howard zinn...

( 1922 - 2010 )

dissent is the highest form of patriotism// howard zinn

move your money...

...gated communities = safer communities?

you know those "gated communities?" the usually upmarket, walled-off residential developments that offer their own amenities and, sometimes, security staff? well, one assumed advantage of these places is that they're safer than the outside world. but according to an interesting post over at the NRDC, that might not be the case. subdivisions secured by gates intended to exclude outsiders may not be safer than those that are fully public. this is because they can lack the social cohesion and interaction with the larger community that for millennia have served as deterrents to crime and other antisocial behavior. according to the post, the police chief in charlotte, north carolina compared crime in gated communities to crime in similar ungated neighborhoods and found no appreciable difference. and to the extent that gated communities are artificial collections of people without real, longstanding relationships between neighbors, they may be more vulnerable to crime because people aren't looking out for each other. to make things worse, being fenced in also increases one's subjective feeling of vulnerability. it doesn't look like there's a proper study behind this. gated communities probably aren't much less safe than other communities, just less safe than the residents of gated communities think they are. and clearly some of the priciest gated communities are so fortress-like that are very secure. but what's most interesting here is that they tend to be sort of anti-social places and that has real effects on social capital// andrew price, 01.14.10, good

the hidden cost of war...

fighting corporate money in politics...

anticipating a supreme court decision that could free corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money on political campaigns, rep. alan grayson (d-fla.) introduced five bills on wednesday to choke off the expected flood of corporate cash. "we are facing a potential threat to our democracy," grayson said in an interview with the huffington post. "unlimited corporate spending on campaigns means the government is up for sale and that the law itself will be bought and sold. it would be political bribery on the largest scale imaginable." at issue in the supreme court case is whether the government can limit corporate spending during presidential and congressional campaigns// arthur delaney, 01.14.10, huffington post

on behalf of haiti, i say thank-you, america...

ever since the US invaded and occupied the country in 1915, every serious political attempt to allow haiti's people to move "from absolute misery to a dignified poverty" (to borrow former president jean-bertrand aristide's phrase) has been violently and deliberately blocked by the US government and some of its allies. today, however, things are different. “i want to speak directly to the people of haiti,” president obama said. he paused for a moment. “you will not be forsaken, you will not be forgotten,” he said. “in this, your hour of greatest need, america stands with you.” to this i say, thanks america, for picking up haiti after so swiftly and repeatedly kicking it down. and might i add, when's your next kick?

as peter hallward has pointed out: along with sending emergency relief, we should ask what we can do to facilitate the self-empowerment of haiti's people and public institutions. if we are serious about helping we need to stop trying to control haiti's government, to pacify its citizens, and to exploit its economy. and then we need to start paying for at least some of the damage we've already done//

to progress in any department of practical life we must innovate and we must cooperate// roberto unger

democracy unbound...

how should modern democracies be governed? should the public’s business be conducted largely by elected representatives and professional administrators? or, should citizens participate much more in making laws and policies and implementing them? should the machinery of democracy simply tally the preferences and interests of citizens, or should it facilitate deliberations that inform and enlarge their views? dogmatic answers—for example that representative government is the only realistic form of modern government or that the only real democracy is a participatory one—now common in professional democratic theory and public discourse thwart the quest for practices that would better vindicate our fundamental democratic values. these dogmas, furthermore, prevent us from solving—sometimes even from recognizing—major political dilemmas of our time. maintaining an open disposition toward a wide range of political practices can help citizens and leaders address those problems and deepen our democracy at the same time. citizens’ welfare and the health of their democracies would be better served by a pragmatic public philosophy in which a wide range of political institutions are justified by their capacity to solve social problems in ways that secure individuals’ welfare and autonomy. my current book project, democracy unbound develops that pragmatic conception of democracy. pragmatic democracy begins with the basic presumption that governments are democratic insofar as they protect citizens’ interests effectively, treat them as equals, and provide opportunities for them to participate in public decision-making and action. unlike most theories of democracy, however, pragmatic democracy does not prescribe a specific political institutions such as representation or deliberation to achieve these goals. instead, it recognizes that no single set of institutions and political practices best advances these ends for all issues and circumstances. some issues are appropriately addressed by experts, while others call for broad and direct citizen engagement. rather than offering a single blueprint, democracy unbound provides conceptual and practical tools of democratic theory and institutional design to help political scientists, policy makers, and citizen activists understand the feasible and desirable range of decision-making processes// archon fung

changecamp...

