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Activism

As Hundreds Of Thousands Of Students Prepare For Global #ClimateStrike On March 15, Here’s How To Get Involved

March 13, 2019 By Jessica Corbett, Commondreams.org , ,
"We are striking because our world leaders have yet to acknowledge, prioritize, or properly address our climate crisis." In 92 countries and counting, hundreds of thousands of students are planning to skip school on March 15 as part of the "School Strike 4 Climate"—a growing movement of young people demanding that policymakers worldwide take urgent and radical steps to battle the climate crisis. "I think we are only seeing the beginning. I think that change is on the horizon and the people will stand up for their future."

Rethink Activism In The Face Of Catastrophic Biological Collapse

March 7, 2019 Dahr Jamail and Barbara Cecil, Truthout.org , ,
This is a hard piece to write, partly because we, too, are baffled. Environmental collapse, coupled with living in the sixth mass extinction, are new territory. We are still in the process of confronting the reality of living with the prospect of an unlivable planet. These thoughts emerge out of our sober forays into an uncertain future, searching for the right ways to live and serve in the present. The second reason for our reluctance to share this contemplation is anticipation of the grief, anger and fear it may trigger. We visit these chambers of the heart frequently, and know the challenges of deep feeling, particularly in a culture that denies feelings and pathologizes death...

Youth Climate Activists Demanding Green New Deal Arrested For Sit-In At #OilMoneyMitch McConnell’s Office

February 27, 2019 By Jessica Corbett, Commondreams.org , , ,
"We're here to warn him and all senators: if you refuse to back the Green New Deal, young people will remember next time you ask for our votes." Hundreds of Kentucky high school students and climate campaigners with the youth-led Sunrise Movement descended on the Capitol Hill office of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Monday to deliver 100,000 petition signatures and stage a sit-in to make clear to lawmakers that young people want a Green New Deal for their communities and futures.

Federal Government Drops Charges Against Four No More Deaths Volunteers, One Still Faces Trial

February 26, 2019 Staff, Forms.nomoredeaths.org , ,
TUCSON: On Thursday federal prosecutors dropped criminal charges against four humanitarian aid volunteers.  The charges came down as a result of the volunteers’ search for migrants missing in the desert. They have now been issued civil infractions carrying a fine of $250 each.  One remaining volunteer, Scott Warren, continues to await trial both on misdemeanor charges and felony charges for his humanitarian aid work in the Ajo corridor. In July 2017, No More Deaths’ Search and Rescue hotline received a call about three migrants in distress on the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge.

Does “Special Ed” Serve Students? Disability Activists Say No.

February 25, 2019 By Eleanor J. Bader, Truthout.org , , ,
As a child born with cerebral palsy in the 1950s, Gail Cartenuto-Cohn had one option when she was old enough to go to school: enroll in an isolated public program specifically for kids with disabilities. There was no interaction with nondisabled kids, and there were just three classrooms: one for kindergarten through second grade, another for grades three through five, and a third for sixth through eighth. Occupational therapy, as well as physical therapy and speech therapy, were provided on-site, and although Cartenuto-Cohn describes the education she received as better than adequate, when it was time for her to enroll in high school, she says she was clueless about what to expect.

Movement For Black Lives: Attack On Black Leadership

February 24, 2019 Movement for Black Lives. , , ,
Over the past few months, several Black progressive leaders have been attacked for supporting Palestinian human rights; most notably, Angela Y. Davis, Marc Lamont Hill and the Hon. Ilhan Omar. In each case, the charge of anti-Semitism was leveled to silence criticism of the Israeli government, to regulate behavior and to try and mute independent Black political voices that are connected to communities across the country and abroad. We categorically reject the erroneous assumption that all criticism of the Israeli government is anti-Semitic.

Lessons From FBI’s Secret War On Activism

February 17, 2019 Michael Steven Smith, The Indypendent. , ,
The Federal Bureau of Investigation tried to destroy left organizations and the black freedom movement during the last major upsurge in radical politics in this country, in the 1960s. It looks like they are trying to do it again. The bureau’s Cointelpro (Counterintelligence Program) was a secret operation the bureau carried out against left-wing groups from 1956 to 1971. It first targeted the Communist Party, and was expanded to the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) in 1961 and the “New Left” in 1968. In a secret 1968 memo, longtime FBI director J. Edgar Hoover directed his agents to “expose, disrupt and otherwise neutralize the activities of various New Left organizations.

