Hey friends …

Anyone have any ideas on how to take baby steps toward organizing personal spaces at home?

I am sort of “mid-extended meltdown” right now and I am considering making some of my surroundings less cluttered so I can maybe turn down some noise 😢

I have several small-ish pockets of space (closet, cabinet, etc) that are possible targets tho first I am going to rest 🙏❤️

@actuallyautistic #ActuallyAutistic #organizing

Happy birthday to my first book baby! "Clutter: An Untidy History" made its debut on 9/1/20. Three years and three editions later, it's earned out its advance and is still finding readers. I hope it won't be an only child too much longer, but I sure am grateful for it. Thank you to everyone who's bought, borrowed, read, listened to, shared, posted about, or otherwise supported it (and its author). I heart all of you. #clutter #decluttering #organizing #MarieKondo #consumerism #bookstodon

The #restaurant #industry has long coordinated efforts to suppress labor costs through the #NRA, a multimillion-dollar #lobbying machine funded both by its restaurant members and by the fees #workers pay for required food-safety classes, according to a recent New York Times report.

The group has spent its #war chest on lobbying campaigns to preserve a subminimum #wage for tipped workers — who are disproportionately young, women, and people of color, and far more likely to live in #poverty than regular minimum wage workers — and to help block state and federal sick leave proposals and minimum wage increases.

But now, restaurant executives are on edge. #Union campaigns are suddenly penetrating their industry, which employs about 10 percent of the American #workforce and has one of the lowest #unionization rates of any sector. Over the past few years, baristas have #unionized nearly 280 Starbucks stores in the face of enormous odds, and dozens of other coffee #shops and restaurants have followed suit.

“The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, every newspaper reports on every union win… when an unfair labor practice charge is filed, when there are challenges to elections,” said Felice Ekelman, a principal at Jackson Lewis, one of the oldest and most infamous union avoidance law firms in the country. “When did this become first page #news?”

“And guess who’s reading it?” replied Laura Pierson-Scheinberg, one of Ekelman’s Jackson Lewis colleagues, as the two sat across from each other on the main stage of the summit. “My kids. Literally. I have an 18-year-old, my kids are into it.”

The two lawyers were discussing a new threat for the restaurant industry: the unexpected rise of union campaigns in workplaces that, for decades, have largely been immune from such organizing efforts.

“Before, I used to say… ‘[Unionization] isn’t a problem for you in the restaurant industry,’” said Pierson-Scheinberg. But now, she warned, “Kids do not care about paying union dues. Two percent of pay, are you kidding me? Their Netflix costs more. They think it’s a hell of a deal.”

The “kids,” she added, are #organizing #workplaces which would have previously seemed unreachable.

https://www.levernews.com/fear-and-loathing-among-the-union-busters/

#Organizing:
#People, #Power, #Change

By Leading #ChangeNetwork, #Marshall Ganz, #NewOrganizing Institute, Peter Gibbs, Shea Sinnott

https://commonslibrary.org/organizing-people-power-change/

#empowerment #methods #socialnetwork #socialchange

Points of Unity template for shared practices and processes (for social movement groups and popular organizations of various kinds): ***Although descriptively accurate, the above is not formulated to be the best name for practical use in movement context as it is too jargon heavy and wordy. Alternative names: Points of Unity, Group agreements, Shared Agreements, Group Practices, Shared Practices, Group Processes, Shared Processes, etc

Direct-Democracy: Direct democracy refers to direct collective decision making. Direct democracy enables collective dialogue, decisions, and actions to achieve various goals and solve various problems. Deliberation is foundational to a practical direct democracy as it enables questions, amendments, conversations, problems, solution criteria, multiple perspectives, critiques, concerns, alternative possibilities, dissent, and evaluation of pros and cons to round out proposals and decisions made. After deliberation, there is an aim for full agreement. If there is not full agreement, there is further discussion and then a decision is made by majority vote. ***The specifics of direct democracy can be tweaked and even left out of this section and simply included in the bylaws.

