All posts by tedglick

“Love Your Neighbor” Pope/Vance Controversy

Future Hope, , , ,

Recent news reports brought to my attention something that I completely missed when it first happened almost two months ago: JD Vance opining ignorantly and dangerously on Jesus of Nazareth’s teachings about “doing unto others as you would have done unto you.” Less than a month into the Trump/Musk/MAGA regime, Vance said this:

“You love your family, and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens in your own country, and then after that you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world,” Vance said.

Two weeks later in a letter to US Catholic Bishops Pope Francis responded strongly to this outrageous distortion of the teachings of Jesus, explaining:

“Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups. . . The human person is a subject with dignity who, through the constitutive relationship with all, especially with the poorest, can gradually mature in his identity and vocation. The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the ‘Good Samaritan’ (cf. Lk 10:25-37), that is, by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.

“Worrying about personal, community or national identity, apart from these considerations, easily introduces an ideological criterion that distorts social life and imposes the will of the strongest as the criterion of truth.

“I exhort all the faithful of the Catholic Church, and all men and women of good will, not to give in to narratives that discriminate against and cause unnecessary suffering to our migrant and refugee brothers and sisters. With charity and clarity we are all called to live in solidarity and fraternity, to build bridges that bring us ever closer together, to avoid walls of ignominy and to learn to give our lives as Jesus Christ gave his for the salvation of all.”

You don’t have to be Christian or a religious person or even a supporter of Pope Francis to appreciate his willingness to speak truth to power, and his efforts to get US Catholic Bishops to do the same. On this issue, the Pope demonstrated timely and important moral leadership.

As I’ve gone through life I’ve increasingly come to view this particular teaching of Jesus of Nazareth as both an ideal I should very consciously, daily, strive for, as well as a needed approach when it comes to building organizations and movements that are about systemic political, economic and social change.

In my 21st Century Revolution book I said this along these lines: “There are many aspects of a winning strategy, but the one that I have come to believe is most fundamental, the one that is the key link to the social transformation process so urgently needed, is this: building and deepening a way of working together and developing organizations that is collaborative, respectful, democratic to its core and which, as a result, is truly transformative, built to last.” (pps. 22-23)

In other words, we need a way of working which puts love for others at the center. And this is true for each of us in the way we go about our organizing work whether we are Christian, religious in some other way, agnostics or atheists.

Vance speaking about his “concentric circles” approach to loving others is, however, of value. It helps to deepen our understanding of what is motivating him, Trump, Musk and other leading MAGA’s, with corruption and dishonesty at obscene levels among the billionaires and power-hungry politicians who lead this retrograde movement.

Fortunately, not all who voted for the MAGA’s in 2024 are this far gone. Polls and other developments, like the recent victory of a Democratic State Senate candidate in Lancaster County, Pa. in a district held by Republicans since 1889 (!), are concrete evidence of some MAGA disillusionment. Our job as progressive organizers is to do the visible and activist movement-building and outreach right now to keep this momentum going. Next up for all of us should be taking part in the massive and extensive April 5th Hands Off action this Saturday.  

We must hold fast to the vision of a world where, yes, “do unto others as you would have done unto you” is a guiding principle of how human societies are organized. We’ll only get there if we live our lives accordingly.

Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of the recently published books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com.

Revolution?

Future Hope, , , ,

I wonder how many people reading these words know the significance of April 19th to US Americans, and others, to all of us worldwide who value democracy and justice for all.

What is April 19th? It’s the 250th anniversary of the beginnings of the US American Revolution. On that day in 1775, in Concord and Lexington, Massachusetts, farmers and other working people stood their ground against redcoat British troops doing the bidding of King George III. It was the day of “the shot heard round the world” which eventually led to a victory in 1781 over the mighty British Empire after six years of war.

It also led to the expansion of European American settlement across the continent in the decades afterwards, a process which nearly wiped out the Indigenous peoples who have lived here for thousands of years. Estimates are that 90% or more were killed either by disease or violent military action to force the survivors onto reservations so that the Europeans could take the land and the resources underneath it.

Like so much else about this country, this 250th anniversary of the beginnings of what became the United States is a decidedly mixed bag.

On balance, though, I see value to connecting the political uprising against the Trumpfascists with the uprising by revolutionary European Americans 250 years ago. Not by coincidence the success of this revolution was followed by the French Revolution, the Haitian Revolution, the Bolivar-led South American Revolution and eventually, in the USA, the Civil War that led to the end of the legal enslavement of African people. It led to the success of the women’s suffrage movement over 100 years ago, the rise of trade unionism, the Black Freedom movement in the 60’s which forced an end to Jim Crow segregation, the rise of Indigenous resistance and societal leadership, the LGBTQ movement, an environmental protection movement and more.