The Influence Of Gandhian Socialism On Du Bois And King

January 14, 2019 By R. Divya Nair, Blackagendareport.com , , , ,
Mohandas K. Gandhi began agitating for the independence of the Indian people from colonial rule in the early twentieth century. In 1921, he took leadership of the Indian National Congress, leading nationwide campaigns devoted to achievement of swaraj or home rule. In 1930, he opposed the tax imposed on salt by imperial Britain, leading the Dandi Satyagraha or Salt March, an act of civil disobedience aimed at overturning the colonialist economic monopoly over salt, which was a vital resource for the Indian people. In 1942, he impressed upon the British to quit India, an appeal which led to India’s liberation from colonial rule in 1947.

The Six Building Blocks Of Distributed Organizing Campaigns

January 13, 2019 Tom Liacas, Netchange.co. ,
As reported earlier, we’re fully embarked on a deep dive into distributed organizing this year. Not only have we been fans of the approach for a while but we’re now seeing that this people-powered strategy has come of age and is being deployed by a growing number of major NGOs: ACLU, Sierra Club, Consumer Reports and the Union of Concerned Scientists, to name just a few. These “building blocks” are common elements of campaign design and strategy that have helped distributed campaigns scale, run efficiently and score some impressive victories. 

Going Horizontal: Written For Workplaces; Perfect For Activists

January 12, 2019 By Rivera Sun, Dandelionsalad.wordpress.com ,
I read the book as an activist, a small business owner, and a novelist who writes about nonviolent movements for change. The Dandelion Insurrection featured a self-organizing movement based on leaderful principles. I turned to Slade’s non-fiction book in preparation for diving deeper into those ideas for the third part of the Dandelion Trilogy and I was not disappointed. Going Horizontal is meant to be a practical, applicable manual, and it succeeds. My personal copy is filled notes and sticky tabs with reminders of practices to try and concepts to revisit for my work, activism, and writing. It has earned both a place on my bookshelf and a spot on my recommended books list.

How Activists Are Moving The Dial On Student Loan Debt

January 9, 2019 By Siona Peterous, Inequality.org , ,
Student loan debt has just reached an all-time high of $1.465 trillion. That’s double the $675 billion in loan debt amassed in June 2009, according to a recent report from Bloomberg. With more than 44.5 million people in some type of student loan debt, it’s increasingly becoming part of the platforms of high-profile progressive policymakers. The national conversation has come a long way in the years since activists started pushing the issue of student debt during the 2008 recession. Now, incoming Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is vocal about the idea of student loan debt cancellation and Sen. Bernie Sanders talked about making public college tuition-free during his presidential campaign.

Media Tips For Activist Groups

January 7, 2019 Staff, Eff.org ,
If you want to pitch a story about your cause to the news media you need a news peg. Two of the most common news pegs are an event in the news that relates to your cause or an activism event you organize yourself. Tying your pitch to an event in the news—local, national, or international—is probably the most effective way to get news coverage. Reporters are often looking for ways to put an issue in context and advance it past what other news outlets are reporting.  Another strategy that can be effective is staging an event. However, there are many things to keep in mind during the planning for this.

Mutual Aid Disaster Relief Tour Recap: Fall 2018

January 1, 2019 Mutual Aid Disaster Relief, Itsgoingdown.org ,
The MADR Network has only been around a couple years, and is mostly focused on supporting response efforts to hurricanes on the east and gulf coasts. In traveling west, we wanted to understand the unique disasters that communities are facing, the lessons they’ve already learned, and explore how a grassroots network could carry resources, information, and stories across the so-called U.S. When calamity strikes...

This Is What Activism Looks Like

December 29, 2018 Eleanor Goldfield, Occupy.com
From the front lines of our issues - from indigenous rights to the prison industrial complex - from the Black Panthers to tree-sitters in Appalachia - from hacking human psychology to growing industrial hemp, this has been a year of Acting Out!

New Movement Arises To Force Action On Climate Change

November 13, 2018 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, Clearing the FOG. , , ,
The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a conservative body, estimates that humans have twelve years to take effective action to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Given the lack of response by most governments to do what is necessary, a new movement has arisen in the United Kingdom targeting the House of Parliament to force significant policy changes. Called the Extinction Rebellion, this movement needs to go global. We spoke with Marijn Van de Geer about what the Extinction Rebellion is doing, their model of change and how to get involved.
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