Posts Tagged With: Liberal

“99% Spring” Organizes Occupy’s Momentum to Fight Inequality and Corporations

The Occupy movement received a major boost from the progressive establishment which will impact American society and the upcoming elections.   The 99% Spring movement has arrived and is already creating a stir at shareholder meetings and in the streets.  This article provides full details on the 99% Spring (including their recent national trainings and links to their tools.)  I also summarize media articles about the debate over whether the two movements are compatible. I believe they clearly are given that many of the same people and groups are involved with each.  Read on in order to learn how and why to get involved with future actions.

I attended the three-hour training session in Durham, NC on April 12, 2012 (and have reviewed the entire seven-hour workshop training guide.)   About 25 people were there – with only a few folks under 40.  The training was well-designed and well-received.   We gained important insights and skills – even from this abbreviated session.  To provide a context, during my 25 year tenure as Sociology Professor at North Carolina State University, I designed and conducted similar training sessions and produced companion documents and videos (e.g., team-building, social change, community organization, and watershed management.)  I also have written extensively about the Occupy movement since its beginning.  

Click below to learn how you can join this important initiative.

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Categories: Activism - Occupy, Economy | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Hippies Deserve Respect for their Values and Vision

The Occupy Movement owes much to the Hippie Movement of the sixties.  Now, the right wing has predictably started another round of “Hippie Bashing.”   The hippie subculture was a youth movement that began in the United States during the early 1960s and was largely gone by 1973.    The word hippie is from hipster (used to describe kids who flocked into San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district.  Hippies inherited the counter-cultural values of the Beat Generation.  They also created their own communities, listened to psychedelic rock, embraced the sexual revolution, and used drugs such as marijuana and LSD to explore alternative states of consciousness.  Above all, hippies were promoting the idea of peace, love, unity and freedom.

Hippie fashions and values had a major effect on culture, influencing popular music, television, film, literature, and the arts.  Since the 1960s, many aspects of hippie culture have been assimilated by mainstream society.  The religious and cultural diversity espoused by the hippies has gained widespread acceptance.  Their adoption of Eastern philosophy and spiritual concepts has now spread to a wide audience.  The hippie legacy can also be observed in contemporary culture from health food, to music festivals, to contemporary sexual mores, and the cyberspace revolution.  It is also clear that the well-established environmental movement owes a lot to the hippies (i.e., tree-huggers.)

This article includes recent reflections on the hippie movement in light of the occupy movement.  Original writings about the hippies from the sixties are also included.  This article includes quotes from Timothy Leary, Abbie Hoffman, Eldridge Cleaver and others. Finally, there are links to the best hippie videos on Youtube.   Click below to learn more about why the hippies are more important now than ever.

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Categories: Hippie Legacy | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Ted Rall’s Anti-American Manifesto Speaks Compelling Truth to Power

Ted Rall is among the most competent and confident voices in the new progressive movement emerging in America.  As a noted author and editorial cartoonist he produces smart and strident sarcasm aimed at waking people up.  His most recent book – entitled The Anti-American Manifesto – contains the rationale and strategy for taking back control of our country from the corporate-government regime that threatens to destroy our country and the world.  As more people experience relative deprivation they will become angrier and ready for revolution.

Ted Rall outlines the challenges and opportunities that progressives face as they try to change the corrupt and decaying capitalist system.  This BLOG post contains reviews and excerpts from this excellent book – along with interviews Ted has recently conducted .  You will also find two his most relevant syndicated columns.  I also have included some of his cool and creative cartoons – many more of each can be found on his website.   Click below to be enlightened, entertained and enraged!!

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Categories: Activism - Occupy | Tags: , , , , | 1 Comment

Jesus was a Community Organizer – Pontius Pilate was a Governor!!

During the Republicans’ wretched convention they launched a foolish attack against Barack Obama’s experience as a community organizer.  Response to these ignorant tirades has included reactions from those who have worked their whole lives to help the less advantaged – namely community organizers.  Why would the Republicans spend a whole night of their convention attacking ordinary people?  With the nation watching, the Republicans mocked, dismissed, and actually laughed out loud at Americans who engage in community service and organizing.

During my Ph.D. program in Rural Sociology I studied community development (organization).  During the past two decades I have worked with groups of farmers, citizens and others to organize their efforts to make improvements in environmental quality, economic development, and social justice.  These are clearly the types of efforts we need to give a higher priority if we really want to improve our nation and the world.  In this article I document the reaction to this attack on community organizers and explain the kinds of important work that they do.  It will also be clear why Barack’s experience as a community organizer will be the key to  success his of his GRASS ROOTS campaignin November.

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Categories: Prez Obama, Visionaries | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Why Barack is Best – Read His Own Words

Over the past year I have watched and recorded all of Barack Obama’s televised speeches and debates.  I am also reading his awesome book “The Audacity of Hope.”  Now I have collected some of his key quotes for your reading pleasure.  Truly he is the smartest and most eloquent person to run for president in my lifetime.  The quotes are organized into four main topical areas:  American Dream and Values; Change We Can Believe In; Politics and Policies; and Solutions Through Social Service.

Hope you find these gems to be informative, inspirational and influential.  He clearly understands what our country needs for the future.   Enjoy all the “bumper stickers” that I found on the Internet.  Truly there are as many positive reasons to vote for Obama-Biden as there are negative reasons to vote against McCain-Palin. Now that the Obama campaign is fighting back I will shift more of my writing to the positive changes we can expect under an Obama administration.  Truly his election represents the best and last HOPE we have to save our country and the planet.

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Categories: Prez Obama | Tags: , , , , , | 1 Comment

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