Have activists taken the bumper-sticker adage ‚Think Globally, Act Locally‘ too literally? Randy Shaw argues that they have, with destructive consequences for America. Since the 1970s, activist participation in national struggles has steadily given way to a nearly exclusive focus on local issues. America’s political and corporate elite has succeeded in controlling the national agenda, while their adversaries—the citizen activists and organizations who spent decades building federal programs to reflect the country’s progressive ideals—increasingly bypass national fights. The result has been not only the dismantling of hard-won federal programs but also the sabotaging of local agendas and community instituions by decisions made in the national arena.
Shaw urges activists and their organizations to implement a ’new national activism‘ by channeling energy from closely knit local groups into broader causes. Such activism enables locally oriented activists to shape America’s future and work on national fights without traveling to Washington, D.C., but instead working in their own backyards. Focusing on the David and Goliath struggle between Nike and grassroots activists critical of the company’s overseas labor practices, Shaw shows how national activism can rewrite the supposedly ironclad rules of the global economy by ensuring fair wages and decent living standards for workers at home and abroad. Similarly, the recent struggles for stronger clean air standards and new federal budget priorities demonstrate the potential grassroots national activism to overcome the corporate and moneyed interests that increasingly dictate America’s future.
Reclaiming America’s final section describes how community-based nonprofit organizations, the media, and the Internet are critical resources for building national activism. Shaw declares that community-based groups can and must combine their service work with national grassroots advocacy. He also describes how activists can use public relations to win attention in today’s sprawling media environment, and he details the movement-building potential of e-mail. All these resources are essential for activists and their organizations to reclaim America’s progressive ideals.
Have activists taken the bumper-sticker adage ‚Think Globally, Act Locally‘ too literally? Randy Shaw argues that they have, with destructive consequences for America. Since the 1970s, activist participation in national struggles has steadily given way to
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part One: Reclaiming America outside the Electoral Process: National Anti-Sweatshop Campaigns and the Movement for a Living Wage
1. Just Don’t Buy It: Challenging Nike and the Rules of the Global Economy
2. From Challenging American Sweatshops to a Movement for a Global Living Wage
Part Two: Reclaiming America through the Political Process: National Environmental Activism and the Pentagon Redirection Campaign
3. The New National Environmental Activism
4. The Pentagon: Reclaiming America by Giving Peace a Chance
Part Three: Resources for National Activism: Community-Based Organizations, the Media, and the Internet
5. Community-Based Nonprofit Organizations: From Demobilizers to Agents of Change
6. The Media: Mobilizing through the Echo Effect
7. The Internet: Mobilizing in Cyberspace
Conclusion
Notes
Index
Über den Autor
Randy Shaw is Director of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, located in San Francisco, California, and author of The Activist’s Handbook (California, 1996).
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