It struck me this evening that there are no Leftist specialists on the Internet and the Internet’s influence on Left politics.  There are journalists that write stories about the Internet and politics.  There are Left and left-of-center blogs that discuss the influence of the Internet on politics.  There are books, such as Viral Spiral and […]

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There are about a dozen of us volunteers working with nearly 1500 local peace, justice and environmental organizations in 50 states. The Peace, Justice and Environment Project (PJEP), located at pjep.org, places in the hands of local activists, at no cost, the kinds of tools that larger organizations have access to. This includes such features […]

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From my sophomore to junior year in high school I went from selling fruitcake for my Boy Scout troop to selling buttons and bumper stickers for my anti-war group.  I grew up in a merchant family and looked at the world as an opportunity to sell things.  I didn’t exactly have the personality for it.  […]

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Jacqui Russell is the artistic director of Chicago Children’s Theater.  My good friend Arnold April mentioned to me the unique program that Jacqui manages at Agassiz Elementary School in Chicago, encouraged into existence by CAPE (Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education).  Arnold is CAPE’s creative director.
The program that Jacqui manages guides autistic children into more interactive […]

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In the United States, there have been three powerful democratization surges in the last 100 years.  Each featured an experience by participants of feeling part of something larger than themselves.  It continues to astonish me how the one we are experiencing now is almost invisible to folks I know.
In the 1930s, working people were provided […]

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At the end of this last August, Marcia and I attended a Jan Schakowsky town meeting at Niles High School.  There were almost 2,000 present.  Most of those folks were in the auditorium where the event was held, and many were outside holding signs and banners.  The focus was the proposed health care legislation.
Marcia meets […]

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As we are transitioning out of magazine presentations of Left or Progressive news, news analysis and societal observation and into Internet exhibition of similar content, it looks and feels like we have been presented with several paradoxes.  Paradoxes can seem to disappear once a transition is complete.  The old world view just seems quaint.  Nevertheless, […]

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The Peace, Justice & Environment Project (PJEP) has over 1,400 organizations participating in 40 online networks in 50 states.  A basic premise of the project is that by making available powerful online resources such as petitions, eletters, boycotts and online fundraising, it can allow small local organizations to have more choices when seeking to accomplish […]

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The Peace, Justice & Environment Project now covers 50 states serving over 1,400 organizations.  Our first fundraiser on July 4th was a success.  Where do we go from here?
I began working on this project over three-and-a-half years ago.  It started with my seeking a way to flip Moveon’s model by supplying local activists an ability […]

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The American Left, divided on many issues, maintains one deep division not often talked about.  Many in the American Left despise business.  Doing so, they alienate supporters, making it more difficult to accomplish goals.
In high school and in college, I harbored a deep prejudice against business.  I’m not talking about just corporations but small businesses […]

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Just after the Iran election, Twitter emerged as news.  It seemed not only to be able to share information about what was happening in Iran with folks following events around the world, but Twitter was also encouraging the ability of protesters to congregate spontaneously and keep each other informed of developments in real time.
I work […]

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As a member of the board of directors of the old and respected print publication In These Times (ITT), I have a front row seat observing media and social transformation.  As our society changes, so does its institutions.  In These Times, like many print businesses, is facing change.
Perhaps unique to this situation is that ITT […]

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It does not seem like a good idea to invest in that which you wish to see fail.  Such mixed feelings are not useful when it comes to money.
The American Left is filled with incongruities and the occasional hypocrisy that comprise any large movement or social group.  Made up of dozens of subgroups, the American […]

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Consider that those female children with low estrogen levels as they cross over into their teens may find themselves experiencing delayed puberty.  This may manifest delayed testosterone surges pruning cerebral synapses, resulting in more cerebral synapses and larger brains.  What exactly might be the relationship between low estrogen, low enough to delay puberty (particularly with […]

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Marcia got home late last night from an activist event and burst whooping into the bedroom where I was slipping from book to book.  I was reading Alinsky on organizing, Freud on the structure of humor, an Evo Devo text on Lamarckian evolution and a book on handedness.  I jumped, startled by her entry.
“We got […]

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Talking with Left activist and organizer friends, I would conclude that there seems little awareness of the deep structural societal changes underway.  Much of the Left expects more of the same.  In the 1960s, many of us had the experience of participating in a profound cultural transformation.  Most of the folks I know now don’t […]

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Approaching the sixth anniversary of the start of the Iraq War and the second anniversary of there being no Left mass action to protest the war, it is interesting to consider the United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ) conference last December.
At that UFPJ conference, there was surprisingly little rancor between those that sought mass action […]

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It may be a natural process for an organization to seek to control outcome by controlling process.  At a United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ) conference in December, I observed an attempt by the steering committee to establish permanent steering committee members based on the perceived constituency of nationally and regionally based member organizations.  The […]

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My experience of art is often the way I experience activism.  My goal is to engage and then let myself be guided.  This engenders trust of my unconscious and of the times.
In art it is often the case that I am the observer of what emerges from my fingers.  Theory formation, for me, is art.  […]

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Last December, workers from the Republic Windows and Doors factory on Chicago’s West Side staged a factory takeover when denied over one million dollars in benefits when the factory closed its doors.  This was the first union factory takeover in over fifty years, the beginning of an imminent reformation of American unions, an old song […]

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The Obama Administration seems to have a feel for part of what our society and our economy has to achieve when it seeks to fund a transition to a “Green” economy.  Decentralizing the electrical grid by creating a distribution infrastructure that encourages solar and wind offers economic health without greenhouse gas production.  Still, the Obama […]

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Consider that the American and world economy are beginning to work their way into a depression.  This is not too farfetched considering that in the blogs and mainstream media, the 1930s are becoming a common theme.  It is becoming conventional wisdom that we’re headed for depression.  Just as dust bowl winds destroyed our farmlands, this […]

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At a fairly fast clip, the American Left is splitting into pieces, in no small part due to a failure of imagination.
Two splits are happening at once.  First, to whatever degree African-Americans were integrated into the Left community, they have gone.  With the election of Obama, the Democratic Party has moved left in its willingness […]

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I am a web developer by profession, trained in fine arts.  My specialty in web design is creating websites and website features that enhance communication, eliminate barriers to cooperation, empowering individuals to accomplish social and political-change goals.  I work with more than 1,000 organizations across the United States, teaching leaders of organizations how to use […]

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Passion for exploring underlying presuppositions is useful when offering attention to how things work.
My father is a Republican.  His affiliation is based upon what he determines is best for him, personally.  Issues are not important in the context of his allegiance.  He views himself as a person with something to protect.  He estimates that Democrats […]

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