PUBLISHER'S NOTE – 54.4
Written by SP subscriptions
One thing is certain in the wake of the US election. Social Policy contributors have a LOT to say, and they are not holding their tongues. Mercy, this is a fat issue to close the year and open the next one! I managed to push some articles off until next year, but it was almost impossible to cut the ones before you. Start reading, and you’ll see what I mean.
Bob Creamer is a former community organizer and veteran political organizer and campaigner. We were lucky to get him to offer some post-election insights that lead this issue. His bottom line: learn the lessons and get to work. Bruce Boccardy takes a slightly different tack, arguing that the Democratic Party sowed the seeds of its own demise in 2024 and before. Moshe ben Asher and Khulda Bat Sarah take a longer and deeper view. Despite their continued perhaps impractical advocacy for a town meeting type democracy, they make a compelling case that democracy has to be rebuild in America and the grassroots level.
Our excerpts expand on our current crises. Jeremy Brecher believes that local and state action on climate in various manifestations of the Green New Deal have the power to create great change, regardless of national inertia and opposition. Jane Holgate and John Page offer their experience in England as a field test for strategies for social movement organizing in these times. Criminal justice wasn’t a campaign issue and may now be an oxymoron, but it’s hard to read the excerpts from prisoner’s writings in Mississippi’s infamous Parchman Prison without knowing this the current system isn’t working and demands change.
Another sign that the pandemic is in the rearview mirror is the return of our regular special reports from the Organizers’ Forum International Dialogue. Last year it was Brazil; this year it was Taiwan. As I write this, Chinese vessels seem to be almost surrounding the island, taking advantage of this moment of intense global uncertainty. Taipei was a big cosmopolitan city, almost seeming to not be distracted as it focused on internal change whether that be the Sunflower Revolution or being cutting edge in trying to use technology to advance citizen input in their democracy. The Organizers’ Forum delegation found a lot to learn – and like – in Taiwan.
Labor historian David Montgomery was a giant in the field who influenced all of us interested in workers’ history from the bottom up. Cal Winslow recommends the Reader as a good compilation of his work and ideas. James Mumm is back this issue, and it’s no surprise that democracy is also on his mind, as he looks at books by Hahrie Han and Steve Phillips.
Our columnists don’t let up. Phil Mattera says if we want more accountability from corporations, prosecuting the CEO is the path to follow to hold them accountable. Drummond Pike believes the conservative pontifications on immigration are both inhumane and bad for business and agriculture. John Anderson analyzes the right-wing populism that is growing in Canad,a and why it is working for people in the same way community organizing does. Greogory Squires says we need to do a whole lot more about delivering affordable housing to middle class and working families and tackling zoning rules would make a huge difference. In Backstory, I wonder why we look the other way at India’s increasing autocracy and how it allows crony capitalism for outfits like the Adani Group and its terrible impact on communities like Dharavi in Mumbai.
Our contributors had a lot to say, and they said it well. Our readers will have a lot to think about this cold winter, before they heat up the new year with action on many fronts.
