here we go! thank u v v v much jj
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"Intersectionality is a term that was coined by American law professor Kimberlé Crenshaw to describe the idea that all social ills are connected on a deeper level. Meaningful resistance demands that we identify the systems that work together to promote injustice, exploitation, and oppression." -- bell hooks
Since a lot of chatter about social change work happens whenever there are flareups around individual issues I thought it would be worthwhile to collect that chatter in one place so we could help keep other threads to their nominal topics. This birthed particularly by a great discussion about how different kinds of viewpoints are formed w/in activist circles in the Michael Brown thread. If you've never gotten into work for social change before, downthread IO beautifully laid out a place to start:
It can be as simple as, 1: Do you want to help people, reduce their suffering, fight injustice? 2: Do you have some free time? 3: If you answered "Yes" to both, you can be a volunteer! If that means something as general as New York Cares, a giant charitable org that places people on simple projects all over the city, that's cool! It's more about the habit of volunteering, and seeing yourself as a member of many communities, with a responsibility to help those communities stay healthy.
Don't be gulled into idleness by the size of the project! Tackle something manageable, something close to home. Clean up a park, or get funding to fix a crosswalk, or help some working women get a childcare center off the ground, or support a zoning revision that allows building apartments as well as single-family homes so there are lower-cost rental options for more ppl. I dunno. What does your community need? You live there, look around or ask someone!
― Orson Wellies (in orbit), Friday, December 19, 2014 4:56 PM (28 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
A glossary, just in case
La Lechera pointed out that this stuff can get a little jargon-y from time to time--GirlSpeak, a Chicago feminist art group, put together this awesome glossary of terms that might come up a lot ITT. If you see a word you don't know, check out here!
Recommended Resources for Dipping Your Toe Into Organizing Work
New Organizing Institute's Organizing & Leadership Toolbox--Free, short YouTube vids on how to build volunteer teams for a cause, how to motivate people to take collective action, how to build & encourage leadership within the most affected communities, etc.
Training for Change--Exercises & workshop guides for everything from anti-oppression awareness, to meeting facilitation, to Big Picture organizing strategy etc
Beautiful Trouble--an amazing book, and website, that lays out the relationships between tactics, principles, and the egghead theoretical foundations for making change happen. also case studies!
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Friday, 19 December 2014 17:53 (nine years ago) link