#grassroots movements

[wachinyeya]

How one neighborhood in Colombia is tackling climate change at the community level https://one.npr.org/i/1228839451:1228839452

In Colombia's second-largest city, rainy season floods and dry season fires are now a fact of life. As reporter Jorge Valencia found, local residents are grappling with those and other effects of climate change by taking matters into their own hands.

#climate change #climate solutions #columbia #community organizing #clean water #water treatment #dignity #good news #science #environmentalism #grassroots movements #indigenous people #community activism

[thepeopleinpower]

-> available in the app store

-> available in the play store

#free palestine #anti genocide #free gaza #palestine will be free #occupied palestine #boycott for palestine #boycott divest sanction #boycott israel #boycott disney #boycott starbucks #divestment #intersectional activism #grassroots movements #grassroots activism #gaza genocide #jews for palestine #i stand with palestine

[worldwatcher3072]

"We The People" Are Supposed To Have The Power, But Do We Really?

As Americans, we are taught from a young age that we live in a democracy where "we the people" have the power to elect our leaders and shape the policies that govern our lives. But recent events have raised questions about whether that power truly resides with the people or if it has been usurped by wealthy interests and political elites.

The rise of Super PACs and dark money in politics has allowed corporations and wealthy donors to wield enormous influence over our elected officials and the policy decisions they make. The Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court in 2010 opened the floodgates for unlimited corporate spending in our elections, effectively giving corporations the same rights as individual citizens when it comes to political speech.

As a result, we have seen the rise of a political class that is more responsive to the interests of big donors than to the needs of ordinary citizens. This has fueled widespread cynicism and distrust in our political system, as many people feel like their voices are not being heard and their votes do not matter.

But there are signs of hope. Grassroots movements like Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, and the Women's March have mobilized millions of people to demand change and hold our leaders accountable. These movements have demonstrated the power of ordinary citizens to effect change and challenge the status quo.

The upcoming elections will be a test of whether the power truly resides with the people or if it has been completely captured by special interests. We must continue to demand transparency, accountability, and a level playing field for all citizens in our democracy. Only then can we truly say that we the people have the power to shape our collective future.

#Democracy #Political power #Citizens United #Super PACs #Dark money #Grassroots movements #Special interests #Political accountability #Public trust #Election integrity

[felixwylde]

What's better to admire than money?

I mean, why money? Money’s just a symbol of power; it’s not the power itself. We kinda rely on it, but we’re still around even when we’re broke.The weird thing about money worship is that it’s not really about what you can buy; it’s treated like some sort of deity.If money were a god, what would it offer? Would it give us fame, fortune, happiness, or just some peace of mind?Are rich folks…

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#citizen empowerment #collective well-being #community support #cooperative economics #democratic socialism #economic equality #education access #environmental sustainability #equitable distribution #equitable opportunities #fairness #government intervention #grassroots movements #inclusive policies #income equity #people&039;s power #progressive taxation #progressive values #public welfare #social justice #social reforms #social safety nets #solidarity #universal healthcare #wealth gap reduction #wealth redistribution #wealth sharing #wealth taxation #worker&039;s rights

[acehpungo]

Empowering Citizen Engagement: The Importance of Active Participation in Politics

Phasellus vel ante mi. Aliquam sit amet velit tortor. Fusce efficitur diam sit amet mauris consequat, vel vestibulum est gravida. Praesent lacinia velit nec arcu aliquam euismod at at dolor. Vivamus efficitur pellentesque nulla et vestibulum. Praesent at luctus nulla, eget convallis nunc. Mauris a dolor dictum, sagittis elit non, hendrerit felis. In non pharetra risus. Proin tincidunt felis et…

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#Civic Responsibility #Democratic Process #Grassroots Movements

[dominozee]

True American History

The Battle of Athens, Tennessee, also known as the McMinn County War, was a political and social conflict that occurred on August 1-2, 1946. The event was a result of widespread corruption and voter intimidation during the 1946 elections in McMinn County, which resulted in a military-style rebellion by local World War II veterans against the local government. Background: In the early 20th…

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#Battle of Athens #Civil rights #Democracy #Grassroots movements #McMinn County War #Political corruption #Tennessee history #Voter fraud #Voting rights

[rhiannonforall]

#Outreach teams #Grassroots movements #Compassion #Mental health and help instead of police #this works #CBC News

[humanerrers]

with all the breath in my body, with all the hope in my heart, with all the resilience in my spirit

i am standing with them from across the ocean

may they mold this future into being

#i/p #on creating change and not just outrage #on creating change and not just despair #on creating change and not just reactionary defensiveness #standing together is a grassroots movement in i/p working to create the political will for a just future #in this unimaginably dark moment #I am sending them light AND MONEY

[etz-ashashiyot]

Friendly reminder that A Land for All is an excellent organization that is still, even now, working to create an equitable resolution to the conflict. Please check them out:

I also strongly recommend reading through their full proposal here.

