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Answering “What Should I Do?” Is Easier When You Know The Roles Of Social Movements

August 5, 2018 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, Popular Resistance , ,
The United States is going in the wrong direction on a wide range of social, economic and foreign policy issues and people are justifiably upset and angry about this. One question we are regularly asked is: "What should I do?" In our last two newsletters, we examined the stages of successful social movements to show how movements can progress toward victories. This week, we attempt to answer the question by describing the fifth class of the Popular Resistance School,  "The Roles of Individuals and Movements" and how to be effective at them.

Social Movements Have Stages, Plus Urgent Actions

July 22, 2018 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, Popular Resistance , , ,
This week, we introduce the third  class from the Popular Resistance School course called "How Social Transformation Occurs." You will find all the classes here. In this and the next class, we review the eight stages of successful social movements as outlined by the now-deceased activist, Bill Moyer, one of the first people to do a big picture analysis of social movements. He describes the features of each stage as well as the specific tasks and roles for activists in the Movement Action Plan and in the book he co-wrote, "Doing Democracy." This is based on his experiences and study in activism during the civil rights, anti-nuclear and other movements.

Where Power Holders Get Power And How Movements Take It Away

July 15, 2018 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, Popular Resistance , ,
This week, we present the second class in the Popular Resistance School course, "How Social Transformation Occurs." The second class takes a more in-depth look at the power holders - what they need to exist and how social movements can weaken their power. We also discuss the characteristics of successful social movements, Grand Strategy, when to negotiate (or not) and violence versus nonviolence. Power holders do not operate in a vacuum, they rely on various factors and pillars to maintain their power.

How To Build A Movement For Transformational Change

July 8, 2018 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, Popular Resistance , , ,
In recent years, people have asked us what they should be doing to build an effective movement that can create transformational change. In response to these questions, Popular Resistance created an online school. The first course, which consists of eight classes, provides information about how social movements grow and succeed, what roles different people and organizations play in movements, how to overcome obstacles and how to develop strategic campaigns. In addition to discussing analyses of social movements by leading thinkers on social movement theory, we bring our experiences to the classes.

Nationwide Protests: Pro-Immigrant Or Anti-Trump?

July 1, 2018 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, Popular Resistance , ,
Over the past weeks, there has been a series of major protests against the mistreatment of immigrants. Hundreds were arrested after blocking DC streets and sitting-in at a Senate office building.  Two weeks ago, there were #FamiliesTogether rallies across the United States that forced Trump to end child separation and return to the Obama-era policy of incarcerating immigrant families. People are taking action for immigrant rights and protesting the separation of children from their families as well as the indefinite detention of immigrant families.

Assange Is A Journalist, Should Not Be Persecuted For Publishing The Truth

June 24, 2018 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, Popular Resistance , , ,
Last week, rallies in support of Julian Assange were held around the world. We participated in two #AssangeUnity events seeking to #FreeAssange in Washington, DC.  This is the beginning of a new phase of the campaign to stop the persecution of Julian Assange and allow him to leave the Ecuadorian Embassy in London without the threat of being arrested in the UK or facing prosecution by the United States. The threat of prosecution against Julian Assange for his work as editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks will be a key to defining what Freedom of the Press means in the 21st Century. Should people be allowed to know the truth if their government is corrupt, violating the law or committing war crimes?

Protect Immigrants’ Rights; End The Crises That Drive Migration

June 16, 2018 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, Popular Resistance , , ,
The ugliness of US immigration policy is once again evident. There is national outrage that separating children, often infants, from their parents is wrong. There is also national consensus (nine out of ten people in the US) that people brought here by their parents, the Dreamers, should not be forced out of the country as adults. The highly restrictive, dysfunctional immigration system in the United States serves the interests of  big business and US Empire. Investors can cross borders to find workers who will accept slave-labor wages and dangerous environments, but workers cannot cross borders to find better wages and safety.