Horizontality: Horizontality refers to the presence of self-organization and the absence of hierarchy. Hierarchy refers to institutionalized top-down command obedience relations. Horizontality includes horizontal rights such as freedom from hierarchy, freedom from oppression, freedom from domination, freedom from exploitation, and freedom to participate in self-managed groups and relations. This group strives to be internally horizontal and contribute to horizontal relations. etc. ***can alternatively be called or framed as: non-hierarchy, or egalitarian relations, or opposition to hierarchy. With different groups, different framings and wordings will make more sense. Depending on group and context, it may or may not make sense for a group to give a list of various hierarchies in such a points of unity document.

Free Association and Participatory activity: Free association refers to freedom of and from associations and participatory activity within associations. For there to be free association and participatory activity, persons and groups must have the guaranteed freedoms to choose their activities and associations while respecting and enabling freedoms of others to do the same. All labor, work, and action within this group is to be voluntary and non-coerced. If someone does not like a policy that is made, they can continue to argue for and advocate an alternative proposal, continue to argue one’s point formally and informally, choose to not participate in the implementation of the policy they disagree with while remaining in the group, or choose to leave the association. *** This point can potentially be included in other points of unity without being its own point. Also, it is often implied that a group is such a voluntary association so including this for a group as an explicit point may or may not make sense.

Direct Action: Direct action refers to opposing exploitation, domination and oppression through self-managed action to achieve various goals. Direct action can be contrasted to indirect action of top-down organizing and relying on rulers to solve social problems. Direct action includes a wide array of potential activities and campaigns against specific hierarchical institutions for short term, mid-term, and long-term goals. *** A description giving examples of direct action tactics such as occupations, blockades, strikes, boycotts, etc. is optional. An alternative to the wording to “domination, exploitation, and oppression” can be “unfreedom and injustice” or something sufficiently similar.

Mutual Aid: Mutual aid refers to voluntary multidirectional help to meet needs. Mutual aid can exist within a group, between groups, between groups and persons, between persons etc. Mutual aid enables groups and people to pool abilities, needs, ideas, proposals, actions, infrastructure, resources, tools, etc. together. Mutual aid can include a wide array of potential activities from mutual assistance towards common goals, creating or participating in development of the commons (including communal fields, factories and workshops, social centers, libraries, eco-technology projects, etc), free food distribution, communal childcare, etc. ***Such a list or variation thereof is optional to include.

For groups that collaborate with other groups in various formal and informal ways:

Co-Federalism: Co-federalism refers to ways organizations can freely collaborate for inter-collective coordination, decisions, and actions in a way that enables decision making power to be in the hands of people directly. Delegated persons and councils of collectives can meet up for deliberation and administration. Such delegates and co-federal councils are mandated and recallable to their respective popular assemblies, are merely communicative, administrative, and have no policy making power. All policies are made and ratified by general assemblies directly. ***Alternatively the words federalism, confederalism, intercommunalism, inter-collectivity, egalitarian federation, etc. can be used in place of co-federalism. Co-federalism is a neologism, and confederalism and federalism both have connotative issues despite them referring to an essential practice for horizontal and free inter-organizational relations.

Addendum point for Community assembly groups in particular:

Communal Self Management: Communal self-management refers to horizontal, democratic, participatory community politics and economics. Such communal and intercommunal self-management can exist on every scale from the block, to the neighborhood, to the city, and beyond. Means of existence and production needed by communities are to be held and managed in common. Policies and protocols for communal economics are managed by communal assemblies and co-federations thereof. Such communal assemblies and co-federations thereof have embedded participatory councils that self-manage implementation within the bounds of their respective mandates and protocols. Such a communal economy aims towards providing each and all with free access to needs.

***The above point is specifically for community assembly groups. It generally makes the most sense for groups that are at relatively a mature level development to the point where they have sufficient power, means of production, and popular support.

