community organizer

Searching For Occupy

Packing the Car

By Crystal Zevon

Just back from washing and vacuuming the car. Trying to figure out how we cram clothes, camping gear, photo equipment, food, two people and the dog in my little Prius for a 6 month to 1 year road trip… Searching for Occupy. I commented to my partner in this venture, Denise Valdez, that at least when we were occupying in D.C., we had tents. Suddenly, the memory of those frozen, leaky tents translates into plush, cushy, comfy luxury. We don’t know where we’ll be sleeping from night to night… What if one of us gets sick… How do we avoid corporate food stops... What if we get arrested and they take the video equipment that has been depleting my bank account...What if… what if … what if what the media implies is truer than we believe and we can’t find Occupy?

Speaking at anti MTR giant Larry Gibson's Memorial; photo journalist Paul Corbit Brown explains part of why social movements frequently fail.  He was speaking to several hundred activists gathered in Charleston WV to mourn the collective loss of a great leader in the fight against mountain top removal and several hundred activists from across the country who had tuned in to this live broadcast.

http://www.paulcorbitbrown.com

Lisa Fithian has been working for nonviolent social change since the mid 1970's. Over the years she has been a student, labor and community organizer on a broad range of issues. From environmental justice to student and worker rights, from peace and global justice to immigration and housing, Lisa continues to use a wide range of strategies and tactics and encouraged nonviolent direct action as one of the most effective strategies for change.
http://OrganizingForPower.org
http://TheHumanChannel.org

Scott Crow is an Austin-based anarchist community organizer, political activist, and writer. His grassroots organizing projects include the post-Katrina Common Ground Collective in New Orleans, which has been called the largest anarchist-influenced organization in modern U.S. history. Scott has worked with groups like Greenpeace, ACORN, and the Rainforest Action Network, and currently works at an anarchist recycling center cooperative in Austin. Scott’s political activities have led the FBI to label him a "domestic terrorist," and earlier this year he was featured in a front page article in The New York Times about FBI surveillance of political activists. Scott's book, Black Flags and Windmills: Hope, Anarchy and the Common Ground Collective, will be published by PM Press in September, 2011.