Trump and his co-conspirators want to take us backwards at least 90 years, to the time before the rise of industrial unionism and the CIO in the 30s and the existence of programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Their agenda is truly and profoundly un-American, and the mushrooming popular resistance movement should begin saying that loudly and clearly. We, our broadly based movement of movements in all its political, racial, gender, age and other diversity, are the “next one up” in the never-ending struggle toward a more just, peaceful and ecologically-connected world.

Revolution or Reform?

As is the case with any authentic mass movement that has a chance of winning, there are differing views on a range of topics, even as we are united on many, many issues and a generally progressive worldview.

One very big one is whether what we are striving for should be viewed as defense of, as well as needed reforms to, the existing institutions of society or whether what we must be about should be viewed as revolutionary in its ambitions.

For myself it’s the latter.

A few days ago longtime progressive author and activist Michael Albert wrote about this issue of “reform or revolution.” He explored what his experiences have taught him about the difference between them. He called for a resistance movement today which had the maturity to appreciate that we need to develop a way of working so that all of us can join together in this existential battle for the future. Here’s how he summed up his main thoughts: “So, a reform and/or revolution bottom line: No to reformism. Yes to sustained reform struggles. No to mindless revolutionary posturing. Yes to wise, visionary long term commitment. As resistance grows and as views proliferate, stay together. We need each other.”

Several years ago I wrote a book with the title, 21st Century Revolution: Through Higher Love, Racial Justice and Democratic Cooperation. In it I laid out what I saw as necessary to bring about the changes needed. As I concluded the book I quoted these words of a longtime friend and fighter for justice, the late Fr. Paul Mayer: “What history is calling for is nothing less than the creation of new human being. We must literally reinvent ourselves through the alchemy of the Spirit or perish. We are being divinely summoned to climb another rung on the evolutionary ladder, to another level of human consciousness.”

In the end, it all comes down to the personal, how each one of us does the best we can, as lovingly as we can, as resolutely as we can, as clearly as we can, day after day, to help create a world for our children and grandchildren and the seven generations coming after us very different than the one we are living through right now. We cannot let them down.

Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of the recently published books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com.

Dealing with Government Repression, 2025

Future Hope, , ,

The attempted deportation of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, met with dramatic and widespread resistance, is one of the first, high profile, specifically targeted repressive acts by the Trump regime, but it won’t be the last. There is no question about their intention to create a permanently repressive and dictatorial government, a government of, by and for the overwhelmingly white and male billionaire elite and those sucking up to them for their own personal gain.

Fortunately, this is not a popular government. Polls taken a few days ago by CNN, Reuters and Quinnipiac put Trump’s favorable ratings at an average of 44% and unfavorable ratings at 53%. On the economy CNN has him at 44-56%.

Trump’s declining popular support and the rise over the last 40 days of a powerful, visible, resistance movement that shows every sign that it will continue to grow and expand (April 5th!) is part of why Trump spoke at the Justice Department two days ago.

His speech made clear the Trumpfascist intention to use the FBI, other federal agencies and the courts to try to silence those who oppose him. In the words of a Reuters story, “Trump has moved swiftly to exert control over the Justice Department (DOJ) since returning to office, challenging a decades-old tradition that the top U.S. law enforcement agency operates with a degree of independence from the White House.”

The Brennan Center for Justice released an analysis in late January of what Project 2025 put forward as far as how the DOJ should function under a Trump regime. Here is some of what they said;

“Pam Bondi, Trump’s pick for attorney general, spent much of her Senate confirmation hearing attempting to allay concerns about the weaponization of the Justice Department, but she avoided direct questions about Trump’s pledge to prosecute specific adversaries. Trump has already signed two executive orders tasking the attorney general to conduct investigations into the previous administration.

The politicization of the DOJ could occur in multiple ways.

“While not explicitly outlined in Project 2025, removing barriers between the DOJ and the White House could allow the president to exert more control over individual prosecutors and investigators as they evaluate cases and choose whom to prosecute. The president campaigned on the promise of investigating and prosecuting those he perceived to be his rivals. Political appointees like the attorney general could be removed if they refuse to pursue politically motivated investigations. . . 

“The White House could assert more direct political influence on DOJ operations by removing expert civil servants, including people with decades of experience as prosecutors and investigators who have served under administrations of both parties. They could be replaced with ideological loyalists who lack key institutional knowledge that is essential for the daily operation of many law enforcement agencies. Indeed, dismissals and transfers of top justice department officials has already begun. . .  

“The relationship between the White House and the Justice Department envisioned by the authors of Project 2025 would breed a culture of impunity. Although the document does not touch on pardons, by bringing the DOJ under its close control, the White House could order officials to turn a blind eye to criminal behavior committed by friends of the administration. The combination of the promise of pardons and the presidential immunity granted by the Supreme Court increases this risk.”

