a Telescope, It’s About Who Will Decide the Future

By Winona LaDuke, Truthout, March 29, 2020 “You must remember, never cease to act because you fear you may fail…” –Queen Lili’uokalani “The mountain brought us together,” Luana Busby-Neff tells me. It’s 200 days into the prayer vigil and blockade that brought the proposed Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) to a stop in Hawaii. The 14th giant telescope in Hawaii has been met …