PUBLISHER'S NOTE – 56.3
Written by SP Editor
If there was ever an “American Century,” this isn’t it! In Trump 2.0, we literally have front row seats every morning when we open the papers or our computers to watch the diminishing of a great country, flaws and all, in real time. All of us living in the United States and around the world now stand witness to a country shedding any semblance on its 250th anniversary of a unique commitment to democracy, its institutions, and its people. Trump’s commitment to making America greedy again seems unbridled. What was hidden in the past is now on full daily display without any pretenses.
That doesn’t mean that the rearguard isn’t fully engaged, as readers can find in this issue. Randy Shaw, activist, organizer, lawyer, and author begins this issue with a demand for donors and foundations to support organizational capacity building to make the change and makes a call to action for others to join with him. Chris Williams, a veteran political organizer, echoes that call with a critique that underscores Shaw by arguing that we get what they pay for, which is a cyclical political season, when we need organization for change every day and year-round.
India in twelve years under Prime Minister Modi has a lead on the United States and Trump’s in the race to autocracy. Vinod Shetty, a labor advocate, and director of the ACORN India Foundation in Mumbai, reports that for all of the scoffing about GenZ, in India the Cockroach Janta Party has creatively brought the government to its knees in a movement that has forced the resignation of the education minister and is pushing for reforms in the entire educational raj. As Tyler Daguerre might argue, maybe that’s because independence works, at least from his experience with labor unions being built by a similar grassroots rank-and-file.
Yotam Marom might have a lot of say about this phenomenon as a new generation of organizers and activists comes center stage. As a veteran of Occupy Wall Street and many other contemporary campaigns, his excerpt recommends that we break past our politics of powerlessness to make change. Professor Abe Walker’s excerpt, excavates how the UAW won in VW’s Chattanooga auto plant after two earlier losses, makes the case for leadership change driven by the rank-and-file and new modes of organizing that at least for a minute seemed to have promise.
James Mumm is back with a great review of Beryl Satter’s new history of the fight against redlining that is also deeply entwined with his own experience as an organizer. Mike Miller has mixed feelings about Beth Roy’s book, Reclaiming Humanity, and its sweeping agreement for change, applauding the eagle’s view, as he maintains the value of the worm’s.
Our columnists, as usual, pull no punches. Phil Mattera applauds the value of campaigns in winning corporate accountability. Drummond Pike joins all of us in disbelief and horror at the amount of money being poured into political campaigns to dwarf our own voices. John Anderson shares some interesting points and concerns about the Trump-effect in Canada and how it is empowering corporatist liberalism under business-oriented Mark Carney as prime minister. Inequality is threatening democracy, and Gregory Squires offers the details on who and why that’s happening. In Backstory, I continue to beat the drum about the accelerating horrors of Trump and the Republicans war against the poor.
We’re not giving up without a fight!