Successful Resistance

There are a number of things which are essential to successful resistance to government repression. When I say “successful” I don’t mean that there won’t be casualties on our side, people behind bars, some for months or years, or people physically attacked and injured or worse, or job losses or greater economic hardship. It is clear that under a Trump/MAGA regime this is all likely to some degree.

Several things which can lessen all of those negatives are these:

-good legal representation in court. It is good to see the way that many lawyers and progressive legal organizations are stepping up to challenge, in most cases successfully, the Trump executive orders issued so far;

-a loving community of support. This can be within an organization, within the local area where we live, via social media or other forms of communication, and/or just within a family. We all need to do our best to help foster and strengthen these necessary support networks;

-broad community support when repression happens. If people and groups that are attacked, in whatever way, are not seen as, or do not come to be known as, honest and genuine human beings trying to be a positive force, it is going to be hard to rally and manifest the breadth of support probably necessary. Indeed, if we are such people already, attacks on us can immediately or over time serve to undercut support for the repressors, strengthen our movement of movements.

I was a defendant in two major political trials during the Vietnam War, one in Harrisburg, Pa. and one in Rochester, NY. Because of the successful integration in both cases of good legal representation with effective community organizing leading to widespread and visible popular support, the Nixon Administration lost in the Harrisburg case and did poorly in the Rochester one. Though eight of us charged with six felonies were convicted there, a jury’s “recommendation of leniency” in sentencing and broad support within the Rochester community led to sentences of from one year to a year and a half. Prior to trial we fully expected to spend 5-10 years in prison because of what we had been caught doing overnight inside a federal building: destroying Selective Service files for young men about to be sent to Vietnam, finding incriminating documents within the {J. Edgar Hoover) FBI office and disrupting the offices of the US Attorney.

It is truly a lesson of history: politically smart and legally strong responses to attempted efforts to harass or jail us can immediately or over time serve to undercut support for the repressive government and strengthen our movement of movements. Si, se puede!

Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of the recently published books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com.

Outreach: Not Just a Tactic But a Mindset

Future Hope, , , ,

Six weeks into the Trump presidency it is important to recognize that the rapidly growing MAGA resistance movement is turning out big numbers of people in the streets, beginning to engage in strategic nonviolent direct action, having an impact on Democratic members of Congress, and so far winning most of the court cases brought against the Trumpfascists. There are good reasons for us to feel stronger and steadier than we were on January 20th, unsure and afraid of what was going to be attempted by Trump/MAGA.

There’s no question that as Spring arrives this burgeoning resistance movement will continue to build and grow, and that is grounds for hope. But there is another area of work for this movement that cannot be forgotten and that must increasingly be integrated into all of our other tactics: OUTREACH.

Here is how I wrote about this a month ago: “It is not enough for us to do all of the above with only those who are already critical of Trump (half or a little more of the country, likely to grow as the MAGA policies do their damage). We need to do outreach to and with these many tens of millions, for sure, but we also need to look for opportunities or make specific organizing plans to interact with Trump voters, including in rural areas, and voters who didn’t vote because they’re turned off to both parties.”

I know from personal experience doing canvassing to defeat Trump last fall in eastern Pennsylvania that many of these folks have strong feelings, for example, about the dominance of the US economy by billionaires and the growing class divide. Another example is the opposition among many conservative landowners to oil, gas and CO2 pipeline companies being allowed by governments to use eminent domain to take their land. And there are other examples.

Here’s one very small example of what we need to do: Last week I was in the town of Pearisburg in southwest Virginia to support young people who had taken direct action to try to stop the MVP pipeline over the past year and a half. 12 of them were facing court trials that day over charges that could have led to years in jail; fortunately, none of that happened. At one point, outside a packed courtroom of supporters, a man in a truck stopped by a group of us who couldn’t get into the courtroom and were hanging out in a parking lot behind the courthouse. As he got out of his truck he was wearing a “Trump 2024” hat. A couple of us told him loudly that he should leave, but others of us, me included, went up to him and started listening and then responding to what he was saying. The main thing he talked to us about at first was the EPA and how some of the things they were doing were actually negatively impacting the soil, which in a rural area is clearly an important issue.

As it turned out one of us was a soil expert, and she agreed with some of his criticisms. He may not have been expecting that. He ended up continuing to talk with us about this and other things for what seemed like almost an hour.

We need more of these kinds of interactions. Local resistance groups, for example, could begin to integrate door to door canvassing or street leafletting into their organizing plans. A petition on a relevant issue, like planned cuts in Medicaid or something related to local or state government, should be the issue on which to have these in-person discussions in neighborhoods known as ones where Trump did well on November 5th. This is work that white people who have an anti-racist consciousness, in particular, need to be doing, being willing to address that issue if and as it comes up in conversation.

If we’re going to make inroads into those working-class and middle-class communities that put Trump in office, door to door work can’t just happen when people are running for office.

