Resist Newsletter, Nov-Dec 2011
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Trinity College Trinity College Digital Repository Resist Newsletters Resist Collection 12-31-2011 Resist Newsletter, Nov-Dec 2011 Resist Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/resistnewsletter Recommended Citation Resist, "Resist Newsletter, Nov-Dec 2011" (2011). Resist Newsletters. 385. https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/resistnewsletter/385 ISSN 0897-2613 • Vol. 20 #6 A CALL TO RESIST ILLEGITIMATE AUTHORITY November - December 2011 By Pam Baldwin we soon had over 2,000 "likes" on Facebook n September 17, Occupy Wall and showing up to vari Street began in New York City. ous events. O Ten days later, Tahirih Cahill, Transformational so mother of two young children here in cial change, what The Boise, Idaho and wife of one of my son's Interfaith Alliance of childhood friends, logged into Facebook, Idaho has been work set up a page, named it OccupyBoi, and ing toward for the past sent it to a dozen friends. 13 years, has been us Tahirih heard about Occupy Wall Street ing all the tried and (OWS) through a Wisconsin friend and true tools of organiz wondered why she heard nothing about ing: measuring progress something this big and exciting in the lo by expanding our base cal or national news. She decided to set of civically active folks up a meeting on Friday in her home. Her who understand what brother-in-law, Travis, connected with it means to be inclusive, students at Boise State. democratic and progres Overnight 600 people had signed on. sive. While OccupyBoi An organizer with Food Not Bombs/Snake might have started just River Alliance called, they reserved the a few months ago and band shell at Julia Davis Park, got together grown rapidly in that for four hours, and planned the agenda time, we know much for the meeting. We borrowed ideas from of its energy has been OWS and tapped into classic organizing built on the foundation tools such as the strategy chart from the of organizing. ;,... Midwest Academy. And suddenly we ~ were off and running. Base-building work continues losing all the civil rights and social prog- Folks showed up with blankets and In mid-September I had just finished ress folks have made over the last 60 years, chairs and we began plotting democ The Interfaith Alliance's fall newsletter. of the dismantling of democracy and of racy right then and there in the park. We The year has been filled with plenty of losing hope for a life that never existed. formed public education, direct action, activity as we all scurried around hoping Over the years we have traveled the media, legal, general assembly (GA) and to transform public policy for the common state and held dozens of workshops. We other committees. On October 5, we held good, which to us means a sane and bal have held vigils and rallies for human and a march and rally on the statehouse steps, anced fiscal policy, safe places for children civil rights. We organized local "Democ which despite the rain, out-shined events of all ages, human rights, fair employment racy Action Circles," hosted candidate in larger cities. practices, protecting the last vestiges of forums, organized get out the vote efforts Things grew quickly. One hundred our public education system, protecting and held fabulous annual gatherings with fifty people joined that first General As our First Amendment rights of freedom great speakers and trainers. sembly. Over 400 attended the October to worship as one wishes or not. The year continued on page 2 5 rally & march to the Capitol steps. And has also been filled with fear: the fears of From the Editor's Desk: From Occupations to Victories By Saif Rahman using old and new methods to build a base renew one another for the marathon ahead of support around issues of reproductive and imagine together the kind of world we ry,he end of the year is naturally a time justice in Wyoming . are working to create. .l to reflect, and 2011 has provided all As we acknowledge our inspirations of us in the US with much to ponder. As and victories, all of us at RESIST are also Saif Rahman is the incoming editor of the a movement we often focus on where we diving a bit deeper into the Occupy Wall RESIST Newsletter. might have fallen short, but at the heart of Street phenomenon. Many of our grantees this issue of the Newsletter are a few of our are successfully challenging the conven victories-and how victories come in dif tional narrative about the movement. We <.!JSQCIAL CHANG E~ ~ ;:o ferent shapes and sizes. have groups in land-locked states chal Cl ,,, What is ahead is unwritten, but what z :i lenging the notion that it is just "east coast ::> l> we do know is that the remarkable series liberals banging on drums" who comprise LJ.. z LL. J::l, of "Occupy'' gatherings sparked by New this movement. We have indigenous O 0 Cl) -< York's Occupy Wall Street has captivated groups pushing all of us to rethink the use the world. The more than 1,400 occupations of the the term "occupy." We have com ~ RESIST i > Cl) have brought together an unlikely group munities who have been working tirelessly 0 o of people-from urban youth to farm reminding us that this movement was not ~ .,, z Tl ers to unionized workers to retirees. The immaculately born on September 17 in <i: C ~ z common sense of outrage that permeates New York City, but that over the course of w 0 these meet-ups stems from the reckless and years a foundation was built by activists er - ~ 3 ~NVH::> 7'11::>0S ~ irresponsible behavior of bankers, brokers organizing in every state in this country, a and businesses in pursuit of ever higher foundation from which Occupy Wall Street For information and grant guidelines, write to: profits. As the 99% face job loss, foreclosure, was able to leap this fall. RESIST, 259 Elm Street, S_uite 201 student debt and a lack of health care, the As 2011 concludes and we enter a new Somerville, MA 02144 1% have not only gone unpunished for era for the progressive movement, Noam 617-623-5110 • [email protected] their misdeeds, but have strengthened their Chomsky, one of RESIST's founders, The RESIST Newsletter is published six times . grip on power. reminds all of us that this is a marathon, a year. Subscriptions are available free to And that's why we occupy and resist. not a sprint. prisoners and to individuals for a suggested All of us have probably participated in "If the bonds and associations that donation of $25/year. The views expressed in articles, other than editorials, are those of some way or another-by camping out are being established at these remarkable the authors and do not necessarily represent in a park, voicing our frustration with the events can be sustained through a long, the opinions of the RESIST staff or board. widening economic divide or by donating hard period ahead-because victories RESIST Staff: Robin Carton whatever we can in these tough economic don't come quickly-this could turn out Ravi Khanna times. to be a very significant moment in Ameri Yafreisy Mejia Saif Rahman In this issue, you'll hear from organiz can history," said Chomsky at an Occupy RESIST Board: ers (and RESIST grantees) making critical speech this past month. Cynthia Bargar Jim O'Brien connections between global and local peace May this issue of the Newsletter guide us Jennifer Bonardi Greg Pehrson and justice issues in Nebraska and activists as we celebrate our hard-earned victories, Miabi Chatterji Nelson Salazar Kay Mathew Carol Schachet Marc Miller Ragini Shah Occupy to sadly mourn the loss of those the system Becca Howes-Mischel Camilo Viveiros continued from page 1 deported from their families and our lives. We brought together 200 people from We shared our organizer to help start many diverse faiths for the "Healing Our RESIST Interns: Janette Chien the Idaho Interfaith Round Table Against· Future 9/11/2011" gathering. Shortly after, Nick Perricone Hunger, facilitated the formation of we launched "Building an Inclusive Inter RESIST Volunteer: Nancy Wechsler Guest Editor: Amy Grunder Interfaith Sanctuary Homeless/Housing faith Movement for Future Generations," Printing: Red Sun Press Services and nurtured leaders statewide a program that brought together elders Banner art: Bonnie Acker particularly our young adult activists in and young adults to discuss and plan how Printed on recycled paper with vegetable-based Ink • Pocatello. We have stood up and fought to strengthen the progressive interfaith valiantly to protect our undocumented movement in Idaho and to expand the ~ww.resistinc.org friends and neighbors, and we have had continued on page 3 o~- 2 RESIST Newsletter, November - December 2011 Occupy continued from page 2 intergenerational base and leadership. Movement interrupts And then it happened-in the midst of our busy schedules and continuing programs. As Naomi Klein put it in an article title, "Occupy Wall Street: The Most Important Thing in the World Now." I watched Occupy Idaho on Facebook as Occupy Idaho Falls, Sandpoint, Coeur d'Alene, Rexburg, Moscow, Pocatello, Sun Valley, Ketchum, Nampa began popping up. In Idaho Falls, the largest city in eastern Idaho but still a small one with a population of just over 50,000, organizers told of 150 people at their At Occupy gatherings around the country, participants have relied on "General Assemblies" rally, General Assembly meetings, com for direct democracy decision making. mittees formed. In smaller Pocatello, as in high _schools and 2Great4Hate when How will The Interfaith Alliance work in other towns, many of the folks joining the Aryans reappeared.