Strategize!

The section provides articles on strategy to assist you in making your campaigns more effective. They include case studies of social movements and information about the current resistance environment. Visit the Resources Page for links to organizations that provide both online and in-person training on strategy and tools for designing and evaluating your campaigns and actions.

How Labor Can Fight Trump’s Authoritarianism

December 31, 2024 Alex Caputo-Pearl, Convergence. Strategize! Authoritanism, Donald Trump, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

Given the critical impacts that the victories of Trump and his broader right-populist Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement will have on the social and political terrain of the country, this installment looks at imperatives for labor in the coming years. It integrates lessons from UTLA and the broader educator union movement, which fought necessary defensive battles during Trump’s first term and, critically, also went on offense to make significant breakthroughs in red, blue, and purple states. MAGA’s attacks will be much more vicious in the coming years. Yet we fought and won battles in Trump’s first term — and can do so again.

Despised: The Poor White Trash Manifesto, Part II

December 30, 2024 Danny Shaw, Popular Resistance. Strategize! Appalachia, Class war, Liberal class, Poverty, white America

Perched up in their Ivy League offices and downtown skyscrapers, the tenured professors and well-paid journalists have written a great deal about us. When have we got a day off from work and our survival routines to analyze their foreign attitudes and habits? Today, we get to have our say. It is our lived experience in the trenches versus your pontificating. You are not us and we are not you. Do you really think you would last a round with us in the real world? The petit bourgeois white has found their place at the capitalist trough; the poor white, desperate for breathing room, searches for an opening.

Seven Lessons From South Africa’s Genocide Convention Case

December 30, 2024 Sam Husseini, Substack. Strategize! Ceasefire, International Court of Justice (ICJ), Israel, Joe Biden, Palestine, South Africa

On December 29, 2023, South Africa invoked the Genocide Convention against Israel at the International Court of Justice. To some people, this came out of the blue. Some are aware there was a concerted effort to that end through the fall of 2023 which involved myself and others. Few are aware that the story goes back further. And tragically few are aware that there are clear steps that can be taken now to give it force which the US government has insidiously undermined. In 2000, Prof. Francis Boyle published the piece “Palestine Should Sue Israel for Genocide before the International Court of Justice.” Boyle reiterated such calls periodically, particularly when Israel would decimate Gaza.

Higher Education Must Champion Democracy, Not Surrender To Fascism

December 29, 2024 Henry A. Giroux, Truthout. Strategize! Democracy, Fascism, Higher Education, Neoliberalism, Student Activism

For decades, neoliberalism has systematically attacked the welfare state, undermined public institutions and weakened the foundations of collective well-being. Shrouded in the alluring language of liberty, it transforms market principles into a dominant creed, insisting that every facet of life conform to the imperatives of profit and economic efficiency. But in reality, neoliberalism consolidates wealth in the hands of a financial elite, celebrates ruthless individualism, promotes staggering levels of inequality, perpetuates systemic injustices like racism and militarism, and commodifies everything, leaving nothing sacred or untouchable.

How The LA Tenants Union Fights Displacement With Community

December 26, 2024 Tracy Rosenthal and Leonardo Vilchis, In These Times. Strategize! California, Los Angeles, Tenants Union, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

The first LA Tenants Union meeting was a “renter’s rights workshop.” Soon, we realized, all three parts of that framework had to go. “Renter,” because we had to broaden our understanding of the populations who live in antagonism to rent, including people who live outside. “Workshop,” because we couldn’t just offer resources to individual tenants and send them on their way. “Rights,” because what few tenants had weren’t easy to use and didn’t stop landlords from acting otherwise. And the right we want to win, the human right to housing, will take another kind of housing system, another kind of state, and another kind of world.

How Union Democracy Builds Labor’s Strike Power

December 24, 2024 Alex Press, Dissent Magazine. Strategize! Democracy, Unions, United Auto Workers (UAW), Worker Rights and Jobs

Scott Houldieson had some questions. He had worked at Ford’s Chicago Assembly Plant, United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 551, since 1989, but in the late 2000s the company was in a financial hole following the Great Recession, and the leaders of the UAW told him and his fellow coworkers that they were going to have to give up some of the benefits that had long made auto work a good blue-collar job. Houldieson understood that times were hard; he’d seen the quarterly reports showing gigantic losses for the company, even if it wasn’t facing bankruptcy like its competitors, but something still didn’t compute.

Despised: The Poor white Trash Manifesto, Part I

December 23, 2024 Danny Shaw, Popular Resistance. Strategize! Class war, Liberal class, Poverty, West Virginia, white America

There is a material reality behind this human schism and this mutual hatred, that of the privileged white versus that of the downtrodden white. It dates back centuries and hemispheres. Whoever is not a billionaire and groups us together, erasing our class differences, does so at their own peril, and our peril as well. To group all whites together is the priority of the ruling class. We poor whites have different resentments, spiritualities and worldviews from those of our class oppressors, though we often don’t recognize it, much less know how to express it. Leftist identity politics conflate us with the foreign reality of another social class. Whose agenda does this serve?