#i/p #המצב™️ #jumblr #tbh anyone looking for my ''real stance'' (thanks to that anon for that one 🙄) needn't look further than this #it's led by Israelis and Palestinians who are - may I remind you - the ones currently in danger and who have to live with any solution #and personally nothing I or anyone else in the diaspora can come up with will be better than localized grassroots movements #so I prefer to cede the floor to the people with the rockets actually pointed at them 👍 #this also has joint leadership and joint buy-in #and enjoys support from both left and right sides of the political spectrum #which means there's *real* buy-in #I'm sure there will be bumps and rough spots and things that need to be figured out over time #but IY“H Inshallah we will see the day this cooperation wins out

[vibinwiththefrogs]

I would really like somehow someway to put my education in agriculture towards a social movement -- in food sovereignty and sustainable systems, and things like that. But honestly I have no clue how to do so. Where I am agriculture is very dominated by more privileged white farmers that can afford technological and chemical solutions to problems, and so conventional ag is the dominant system. Everything I've read thus far makes it sound like the only way to influence that group of people is to establish a farm myself and have them come around eventually by proving I'm not insane (and proving that I make a profit), which would require personal capital that I simply don't have and couldn't get for years (if even, in this economy). There is a city nearby but it doesn't have an urban agriculture movement like a lot of major cities do, as far as I'm aware at least.

Idk, I've been spending a lot of time frustrated at the existing possibilities of what I can do where I am with my degree, that maybe I haven't been thinking and learning outside the box enough. I think I'm going to move towards learning more about grassroots movements and organizations and being a good community member. I feel that might reveal a door I can't see right now.

#rambling #if anyone has resources on community building and grassroots movements i would love u so much #but I'm going to look around myself as well #agriculture #agroecology #food sovereignty #it doesn't help that I'm an introvert but I'm determined to wedge myself in somewhere

[dailyanarchistposts]

#riot #small farms #solarpunk #small farm movement #community building #practical anarchy #practical anarchism #anarchist society #practical #revolution #anarchism #daily posts #communism #anti capitalist #anti capitalism #late stage capitalism #organization #grassroots #grass roots #anarchists #libraries #leftism #social issues #economy #economics #climate change #climate crisis #climate #ecology #anarchy works

[andromedasummer]

can one of you f1 girlies become a journalist and interview the drivers who refused to take a knee because they wanted to fight racism in a different way/disagreed with how blm went about seeking justice and ask them, now that nearly 3 years have passed since the may protests, what steps they've taken to educate themselves on racism? what actions they've taken to improve things for people of colour within formula one/motorsports as a whole? or how they've gone about promoting racial equity in their own country?

#f1 #formula one #its been long enough surely they must have made some headway? right? (: ? #no those dumb fucking black and white anti racism videos dont count because their vagueness allowed #for them to be co-opted by white people who believe racism exists and that the whole of blm/equality movements are racist to them #from what ive seen literally only lewis has taken action to set up foundations and research groups focusing #on improving racial diversity at both grassroots and professional levels #others have given lip service but genuinely if another driver has been helpful in fighting racism in motorsports do mention #it would be a very very pleasant surprise #because the whole we race as one movement was very much image control #it was always going to be down to lewis and the other poc in the sport like zhou or yuki to fight against the unique and #insidious racism they face in the sport. ultimately the others won't because while racism is a problem they have #and causes problems for others. they see it as a problem they're not responsible for solving #and im sure most of them genuinely truly dont think theyre racist. dont know how their actions can enforce racism #but lewis has stood there and explained over and over again both behind closed doors and tv screens #and at a certain point that continued refusal to listen or engage becomes active and malicious ignorance #and that makes you racist. whether they believe that of themselves or not.

[praxis-newsletter]

Please share far and wide.

