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Strategic Thinking and Organizing Resistance

Kim Scipes Green Social Thought
It’s time that we take a few minutes to think about how we want to proceed, because there is no way that I can see us sustaining this level of mobilization. We have to think strategically about what we want to do.

There Was No Such Thing as “Progressive Neoliberalism”

Johanna Brenner Dissent
On January 2, 2017 Portside posted "The End of Progressive Neoliberalism" by Nancy Fraser http://portside.org/2017-01-02/end-progressive-neoliberalism. Here is a reader response which call for a "critique of liberal multiculturalism and liberal feminism, while advancing a socialist-feminist, anti-racist, anti-capitalist vision. And let us try to leave behind the sectarian divisions that have hampered us and seize the opportunity to build a new left."

What Is a Country For?

Rebecca Gordon TomDispatch
Many of the folks I know are getting ready to play serious defense in 2017, and they’re not wrong. Before we take up our three-point stance on the national line of scrimmage, however, maybe we should ask ourselves not only what we’re fighting against, but what we’re fighting for. What kind of United States of America do we actually want? Maybe, in fact, we could start by asking: What is a country for? What should a country do?

Syria and the Left

Yusef Khalil & Yasser Munif Jacobin
The Syrian tragedy is a key moral and political question today. Yet it has not been easy for leftists around the world to decide where they stand on Syria.To illuminate the history and nature of the Syrian conflict, Yusef Khalil for Jacobin conducted an extensive interview with Yasser Munif, a Syrian scholar who studies grassroots movements in the country.

 American Radicals and the Change We Could Believe In

Eric Foner The Nation
The Obama era reminded us all that popular movements play an essential role as catalysts for political action. The enthusiasm generated by the Sanders campaign was a surprise, but it did not spring from the void. Any new radicalism needs to learn from the past, but not simply to reenact it. The new American radicalism must be open and multifaceted, speaking the language of American society but receptive to insights from an increasingly interconnected world.

books

Socialism in America

Harold Meyerson Dissent
The upsurge in interest in the ideas of Socialism also means a reassessment of its traditions. Jack Ross offers a new, ambitious attempt to come to terms with the history of the Socialist Party in the United States, an organization, and movement, whose story is one of this country's modern legends. In this review, Harold Meyerson, who, as he points out, was a part of this history, takes a look.

Bernie and the Movement

Bill Fletcher, Jr. Jacobin
Bernie Sanders is a boon to progressive politics. But we need a movement that rebuilds the networks and organizations of the Left.

LeftRoots: grassroots struggles. strategy for liberation.

LeftRoots LeftRoots
LeftRoots, an organization of Leftists engaged in mass organizing in the USA, is committed to developing individual and collective skills necessary to formulate, evaluate and carry out strategy to build 21st century socialism. Points of unity, organizing and study are integrated to strengthen efforts to challenge capitalism, imperialism, white supremacy hetero-patriarchy and create strategies for cultivating democratic, protagonist-lead and transform social movements.

Tidbits - July 11, 2013

Portside
Reader Comments: Citizens United; Zimmerman Trial; Egypt; Plane Wreck at Los Gatos("Deportee"); Elizabeth Warren; Capitalism & Austerity; Voting Rights Act; American Left; Progressive Patriotism & July 4th Songs; Fracking and Greens; Announcements - Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions - New York - Jul 24 - Jewish Voice for Peace; Left Labor Project - New York - Aug 1; Call for articles on building international labor solidarity - Working USA; Paid Internship Opportunity

What Would an American Left Look Like?

Van Gosse The Rag Blog
I propose that a consequential Left can only proceed as a project for reconstructing American democracy, root and branch. We are not finished with making this country a real democracy. We need to complete the process of Radical Reconstruction that began after the Civil War, and stalled until the Second Reconstruction of the mid-twentieth century.
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