a changecamp event is a creative face-to-face gathering that is citizen-led, non-partisan and social web enabled. changecamps bring together citizen change agents to answer questions like, "how can we work together to create our desired future?" changecamp addresses the demand for a renewed relationship among citizens and between citizens and our civic institutions. it seeks to create connections between people and their civic passions by using new tools of communication. the changecamp community is open to all. it hopes to ignite a self-organizing movement for positive change in cities, towns and neighbourhoods across canada//

a new vision for community media...

community television is a throwback to a time when cable technology was new and the web was not yet born. it allowed anyone to create a program that could be seen on cable. community television was the youtube of its day; but things have changed. downloading and streaming have precipitated a complicated restructuring of the television industry, brought on in part by new viewing habits. traditional TV now seems to be on the wane. but there are some things that are harder for the internet to replace. most television takes more than one person to make. the internet cannot replace the studio space, hands-on training and possibilities for in-person collaboration and mentorship that community television allowed for. and it won't replace the sense of place provided by a community production studio; a space where people can gather, work, learn and create together. we are at a critical moment when traditional media ownership is more concentrated than ever, and yet we have perhaps the most participatory medium in history at our fingertips. as such, citizens need access to media literacy, knowledge and media production skills more than ever before. and community media centres--modeled on the idea of recreation centres and local libraries--may be a crucial piece of the digital divide puzzle// steve anderson & michael lithgow, 10.05.09, rabble

the work around...

supervisors around the country are lying, cheating, and stealing from their employers to give workers a fair shake. one supervisor at an east coast restaurant chain, profiled by the american prospect, has created two time sheet systems: one real, and one fake that she reports to her employer. this allows workers to take time off and tend to their families, breaking company rules, and not get fired. “i couldn’t go along with their rules,” the supervisor told the american prospect. “it was ridiculous, like i’m going to tell this mother with a 4-year-old, ‘no, you can’t leave to pick him up.’” the idea harkens back to a quote by paul newman in the film cool hand luke: “calling it your job don’t make it right”// bennett gordon, 01.06.10, utne reader

another world is possible...

it is a commonplace of serious historical research worldwide that the unsung actions of people where they live and work are central to large-order change. regulatory commissions for railroads and other industries, minimum-wage laws, food- and drug-safety laws, the estate tax, the eight-hour workday, social security and related forms of public insurance, child labor laws, laws to increase factory safety, workers' compensation, the preservation of national parks and other conservation measures, and many, many other national policies at the heart of modern american reality built upon precedents first developed and refined by local citizen effort. is there anything important and potentially system-changing going on at the grassroots today? yes–but you have to look beyond conventional media reporting, and even beyond the traditional new deal and progressive policy paradigms. one of the most important trends involves an array of new economic institutions that transform the ownership of wealth in ways that benefit "small publics," groups of citizens whose efforts feed into the well-being of the community as a whole. here are a few little-known facts: more people are now involved in some 11,500 companies wholly or substantially owned by employees than are members of unions in the private sector. there are more than 4,000 nonprofit community development corporations that build housing and create jobs in cities across the nation. both democratic and republican city officials have begun to establish municipally owned public companies to make money for their communities (and often to solve environmental problems). numerous quasi-public land trusts that stabilize housing prices now exist. cities and states regularly invest in job-creating efforts, often using large-scale public pension assets. in alaska, the state's permanent fund invests oil revenues and provides each citizen with dividends. in alabama, the public employee retirement system finances a broad range of job-stabilizing and moneymaking industries, including many employee-owned businesses. numerous other local and state activist efforts to shift the way wealth accumulates and moves around are under way, from "living wage" campaigns to wal-mart challenges and beyond. not surprisingly, in case after case, ordinary citizens have taken the lead in developing these new strategies// gar alperovitz, mother jones

love in a cemetery...

traditionally cultural institutions have often excluded ongoing dialogue about social issues outside of the art world. artist, allan kaprow wrote, “life in a museum is like making love in a cemetery,” metaphorically equating a museum with a cemetery— a dead and sterile space. kaprow’s quote motivated multiple collaborative community based projects currently being executed by the first year public practice MFA graduate students at OTIS college of art and design. in 2010 the graduate students in collaboration with LACMA lab’s founding director, bob sain; artist, andrea bowers; art administrator, pauline kamiyama and the 18th street art center will develop an exhibition as a laboratory. the social/political obligations of cultural organizations to their respective communities will be investigated through partnerships with several community based organizations. the project’s ethic of action and engagement will lead to an artistic manifestation, and the participating public practice artists hope the communities involved will realize positive outcomes that will outlast the exhibition. this exhibition will be presented at the 18th street art center gallery from january 23rd to march 26th 2010//

there is a mass of sense lying in a dormant state which good government should quietly harness// thomas paine