Best of
Activism

2005

¡Sí, Se Puede! / Yes, We Can!: Janitor Strike in L.A.


Diana Cohn - 2005
    It tells about Carlitos, whose mother is a janitor. Every night, he sleeps while his mother cleans in one of the skyscrapers in downtown L.A. When she comes home, she waves Carlitos off to school before she goes to sleep. One night, his mamá explains that she can’t make enough money to support him and his abuelita the way they need unless she makes more money as a janitor. She and the other janitors have decided to go on strike.How will Carlitos support his mother? Carlitos wants to help but he cannot think of a way until his teacher, Miss Lopez, explains in class how her own grandfather had fought for better wages for farmworkers when he first came to the United States. He and the other children in his class join the marchers with a very special sign for his mom!¡Sí, Se Puede! is a Jane Addams Peace Award Honor Book, a Skipping Stones Honor Book, as well as a selection for The Best of Beyond Difference, a recommended list of the top 10 diversity books published in 2002.Diana Cohn, the author, is a social activist. As an elementary teacher, she discovered there were few books for children that discussed social issues, so she began to write as an avocation. She now works as Program Director for the Solidago Foundation, a foundation that supports communities working for economic and environmental justice. She lives on a houseboat in Sausalito, California.Francisco Delgado, the illustrator, grew up in Juárez, Chihuahua, but completed high school in El Paso, Texas. He will -receive his MFA at Yale in Painting, Drawing, and Printmaking in May 2002. Francisco is becoming known nationally for his political paintings that satirize U.S. icons blind to the mestizo and immigrant communities of Mexico. He lives in New Haven, Connecticut. Luis J. Rodriguez (Always Running) adds the afterword and a poem.

Recovering the Sacred: The Power of Naming and Claiming


Winona LaDuke - 2005
    For LaDuke, only the power to define what is sacred—and access it—will enable Native American communities to remember who they are and fashion their future.Using a wealth of Native American research and hundreds of interviews with indigenous scholars and activists, LaDuke examines the connections between sacred objects and the sacred bodies of her people—past, present and future—focusing more closely on the conditions under which traditional beliefs can best be practiced. Describing the plentiful gaps between mainstream and indigenous thinking, she probes the paradoxes that abound for the native people of the Americas. How, for instance, can the indigenous imperative to honor the Great Salt Mother be carried out when mining threatens not only access to Nevada’s Great Salt Lake but the health of the lake water itself? While Congress has belatedly moved to protect most Native American religious expression, it has failed to protect the places and natural resources integral to the ceremonies.Federal laws have achieved neither repatriation of Native remains nor protection of sacred sites, and may have even less power to confront the more insidious aspects of cultural theft, such as the parading of costumed mascots. But what of political marginalization? How can the government fund gene mapping while governmental neglect causes extreme poverty, thus blocking access to basic healthcare for most tribal members? Calling as ever on her lyrical sensibility and caustic wit, moving from the popular to the politic, from the sacred to the profane, LaDuke uses these essays not just to indict the current situation, but to point out a way forward for Native Americans and their allies.

Speak Peace in a World of Conflict: What You Say Next Will Change Your World


Marshall B. Rosenberg - 2005
    International peacemaker, mediator and healer, Dr. Marshall B. Rosenberg shows you how the language you use is the key to enriching life. Take the first step to reduce violence, heal pain, resolve conflicts and spread peace on our planet – by developing an internal consciousness of peace rooted in the language you use each day.Speak Peace is filled with inspiring stories, lessons and ideas drawn from over 40 years of mediating conflicts and healing relationships in some of the most war torn, impoverished, and violent corners of the world. Speak Peace offers insight, practical skills, and powerful tools that will profoundly change your relationships and the course of your life for the better.Bestselling author of the internationally acclaimed, Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life. Discover how you can create an internal consciousness of peace as the first step toward effective personal, professional, and social change. Find complete chapters on the mechanics of Nonviolent Communication, effective conflict resolution, transforming business culture, transforming enemy images, addressing terrorism, transforming authoritarian structures, expressing and receiving gratitude, and social change.

Basic Call to Consciouness


Akwesasne Notes - 2005
    Contributions by Chief Oren Lyons, John Mohawk, and Jos� Barreiro document the struggle for self-determination and a new era of possibility for Native nations. Position papers, including "The Haudenosaunee Address to the Western World," present an insightful view of spiritual traditions going back thousands of years. A valuable historical, sociological, religious, and anthropological resource for college classes. Includes expanded end notes, index, and bibliography section. In a compelling and impassioned voice, Basic Call to Consciousness speaks for the basic rights of humankind and all our relations. Photos. Illustrations.

