tagged w/ Community Organizing
-
In the early 20th Century---coal mine operators had become so blatantly abusive and exploitive that they were even doing things like hiring private armies of mercenary thugs to intimidate labor organizers. In several cases they even murdered people indiscriminately in areas where labor organizing activities were taking place. This is when the word "thug" came into common use, after a group in India that murdered people by strangulation----paid assassins.
-------" Throughout the early 20th century, West Virginia coal miners attempted to overthrow this brutal system and engaged in a series of strikes, such as the Paint Creek-Cabin Creek strike of 1912, and which coal operators attempted to stop through violent means. Mining families lived under the terror of Baldwin-Felts detective agents who were professional strikebreakers under the hire of coal operators. During that dispute agents drove a heavily armored train through a tent colony at night, opening fire on women, men and children with a machine gun.[8] They would repeat this type of tactic during the Ludlow Massacre in Colorado the next year, with even more disastrous results.[9]"--------
Blair Mountain is the site of the largest armed conflict in the United States outside of the Civil War. As many as 130 people were killed in battle with Logan County sheriff's deputies and paid strike breakers from the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency.
Now, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, in moves that only highlights its well known and well paid position of bought and paid for by wealthy industrial interests-----not only wants to destroy the environment which they are supposed to be protecting, they also want to destroy our history as well by allowing the mountain top removal mining of Blair Mountain. Destroy the environment, destroy the people who have to work in the mines(WVDEP allowed violations that led to the deaths of 29 miners last year at a Massey Energy mine----and countless others)-----and now, they want to destroy our history as well. By erasing the memory of miners who gave their lives trying to make better working conditions.
Tom Clark---the director of WVDEP called the efforts to end the mountain top mining destruction of Blair Mountain---and preserve the site of one of the most significant pieces of the history of the the United States---"frivolous".
I suspect he calls anything that doesn't show a profit and put money in his pocket frivolous.
Please lend your support to stopping the destruction of Blair Mountain---and lets do what we can to preserve this site of an important piece of US history as a national park. Send letters to your congressmen and let it be known that you don't want our environment, our history and a piece of who we are destroyed to the profit of a few industrialists.In the early 20th Century---coal mine operators had become so blatantly abusive and... more
-
-
Wetdog
-
added this
-
10 months ago
- |
-
Baltimore City Council candidate Adam Van Bavel is a City Paper Readers Poll "Best Do-Gooder". AVBforBCC is running as an Independent in District 10 in this November's election and he's also Baltimore's Most Interesting City Council candidate.Baltimore City Council candidate Adam Van Bavel is a City Paper Readers Poll... more
-
-
PRESENTATION
W: We’re going to hear from Steve Lerner next, of SEIU, the Architect of the Justice for Janitors campaign. Currently, he’s working on partnering with unions and groups in Europe and South America, it’s building campaigns to hold financial institutions accountable.
S. Lerner: It seems to me that we’re in a moment where we need to figure out in a much more, through direct action, much more concrete way how we really are trying to disrupt and create uncertainty for capital, for how corporations operate. And it may sound like that’s a crazy thing that in a moment of weakness we could deal with it, but the thing about a boom and bust economy, it is actually incredibly fragile, because it’s not based on real way, well, it’s based on gambling and all of that. And so there are actually extraordinary things that we could do right now that would start to de, destabilize the folks that are in power and start to rebuild a movement. And for example, 10% of homeowners, going back to where you started, who are under, a quarter of all people who own a home are under water. Right? Their home is under water, they’re paying more for it than it’s worth. Ten percent of those people are now in strategic default, meaning they’re refusing to pay but they’re staying in their homes. That’s totally spontaneous. Right? They figured out it takes a year to kick me out of my home because the mort, the foreclosure’s backed up. I’m going to say I won’t pay. It’s just what business does, it’s a good, a good business decision. If you could double that number, you would make banks, put banks on the edge of insolvency again.PRESENTATION
W: We’re going to hear from Steve Lerner next, of SEIU, the... more
-
-
Allemany Farm, in one of the most dangerous areas of San Francisco is leading the way in changing the neighborhood from a target of crime and lack of opportunity into an organic haven where those who work there are filled with good food and hope.