Syria’s Fall And Anti-Imperialist Lessons

December 22, 2024 Essam Elkorghli, Black Agenda Report. Strategize! Anti-Imperialism, Israel, Syria, US Imperialism

The fast-paced unfolding of events that took place in Syria shook everyone, including the regime change and color revolution enthusiasts who hoped to destroy Syria only to deliver it on a golden plate to the Zionist entity to annex massive swaths of lands. The forceful overthrow of the government in Syria represents a colossal defeat to the Pan-Arabists in the region and those who center the Palestinian national liberation cause. This is not a rhetorical exaggeration; the demise of Syria will have direct consequences on the Axis of Resistance — given that the land bridge (Iran-Iraq-Syria-Lebanon) has been undermined — and the interconnected struggle against imperialist zionism.

Generation U Raises Its Head With A Roar

December 21, 2024 Madeleine Freeman, Left Voice. Strategize! Amazon, Generation U, Starbucks, Strikes, Unions

In the middle of the holiday rush and massive profits for big business, Starbucks workers have just joined Amazon workers and gone on strike against one of the largest corporations in the country. Hundreds of workers are rising up against these union-busting companies who refuse to negotiate contracts that would guarantee real wage increases, job protections, and other much-need improvements to working conditions. Amazon and Starbucks workers, who have been at the forefront of a new wave of labor organizing amongst precarious sectors of workers in recent years, have had enough.

New Report Shows A Surge In European SLAPP Suits

December 21, 2024 Stella Levantesi, DeSmog. Strategize! Censorship, Climate Justice, Europe, Lawfare, Oil and Gas Industry, Report, SLAPP Lawsuit

Lawsuits to silence those speaking out and fighting in the interest of the public are increasingly being used as a form of private censorship, according to a new report published last week by the Coalition Against SLAPPS in Europe, or CASE. Developed in collaboration with the Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation, the report shows that SLAPPs continue to rise in Europe and identifies a total of 1,049 cases between 2010-2023. The lawsuits cover a broad range of topics, and environmental issues made up the second-most-targeted subject of all the SLAPP suits reported, behind corruption.

Can Britain Re-Nationalize Water Services?

December 19, 2024 Ana Vračar, People's Dispatch. Strategize! England, Labour Party, Privatization, United Kingdom (UK), Water

Social justice organizations in Britain are urging judges to reject a bailout request from Thames Water, one of the country’s largest water providers, serving some 16 million people in the greater London area. Campaigners argue that approving the bailout of the private utility provider would allow Thames Water to continue its mismanagement while forcing consumers to shoulder the burden—raising annual water bills by £250 (USD 317) per user. “This is daylight robbery. There are two people who can stop it, the judge in court today and Steve Reed, the environment secretary.

Capitalists Should Be Removed From All Our Systems

December 19, 2024 Paul Street, Counter Punch. Strategize! Capitalism, Health Care, Public Services, Structural Violence

Imagine that your household was regularly broken into by a sadist who systemically beat-up everyone in your home. He’d start by punching folks in the stomach. Then he’d smack people on the both sides of their heads. Then he’d kick your legs out from underneath you and pound you all on your backs and necks before kicking you all in the jaw and punching your noses. In forming a response to this outrageous oppression would you tell this monster that the next time he breaks into your home with his fists balled he’s going to have to forgo one of the shots he takes at people – say, the head smacks.

Is Public, Quality Healthcare Possible In The United States?

December 18, 2024 Natalia Marques, People's Dispatch. Strategize! Brian Thompson, health insurance industry, Medicare for all, single-payer healthcare, United States, UnitedHealthcare, universal healthcare

People in the US pay billions towards the health insurance industry, yet many in the healthcare field believe that this industry does little to ensure quality care to patients. While US healthcare spending is by far the highest of any country in the world, the country has the lowest life expectancy among other nations with a similar GDP. In recent weeks, the rage against the for-profit healthcare industry in the United States has intensified. The reality faced by many in the US, of avoiding seeking medical care in an emergency for fear of costs, or having health insurance claims repeatedly denied despite paying thousands to private insurers, has become too much to bear.

The Lessons L.A.’s Anti-Olympics Organizers Are Taking From Paris

December 17, 2024 Phineas Rueckert, Next City. Strategize! Califonia, Displacement, Homelessness, Los Angeles, Olympics, Paris

On Nov. 3, a group of young people armed with banners began to prepare a protest. It was just two days before the U.S. election, but these activists weren’t at the White House or Trump Tower. Instead, they made their way to the Eiffel Tower in Paris. As evening fell, the activists beamed a powerful laser onto the iron grills of the tower. “Olympics Legacy: 20,000 Evictions,” the message read. This action was the grand finale of The Other Side of the Medal, a coalition of Parisian activists shedding light – in this case, literally – on how the Olympic Games can harm host cities through temporary displacement of rough sleepers, heavy policing of low-income communities, greenwashing and other side effects.

Multisolving: Creating Systems Change In A Fractured World

December 16, 2024 Elizabeth Sawin, Resilience. Strategize! Cooperation, Multisolving, Permaculture, Transformation

"Some years ago, my colleagues and I began studying interventions that solve multiple problems at the same time. We found them everywhere, at both neighborhood and national scales and in every country we looked. We found them across sectors: in urban planning, health, agriculture, forestry, energy, transportation, and disaster management. On the surface, these projects were all quite different, and the people undertaking them certainly didn’t think of themselves as using any special methodology. Still, we found that the projects had much in common with each other." It would be helpful, we thought, to find a word that would categorize these diverse projects. It seemed to us that they had much to learn from each other and much to teach the world. We couldn’t find any word in use that quite captured these approaches and their potential impacts. So, we began to use the word multisolving.

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