Heartbeat of Struggle: The Revolutionary Life of Yuri Kochiyama


Diane C. Fujino - 2005
    Heartbeat of Struggle is the first biography of this courageous woman, the most prominent Asian American activist to emerge during the 1960s. Based on extensive archival research and interviews with Kochiyama's family, friends, and the subject herself, Diane C. Fujino traces Kochiyama's life from an "all-American" childhood to her achievements as a tireless defender of - and fighter for - human rights. Raised by a Japanese immigrant family in California during the 1920s and 1930s, Kochiyama was active in sports, school, and church. She was both unquestioningly patriotic and largely unconscious of race and racism in the United States. After Pearl Harbor, however, Kochiyama's family was among the thousands of Japanese Americans forcibly removed to internment camps for the duration of the war, a traumatic experience that opened her eyes to the existence of social injustice. After the war, Kochiyama moved to New York. It was in the context of the vibrant Black movement in Harlem in the 1960s that she began her activist career. There, she met Malcolm X, who inspired her radical political development and the ensuing four decades of incessant work for Black liberation, Asian American equality, Puerto Rican independence, and political prisoner defense. Kochiyama is widely respected for her work in forging unity among diverse communities, especially between Asian and African Americans. Fujino, a scholar and activist, offers an in-depth examination of Kochiyama's political awakening, rich life, and impressive achievements with particular attention to how her public role so often defied gender, racial, and cultural norms. Heartbeat of Struggle is a source of inspiration and guidance for anyone committed to social change.

Walking on Water: Reading, Writing, and Revolution


Derrick Jensen - 2005
    Why is that? What happens to creativity and individuality as we pass through the educational system?Walking on Water is a startling and provocative look at teaching, writing, creativity, and life by a writer increasingly recognized for his passionate and articulate critique of modern civilization. This time Derrick Jensen brings us into his classroom--whether college or maximum security prison--where he teaches writing. He reveals how schools perpetuate the great illusion that happiness lies outside of ourselves and that learning to please and submit to those in power makes us into lifelong clock-watchers. As a writing teacher Jensen guides his students out of the confines of traditional education to find their own voices, freedom, and creativity.Jensen's great gift as a teacher and writer is to bring us fully alive at the same moment he is making us confront our losses and count our defeats. It is at the center of Walking on Water, a book that is not only a hard-hitting and sometimes scathing critique of our current educational system and not only a hands-on method for learning how to write, but, like Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way, a lesson on how to connect to the core of our creative selves, to the miracle of waking up and arriving breathless (but with dry feet) on the far shore.

Terry Fox: A Story of Hope


Maxine Trottier - 2005
    Many young Canadians may have heard of Terry Fox, but don’t know the whole story. With more school children than ever participating in the annual Terry Fox Run, this is the perfect tool for teachers and parents to talk about the legacy and life of one of Canada’s greatest heros. Dozens of colour photographs and simple text combine to tell Terry Fox’s story-from his early years as a boy who grew up loving sports and determined to fi nish what he started, through his treatment for cancer and the loss of his leg, to his historic run to raise money for cancer research. His story continues to inspire millions of people around the world, and the foundation carrying his name raises millions of dollars every year. The author’s royalties and a matching donation from Scholastic will go to the Terry Fox Foundation.

Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad


Michael Martin - 2005
    Written in graphic-novel format.

Making the Most of Shade: How to Plan, Plant, and Grow a Fabulous Garden That Lightens Up the Shadows


Larry Hodgson - 2005
    But how do you get plants to grow in a spot where trees and shrubs hide the sun? In this stunning volume, garden expert Larry Hodgson shows how to create a lush and lovely garden filled with plants that will flourish in the shade.The first part covers the basics of shade gardening, including planning, planting, and problem-solving. Here readers will find out how to use shade-tolerant grasses and groundcovers for the root-filled areas under trees; discover solutions for dry shade and heavy needle and leaf drop; and learn what to do if a tree should fall and a shade garden is suddenly thrust back in the sun. The second part is devoted to an encyclopedia of shade-loving plants.Complete with expert designs for five different kinds of shaded gardens, Making the Most of Shade is a splendid new gardening title by the popular author of Perennials for Every Purpose, which Susan McClure, author of Easy-Care Perennial Gardens, called "a treasure . . . the next best thing to having a friendly expert whispering in your ear as you plan, plant, and perfect your perennial garden."