These are the stories that inspire us and give us hope that when we join together in a common cause there is nothing we can 't accomplish.
Local accessible food not only fights crime, but poverty, and climate change while giving youth a chance to learn about how to survive and to appreciate the environment around them. It's a win- win situation that needs to be employed on a nationwide basis. Instead of giving farm subsidies to Monsanto, THIS is where they should be going!Allemany Farm, in one of the most dangerous areas of San Francisco is leading the way... more
-
-
Advocates from Feministing.com and Color Alliance discuss new media and how community organizers can use it to expand their influence on political discourse.Advocates from Feministing.com and Color Alliance discuss new media and how community... more
-
-
You can support local business, your neighbors, and your community.
Three local organizations
• United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 23
• Pittsburgh Communities Organizing for Change
• Pittsburgh UNITED
Will hold a Consumer Education and Press Conference
Tuesday, May 4, 2010You can support local business, your neighbors, and your community.
Three local... more
-
-
It's Monday, and while the wheels are slowly starting to pick up steam, here are the top 5 stories being discussed on Current.com:
California dreaming of full marijuana legalization
Medical marijuana has become big business in California and the drug is approved for a range of conditions and for “any other illness for which marijuana provides relief”. In these straitened financial times, booming sales and healthy tax revenues mean that full legalisation of cannabis may be just around the corner.Across California there are an estimated 2,100 dispensaries, co-operatives, wellness clinics and taxi delivery services in the sector known as “cannabusiness”. That is more than all the Starbucks, McDonald’s and 7-Eleven outlets in the state put together.
Honeybees, Bumble Bees, and now Ladybugs-- they're all going on strike
A citizens-science group is calling for children, adults, families, and educators to help native ladybugs.
During the past two decades as invasive look-alike ladybugs expanded their territories and pollution and habitat loss have crowded them out, species of Native ladybugs began vanishing and the invasive species began increasing. These include the multicolored Asian ladybug, checkerboard ladybug and the seven-spotted ladybug.
“This has happened very quickly and we don't know how this shift happened, what impact it will have, and how we can prevent more native species from becoming so rare,” said John E. Losey, Cornell University entomologist.
McDonalds Density: Never more that 145 miles away
Data can be truly eye-opening. Take a look at this visualization of McDonald's locations across the United States, and take comfort (?) in knowing that the golden arches are always less than 145 miles away from wherever you are.
This map was created by Stephen Von Worley, who used location data on the 13,000 plus MickeyD's locations along with some coding-fu to generate the above map. What we see is as expected, a network of the franchises largely following the freeway and highway system and increasing in density in proportion to the population density.
Community organizing for comprehensive immigration reform
This video by allanfrieux is rather timely.
The Center for Community Change and the Reform Immigration FOR America
Campaign organized state-wide youth trainings in Colorado and Florida. This video takes an inside look at what happens at these trainings, it talks about what Comprehensive Immigration Reform is, and shows how the youth is organizing their communities to fight for C.I.R.
Community organizing for comprehensive immigration reform
Sneak Attack at Oakland Whole Foods
Personally, I'm a big fan of creative demonstrations. This sneak attack at an Oakland Whole Foods falls right into that category -- complete with choreographed dancing and a backing band.
In case you're not keeping up like some of us are, Whole Foods' CEO, John Mackey, recently penned an op-ed in the WSJ in which he opined that, because he is able to provide private health insurance benefits for his (mostly young and w/o pre-existing conditions, like arthritis or CAD or osteoporosis) workforce, he is opposed to health-care reform that would make health-care a "right" in America.
He even (surprisingly) went so far as to call it "ObamaCare," right in line with the nut-jobs who don't want our government to mess with their MediCare.
Sneak Attack at Oakland Whole Foods
It's Monday, and while the wheels are slowly starting to pick up steam, here are... more
-
-
-
"With two fields, some pigs, chickens and community spirit, a Hampshire village is organising to defy supermarkets and become self-sufficient
A village on the western fringes of Hampshire is well on the way to becoming the first in England to defy the power of the supermarkets by achieving communal self-sufficiency in food."