Outreach must become not just a tactic but a mindset. We should welcome opportunities like the one some of us had in that Pearisburg, Virginia parking lot and look for how we can do more. This is immediate, strategic, absolutely essential work.

Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of the recently published books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com.

Outreach: Not Just a Tactic But a Mindset

Future Hope, , ,

Six weeks into the Trump presidency it is important to recognize that the rapidly growing MAGA resistance movement is turning out big numbers of people in the streets, beginning to engage in strategic nonviolent direct action, having an impact on Democratic members of Congress, and so far winning most of the court cases brought against the Trumpfascists. There are good reasons for us to feel stronger and steadier than we were on January 20th, unsure and afraid of what was going to be attempted by Trump/MAGA.

There’s no question that as Spring arrives this burgeoning resistance movement will continue to build and grow, and that is grounds for hope. But there is another area of work for this movement that cannot be forgotten and that must increasingly be integrated into all of our other tactics: OUTREACH.

Here is how I wrote about this a month ago: “It is not enough for us to do all of the above with only those who are already critical of Trump (half or a little more of the country, likely to grow as the MAGA policies do their damage). We need to do outreach to and with these many tens of millions, for sure, but we also need to look for opportunities or make specific organizing plans to interact with Trump voters, including in rural areas, and voters who didn’t vote because they’re turned off to both parties.”

I know from personal experience doing canvassing to defeat Trump last fall in eastern Pennsylvania that many of these folks have strong feelings, for example, about the dominance of the US economy by billionaires and the growing class divide. Another example is the opposition among many conservative landowners to oil, gas and CO2 pipeline companies being allowed by governments to use eminent domain to take their land. And there are other examples.

Here’s one very small example of what we need to do: Last week I was in the town of Pearisburg in southwest Virginia to support young people who had taken direct action to try to stop the MVP pipeline over the past year and a half. 12 of them were facing court trials that day over charges that could have led to years in jail; fortunately, none of that happened. At one point, outside a packed courtroom of supporters, a man in a truck stopped by a group of us who couldn’t get into the courtroom and were hanging out in a parking lot behind the courthouse. As he got out of his truck he was wearing a “Trump 2024” hat. A couple of us told him loudly that he should leave, but others of us, me included, went up to him and started listening and then responding to what he was saying. The main thing he talked to us about at first was the EPA and how some of the things they were doing were actually negatively impacting the soil, which in a rural area is clearly an important issue.

As it turned out one of us was a soil expert, and she agreed with some of his criticisms. He may not have been expecting that. He ended up continuing to talk with us about this and other things for what seemed like almost an hour.

We need more of these kinds of interactions. Local resistance groups, for example, could begin to integrate door to door canvassing or street leafletting into their organizing plans. A petition on a relevant issue, like planned cuts in Medicaid or something related to local or state government, should be the issue on which to have these in-person discussions in neighborhoods known as ones where Trump did well on November 5th. This is work that white people who have an anti-racist consciousness, in particular, need to be doing, being willing to address that issue if and as it comes up in conversation.

If we’re going to make inroads into those working-class and middle-class communities that put Trump in office, door to door work can’t just happen when people are running for office.

Outreach must become not just a tactic but a mindset. We should welcome opportunities like the one some of us had in that Pearisburg, Virginia parking lot and look for how we can do more. This is immediate, strategic, absolutely essential work.

Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of the recently published books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com.

Pipeline Resistance Gets the Goods

Future Hope, , , ,

I’ve believed for many years that in the race against time to prevent ecosystem and societal meltdown because of climate heating and climate disruption, a key front in that struggle is the prevention of the buildout of new oil and methane gas pipelines and associated infrastructure, like compressor stations, export terminals and gas-fired power plants.

This isn’t just the opinion of me and the many tens of thousands of activists around the country who have been waging these fights for over a decade. Both the International Energy Agency, in 2022, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in 2023, have said that in order to have a chance of preserving and improving the conditions of life on earth in all its forms for future generations, this is what governments should be doing.

Unfortunately the US government, under both Democratic and Republican administrations, has refused to do this. Both have allowed for fossil fuel infrastructure expansion, although there has been and is a pretty strong sector of the Democrats who get it on this requirement for the world’s survival and have taken part in the nationwide no new fossil fuels movement, inside and outside the Biden Administration and in Congress.

Trump/MAGA control of Congress and the White House means that there will be a major effort to ramp up the building of new oil and gas infrastructure. There have been reports that they want to build hundreds of new pipelines, compressor stations and export terminals. It’s like they’re just fine with the very real possibility of ecocide.

Fortunately, the no new fossil fuels movement is in no way demoralized, speaking generally. And a very good example of this fact is what happened in the town of Pearisburg, Virginia, deep in the heart of coal country in southwest Virginia, a few days ago.