The Foundation For International Justice Is Anti-Imperialism

June 10, 2018 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, Popular Resistance , ,
The United States has had a policy of imperialism beginning after the Civil War. The US way of war, developed against Indigenous peoples, spread worldwide as the US sought to extend its power through military force, economic dominance and diplomatic hegemony. Imperialism is driven by what Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. identified at the end of his life, the triple evils of racism, capitalism, and militarism. Lenin described imperialism as the highest stage of capitalism. Imperialism has justified mass slaughter, resulting in the US killing 20 million people since WW II. The People of the United States must say 'no' to imperialism.

Stopping Pipelines Means Challenging Systems That Threaten Our Existence

June 3, 2018 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, Popular Resistance. , , ,
Although not as well-known as the struggle at Standing Rock to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline, there are bold and active campaigns going on to stop pipelines from British Columbia to the Bayou to the Appalachian Mountains. If constructed, the pipelines will contaminate the water and food upon which indigenous and poor communities depend. They will unleash the extraction of vast amounts of carbon at a time when there is a desperate need to reduce climate emissions. The pipelines being built and the processes being used to permit them illustrate deeper crises of capitalism, colonialism, and democracy. They stand in the way of adequate actions being taken to address the growing climate and environmental crises.

Venezuela Defeats US In Election, Now Must Build Independent Economy

May 27, 2018 Kevin Zeese, Popular Resistance , ,
Upon returning to the United States from Venezuela and reading the terrible media reporting of the election, it was evident that the people of the United States are being lied to. The Intrepid News Fund and Venezuela Analysis invited me and others to come to Venezuela for the election to see first hand what actually happened so we could report what we saw and break the media blockade against Venezuela. The US is leading an economic war against Venezuela that is causing tremendous damage, but there is also a media blockade preventing the truth from being told.

The Education End-Game; Transformative Changes Are Needed

May 19, 2018 Margaret Flowers, Popular Resistance. , , ,
Just as private corporations mine the earth for metals and minerals to sell on the market, they have now also turned to mining our children's information for the purposes of selling it to marketers and to design new products to sell to schools and parents. As Morna McDermott states, and Forbes confirms, "Data is the new oil." If we take this a step further, it is easy to envision that the data collected on children from pre-school on up, which includes not just what they know but also their emotions and behavior, even their "grit and tenacity," can be used to dictate their futures.

High Alert For Palestinian Slaughter & Conflict With Iran

May 13, 2018 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, Popular Resistance , , ,
There will be a confluence of trigger events this week that could lead to an escalation of conflict. At the same time that the US has reneged on the nuclear agreement and Israeli missiles are attacking Iranians in Syria, the US embassy will be moved to Jerusalem and Palestinians will protest the 70th anniversary of the Nakba, capping six weeks of actions.

For His 200th Birthday, Honoring Marx As An Activist

May 5, 2018 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers. , , ,
In 1848, Marx wrote, “philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point, however, is to change it.” On this 200th anniversary of the birth of Karl Marx we focus on Marx as a political activist, rather than what he is best known for, an economist and philosopher who wrote some of the most important analyses explaining capitalism and putting forward an alternative economic model. In the "Communist Manifesto", Marx wrote, "The history of all previous societies has been the history of class struggles." He believed political change stems from the history of conflicts between people who are exploited against the people who are exploiting them.

Earth Day: Conflict Over The Future Of The Planet

April 22, 2018 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, Popular Resistance , , ,
On this Earth Day, it is difficult to look at the state of the planet and the current political leadership and see much hope. In "Junk Planet", Robert Burrowes writes a comprehensive description of the degradation of the atmosphere, oceans, waterways, groundwater, and soil as well as the modern pollution of antibiotic waste, genetic engineering, nanowaste, space junk, military waste and nuclear, a description of a planet degraded by pollution impacting our bodies and health as well as the planet's future.
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Urgent End Of Year Fundraising Campaign

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Keep independent media alive. 

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