One more excerpt:
" 'People are sick of being told to worry about food. They need to feel empowered. We know of lots of alternative local food systems that are sustainable, resilient, viable and principled.' "
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/feb/03/martin-communal-food
Incredible!
This shows we can free our selves from corporate domination.
The movement is growing nationally, world wise, we have had enough.
It's time to get back our rights, our health and the strong sense and power of communities.
Join the Organic Revolution:
http://current.com/groups/organicgreen/"With two fields, some pigs, chickens and community spirit, a Hampshire village... more
-
-
From http://ridavio.com/
This short documentary follows a unique group of local leaders starting a community center for gay and transgender individuals in a working class neighborhood of Lima, Peru. I had the opportunity to shoot and edit this piece thanks to a good friend who works on this project. It was a rare opportunity to see a side of Lima that I otherwise never would have witnessed.
In a poor neighborhood of Lima, Peru, five local leaders are trying to start a community center for gay and transgender individuals. The president of the center, Cuti, explains what it’s like to be gay in the neighborhood, how he came to open his own beauty shop and why he decided to participate in the project. The group talks about their activities, challenges they face and what they want to do in the future. The ASOCAHU center is a project of the University Cayetano Heredia and the University of California Los Angeles. Its goal is HIV & STI (Sexually Transmitted Infection) prevention in men who have sex with men (MSM).
To support ASOCAHU and similar groups in Peru send an e-mail to: info@epicentro.org.pe.From http://ridavio.com/
This short documentary follows a unique group of local... more
-
-
Times Square Greens up.
-
-
quanta
-
added this
-
2 years ago
- |
-
The Center for Community Change and the Reform Immigration FOR America
Campaign organized state-wide youth trainings in Colorado and Florida. This video takes an inside look at what happens at these trainings, it talks about what Comprehensive Immigration Reform is, and shows how the youth is organizing their communities to fight for C.I.R.
The video also talks about the DREAM Act, the border, and the connection between civil rights, and immigrant rights.
http://www.communitychange.org/
http://www.reformimmigrationforamerica.org/The Center for Community Change and the Reform Immigration FOR America
Campaign... more
-
-
Community organizing has become "cool," at least according to the New York Times, but will the Obama movement survive and flourish after his electoral victory? Will grassroots activism and organizing expand? Is the movement a field of wild flowers or a controlled garden?
Sally Kohn, Director of the Movement Vision Lab at the Center for Community Change and Marshall Ganz, a lecturer at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government discuss lessons for organizers from the Obama campaign as well as the challenges and opportunities grassroots activists face when a candidate advocating "change we believe in" gets elected.Community organizing has become "cool," at least according to the New York... more
-
-
GRITtv
-
added this
-
3 years ago
- |
-
I answer a question about the value of mass protest and risking arrest, and move on to talk about community organizing, and how the two reinforce one another. Then we move on to head to a meeting for Global Justice Action, rant a little bit about corporations cashing in on the rhetoric of change that is electrifying the country, and talk about how the conversations in classrooms, town halls, community centers, and church basements, paired with the 1000+ people who are being trained for this action is really what is going to propel the movement forward beyond whatever political will and leverage we are able to create on the Hill for strong climate change policy.
Check out info on the largest protest and direct action on global warming in history: www.capitolclimateaction.org
p.s. the sign behind me in the beginning really should say "support hurricane survivors" not "help hurricane victims" but oh well....I answer a question about the value of mass protest and risking arrest, and move on to... more
-
-
Barack Obama said he would bring change to Washington. Community organizers are making sure he upholds that promise.Barack Obama said he would bring change to Washington. Community organizers are making... more
-
-
GRITtv
-
added this
-
3 years ago
- |
-
Please visit Worldchanging's Inaugurate Change campaign to add your name to this letter that will urge Obama's administration to deliver a vital message about climate change in his very first speech as President.