On Tuesday February 25th 12 pipeline fighters, almost all of them young people, were sentenced in a Giles County courtroom for nonviolent direct actions they had taken over the last year and a half trying to stop the completion of the fracked-gas transporting Mountain Valley Pipeline. All locked themselves to construction equipment, inserted their bodies into pipelines or locked down to block roads leading to construction sites. Some were facing felony charges, though most were charged with misdemeanors.

Without any on the ground knowledge, people not from this part of the country, coal country, would likely expect the sentences handed down to be harsh, but that wasn’t the case. No one was sentenced to jail time; instead, after negotiating down all the felonies to misdemeanors, each of the 12 was sentenced to 50 hours of community service per misdemeanor. For some with three misdemeanors this meant a sentence of 150 hours.
And though the issue of fines was put off to future court dates, it is impossible to see this result as anything but a big victory for the climate justice movement.

A major reason for this positive result was the presence of over 100 supporters, mainly but not solely young people, filling to overflowing the 89-seat courtroom. One court officer said that there had never been anything like this before. An additional reason was the refusal of those charged to plead guilty to any felonies or overly repressive deals over the many months leading up to this day of reckoning in court.

The primary organization which did these actions and has led this direct action resistance is Appalachians Against Pipelines. AAP is famous for a 932-day tree sit in Montgomery County, Va. between 2018 and 2021 on the planned pipeline right of way.

I’ve been involved with the no new fossil fuel infrastructure movement since about 2012. One of the noteworthy things I’ve observed about it is that this issue crosses political lines. There are a lot of conservative white landowners, people facing eminent domain proceedings to take their land for the benefit of corporate profit-making and climate destroying oil and gas companies, who have joined with radicals, progressives and people of color to fight together against these arrogant, destructive entities. In the process, people have had their lives changed. By joining together in righteous campaigns for justice, everyone has seen that we have common enemies and that we can only win against these corporatists by forging unity in action.

If, or as, Trump and the MAGA’s role out their plan to accelerate climate disruption by expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure, the powerful alliance needed to fight these projects, one by one, on the ground, can contribute a lot to generating the powerful movement of movements to ultimately stop these 21st century fascists and put our country on a very different, life-affirming, justice-creating, urgently needed path.

Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of the recently published books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com

Gaza and Ukraine: Trump’s Waterloo?

Future Hope, , , ,

Why did Trump defeat Harris on November 5th? There are lots of reasons but there’s no question a primary one was the Gaza/Israel war. Or, to be more precise, it was the Biden Administration’s refusal to stop providing Israel the weapons used to devastate Gaza.

There’s little doubt in my mind that this position more than any other issue led to millions of eligible voters who were anti-Trump not voting at all. A Council on Foreign Relations story in December reported that “Kamala Harris won 75,999,166 votes or 48.3 percent of the votes cast. That was 6,285,500 fewer popular votes than Biden won in 2020.” If the Democratic turnout had been the same as for Biden, it is likely that Harris would have won.

It’s now two weeks since Trump called for the removal of all Palestinians from Gaza. It’s two days after he attacked Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a “dictator” with “4 percent” support among Ukrainians and blamed him for Putin’s military invasion three years ago. And yesterday, one month after Trump took office, three reputable polls—Quinnipiac, Gallup and Reuters—have Trump’s approval ratings at an average of 44.5% and his disapproval ratings at 50%. This should be setting off alarm bells among Republicans. This has to be one of the steepest and most rapid drops in support over the first month of a Presidency ever in US history.

Clearly, what Trump did to Zelenskyy and Ukraine two days ago in the interests of Putin had nothing to do with these three poll results, but what that means is that Trump is almost certain to keep going down in the polls in coming weeks. Between all of the other anti-democratic, heinous and damaging Trump/Musk actions on so many other fronts, which will continue, and the widespread outrage over Trump’s cozying up to Netanyahu/Israeli fascists and Putin/Russia and lies about Zelenskyy/Ukraine, I think it is it likely that Trump/MAGA’s ultimate downfall will be ascribed in part, probably a large part, to his outrageous positions on Gaza/Palestine and Ukraine.

Trump’s overt attacks two days ago on Ukraine’s elected president Zelenskky have stirred up a hornet’s nest of open criticism of Trump by Republican Senators and people like Mike Pence and Nikki Haley. Piled on top of the growing, national grassroots movement of progressive opposition and some Democratic Party criticism and actions, these are very significant political developments. And again: all just in Trump’s first month.

It is so important that the visible demonstrative actions in the streets keep happening and building. Without people coming out within the first two weeks of Trump taking office our situation would be much more dire than it is. It has been inspiring to take part in and experience this upsurge in the depths of winter, not a usual time for tens of thousands of people all over the country taking action, and again and again, on any issue. This is, indeed, a winter of our discontent on a massive scale, but we’re not being “summer soldiers.” We’re braving the elements, overcoming our deep dismay and expressing our anger in effective ways, and because that is happening Trump is hemorrhaging political support.