Alternative framing that synthesizes the first three points of unity into a single point:

Participatory Democracy: Participatory democracy refers to a combination of direct collective decision making, without rulers, where people freely participate in decision making and implementation of decisions. ***By condensing the substance of the first three points into a single point, a lot of clutter disappears. From here, people can fill out this point through their own descriptions or through copying, pasting, and blending some of the more essential sentences from the first three points of unity listed as needed. An alternative framing for this point could be “self-management” in such a way that includes the substance of direct democracy, horizontality, and free association. As coherent as the first three points are as separate points rounding each other out, they are rather cumbersome and can be difficult to wrap one’s mind around. Creating a single point that combines the essential features of those points can help clear up confusion. Something like a practical unity of Participatory Democracy (as defined above), Direct Action, and Mutual aid can lead to a lot of coherence and functional use for groups starting from scratch or otherwise developing such points of unity overtime.

https://usufructcollective.wordpress.com/2023/01/14/liberatory-points-of-unity-template-2023-remix/

#anarchism #anarchy #socialism #communism #communalism #socialmovements #libertariansocialism #libertariancommunism #egalitarianism #horizontality #federalism #democracy #mutualaid #freeassociation #pointsofunity #pou #organizing #freedom #revolution #organization

If you're interested in joining a writer-and-artist led streaming initiative, you can share titles you'd be interested in distributing below (e.g. scripts, treatments, storyboards, media) — and find guidance for setting up a service like this yourself:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1asXuDBpPqjnTWMIO2sSMlasGMuS04ez6L1X7ftDNl3I/edit?usp=sharing

quote: https://twitter.com/sambutlerUS/status/1686446859588390912?s=20

Also posted on Groundtalk: https://groundtalk.land/#2023-08-02T13:47:49.901+00:00

#coop #media #artist #writer #strike #film #script #screenwriting #video #storyboard #animation #illustration #writing #creative #story #storytelling #streaming #wga #sag #worker #solidarity #means #organizing #DualPower #alternatives #channel #PublicDomain #CreativeCommons #art #artistic #cooperative #cooperatives #audiovisual #movies #tv #reading #platform #platforms #Internet

Today is Cadence Bank's deadline to decide whether to issue a $20 million loan for the construction of Cop City. Can you call Cadence at 662-680-2008, and demand them to REJECT THE LOAN?

Cadence Bank has previously financed Cop City, but rumor has it they are unsure if the project is still viable. They know when Cop City is stopped, the Atlanta Police Foundation will likely go bankrupt and default on all their loans. It's time to go all out to demand Cadence Bank deny the loan, which has simply become too risky.

Can you make a call to Cadence Bank and tell them to deny their risky $20 million loan for Cop City? It takes 1 minute: 662-680-2008

More details in the flyer below, from Honor The Earth. Call 662-680-2008, and boost this post to your networks so we can get more calls in today!

@AtlSolFund @defendATLforest @UnicornRiot

#StopCopCity #DefendAtlantaForest #solidarity #organizing #activism #antifascist #decolonize #abolition #support #help #campaign #Atlanta #ATL #CopCity #Welaunee

As an excellent example, the convergence of an XR chapter with a local squatters movement. The climate activists recognizing the synergy of place-based "generative refusal" (Leanne Simpson) with the squatters, and getting involved in place-based resistance and a strategic material intervention to change the system in that city. Same story with Atlanta and #StopCopCity ...

... whose work has resulted in hundreds of people — including the middle class people and workers, who seem so elusive to other climate movements — getting involved in mass protest and advocating abolitionist and ecological perspectives to local government. Example here, from a firefighter in Atlanta talking abolition perspectives to the government:

https://twitter.com/MarxistUnityDSA/status/1665861210598785027?s=20

"If you listen to any of the #StopCopCity public comment, you can hear how deeply abolitionist frameworks have taken root––so many people, whether identifying as abolitionists or not, articulated a vision of safety dependent on resources and relationships, rather than policing." — @micahinatl

(Posted on Groundtalk here: https://groundtalk.land/#2023-07-30T12:31:19.48+00:00)

