FREEDOM, NOW: The uses and misuses of the idea of freedom. (2/4/22)
BEYOND COOPTATION: Whenever activists make a case for major reform, they win soft converts, who immediately take the edge off the agenda. Can Climate Crisis activists avoid this greenwashing? (1/25/22)
SANCTUARY: The ages-old practice of using sacred spaces to protect people has found expression in Texas and California. (2/22/22)
IS SOCIAL JUSTICE HERESY? Catholic elites frame movements for social justice as heresy. (2/22)
‘ENTRAINMENT’: Gramsci used to tall it hegemony. Whatever. Schisms in activism involve those who want to play by the rules to realize their vision and those who say you need to break those rules. (1/25/22)
HOME RULES: BLM protesters sue over police attacks at demonstrations outside the L.A. mayor’s home. (1/12/22) Meanwhile, protests outside the Boston mayor’s home give some progressives pause. (1/12/22)
TILLICH AND SOCIALISM: The German theologian Paul Tillich’s existential faith offered dire warnings to activists: Avoid romanticism. (1/22)
ACTIVISM AS ART: If activism requires imagining a different way of organizing the world, then art is activism’s essential element. “It has become easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism,” Fredric Jameson has remarked. (1/13/22)
RESTORE AUTHORITY FOR POLICE FORCE? Cops in Portland seek to roll back a state law that restricts the use of force to control demonstrations. (1/6/22)
SPURS TO ACTION: Do people become activists when they learn about about their direct interests? Nope. “Political opinions are rooted in emotions and social relationships … not rational responses to the world.” (8/27/21)
GOOD AND BAD: What defines a good movement (it’s emancipatory) and what makes it successful (organizing, heavy participation, clear goals, leverage)? (3/16/21)
HOW DO MOVEMENTS HAPPEN? Start with a core group of activists, create a network to attract bystanders, develop leadership, and fight for a specific agenda. (1/23/21)