The purpose of The Social Justice Coalition, isn't merely to unite the Religious Left against the wrong-headed ideas of The Christian Coalition, and the Religious Right. Atheists and Agnostics will hopefully also participate. As the Social Justice Coalition grows larger, we want there to be plenty of diversity in our membership. We hope that Atheists and Agnostics, will unite in Common Cause with the Religious Left, under the banner of The Social Justice Coalition, in order to combat the excessive Religious Fundamentalism, which is distorting The Political Process.
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6 comments:
I think that another group is not the answer Kris. The conservatives are united under a common banner so much better than the liberals. Unless you plan on working VERY intimately with other members of the religius left, liberal interest groups etc, than it may actually be counterproductive to form another organization.
You have to form the group, promote it, build up membership, get funding, distribute funding, find ways to get attention from other blogs, the media, etc, and so many other little things that go into building a succesful org. I just think it's a waste of your time and energy to form a new group when the infrastructure has already been created by others who share your values. You may not have as prominent a position in another persons' pet project as your own, but you save yourself a lot of trouble by taking advantage of the groundwork that they have already set. Cooperation is the key to success in all human enterprises.
Believe me, I'm not worried about achieving a prominent position. I'm President of my local Toastmasters Club, and that keeps me busy enough. I don't want to do anything that would be overly redundant, but I'm not certain that this movement would be as ineffective, as you are speculating. Let me give a corny example. Many people write love songs. What if every song-writer decided that there were too many love songs already, and refused to write any more? This is why I think there is still room for The Social Justice Coalition.
Its a good example (and not TOO corny either ;)) but I don't know if that's what I'm saying. People and organizations are different. People do better working together. They accomplish more when their talents and resources are combined, given that there is no cumbersome bureaucracy to meddle. I think that there is not a real void that this organization is filling right now. If it were to act as a unifier of other organizations, or fight for an issue that is being ignored, that would be different. But what is SJC going to offer that other activists are not already doing better and with more resources to throw at it? You need to find your niche. It could be web activism, it could be voting reform, or a number of other issues. However, my advice is that what you're trying to do is too unfocused. There is a real grass roots urge to fight back against warmongering, gov. propaganda, religious extremism and a number of other issues in the US right now. It will die out if people do not do something about it early on that gains small victories. Small victories will reinspire those who have been so soundly beaten in the last elections to try for bigger ones. My advice is to think small, or unite with the big. Please take it in the good spirit that it was given.
Milad,
You are correct when you say that there are many commendable groups already out there. My goal isn't to detract from what they are doing. Indeed, such people as Jim Wallis, and others, have set an example for those of us, who are working towards Social Justice. If you have know of any particular groups, individuals, or internet resources we should be aware of, please share your insights.
I like to work with the quakers as far as religious org's go. They are the most socially conscious and christlike spiritual community I have found yet. The buddhists are also lots of fun.
As far as activist organizations, there are many good ones with a lot of pull in the national debate. Moveon.com, People for the American way and the ACLU are all keepers of the flame that regularly send me action alerts and petitions to pass around.
I would also say that FAIR (Fairness and Democracy in Reporting) and The Center for Media and Democracy are really good org's to support. The reason that the progressives are down and out right now is because of deception, disinformation and distraction by their opponents. They have better control over the terms of the national debate and the framing of the issues by the media. FAIR is the biggest liberal media watch group, yet it has only 1/10 the resources as the Media Research Center, the largest conservative media watchdog. As a result, the myth of the liberal media conspiracy grows without check, because its advocates have SO MUCH more power and influence behind them. This is the fulcrum of public opinion, and the progressives have dropped the ball by allowing the conservative interests to monopolize it. If you are looking for the greatest single thing that can be done for the liberal movement as a whole, it would be to help restore balance to the media by helping these org's
These are the big groups that will help you if you are going after broad goals. If you go the route of local politics, then your goals becomes narrower and easier, but so do your potential resources.
Here are a few other links I have found in my time online.
http://www.movingideas.org/content/en/link_category.htm
(try getting your blog on their links page, or find a blogger that shares your values to unite with!)
http://www.freechild.org/youth_activism_2.htm
The youth are the bastion of progressive morality in today's America. Their passion is the key to reigniting the movement.)
Thanks for the information. MoveOn already sends me Emails, and I bought one of the books that they published. I am aware of some of the other groups that you have mentioned, and will research those that I am not familiar with.
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