Organize Training Center

Blog: A SMALL "d" DEMOCRATIC REFLECTION ON HURRICANE IRMA "Trapped in the airport with nothing to do but deal with airlines and stress, and talk with others who were in the same boat as, you created a communitya group of people who shared intense and meaningful experiences, and who knew their interests were in some way connected with each other." http://www.organizetrainingcenter.org//a-small-d-democrati

Blog: DIVIDE AND CONQUER FROM BELOW "As long as these two groupswhite elites and white working classare treated as indistinguishable, there is little hope to divide themwhich is what people who want racial and economic justice have to do."

Blog: THINKING THROUGH "RESIST DEPORTATION": WHAT'S THE END GAME? "If we don’t have a direct shot at the corner pocket, is there a bank shot on the table? (Or, if you don’t know pool, are there other targets?) I think the possibility for those other targets lies in the private sector, in businesses or business associations that were public supporters or Trump, in general, and of his immigration policy, in particular.

MIKE'S 80TH BIRTHDAY EBOOK: Click on the link below to access Mike's 80th Birthday Ebook, which includes all the speeches from his birthday party (with special commentary by Mike), a list of party attendees, additional birthday wishes, recollections and tributes, a link to the birthday party photo gallery, and an appendix that will introduce you to the work of Robert Linthicum, one of Mike's "non-blood brothers."

Blog: A REVIEW OF FRED B. GLASS, "FROM MISSION TO MICROCHIP" Fred Glass does for this history what Taylor Branch did in his trilogy account of major portions of the civil rights movement, The King Years. From Mission to Microchip is filled with stories, analysis, history and data. It is a good and important story, well told.

Blog: TALKING WITH TRUMP VOTERS "There is a large, alienated white working class part of the electorate with whom progressives have no relationships. To rebuild those relationships is the pre-condition to turning these voters away from Trump’s politics."

Blog: THOUGHTS AND QUESTIONS ABOUT THE TIMES "Why haven't people taken the problems of white, working class people, males in particular, seriously for the past 50, or at least 40, years? Yes, I know about white privilege. But it's pretty hard to convince someone whose job has been shipped to some low-wage market, who sees on TV news (however erroneous it may be) what he believes is "everything is being done for women and minorities", that he's "privileged". And it's even hard...er to convince those who never had good union jobslike Appalachian whites where there is now a decline in life-span, and rampant drug and alcohol abuse, that they're privileged. Plus, unlike women, GLBTQ and racial/ethnic minorities, these "whites" had no social movement of which they could be a part so they would have a feeling of solidarity about their circumstance, as well as solidarity with others." See more

Blog: WHAT IT WILL TAKE TO AVOID THE #NEXTCIVILWAR "Van Jones' new Facebook video series aims to humanize political adversaries through in-person interactions. Jones said he was trying to prevent what he calls the #NextCivilWar by engaging with a family supporting Donald Trump in their living room." http://www.organizetrainingcenter.org//what-it-will-take-t

Blog: RESPONSE TO "TRUMP, BREXITTHE WEST IN CRISIS" "...the people who are now voting for the right as an expression of their powerlessness must claim power so that they can act on the best of their values and an understanding of their interests that evolves from the conversation that takes place in democratically constituted organizations."

Blog: ARAB SPRING (AND MORE) REVISITED "I share Achcar’s hope for 'a collective emancipatory and democratically pluralistic project that champions the image of the new society to which we aspire.' I caution against thinking demonstrations in Tahrir Square, the Capitol Mall, Tiananmen Square, Puerta del Sol Square or its counterparts throughout the world are sufficient to reach that goal. No, the organizing task is a more complicated one than that. Everyday people and their everyday institutions (unions, centers of worship, clubs, interest groups, sports teams and more) need to own the effort so completely that society cannot move forward without their aspirations being taken into account."

Blog: THE SHITTERS, SHITTEES AND SHITTED: A PARABLE "If 'the system' treats people like shit, they will feel like shit. If they feel like shit, they will treat other people like shit."... (http://www.organizetrainingcenter.org//the-shitters-shitte)

VIDEO: Community Organizer Genealogy Project

VIDEO: Talking about "People Power: The Community Organizing Tradition of Saul Alinsky."