Organizing & Activism (Also see Nonviolence, Outreach)

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A smart way to help your friends/families in these states abolish their death penalty

December 4, 2023 GlenAnderson 0

The death penalty exists in federal law — and also under military law. More and more states have been abolishing it, but these states still have death penalty laws, but some of these states are not using it:  Alabama,    Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.   If you have family or friends in any of those states, you can help them abolish their states’ death penalty in THESE TWO smart ways: 1. Here is a […]

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Expose the propaganda and lies that claim a big “crime wave” is endangering us.

December 4, 2023 GlenAnderson 0

Very often, conservatives and complicit (negligent) mainstream media want to frighten us about something.  Very often, the fears they are promoting are based on propaganda and lies.  They want to frighten us and stampede us into bad “solutions” (more nuclear weapons, “tough-on-crime” laws, oppression of LGBTQ+ people, etc. Now the big new scary thing is a “crime wave.”  Actually, this is bogus.  See these sources of information:   This was posted on October 17, 2023:  https://popular.info/p/americas-zombie-crime-wave?publication_id=1664&post_id=138025852&isFreemail=true&r=2gj9g5   We need to reform and humanize our criminal justice system, but this was reported on May3, 2023:  “Media Crime Hype Helps Roll Back […]

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Protect honest science from attacks and declining public trust!

December 3, 2023 GlenAnderson 0

At federal, state and local levels, right-wingers and businesses are applying pressures to hurt honest science. Fewer Americans now understand and respect science. Here are some recent articles:   Americans’ trust in science is declining:  Americans’ Trust in Scientists, Positive Views of Science Continue to Decline   Why Don’t Americans Believe in Science?  https://www.thenation.com/article/society/anti-science-is-a-systematic-issueand-its-not-going-away/   The psychology behind right-wing authoritarians’ denial of science:   https://www.alternet.org/2021/09/right-wing-science-denial/?utm_source=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=7868&recip_id=22838&list_id=2   Don’t Let Them Fool You: Disinformation Is Not an Accident. – Union of Concerned Scientists (ucsusa.org):   https://blog.ucsusa.org/astrid-caldas/dont-let-them-fool-you-disinformation-is-not-an-accident?utm_campaign=email&utm_medium=email&utm_source=email&emci=dc1183fa-a9ad-eb11-85aa-0050f237abef&emdi=839e82ea-72b2-eb11-85aa-0050f237abef&ceid=702115   Politically motivated bullies want to “tear down the fabric of science.”  https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/9/23/2194654/-Overnight-Science-News-Politically-motivated-bullies-want-to-tear-down-the-fabric-of-science?detail=emaildkg&pm_source=DKRE&pm_medium=email   State and Local […]

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Death penalty: Recent PROGRESS toward abolishing it

November 28, 2023 GlenAnderson 0

2021 was the 21st consecutive year of Death Row population decline:  https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/news/new-resource-bureau-of-justice-statistics-reports-2021-showed-21st-consecutive-year-of-death-row-population-decline   Virginia’s abolition of the death penalty seems so secure now that the abolitionist organization is shutting down. More than two years ago both bodies of Virginia’s legislature voted to abolish it, and the governor signed the abolition bill into law.  The November 2023 election continued a comfortable majority of abolitionists in both bodies.  The abolitionist organization feels so secure that the death penalty is gone that they are shutting down.   POLL: For the First Time, More Americans Believe the Death Penalty Is Applied Unfairly in the […]

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Our national culture values and worships the OPPOSITE of Nonviolence

November 24, 2023 GlenAnderson 0

We need to recognize that our national culture is trapped in myths, values, beliefs, and an educational system that are the OPPOSITE of Nonviolence. In the 1760s and 1770s, nonviolent resistance was already winning independence for the 13 colonies before the Revolutionary War started killing British troops and thereby gave England a reason to violently wage war against the colonies.  Gene Sharp’s research showed that we would have achieved independence sooner if we had continued nonviolent resistance instead of resorting to war. We have worshiped the military ever since, even though the U.S. has not won a war since World […]

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Fresh, smart insights into grassroots organizing — and some related information

November 23, 2023 GlenAnderson 0

Lawsuits Have Become the Weapon of Choice Against Activists:  Legal intimidation suits known as “SLAPPs” are becoming the norm for private corporations and governments trying to silence those who speak out on matters of public interest:  https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/slapp-legal-intimidation-activists/   Lessons from Gramsci for social movements today:  The savvy brothers Mark Engler and Paul Engler posted this on August 1, 2023.  They say from Gramsci’s political thinking and practical strategizing come a set of ideas that arguably have only grown more salient with time:  https://wagingnonviolence.org/2023/08/gramsci-lessons-for-social-movements-today/   “Death Anxiety and Social Change” — This 5-page resource from the Ernest Becker Foundation provides smart, […]

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Time for a Transnational Uprising Against a Reckless Escalation of the Arms Race?