The spring is ordinarily the time when progressive activism manifests itself in outdoors actions. Let’s keep on building, organizing and outreaching to make this spring the time when the tens of thousands becomes hundreds of thousands and Trump’s poll numbers keep plummeting. This is the prerequisite to more and more victories over the MAGA’s as their destructive extremism leads growing numbers of Republican voters and elected officials to raise their voices and turn away from madman Trump.

Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of the recently published books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com.

Singing for Our Lives, Today

Future Hope, , , , ,

“The caged bird sings with a fearful trill
Of things unknown but longed for still
And his tune is heard on the distant hill for
The caged bird sings of freedom.”

-from Maya Angelou poem, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Thinking about what I would write in this column about the importance of group singing for a mass people’s movement I somehow remembered this Maya Angelou poem, this poem about singing at a time of adversity.

One of the first times I ever sang out loud outside of a church or school setting was when, at the age of 20, I was literally “caged,” in a cell in the Monroe County Jail in Rochester, NY. I had just been arrested with seven others for a nonviolent, “Catholic Left” action in 1970, spending five hours inside a Federal Building in the FBI, Selective Service and US Attorney’s offices. We cut up draft files and looked for incriminating FBI files [they were paper back then, not electronic] as a nonviolent protest against both the Vietnam War and the J. Edgar Hoover/FBI-led government repression of many of the organizations working for peace, racial justice and women’s rights.

I remember how I felt inside that Rochester jail cell: very scared, very aware that I could end up spending a long time in prison. My response to that deep fear was to sing. And as I did so it was strengthening to hear others arrested with me calling out words of support.

Singing can be a very special thing, especially within mass movements for positive, progressive change. Here’s something Bruce Hartford wrote in his excellent book, “Troublemaker,” about the role of singing in the 1960s Black Freedom movement:

The songs spread our message,
 The songs bonded us together,
  The songs elevated our courage,
    The songs shielded us from hate,
      The songs forged our discipline,
         The songs protected us from danger,
            And it was the songs that kept us sane.

Hartford wrote this about one of those experiences:

“I so vividly remember those night marches during the school crisis when white mobs filled the outer perimeter of the square. As we marched around the green singing with every ounce of energy and passion we could muster we had to circle again, and again, and again, past that one spot where they were most intensely trying to break into our line. Most of the time they couldn’t do it. They simply couldn’t do it. In some way I can’t explain our singing and our sense of solidarity created a kind of psychological barrier between us and them, a wall of moral strength that they couldn’t physically push through to attack us with their clubs and chains, as they so obviously wanted to do.”  p. 347

25 years ago my wife, son and I moved from Brooklyn, NY to Bloomfield, NJ. I soon began seeing and hearing at various activist protests a group called the Solidarity Singers, an all-volunteer group which sang at demonstrations, meetings, conferences, anywhere they were asked to sing. They sang songs with melodies drawn from the civil rights and labor movements but with words appropriate to the particular issue at that time. About 10 years ago, after retiring from paid employment, I became an increasingly active member of this group to the point where today I consider it to be one of my main areas of activist work in New Jersey.

There is no question that the existence and persistence of this group has made a difference in building a stronger, multi-issue, activist progressive movement in New Jersey.

James Connolly, the famous Irish labor, socialist and independence leader, also a women’s rights supporter, understood the importance of singing. In the introduction to “Revolutionary Songs,” published in Dublin in 1907, he wrote this:

“No revolutionary movement is complete without its poetical expression. If such a movement has caught hold of the imagination of the masses they will seek a vent in song for the aspirations, the fears and the hopes, the loves and the hatreds engendered by the struggle. Until the movement is marked by the joyous, defiant, singing of revolutionary songs, it lacks one of the most distinctive marks of a popular revolutionary movement, it is the dogma of a few, and not the faith of the multitudes.”

To defeat Trump, Musk and MAGA and advance towards a very different future than what they and the billionaire/fossil fuel class want, it will take multitudes, multitudes lifting our voices together in defiance and in song.

As we saw yesterday with tens of thousands of people protesting in a coordinated way in all 50 states, and as we will continue to see in multiplying and growing acts of resistance going forward, we won’t go back! Let’s go forward singing!

Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of the recently published books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com.

Tom Paine and Presidents’ Day

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The organizers of the pro-democracy actions last week on February 5, all around the country in all 50 states, have issued a call for actions this coming Monday, February 17, President’s Day. This day is mainly about remembering the USA’s first President, George Washington, as well as Abraham Lincoln. Washington was a slaveholder; Lincoln, of course, defeated, temporarily, the system of African enslavement in the South.

