Two new Manuals for Activists, with some useful lessons — Duncan Green,

Not Saul Alinsky, but good places to start.

Oxfam Blogs — From Poverty to Power
Two new Manuals for Activists, with some useful lessons
Duncan Green, strategic adviser for Oxfam GB

Caitlin Johnstone — Rogue Journalist — How To Get Your Dissident Ideas Heard In The New Media Environment

I often say that my long-term goal here is to become obsolete so that I can focus on making art and poetry. Ideally this will look like our society shifting to a mode of operation that is so healthy that there is no longer any demand for an Australian political blogger who points out the fact that it’s wrong to manipulate public thought with mass media and drop explosives on children, but I’ll also settle for a world in which there are enough people doing this sort of thing that I’m no longer wanted or needed in this role.

Toward that end, and because I’ve been getting some requests for advice on how people who want to do what I do can get started, I’m going to try to tap out a few tips. I’ve caught some lucky breaks and been really blessed and supported in a bunch of frankly miraculous ways on this weird and wonderful journey, but there are also some concrete pointers I’ve picked up along the way which I employ constantly. Here they are for anyone who’s interested in getting their ideas heard in the people’s information rebellion against the establishment propaganda machine:

The new activism in the Internet age.

Good advice. These are some of my rules, too.

I would add an eighth. "Persistence pays off." Persist, and never, never even think of giving up.

These main points have a lot of sub-points, and sub-sub-points. They could fill a book on activism.

Activism is about think and do. It requires creative and critical thinking and a knowledge of rhetoric and persuasion in addition to logic and argument.

Caitlin Johnstone — Rogue Journalist
How To Get Your Dissident Ideas Heard In The New Media Environment
Caitlin Johnstone

Caitlin Johnstone — Take Chances

A gentle call to action — before it is too late.

Caitlin Johnstone — Rogue Journalist
Take Chances
Caitlin Johnstone

Bill Mitchell — Resistance and change doesn’t come from going along with the (neo-liberal) pack

I get a lot of E-mails that accuse me of being politically naive. The accusations were rekindled by yesterday’s blog – British labour lost in a neo-liberal haze. I imagine if I wrote a blog where I outlined support for Marine Le Pen in the context of a two-way fight against the worse-of-the-worst neo-liberals Emmanuel Macron the accusations would turn uglier even. My support for Brexit was met with similar hostility from a range of (self-styled) ‘progressives’ as being naive and offensive. Why, Brexit was a conservative plot wasn’t it? How could I have missed that? Progressives are now advocating votes for Macron even though they know he is an archetype neo-liberal – the anathema of what they believe. And they tell me every day in these E-mail tirades and other blogs that I should give people like Jeremy Corbyn some slack because he knows better than me that to advocate a major departure from the neo-liberal macroeconomic narrative would be political suicide. So why don’t I just shut up and recognise that politics is beyond my grasp and I should desist. Basically that is the message I get regularly. Well, I am sorry to say, such views completely misunderstand the role of an academic and the way in which resistance is constructed....

Bill Mitchell – billy blog
Resistance and change doesn’t come from going along with the (neo-liberal) pack
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia

Pachacutec — Does Bernie Sanders Know What He’s Doing?

Bernie understands activism firsthand.

Yes, I’d say Sanders has a very clear, and historically grounded “theory of change.” What those who question it’s validity are really saying is either: 1) they lack imagination and can’t’ see beyond the status quo; 2) they lack knowledge of history, including American history, or; 3) they understand Sanders’ “theory of change” very well and want to choke it in the crib as quickly as they can.

They may succeed. Elites may beat Sanders himself but they will not beat the movement he’s invigorating but did not create. However, saying Sanders may fail is not the same as saying he doesn’t know what he’s doing, or that what he’s setting out to accomplish is impossible.

Because, if history shows us anything, it is, indeed, possible.

Ian Welsh
Does Bernie Sanders Know What He’s Doing?
Pachacutec