Other Lands Have Dreams: Letters From Pekin Prison


Kathy Kelly - 2005
    While in prison, Kelly’s organization, Voices in the Wilderness, was targeted by a US State Department lawsuit charging that Kelly violated US-imposed sanctions when she took humanitarian aid to Iraq during numerous visits over the last five years.In this fiercely eloquent book, Kelly recounts such trips to Iraq, tells the largely unknown story of the School of the Americas and describes daily life inside a federal prison, where America’s poor are warehoused. Like Martin Luther King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail, Kelly’s powerful narrative gives voice to the unheard millions suffering at home and abroad.

A Troublemaker's Handbook 2: How to Fight Back Where You Work--and Win!


Jane Slaughter - 2005
    

Research As Resistance: Critical, Indigenous And Anti Oppressive Approaches


Leslie Brown - 2005
    It is a work that will have a place in the classroom, as well as on the desks of researchers in agencies, governments, and private consulting practices. The first section of the book is devoted to the ontological and epistemological considerations involved in such research, including theorising the self of the researcher. The second section of the book offers exemplars across a range of methodologies, including institutional ethnography, narrative autobiography, storytelling and indigenous research, and participatory action research. 'Research as Resistance' is unique in that it describes both theoretical foundations and practical applications, and because all of the featured researchers occupy marginalised locations.

The Skilled Facilitator Fieldbook: Tips, Tools, and Tested Methods for Consultants, Facilitators, Managers, Trainers, and Coaches


Roger Schwarz - 2005
    TheSkilled Facilitator Fieldbook is the next-step resourcethat offers consultants, facilitators, managers, leaders, trainers, coaches, and anyone that works within the field of facilitation, the tools, exercises, models, and stories that will help themdevelop sound responses to a wide range of challenging situations.The book spans the full scope of the successful SkilledFacilitator approach and includes information on how to getstarted and guidance for integrating the approach within existingorganizational structures and processes.

The New Abolitionists: (Neo)Slave Narratives and Contemporary Prison Writings


Joy JamesTiyo Attallah Salah-El - 2005
    Written by Native American, African American, Latino, Asian, and European American prisoners, the book examines captivity and democracy, the racial "other," gender and violence, and the stigma of a suspect humanity. Contributors include those incarcerated for social and political acts, such as conscientious objection, antiwar activism, black liberation, and gang activities. Among those interviewed are Philip Berrigan, Marilyn Buck, Angela Y. Davis, George Jackson, and Laura Whitehorn.

Domestic Violence at the Margins: Readings on Race, Class, Gender, and Culture


Natalie J. SokoloffKathryn Laughon - 2005
    Campbell, Anna D. Wolf Chair, Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing"An exciting and powerful collection that eloquently critiques some of the current thinking in domestic violence and raises key concerns for advocates and scholars working in the area."—Sujata Warrier, president, board of directors, Manavi: An organization for South Asian women"Sokoloff has assembled an impressive array of authors who challenge us to ‘think outside of our contemporary domestic violence box.’"—Angela M. Moore Parmley, chief, violence and victimization research division, National Institute of JusticeThis groundbreaking anthology reorients the field of domestic violence research by bringing long-overdue attention to the structural forms of oppression in communities marginalized by race, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, or social class.Reprints of the most influential recent work in the field as well as more than a dozen newly commissioned essays explore theoretical issues, current research, service provision, and activism among Latinos, African Americans, Asian Americans, Jewish Americans, and lesbians. The volume rejects simplistic analyses of the role of culture in domestic violence by elucidating the support systems available to battered women within different cultures, while at the same time addressing the distinct problems generated by that culture. Together, the essays pose a compelling challenge to stereotypical images of battered women that are racist, homophobic, and xenophobic.The most up-to-date and comprehensive picture of domestic violence available, this anthology is an essential text for courses in sociology, criminology, social work, and women’s studies. Beyond the classroom, it provides critical information and resources for professionals working in domestic violence services, advocacy, social work, and law enforcement.

Living for the Revolution: Black Feminist Organizations, 1968-1980


Kimberly Springer - 2005
    Through original oral history interviews with key activists and analysis of previously unexamined organizational records, Kimberly Springer traces the emergence, life, and decline of several black feminist organizations: the Third World Women’s Alliance, Black Women Organized for Action, the National Black Feminist Organization, the National Alliance of Black Feminists, and the Combahee River Collective. The first of these to form was founded in 1968; all five were defunct by 1980. Springer demonstrates that these organizations led the way in articulating an activist vision formed by the intersections of race, gender, class, and sexuality.The organizations that Springer examines were the first to explicitly use feminist theory to further the work of previous black women’s organizations. As she describes, they emerged in response to marginalization in the civil rights and women’s movements, stereotyping in popular culture, and misrepresentation in public policy. Springer compares the organizations’ ideologies, goals, activities, memberships, leadership styles, finances, and communication strategies. Reflecting on the conflicts, lack of resources, and burnout that led to the demise of these groups, she considers the future of black feminist organizing, particularly at the national level. Living for the Revolution is an essential reference: it provides the history of a movement that influenced black feminist theory and civil rights activism for decades to come.