Dear President-Elect Obama,
On January 20th, 2009, you will have the opportunity in your inaugural address to speak to the whole world at a moment of grave crisis. Your words at the podium that day will set the tone for how we as a nation rise to meet that crisis, and how our allies abroad respond.
We, the undersigned, believe you must call on all Americans to prepare for a national transformation. Scientists warn that what may be the highest safe level of climate emissions -- 350 parts per million of CO2 in the air -- is already behind us. That means we must slow down (and then begin to reverse) the flow of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere in the next 20 years if we wish to avoid catastrophe.
This is a monumental challenge, but it is an even better opportunity. We also encourage you to drive home the point that the things we must do to fight climate change are also the things we need to do to generate a strong economic recovery. Livable cities, clean energy, green jobs, new technologies, improved product design better transportation, healthy forests and thriving family farms are all foundations of a strong new economy. American ingenuity can and will start a global recovery based on those foundations.
We encourage you to call for a national crusade to turn America into a climate-neutral nation by 2030, while building the bright green economy of the future. We also encourage you to promise policies which will drive rapid progress towards that goal, such as:
More at link: http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/008977.htmlPlease visit Worldchanging's Inaugurate Change campaign to add your name to this... more
-
-
We are ACORN. The right wing attack on the community organizing group ACORN is a frontal assault on all of us who fight for social and economic justice. Look, ACORN may alienate many, even those on their left, by their style of organizing, but they are one of us, and we better close ranks around them, because the barrel of the right-wing attack gun is really focused on you and me.
Conservatives are charging that ACORN has been running voter registration fraud rings in states like Ohio and Nevada. I don't know what the facts on the ground in Ohio and Nevada are, but it's clear that the right wing has declared open season on ACORN and all that it stands for, no matter how many lies need to be told to do it. Have you heard the one about how ACORN and the Community Reinvestment Act, the 1977 anti-red-lining law, actually forced banks to lower their lending criteria, which then led to the subprime crisis?
Implicated are those of us who used the CRA to get banks to own up to their obligations in disenfranchised neighborhoods, while fighting against subprime predatory lending. Most subprime lenders were not even covered by the CRA. And the suggestion that people of color and low income areas are inherently high risk and unworthy of credit, is patently racist.
And then there's the disparagement of community organizing and the depiction of ACORN as another un-american group linked to Barack Obama. John McCain said, "We need to know the full extent of Senator Obama's relationship with ACORN, who is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy"
Huh? The real fraud is the notion that organizing and registering people to vote represent anything other than the purest and most effective forms of democratic action.
ACORN has acknowledged its organizational missteps, like the recent embezzlement scandal that forced out their former head organizer. And if there was indeed wide-spread voter registration fraud, ACORN needs to address that aggressively. ACORN is a large and often unwieldy organization. It needs a better system of management and better control over the people who are representing them at all levels of the organization. I've talked to the current head of ACORN, Bertha Lewis, and she knows this.
ACORN routinely confronts powerful people and institutions and holds them accountable. The better job it does, the more it will be hunted down by those who don't like being publically shamed by low-income black and brown people demanding wage increases, fighting for affordable housing, trying to end predatory lending, or registering people in states that will determine the outcome of a historic general election.
As a progressive community, we have an obligation to call out ACORN on their stuff. But we also have an obligation to stick up for one of the most effective grassroots social justice organizations this nation has ever seen, an organization that stands on the frontlines everyday, taking body blows for all of us.
Mark Winston Griffith is a Senior Fellow, Economic Justice, at the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy.We are ACORN. The right wing attack on the community organizing group ACORN is a... more
-
-
GRITtv
-
added this
-
3 years ago
- |
-
Hey guys,
Things have been super busy around these parts. With the announcement of Hack the Debate we've all been anchored down, steadily anticipating September 26th. It's going to be a very interesting experiment, and we are trying to get as many people involved as we possibly can, so help us spread the word. If you haven't heard the news yet, you can read up on it here:
http://current.com/debate
So, let's dive into last week in Current:
// VC2 Leaderboard Winner //
Last Thursday was a tough battle over on the VC2 Leaderboard, but The Two Faces of Anonymous took a steady lead in the end. If you haven't checked it out yet, give it a spin. Congrats to AceHardchester and crew for a job well done!