By coincidence this morning I was reminded about one of the original American revolutionaries who fought with Washington for independence from England, Tom Paine. It might be of value for those organizing the Monday actions to reference what he had to say in his book, Common Sense, about kings, or Presidents who act like kings:

“Men who look upon themselves born to reign, and others to obey, soon grow insolent; selected from the rest of mankind their minds are early poisoned by importance; and the world they act in differs so materially from the world at large that they have but little opportunity of knowing its true interests, and when they succeed to the government are frequently the most ignorant and unfit of any.”  p. 15, Dover Thrift Editions

Washington was a supporter of slavery. He also took part in wars against Indigenous nations to take their land for the benefit of European settlers, as did Lincoln in the 1830’s. Paine, in contrast, evolved into an abolitionist and came to appreciate Indigenous nations for their organic connections to the natural world and democratic decision-making processes. All personified this contradiction at the heart of the United States: a very imperfect union, at birth, but one which, over time, with Lincoln playing an important role as far as African enslavement, rejected much of that racist past and began the expansion of democratic rights and freedoms which have continued up until the 21st century.

Trump and MAGA want to role back as many of those rights as they can.

It is rare, from my experience, that the name Tom Paine is voiced among those in 21st century USA who see themselves as progressives or revolutionaries. I understand why this is the case, but I think there are very good reasons why we should be raising up his name as we continue to build our growing 21st century movement of movements for racial, gender, social and environmental justice, for a Green New Deal for low-income and working class people, for Medicare for All, for equity and equality for women, all people of color and lgbtq+ people, for “liberty and justice for all.”

“Citizen Tom Paine” is a book about Paine by Howard Fast published 70 years ago. It’s not a biography of Paine; it’s a work of historical fiction. But it presents much of the truth about the man, from his very real personal weaknesses and worts to his brilliance as a writer, speaker and organizer, his commitment to the cause of overthrowing British tyranny, “a way for children to smile, some freedom, some liberty, and hope for the future, men with rights, decent courts, decent laws, men not afraid of poverty and women not afraid of childbirth.” (p. 77)

Paine saw himself as a revolutionist. This was his life’s work. In a fictional exchange with fellow revolutionist and doctor Benjamin Rush, in a discussion about revolution, Rush articulates what was historically new about what was happening in the American colonies in the 1770’s: “The strength of many is revolution, but curiously enough mankind has gone through several thousand years of slavery without realizing that fact. But here we have a nation of armed men who know how to use their arms; we have a Protestant tradition of discussion as opposed to autocracy; we have some notion of the dignity of man [mainly white men]. . . but now we must learn technique, we must learn it well. . .Six months ago you were rolled in the dirt [assaulted] because people knew what you were writing; two weeks ago a man in New York was almost tarred and feathered because he planned to publish an answer to [Paine’s] Common Sense. That’s not morality; that’s strength, the same kind of strength the tyrants used, only a thousand times more powerful. Now we must learn how to use that strength, how to control it. We need leaders, a program, a purpose, but above all we need revolutionists.” (pps. 116-117)

Paine was a particular kind of writer, one who was immersed in the cause of independence, on the front lines of deadly battles, spending time in the bitter winter encampments of the nascent continental army, organizing, encouraging men to stick with it, inspiring them and pointing out how important what they were doing was. “This was all Paine had ever thought of or dreamed of, the common men of the world marching together, shoulder to shoulder, guns in their hands, love in their hearts.” (p. 124)

Fast paints a picture of Paine writing the first issue of The Crisis, a newspaper published by him during the war to present facts and strengthen morale: “The men gathered around him. They read as he wrote: ‘These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country, but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered. . . If there be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace. . . Let it be told to the future world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet and repulse it.” (p. 145)

That’s a good last line, relevant for us right now 250 years later in the winter of 2025. Let the city and the country come forth to meet and repulse our common danger, this decade’s King George III and the reactionary MAGA movement under him. It’s just common sense.

 Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of the recently published books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com.

Strategy and Tactics for the Burgeoning Resistance

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The wide mix of acts of resistance over the past week have made it clear that there is and will be widespread resistance to the Trump/MAGA regressive, racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic and pro-billionaire plans, There have been actions in the streets in DC and all over the country. Congressional Democrats are speaking up, filibustering and organizing town meetings. Numerous creative social media postings have helped to keep up people’s morale. Rachel Maddow on MSNBC five nights a week is playing an important role as have other TV/podcast/written reports and commentaries. And there have been a number of federal court filings, a few of which have already led to positive, initial judicial decisions.

Here are my thoughts on an overall strategy and the tactics we should be prioritizing as we keep building the mass US resistance movement which has burst into public view during the first week of February.