#climate #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #ClimateActivism #StopCopCity #LandDefense #WaterProtector #XR #ExtinctionRebellion #squat #autonomous #abolition #atlanta #movement #MovementBuilding #MutualAid #strategy #organizing #activism #anarchy #anarchists #solidarity #pagan #antifa #decolonize #DualPower #labor #MiddleClass #workers #unions

yo this is the way. lefty orgs take heed, moms like me can't go to meetings or actions even when we really want to! put some resources into childcare at your org and it will pay huge dividends in the number of active members you can get https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/child-care-is-an-organizing-tool/ #Organizing #ChildCare

Biden is giving a speech on the heat and storms and carbon pollution that is killing us. The #ClimateEmergency.

Here's what we need our President to be saying. @whcos, @POTUS, @WhiteHouse, feel free to take notes.

(Boost on twitter: https://twitter.com/sambutlerUS/status/1684548224294572034?s=20)

https://kolektiva.social/@sambutlerUS/110136767962033537

#Climate #ClimateCrisis #Biodiversity #BiodiversityCrisis #EcosystemCollapse #ClimateChange #degrowth #carfree #fuckcars #localization #housing #demilitarization #regeneration #LandBack #agroecology #sovereignty #FoodSovereignty #system #grassroots #organizing #activism #change #ClimateBreakdown #heatwave #heatwaves #flood #fires #wildfire #disaster #NaturalDisaster #ClimateDisaster #ClimateCatastrophe #NativePlants #Bicycle #bike #PublicSpace #local #MoreThanHuman

Tell the Federal Gov about the rent being too damn high-- it could force landlords who get government-backed loans to behave in ways that protect #tenants.

"As a result of #TenantOrganizing, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), which regulates Fannie and Freddie, is now deciding whether to condition government-backed loans on a set of tenant protections. These protections could include regulations on rent hikes and evictions, #housing safety requirements, bans on discrimination, and more. If enacted, they could benefit over 12.4 million rental homes across the country."

So before the July 31 deadline, tell this federal agency any stories of rent hikes and struggles due to housing costs here:
https://www.fhfa.gov/AboutUs/Contact/Pages/Request-for-Information-Form.aspx?emci=ff7a0033-1528-ee11-a9bb-00224832e1ba&emdi=23eeb48e-f32a-ee11-b8f0-00224832eb73&ceid=10176568

Comments are *public​* so don't doxx yourself by giving too much identifying information. Unless you want to.

Here's some background info:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/17dIbUV_3i4zlgchL6sCqHNv8oNfIQah6BqEzZYPV3qc/edit?emci=ff7a0033-1528-ee11-a9bb-00224832e1ba&emdi=23eeb48e-f32a-ee11-b8f0-00224832eb73&ceid=10176568

And please take a moment to share this with anyone you know who's struggled or been displaced by rents being too damn high.

#Affordability #Tenants #Organizing

Register Now For IWW Rep Training

https://www.onebigunion.ie/post/register-now-for-iww-rep-training

BECOME AN IWW WORKPLACE REP!
The branch are in the process of organizing Union Representative Training for Republic of Ireland legislation, to be delivered in-person in Dublin during September.
If you are interested in attending, please reply to this email by Friday 21st July…

#union #training #guide #workersrights #organizing #workplace #IWW

"According to the cybernetician the purpose of a system is what it does. This is a basic dictum. It stands for bald fact, which makes a better starting point in seeking understanding than the familiar attributions of good intention, prejudices about expectations, moral judgment or sheer ignorance of circumstances." -- Stafford Beer

#Cybernetics #StaffordBeer #Organizing

Worker/artist owned cooperative — with distribution, to tell their own stories. Images below.

1. Workers, writers, and artists start a cooperative production company

2. They license/option existing stories to the company (which they own together!) and put stories on a website where audiences can access them

3. Stories can be scripts, treatments, readings, storyboards — it's great material in those formats, and people will dive into those stories just the same

4. Share the website (distribution!) with followings, along with a way to subscribe

5. You now have a worker/writer/artist owned cooperative, with distribution, stories, and an audience!

More details in the images below, made as a guide/resource to be helpful.