// Top Five Contributors //
In a new addition to Last week in Current, I'm going to start highlighting the top five clippers from last week. They submitted a healthy dose of stories, blogs, and items for the community to chew on, and our thanks goes out to them:
starr111 (101 items)
http://current.com/people/starr111
bm2la (94 items)
http://current.com/people/bm2la
BuddyP (76 items)
http://current.com/people/BuddyP
shugaray (74 items)
http://current.com/people/shugaray
TravG73 (41 items)
http://current.com/people/TravG73
Without contributions, Current can get to be pretty dull, and thanks to them we all had plenty to mull over during the week. Way to go guys, keep it up and we'll see who takes the top five next week!
// Most Commented Items //
And here are some of the stories that got our community talking:
MSNBC Drops Olbermann, Matthews as News Anchors
http://current.com/items/89280576_
Republican calls Obama "uppity"
http://current.com/items/89277584_
Obama sees nothing funny about community organizer
http://current.com/items/89278992_
MTV awards get political from the start
http://current.com/items/89280351_
World wants Obama as president: poll
http://current.com/items/89285205_
Drill baby drill
http://current.com/items/89283226_
People for response to revelations of Palin's attempted book banning
http://current.com/items/89278477_
LHC goes live!
http://current.com/items/89287236_
Stewart: is Palin 'Dick-ish enough' to be vice president
http://current.com/items/89277160_
Palin comes out of hiding, fumbles interview
http://current.com/items/89295982_
Palin doesn't know what Bush Doctrine is
http://current.com/items/89294634_
What small town America thinks about Obama -- It's
http://current.com/items/89296104_
Tens of thousands of Iraqis to be welcomed in U.S.
http://current.com/items/89297829_
There you have it, a week in review. Did I miss anything? Link us a story below.
Mario
Online Community Team
Subscribe to our blog: http://recp.rm05.net/servlet/SignUpForm?f=154944
Connect on Current.com: http://current.com/people/mario_a
Follow the Current.com team on Twitter: http://twitter.com/current
Follow me on Twitter? http://twitter.com/manimaHey guys,
Things have been super busy around these parts. With the announcement of... more
-
-
"On-stage remarks made by leaders at this week's Republican National Convention - aimed at discrediting the resume of Barack Obama - offended a much broader group of people who tend to be very vocal. Namely, community organizers. "It was a put-down," said Jeanetta Williams, president of the NAACP's Salt Lake branch. "Unfortunate," said Tony Yapias, director of Proyecto Latino de Utah. Elitist and out of touch, said Tim Funk, housing project director for the nonprofit Crossroads Urban Center in Salt Lake City ..."
By Cathy McKitrick"On-stage remarks made by leaders at this week's Republican National... more
-
-
BuddyP
-
added this
-
3 years ago
- |
-
Last night during her speech to the Republican National Convention, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) sought to play up her experience as mayor of a small town in Alaska by mocking community organizing:
PALIN: And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves. I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a “community organizer,” except that you have actual responsibilities.
Center for Community Change: When Sarah Palin demeaned community organizing, she didn’t attack another candidate. She attacked an American tradition
Assn. of Community Organizations for Reform Now: ACORN members, leaders and staff are extremely disappointed that Republican leaders would make such condescending remarks on the great work community organizers accomplish in cities throughout this country.
USAction: These groups, and the millions of individuals they represent, are dismayed by the recent dismissal of their efforts in the form of political attacks. Community organizations have been at the heart of every major reform in modern history – from the Boston Tea Party to the civil rights movement for example, the quest for civil rights began when community organizers mobilized the disenfranchised.
Community Organizers of America: The last thing we need is for Republican officials to mock us on television when we’re trying to rebuild the neighborhoods they have destroyed. Maybe if everyone had more houses than they can count, we wouldn’t need community organizers.
Should They be offended by her Remarks?
From ThinkProgress:
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/04/organizers-respond-palin/Last night during her speech to the Republican National Convention, Gov. Sarah Palin... more
-