Dreams of Freedom: A Ricardo Flores Magón Reader


Ricardo Flores Magón - 2005
    1874) is regarded as one of the most important figures of the Mexican revolution. Through his newspaper Regeneración, he boldly criticized the injustices of the country’s military dictatorship and worked to build the popular movement that eventually overthrew it. Exiled to the United States, Flores Magón continued to agitate for revolution in Mexico. Transcending nationalism, he also dreamed of a world free from all forms of injustice. Both the US and Mexican governments responded with harsh repression. Leavenworth Penitentiary ultimately murdered him in 1922.This volume collects the first English translations of Flores Magón’s most important writings. A lengthy historical overview, chronology, maps, images, and bibliography provide context for his work."Mitchell Verter and Chaz Bufe have given us a great gift with this fascinating volume on Ricardo Flores Magón. He was a revolutionary from a very different time from our own, but today's activists will make an immediate and intense connection with his passion for social justice. This is a gift that will only grow as you pass it on to others!"—Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed and Bait and Switch"The life, words, and ideas of Ricardo Flores Magón are as important today as they were around 100 years ago. Bravo for this wonderful book that won't let us forget those days and those heroes. Today, as always, remembering is revolutionary"—Luis Rodriguez, author of Always Running and My Name is Hunger

The Catholic Worker Movement: Intellectual and Spiritual Origins


Mark Zwick - 2005
    The founders of the movement, Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin met during the Great Depression in 1932. Their collaboration sparked something in the Church that has been both an inspiration and a reproach to American Catholicism. Dorothy Day is already a cultural icon. Once maligned, she is now being considered for sainthood. From a bohemian circle that included Eugene O'Neil to her controversial labor politics to the founding of the Catholic Worker Movement, she lived out a civil rights pacifism with a spirituality that took radical message of the Gospel to heart. Peter Maurin has been less celebrated but was equally important to the movement that embraced and uplifted the poor among us. Dorothy Day said he was, "a genius, a saint, an agitator, a writer, a lecturer, a poor man and a shabby tramp." Mark and Louise Zwick's thorough research into the Catholic Worker Movement reveals who influenced Peter Maurin and Dorothy Day and how the influence materialized into much more than good ideas. Dostoevsky, Catherine of Siena, Teresa of Avila, Francis of Assisi, Therese of Lisieux, Jacques and Raissa Maritain and many others contributed to fire in the minds of two people that sought to "blow the dynamite of the Church" in 20th-century America. This fascinating and detailed work will be meaningful to readers interested in American history, social justice, religion and public life. It will also appeal to Catholics wishing to live the Gospel with lives of action, contemplation, and prayer. +

A Dream Deferred: The Jim Crow Era


Anne Wallace Sharp - 2005
    For African Americans, the Jim Crow era was a period of broken promises and shattered hopes that saw the federal government turning its back on its black citizens.

Consciousness in Action: The Power of Beauty, Love, and Courage in a Violent Time


Andrew Beath - 2005
    Their subject is the seven attributes of consciousness that they have employed in their activism and that have demonstrated their viability across time and cultures to bring about change.The seven attributes discussed are: Nonviolence amid passion Introspection and self-discovery Not knowing and spontaneity in the moment Eros, the way of loving-kindness No enemies and co-creating a healthier world Vision free of reaction to others Joy in opening of the heart Andrew Beath writes: "Our actions reveal our depth of connection. I define conscious activism as engagement in the world that expresses our most profound understanding of the nature of reality. It is imbued with appreciation and reverence and encourages compassionate connection--the basis for lasting social change." Consciousness in Action is a vital contribution to ongoing efforts toward a peaceful, habitable earth.

Unsustainable: A Primer for Global Environmental and Social Justice


Patrick Hossay - 2005
    Brilliantly combining a huge amount of up-to-date information, visual charts, and clear explanation, Patrick Hossay shows how an historical path of colonialism, capitalist development and industrial growth has yielded bad results. He proposes a fundamental restructuring of the way business is done, and the book suggests ways in which we can work for lasting change.