Organize!

Whether we are engaging in acts of resistance or creating new, alternative institutions, we need to create sustainable, democratic organizations that empower their members while also protecting against disruption. This section provides articles about effective organizing, creating democratic decision-making structures, building coalitions with other groups, and more. Visit the Resources Page for tools to assist your organizing efforts.

The Cuban American Leading The Charge To Transform US-Cuba Policy

July 12, 2021 Medea Benjamin, Popular Resistance. Organize! Cuba, US Foreign Policy, US Imperialism, US Sanctions

Carlos Lazo and a small band of Cuban Americans are on a 1,300-mile pilgrimage from Miami to Washington, D.C., to end the U.S. blockade of Cuba. Despite the blistering summer heat and occasional death threats (including a trucker who tried to run them off the road), the marchers persist. Lazo’s group is called Puentes de Amor, Bridges of Love, and this grueling walkathon is certainly a labor of love. While right-wing Cubans in Miami call him “comunista,” Lazo has no time for ideology. He is neither for or against the Cuban government; he is for the Cuban people, the Cuban families. And he is disgusted by the cruelty of the U.S. blockade and by politicians who use the Cuban people as a political football--especially during this pandemic.

Launch: ‘Group Of Friends In Defense Of The United Nations Charter’

July 9, 2021 Joselyn Ariza, MFA Venezuela. Organize! International Law, UN Charter, United Nations, Venezuela

We, representatives of Algeria, Angola, Belarus, Bolivia, Cambodia, China, Cuba, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Iran, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Nicaragua, the State of Palestine, Russia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Syria, and Venezuela to the United Nations, are pleased to announce the official launch and establishment of the “Group of Friends in Defense of the Charter of the United Nations”. We seize this opportunity to reaffirm that the Charter of the United Nations and its purposes and principles remain timeless, universal, and that they are all indispensable for preserving and promoting international peace and security, the rule of law, economic development and social progress, as well as all human rights for all.

How One Union Uses Kitchen Table Economics To Advance Medicare For All

July 8, 2021 Kari Thompson, Labor Notes. Organize! Education, Health Care, Labor Unions, Medicare for all

Using kitchen table economics is critical for winning workers over to Medicare for All. Before this training, members may be wary of trading something they’re familiar with for something that’s unknown. But in the workshop, they see for themselves that what they have now is robbing them blind—and that Medicare for All would bring them real economic gains. What threads its way through much of our conversation is that the insurance companies are a big part of why we pay so much for health care. For example, a Center for American Progress study shows that more than 8 percent of U.S. health care spending goes to administrative costs. However, the study put out by the Congressional Budget Office last year indicated that administrative costs under a single-payer system would be 1.8 percent or even less.

Towards A People’s Climate Conference

July 8, 2021 Kawsachun News. Organize! Bolivia, climate crisis, Latin America, Venezuela

Today, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA-TCP) held a meeting of Environment Ministers of its member states to plan for a people’s climate summit that will draw up proposals for the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in November. Meeting participants agreed to convene in Venezuela, which will be followed by a people’s conference in Cochabamba, Bolivia. The people’s conference “will count with the participation of groups particularly vulnerable to climate change; youth, women and indigenous peoples of the world, with the aim of adopting a declaration with a view to the COP 26 of Glasgow,” said ALBA General Secretary, Sacha Llorenti. Participating Environment Ministers stressed the need for proposals outside the traditional free market solutions that have failed to challenge the crisis.

Combating The Politics And Practice Of Far-Right Influencers

July 7, 2021 Sam Moore and Alex Roberts, ROAR Magazine Organize! Anti-fascism, Media, Right wing extremism, Right wing politics

Since the rise of the internet, and especially since the diffusion of the internet through all parts of everyday life, the far right has scattered, diversified and stuck itself back together. The internet has facilitated these tendencies, filtering and contorting familiar forms of activity and ideology, and pushed far-right groups to adapt, causing the decline of some formations and the break-up of others. Despite the lack of formal mass organizations, the far right has not gone away — instead it has produced new configurations of tactics, priorities and goals.

The Urgent Need For A Plastic-Free World

July 3, 2021 Maleesha Gunawardana, Ground Views. Organize! climate crisis, Environment, Plastics, pollution

Among all the chemicals and debris that fell into our waters, what drew the most attention was the billions of Linear Low-Density Polyethylene (LLDPE) and Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE) pellets that coated the beaches. Being lightweight and buoyant, the pellets have inundated the western and southern coasts of Sri Lanka. In due course, a regional problem of nurdles is bound to happen as ocean currents and winds speeds will continue the disperse.

What Will It Take To Transform Canada’s Foreign Policy For The Better?

June 30, 2021 Bianca Mugyenyi,, Canadian Dimension. Organize! Anti-war Movement, Canada, Foreign Policy

This Thursday will mark one year since Canada was defeated in its bid for a seat on the United Nations Security Council. The Trudeau government’s loss marked a rejection of its pro-Washington, militaristic and anti-Palestinian policies. In the months before the vote, a half-dozen activists launched #NoUNSC4Canada. The social media campaign criticized Canada’s climate, nuclear and mining policies as well as its destructive role across the Global South in countries like Bolivia, Haiti and Venezuela. The campaign also included a widely circulated public letter focused on Canada’s anti-Palestinian policies as well as letters sent to African and Caribbean ambassadors critical of Canada’s role in those regions.

