Solutions
Ending the War
Way back in October 2006, George McGovern and William Polk published a well-thought-out and entirely doable exit strategy for the war in Iraq in Harper’s magazine.   No one, including Harper’s, seems to have put any effort into publicizing or trying to build support for this plan. Peace activists would do well to get behind it. Check it out here
Funding The Movement
Christopher Hayes talks with funders both old-school and new in In These Times, and finds “a shocking degree of consensus about what’s broken and how to fix it.” See the story here.
Grassroots Organizing
Creating a political system where regular people can genuinely participate, as opposed to taking orders from elites, is necessary if we want real change. Laura Flanders has a great article called “Bottom-Up Power” in the Nation (4/6/07) that details how it’s done in Montana.
Ending Poverty:
Britain Expands US Methods, Cuts Childhood Poverty from 25% to 11%
What does it take to really put a dent in poverty? Increases in the minimum wage, tax credits for the working poor, and preschool programs that level the playing field for poor kids all help. These policies are not, however, a panacea. See the report from the WSJ here.
Demos Makes Bold Policy Proposals
Demos, a progressive think tank, seeks to make bold policy proposals, including in the area of economic justice. While there are some holes in their analysis - for example, they talk about how to fund federal programs with new taxes, leaving military spending unmentioned and untouched - I think the word “bold” is reasonably justified. For example, they suggest giving every child a “nest egg” of $6K at birth so they would have some options as they enter adulthood. As the child of a poor family whose inheritance consisted of a television, I think this would be an enormous help. See their proposals here.
Movement-Building and Organizational Development
Demos also has a program called Building Movement which is doing some terrific work around putting movement-building (back) into service-oriented nonprofits, and around leadership transition in the sector. They take the pending retirement of baby-boom leaders as an opportunity to examine endemic problems of management, decisionmaking and leadership. They discuss both how baby-boom leaders can be assisted in finding new roles and financial security in retirement, and how young leaders and organizations could be supported in an effective transition to new leadership. Check it out here.
Aaron Kreider has written an article on Z Net on the subject of movement building. He posits, “If we fail to democratize online activism, then we will have betrayed our progressive principles. The next wave of online activism should emphasize movement building.” Check it out here.
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