November 22, 2023 GlenAnderson 0

Norman Solomon is a very savvy writer about important issues.  In the article I’m linking below, he summarizes some important points in the past four decades of nuclear weapons.  He points out some progress that was made before – and the backward steps taken after that previous progress.  He says nuclear war is becoming more likely now.  He calls for people in the U.S. and other nations to build a stronger movement against nuclear weapons. November 21, 2023 Time for a Transnational Uprising Against a Reckless Escalation of the Arms Race? The specter of omnicide looms. https://www.thenation.com/article/world/nuclear-war-arms-race-russia-china/ Norman Solomon   […]

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Support the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW)

November 22, 2023 GlenAnderson 0

On October 30, 2023, the Olympia City Council passed a resolution supporting the TPNW.   Thanks to Bob Zeigler, Mark Fleming and others who had a hand in this.  City Council member Clark Gilman strongly promoted this. TPNW Resolution     Please SHARE and ENDORSE this interfaith statement for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW): Olympia’s Joanne Dufour will be going to New York and attending the upcoming meeting at the United Nations of nations that have ratified the TPNW.  She encourages us to share this interfaith statement and get faith communities (local and larger) to endorse it.  […]

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“Active Nonviolence in Daily Life” — My speaking engagement includes practical and religious aspects

November 6, 2023 GlenAnderson 0

Olympia’s Westminster Presbyterian Church invited me to speak there about “Active Nonviolence in Daily Life” on Sunday October 8, 2023. I prepared a message that solidly delivered on the topic they gave me.  The audience liked very much – and they told me so.  Although this was a speaking engagement rather than a sermon, one person said it was the best sermon they had ever heard.  Much of what I said will be new to the friends and family members to whom I’m sending this e-mail. I shared: Insights into understanding profoundly what nonviolence is – and why it is […]

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Young People’s Bold Lawsuits to Protect the Climate

October 12, 2023 GlenAnderson 0

Young People’s Bold Lawsuits to Protect the Climate   Europe:  2021 to September 2023: 6 Portuguese Youth Are Suing 33 Countries to Speed Up Climate Action:  The European Human Rights Court will hear the suit, which aims to hasten climate action by governments.  Published September 27, 2023:  https://truthout.org/articles/6-portuguese-youth-are-suing-33-countries-to-speed-up-climate-action/?mc_cid=d615a7e6b4&mc_eid=d635d5c1bf United Nations Strengthens Children’s Rights To Fight Climate Change In Court:  Posted in September 2023:  https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change-children-rights-united-nations.html and https://popularresistance.org/un-strengthens-childrens-rights-to-fight-climate-change-in-court/ These Youth Climate Activists Are Taking Europe to Court:  “It’s a human rights issue.”  https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2022/08/these-youth-climate-activists-are-taking-europe-to-court/ December 2021:  Portuguese Teenagers Take 33 European Governments to Court:  https://worldwarzero.com/magazine/2021/12/portuguese-teenagers-take-33-european-governments-to-court/?emci=ae328da0-8657-ec11-94f6-0050f2e65e9b&emdi=864dd9c6-8c57-ec11-94f6-0050f2e65e9b&ceid=1661441   U.S.:  2023: Biden Administration Tried to Block […]

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How to Communicate Your Issues to the General Public

October 2, 2023 GlenAnderson 0

The October 2023 TV program in the “Glen’s Parallax Perspectives” series provides a wealth of information, insights, and practical ways for you to strengthen your skills and strategies, so you will be more effective in reaching out to the public and decision-making bodies so you can achieve the goals you want for the issues you care about. It’s not enough for us to merely accumulate more information and talk among ourselves.  In order to achieve our goals for the issues we care about, we need to change public opinion and build a strong, smart movement from the grassroots up to […]

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“No Labels” really is a front for Republicans and conservatives

August 23, 2023 GlenAnderson 0

For a number of months starting in early 2023, a new group called “No Labels” — No Labels — has claimed to be an independent organization that is NOT a political party and is promoting an alternative to presidential nominees from the two big political parties.  However, it is building state-level organizations and it is acting like a political party — or at least a front for one (the Republicans).  It seems to be well financed from “dark money” sources.  It seems to be organizing to take more votes away from Biden than from Trump in the 2024 presidential election.  […]

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Bad news about the war against science

August 22, 2023 GlenAnderson 0

Montana Governor Signs Bill Banning State Agencies From Analyzing Climate Impacts:  https://www.ecowatch.com/montana-governor-climate-impacts-analysis-ban.html   Texas Education Officials Weaken Climate Science in Textbooks:  https://www.ecowatch.com/texas-school-board-climate-science.html   This alarming news occurred in 2021:  University of Florida researchers destroyed data on COVID-19 to avoid offending Ron DeSantis:  https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/12/8/2068226/-Florida-academics-live-in-fear-of-DeSantis-resulting-in-censored-results-destroyed-data?detail=emaildkre   In July 2021 — during Biden’s tenure — this alarming news came out:  EPA scientists allege in letter that the ‘war on science’ has continued under the Biden administration:   https://www.alternet.org/2021/07/biden-science/   Trump’s EPA significantly sabotaged honest science.  Biden has not done enough to restore scientific integrity and eliminate corruption in the EPA. BOTH Trump and […]