The Roots Of Today’s White Collar Union Wave Are Deeper Than You Think

June 29, 2021 Hamilton Nolan, In These Times. Organize! New York City (NYC), Unions, White Collar Workers, Worker Rights and Jobs

Before the recent wave of organizing among media workers, adjunct professors and nonprofit workers set the world talking about the promise of white collar unions, there had already been decades of quiet organizing among the white collar creative underclass. A surprising amount of that organizing has been done by a single local union: UAW Local 2110 in New York City, which with little fanfare helped to pioneer the sort of unionizing that routinely draws headlines today. Beginning in the 1980s, the union organized workers at a list of cultural institutions including the Museum of Modern Art, the Village Voice and HarperCollins Publishers. More recently, Local 2110 has been organizing the museum and culture industry at a furious pace, at places like the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the New York City Tenement Museum and the Children’s Museum of the Arts.

Five Things We Should Fight For This Pride

June 28, 2021 Tatiana Cozzarelli and Ezra Brain, Left Voice. Organize! Health Care, Police, Pride, Transgender Rights

Trans youth are under attack around the country. Though we are only halfway through 2021, it has already become the worst year in recent history for legislative attacks on trans youth. 33 states have introduced anti-trans laws across the country, many of which ban trans students from playing sports. Arkansas recently became the first state to ban trans youth from accessing gender-affirming health care, and many other states have either passed or are debating similar bills. All of these laws must be repealed, and we need to build a militant trans rights movement to defend against these right-wing attacks. The results of efforts to oppress and dehumanize trans people hit trans youth the hardest. The American Journal of Psychiatry reports that trans people are about six times more likely to suffer from mood and anxiety disorders, and over half of trans and nonbinary youth in the U.S. reported having seriously contemplated suicide in 2020.

How A US Congressman Took On The US Blockade Against Venezuela

June 27, 2021 Celina della Croce, Peoples Dispatch. Organize! Congress, Massachusetts, US Sanctions, Venezuela

On a cold winter day in February 2019, activists gathered in downtown Northampton, Massachusetts, to denounce the attempted US-backed coup in Venezuela. More than two years later, in the wake of ongoing rallies and discussions with Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, activists gained some ground as the congressman tweeted an open letter to President Joe Biden on June 14 in which he called on the president to end “all secondary and sectoral sanctions” against Venezuela. The letter stated: “While US officials debate the sanctions policy in Washington, for people in Venezuela the ongoing crisis is a life-and-death matter. … I have never believed that sanctions should be used to punish whole populations for the actions of their leaders or to bludgeon an adversary into submission.

Honoring The Movement To End Discrimination Against LGBTQ People

June 25, 2021 Scott McCoy, Southern Poverty Law Center. Organize! Law, LGBTQ, LGBTQ Rights, Pride, Transgender Rights

June is Pride Month – a time set aside to honor the Stonewall uprising, which launched the movement to end discriminatory laws against LGBTQ people – and to remember the many important cultural and legislative victories since that pivotal summer in 1969. This year, the celebration occurs under the cloud of more than 125 anti-LGBTQ bills that have been introduced in state legislatures, many targeting children who identify as transgender by denying them access to lifesaving medical treatment, banning them from participating in sports or using the restroom. This is up markedly from last year when more than 40 such bills were introduced. In fact, 2021 has set a record for the number of anti-trans legislative efforts.

Graduate Student Researchers Seek Union Representation

June 23, 2021 Katherine Swartz and Gabe Schneider, Cal Matters. Organize! California, Higher Education, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

In one of the largest public employee organizing drives California has seen in over a decade, some 17,000 graduate student researchers at the University of California may soon become union members. Student Researchers United, a committee of graduate student researchers, filed a petition for union certification with the California Public Employment Relations Board May 24. Organizers say they are seeking better wages and healthcare benefits, written protections against harassment and discrimination and a formal grievance procedure. They’re also calling for more legal and political support for international student workers, and an end to irregular or late pay.

Chicago Amazon Workers Help Win Megacycle Pay Nationwide

June 22, 2021 Joe DeManuelle-Hall, Labor Notes. Organize! Amazon, Wages, Worker Rights and Jobs

In January, the company hit workers in Chicago’s DCH1 delivery station with a devastating one-two punch. First, Amazon was shutting down their workplace, so they would have to transfer to other facilities across the city. Second, workers at delivery stations nationwide were going to be forced onto a new shift called the “Megacycle,” where they would work four times a week from 1:20 to 11:50 a.m. Delivery stations facilitate the “last mile” of delivery, sorting and handing off packages to delivery drivers. The Megacycle is designed to speed up the delivery process, allowing customers to order even later and still get their packages within one to two days. DCH1 had been the base of the Chicago chapter of Amazonians United—the first chapter in the country. This network of worker committees at Amazon warehouses now reaches across the U.S., with ties with similar groups in other countries.

Louisville And 20 Other Cities Plan March For Medicare For All, July 24

June 20, 2021 Kay Tillow, KY Healthcare. Organize! Health Care, Medicare for all, Single-Payer

We will begin at 11 AM in the park in front of the Federal Building where we have permission from the city to use the site. We will have speakers (brief) and music then march and/or caravan to Breewayy, the square at 6th between Liberty and Jefferson. There we will place flowers in honor of Breonna Taylor, to connect with her profession as a healer, and to link the struggle for health care with the fight to end systemic racism. We will return to where we began and share refreshments and socialize. We will also be celebrating Medicare’s 56th birthday. We hope you will join with us in demanding that Congress take action by passing a national single payer, improved Medicare for All plan. Such a plan would end the tragic denial of care that causes so much suffering and unnecessary loss of life.

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