Strategy: On a national level we are on the defensive; that has to be our starting point. We can win some victories over the next two years, even some big ones, at local and state levels, but it’s unrealistic to expect we can make major advances at the federal level given Trump/MAGA/billionaire dominance of the executive and congressional branches of government and a conservative majority on the Supreme Court. Our overall strategy must be one of making as many advances as we can on local and state levels while preventing as much damage as possible to the primary MAGA targets: US democracy, human and civil rights, including internationally, organized labor and programs that benefit low- and moderate-income working people, and the natural environment on which all life depends.

Tactics: I see five areas where we as a movement of movements need to be focused during these difficult years: street heat–local/state/federal government—courts—media and publicity—outreach.

Street heat: This is essential. Visibility is needed to strengthen morale and attract others to our resistance movement. Well-organized and/or big demonstrations can also have an impact on elected officials, judges and masses of people, including some who voted for Trump. Some people will be challenged, appreciative or moved to consider the issue(s) being addressed because of street heat and demonstrative actions.

Local/state/federal government: I’m very close to people who are big on calling or emailing elected officials at all levels of government to urge them to do the right thing. Honestly, this isn’t the form of action that I’m really into. However, the Associated Press reported a few days ago that there have been so many calls to Congress that phone systems in individual offices are overwhelmed. WE NEED TO KEEP THIS UP. Just as mass demos/street heat have an impact, there are numerous examples over the years of massive calls to Congress preventing or advancing legislation and motivating Senators and House members to be more outspoken about the immediate issue. This pressure is undoubtedly primarily responsible for Senate and House Democrats stepping it up both in word and action (filibuster, organizing town meetings) this past week.

I’ve put on my calendar for the month of February making at least three calls each day to my Senators and House rep, practicing what I’m preaching.

Courts: Without a judicial system which is charged with upholding the US Constitution (which includes the Bill of Rights and amendments prohibiting slavery, etc.), our chances for winning victories on the way to ultimately isolating and overcoming the MAGA’s would be much less. And that’s still true with the 6-3 dominance of conservatives, not all of them MAGA conservatives, however, on the Supreme Court.

Court cases usually take time, often a lot of it. When you are out of power and on the defensive legislatively and dealing with executive orders, this is helpful. Federal district court and court of appeals rulings are often good ones on many issues. These decisions can have political impacts, strengthen support for the positions our progressive movements are taking. And when the legal and extra-legal repression comes down from the Trumpists and MAGA, as it inevitably will, the courts are critical.

Media and publicity: Elon Musk may have his X, Fox News is what it is, and there are many other ways that the ultra-rightists can connect with each other and try to confuse masses of people about what is true and false, but there’s no question that we have our own ways to communicate and spread the truth. And there are non-electronic ways to communicate, like by mass in-person leafletting, draping banners over major highways or wheat-pasting posters, or doing multi-day or multi-week walks along the side of well-traveled roads and through towns and cities. Groups can organize community teach-ins and public meetings in churches, civic centers, universities, etc. Where there is a will to get out the word, there are definitely ways.

Outreach:  Finally, it is not enough for us to do all of the above with only those who are already critical of Trump (half or a little more of the country, likely to grow as the MAGA policies do their damage). We need to do outreach to and with these many tens of millions, for sure, but we also need to look for opportunities or make specific organizing plans to interact with Trump voters, including in rural areas, and voters who didn’t vote because they’re turned off to both parties. I know from personal experience doing canvassing to defeat Trump last fall in eastern Pennsylvania that many of these folks have strong feelings, for example, about the dominance of the US economy by billionaires and the growing class divide. Another example is the opposition among many conservative landowners to oil, gas and CO2 pipeline companies being allowed by governments to use eminent domain to take their land. And there are other examples.

White male progressives have a particular responsibility to look for ways to have these discussions and interactions. Serious anti-racist/sexist/heterosexist practice must include a willingness/commitment to do this work. In my Burglar for Peace book I wrote about it this way: “It is critical that whites organizing whites take up the economic, health care, education or other issues impacting predominantly white communities, to show that they are concerned about all forms of inequality and want a just society for everyone. A good organizer knows that you need to start with people where they are, make connections on the basis of issues, experiences or other things held in common. As those connections are made, as people get to know and respect the organizer, they are more willing to listen and think about constructive criticism from her/him or ideas other than those they are ordinarily exposed to.” (p. 192)

Our situation is in no way hopeless. Trump is being called out publicly, like in a Wall Street Journal editorial last week, as “dumb,” which he is. His Canada and Mexico tariff proposals were pulled back one day after he made them, not exactly a way of leading that inspires confidence among followers. His insane proposal standing next to Netanyahu to ethnically cleanse Gaza of Palestinians was met with open disbelief by numerous Republican Senators. He will continue to say and do things like this for as long as he is President, and it will probably get worse as his advanced age combined with his other mental problems weaken his “governing” facilities going forward.

The independent and progressive movement of movements can give the leadership needed to win this battle. Si, se puede!

Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of the recently published books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com.