After reading of actions at UC Berkeley to prevent a speaker from addressing a meeting, and disrupting a dean’s backyard party, as a veteran of the Free Speech Movement, the first thing that comes to my mind is "What was the goal of the protest?"
The role of strategy in making social movements and organizations more effective, and who creates it, are the urgent questions four authors explore in three new books. Their answers will surprise you, as they surprised me.
The people-power, energy, and savvy exist to regain the initiative against MAGA and win a ceasefire in Gaza. To do so, we will need to call on positive vision, political clarity, narrative power—and courage.
A time to try the soul of humanity
Recent victories of today's progressive social movements show us real change is possible if we use smart, rigorous strategies. The right has known this for years. It's past time we catch up.
For the US there is much to learn from the Chilean experience about relationships between left government, movements, and popular protagonism and the importance of political clarity, socialist strategy and organization.
How unions can fight back.
Two key questions confront labor: should unions focus on organizing workers with major strategic leverage in the economy? Or should they welcome any workers willing to fight, since that organizing can constitute a major catalyst for other workers?
Resolving the conflict between being visionary and being pragmatic is critical for those who want to transform society. Can we be both visionary and strategic?
DSA’s six-year growth spurt has fundamentally changed the organization. To resolve the deep issues it faces, it needs to meet the organizational challenges this change poses.
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