#hollywood #writers #artists #workers #strike #WritersStrike #WAGstrike #SAGstrike #ActorsStrike #GeneralStrike #coop #cooperative #cooperatives #media #screenwriting #scripts #organizing #labor #iatse #crew #film #films #tv #streaming #studio #stories #storytelling #digitalmedia #storyboard #animation #illustration #writing #acting #solidarity #creator #making

For post-car organizing, anybody can make a bike + transit map for their own place.

Just open the URL below, search your city, and zoom into about 13 (in the URL, you'll see the zoom level as "map=13")

Here's a map for part of Atlanta, just like that!

Made with OpenStreetBrowser!

https://openstreetbrowser.org/#map=13/33.7674/-84.4203&basemap=osm-cyle&categories=custom/539f5150440a274adc15fa1d80358e56,custom/3309003397fa9ace17baf457c7e502a4

#carfree #bike #transit #map #openstreetmap #bus #metro #train #subway #publictransit #cycling #walking #planning #city #place #urbanism #organizing #tool #ClimateCrisis #climateemergency #degrowth #postgrowth #transition #mobility

3 University of California graduate students workers have been charged with felony vandalism for writing slogans on a building in CHALK in an attempt to squelch Free Speech and Union Organizing. Penalties could be up to $50,000.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/labor-unionization/2023/07/07/uc-unions-chalk-markers-led-felony-vandalism

#WorkingClass #uc
#FreeSpeech #labor #Organizing #students #university #school

Today in Labor History July 7, 1931: Construction began on the Hoover dam. 16 workers and camp residents died from heat exhaustion during a single month of construction. Temperatures routinely soared over 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Several strikes led to nominal improvements in working conditions. Thousands of men were employed in the highly segregated project. Only 30 African Americans were allowed to work at any given time and Chinese workers were officially excluded. The Wobblies (IWW) tried to organize the men and sent in 11 organizers who were promptly arrested. Eugene Nelson, a Wobbly hobo, writes about it in his wonderful biographical novel, “Break Their Haughty Power.”

#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #IWW #union #organizing #HooverDam #WorkplaceSafety #WorkplaceDeaths #racism #immigration #segregation

I've been reading Murray Bookchin. AK Press had a damaged copy of one of my books, and I was all over that. Reading digitally is really hard for me, so I save that for things that are only digital (like fanfiction I like or online zines), and try to get it in print for most other things.

Right now I'm reading about the history of communes (it's one of the chapters in the book I'm reading of his), and a hell of a lot of European history was actually cities made of neighborhood communes. And they sure don't teach that in history.

There's also lots of different ways of how these communes functioned politically, and all the experiments that were happening. That's just the European sector of the world though.

Lots more experiments with commune-like societies within the Africa, Americas, and Eastern world -- I'd like to see more books covering the rise and fall of all their city and society experiments.

I think what we need to rid ourselves of is this idea that there is a "march of progress." No. History is a messy, overlapping series of humans getting together in an infinite variety of ways, exploring ways of being together and organizing, and there is no one path that leads toward the "optimal form of society" as that assumes this capitalist hellscape is the end result of it all, when it most certainly is NOT. It's just another tangle in the vast web of humanity, and a tangle that's gotten so big that it's choking humanity. We'll need to cut that tangle out entirely and weave in a new way of being.

Anyway, not sure if that metaphors made sense. I'm having a heavy pain and fatigue day so my thoughts is more muddled than usual.

#CommunalLiving #Communes #Bookchin #history #organizing

Do you know any public google calendars / icals with events related to degrowth, skill sharing, workshops, people's forums, land + food sovereignty, convivial tech, ecosocial transitions, community initiatives, and generally for the worlds we want to build?

#climate #event #events #request #info #degrowth #workshop #education, #sovereignty #forum #progressive #organizing #learning #advice

Been #cleaning and #organizing for three hours straight. The house really needed it. I have so much more I want to do, but I think it may be break time.