April 14, 2013
"These efforts sometimes become experiments in feeling one’s way into a new story — visually, dramatically, poetically, digitally and relationally — that often opens up options that didn’t seem to be there before."

— Ken Butigan at Waging Nonviolence. Peacemaking circles become a way of living on Chicago’s South Side

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Filed under: peacemaking community 
April 11, 2013
"Neoliberalism has always been wracked by a central paradox. It declares that economic imperatives are to take priority over all others. Politics itself is just a matter of creating the conditions for growing the economy by allowing the magic of the marketplace to do its work. All other hopes and dreams—of equality, of security—are to be sacrificed for the primary goal of economic productivity."

—

David Graeber at The Baffler. A Practical Utopian’s Guide to the Coming Collapse

The Democracy Project (Book)

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Filed under: democracy community politics 
April 11, 2013
"The measure of the health of the communities in which you will be leaders is measured in our ability to stand in awe at the burdens the poor have to carry, rather than stand in judgement at how they carry it. The measure of your compassion lies not in your service of those on the margins but in your willingness to see yourself in kinship with them."

— Greg Boyle quoted in an article by Michael Carney at Pando Daily. A lot of companies claim to change the world. Homeboy Industries actually does

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Filed under: social enterprise jobs community 
February 26, 2013
"We’re a world at war, ravaged by disagreements, a bizarrely globalized people in which the extravagant excesses of one culture wash up as famine or flood on the shores of another. Even the architecture of our planet is collapsing under the weight of our efficient productivity. Our climate, our oceans, migratory paths, things we believed were independent of human affairs."

— Barbara Kingsolver at Daily Good (Original at Duke Today). 2008 Commencement Address by Barbara Kingsolver

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Filed under: community global climate change ethics 
February 15, 2013
"Tullis had also written that “from as far back as Baliga can remember, she was sexually abused by her father.” As a teen, she was dyeing her hair and cutting herself. Later, while studying at Harvard, she wanted to become a prosecutor and lock up child molesters. During a visit to India, she got a chance to meet the Dalai Lama, from whom she sought advice about how she could go on with her work on the behalf of the oppressed without having anger as her motivating force. The Dalai Lama advised Baliga to meditate and then asked her to align herself with the enemy. Baliga wasn’t prepared to follow the second part of his advice, but after checking into a meditation course she found herself freed from rage and a desire for revenge."

— Amitava Kumar at The Caravan. The Restoration Of Faith Striving for a broader understanding of retribution

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Filed under: restorative justice community dialog justice 
January 25, 2013
"Community organizing is usually done face to face. You talk to people, find out where they’re getting stuck, what their gripes are. Community organizing the whole nation is a real challenge. And Congress, although nominally an instrument of the people, also responds to monied interests that may not represent the people. Obama needed a two-pronged strategy: convince voters that they needed to become more active and turn Congress toward the voters"

—

Cheryl Rofer at The Agonist. Barack Obama: Community Organizer

This is a good essay and an example of how good political blogs can be. Rofer responded in the comments of the piece. And a commenter, jo6pac, pointed to a post at Naked Capitalism. That post includes a speech Robert Fitch made just after Obama won the 2008 election embedded from Scribd. I don’t know that the comment thread will go anywhere, but the links are relevant.

But I do believe that if we want to disrupt the pattern of the past we have to make some distinctions: between the change they believe in and the change we believe in; between our interests and theirs;    between a notion of community that scapegoats the poor and one that respects their human rights—one of which is not to be the object of ethnic cleaning. Between Hope VI and genuine human hope.

Robert Fitch :The Change They Believe In Speech for Harlem Tenants Association, November 14, 2008

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Filed under: politics Obama community community organizing strategy 
January 3, 2013
"[M]ovements are embedding themselves deeper into society. Instead of jumping from issue to issue or rising up only to sink back down, they are building solidarity. They’re organising for a longer struggle, finding ways to create spaces for debate within a broader commitment to collective, egalitarian solutions."

— Jodi Dean in The Guardian. Occupy and UK Uncut: the evolution of activism

The challenge these movements face is how to grow without becoming instruments of the systems they contest

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Filed under: activism politics community 
August 22, 2012
"

Fortunately, a collapse like this is something that we can bounce back from quickly? How?

By becoming resilient in our personal lives. By learning how to make our own jobs. By becoming healthy and fit and helping others to do the same. By turning our homes into productive assets that reduce our expenses and increase our incomes. By connecting with our families and neighbors to build resilient communities and dynamic local economies. By producing most of the food, water, energy, and products we need locally. By learning to sell and trade artisanal products and services we make locally, to the world.

"

— John Robb at Resilient Communities. Here’s What You Need to Know About the Collapse of Greece

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Filed under: collapse depression resilience community 
August 20, 2012
A Day in the Life of Biblioteca Popular Victor Martinez (People’s Library), August 13th, 2012, East Oakland post by Aaron Bady at The New Inquiry. Photos by and courtesy of Andrew Kenower. Jamie Omar Yassin posted Update on the People’s Library in Fruitvale at Hyphenated-Republic.

A Day in the Life of Biblioteca Popular Victor Martinez (People’s Library), August 13th, 2012, East Oakland post by Aaron Bady at The New Inquiry. Photos by and courtesy of Andrew Kenower.

Jamie Omar Yassin posted Update on the People’s Library in Fruitvale at Hyphenated-Republic.

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Filed under: occupy occupy wall st books community police 
June 24, 2012
"The future of humanity - how we live, work and thrive as a species - lies not with civilizations, but with communities."

— Keith Farnish at Club Orlov. Disaster Communalism

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Filed under: community resilience 
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