#Gaza #Palestine #Evacuation #Operation Olive Branch 🫒 #Operation Olive Branch #Grassroots #Grassroots Movement #Movement #Movements #Activism #Resource #Mutual aid #Current events #Palestinian genocide

[alwaysbewoke]

#ella josephine baker #ella baker #civil rights activist #human rights advocate #grassroots organizing #leadership philosophy #mentorship #student nonviolent coordinating committee (sncc) #w. e. b. du bois #thurgood marshall #a. philip randolph #martin luther king jr. #diane nash #stokely carmichael #bob moses #radical democracy #social justice #racial equality #gender equality #civil rights movement

[eelhound]

"When [Kshama] Sawant was elected on the promise of passing a $15 minimum wage, every other member of the [Seattle] City Council opposed it. Instead of writing a polite letter to her colleagues pleading with them to support it and then giving up when that failed, Sawant and Socialist Alternative created a campaign called 15 Now:

15 Now set up 11 action groups in neighborhoods across the city mobilizing in the streets and at public forums. [They] organized multiple rallies and marches of hundreds of people in Seattle, a National Week of Action in over 21 cities, and a major presence at both the annual Martin Luther King Day march and May Day march. … Critically, through the action groups and democratic conferences, 15 Now offered activists the opportunity to have ownership over the fight for $15.

Essentially, 'Sawant used her position as a city councilmember and the big media spotlight on her to build a powerful grassroots movement from below.' It was this grassroots mass mobilization — and its credible threat of a ballot initiative that would have passed an even more progressive minimum wage law — that led the Seattle City Council to reverse its opposition and pass the $15 minimum wage, the first of its kind in any major U.S. city, which quickly spread to other cities and even states and changed the national debate. The D.C. progressives, therefore, have Kshama Sawant and her mobilizing, fighting approach to thank for the $15 minimum wage being on the national agenda.

The second major accomplishment of Sawant’s tenure is the Amazon Tax — a tax on the wealthiest businesses in Seattle to fund affordable housing and Green New Deal projects. Two years after a grassroots campaign spearheaded by Sawant won the tax, big business succeeded in getting the City Council to repeal it. Instead of conceding defeat:

Sawant convened a series of Tax Amazon Action Conferences … where hundreds of activists discussed, debated, and voted on a strategy and the elements of a new proposal. … As the drive approached the signature threshold to get on the ballot, and with hundreds of activists flooding city council offices with emails, phone calls, and public testimony, and with the Amazon tax demand being echoed in the street protests, the political establishment felt compelled to advance its own Amazon tax.

The result was an Amazon Tax four times as large as the one that was repealed...

There are two interconnected and mutually reinforcing reasons that Sawant has been tremendously effective where D.C. progressives have failed — her fighting approach and her deep connection and accountability to grassroots organizing.

Her fighting approach includes the critical understanding that elected office is not a friendly arena where progressives can privately convince corporate politicians to do the right thing, but a battlefield of raw power where the Democratic establishment is an enemy that must be forced into giving concessions. Sawant is able to maintain this radical, fighting approach without being politically marginalized because she comes out of, remains accountable to, and is in consistent dialogue with grassroots social movements. The decisions made in the fights for the Amazon Tax or the $15 minimum wage were not made by Sawant herself but were voted on at action conferences where anyone from Sawant to a new volunteer had an equal say. In fact, Sawant never simply decided to run for office, but only did so reluctantly when, as a member of Socialist Alternative, the organization democratically decided that she should be the candidate they run.

Among other leftist lawmakers who have been able to effect progressive change despite being in the minority, close ties and accountability to grassroots movements have been key. In discussing how he has been able to pass over a dozen of his own bills and help make Illinois the first state in the country to abolish cash bail, democratic socialist and Illinois State Senator Robert Peters explained:

I try to tie myself to the movement as much as possible because I am the conduit for their organized power and governing position. And they are the conduit for me being able to govern the way I want to. And if those are tied together, it makes it easier to get things done under the dome. … I believe that my office should be a conduit for organizing, for movement spaces. So basically opening it up, whether it’s mutual aid efforts on the South Side, it’s hosting meetings, it’s being part of meetings. And sometimes when I’m not able to get something done, being held accountable. I try to make sure that I’m tied as much as possible. And I will ask. When we passed the bill … I was talking to the coalition about negotiations on this bill. I said 'They’re trying to do this in the bill, and I need to know: how far am I allowed to go?'… I remember saying to my colleague on the floor … 'My people won’t let me go any further. That’s it. I can’t negotiate any further.' We’re not as weak as people think.

- Jordan Bollag, from "The Left Is Losing Because We’re Not Confrontational Enough." Current Affairs, 20 May 2022.

#jordan bollag #quote #quotations #american politics #governing #political organizing #grassroots organizing #democratic socialism #leftism #progressivism #social movements #kshama sawant #robert peters #activism #$15 minimum wage #labor movement #neoliberalism #democratic party #capitalism #realpolitik

[dotshaft]

This is pretty indicative of the general sentiment in the notes of that post.

Congrats you've got the same take as anti-vaxxers

#the scientists are corrupt only me and my grassroots movement know the REAL science