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It's a pretty grim time to be a liberal. But don't give in to despair. We may have lost the battle, but we didn't lose the war. People did vote in record numbers, all across the board. Many people cared about politics and were active in the political arena for the first time. Now all those people must continue to be active.
It's easy to do your part, no matter how much free time or spare cash you have. Here is a list of resources that will help you become an active and involved citizen. Even doing just one thing from this list is a step in the right direction. These are mainly political organizations but I am trying to cover social issues, too. Every step towards equity is a step in the right direction. And remember, every organization on this list is free to join.
Organizations
aclu.org: The American Civil Liberties Union. My personal favorite organization. The ACLU issues action alerts on important civil liberties issues. They provide a form that will email or fax your representatives on a whole host of issues in just a few clicks. The provide services for disenfranchised Americans and they have always been at the forefront of the fight for civil liberties.
fair.org: Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting. FAIR, the national media watch group, has been offering well-documented criticism of media bias and censorship since 1986. We work to invigorate the First Amendment by advocating for greater diversity in the press and by scrutinizing media practices that marginalize public interest, minority and dissenting viewpoints. As an anti-censorship organization, we expose neglected news stories and defend working journalists when they are muzzled. As a progressive group, FAIR believes that structural reform is ultimately needed to break up the dominant media conglomerates, establish independent public broadcasting and promote strong non-profit sources of information.
commondreams.org: Common Dreams is a national non-profit citizens' organization working to bring progressive Americans together to promote progressive visions for America's future. Founded in 1997, we are committed to being on the cutting-edge of using the internet as a political organizing tool - and creating new models for internet activism.
answercoalition.org: The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition formed on September 14, 2001. It is a coalition of hundreds of organizations and prominent individuals and scores of organizing centers in cities and towns across the country. Its national steering committee represents major national organizations that have campaigned against U.S. intervention in Latin America, the Caribbean, the Middle East and Asia, and organizations that have campaigned for civil rights and for social and economic justice for working and poor people inside the United States.
codepinkalert.org: CODEPINK is a women initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement that seeks positive social change through proactive, creative protest and non-violent direct action.
Protest.net: Protest.Net is a collective of activists who are working together to create our own media. By publishing a public record of our political activities on the web we are taking a stand against the established media. We are standing up and showing that serious activism is alive and well at the dawn of the 21st century.
unitedforpeace.org: United for Peace and Justice is a coalition of more than 800 local and national groups throughout the United States who have joined together to oppose our government's policy of permanent warfare and empire-building.
Peacecoup.us: A protest group for peace
HRC.org: As America's largest gay and lesbian organization, the Human Rights Campaign provides a national voice on gay and lesbian issues. The Human Rights Campaign effectively lobbies Congress; mobilizes grassroots action in diverse communities; invests strategically to elect a fair-minded Congress; and increases public understanding through innovative education and communication strategies. HRC is a bipartisan organization that works to advance equality based on sexual orientation and gender expression and identity, to ensure that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans can be open, honest and safe at home, at work and in the community.
actupny.org: {The NY chapter has links to other regional resources} ACT UP is a diverse, non-partisan group of individuals united in anger and committed to direct action to end the AIDS crisis. We advise and inform. We demonstrate. WE ARE NOT SILENT
acorn.org: ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is the nation's largest community organization of low and moderate-income families, with over 150,000 member families organized into 750 neighborhood chapters in more than 60 cities across the country.
communitychange.org: Helping low-income people, especially people of color, build powerful, effective organizations through which they can change their communities and public policies for the better.
www.ctwo.org: Founded in 1984, the Center for Third World Organizing (CTWO, pronounced C-2) is a national, multiracial "movement center" that works with community organizations and grassroots leaders. It seeks to develop an analysis "showing how structures of racial privilege shape our lives and communities," a vision "motivating movements based on race, gender, sexuality, and economic justice," and a strategy of "building organizing capacity necessary to achieve meaningful social change." With these goals in mind, CTWO works in communities of color throughout the United States, training organizers, offering advice, and providing other resources to aid activists in their "direct action" organizing.
ejfund.org: The environmental justice movement first began mobilizing in the late seventies, at a time when state and federal governments were beginning to implement a wave of legislation dealing with the environment and civil rights. Since then, the movement has persistently highlighted the failure of reforms in both areas to account for environmental damage that disparately affects communities of color. The movement's motto, "We speak for ourselves," hints at its focus on local organizations and local solutions, and its resistance to the kinds of corporate-controlled globalization that have sparked protests around the world. Its activists favor a much broader view of the "environment" than many mainstream environmentalists, defining it as "where we live, work, play, go to school, and pray." They call into question market-based "solutions" that help certain privileged sectors while shortchanging or even harming communities that lack political and economic clout. The Environmental Justice Fund (EJ Fund) is a national membership organization "dedicated to strengthening the environmental justice movement." It was founded by six environmental justice networks in 1995, and continues to operate under an inclusive, loosely organized structure. The EJ Fund helps coordinate a vast network of local and regional coalitions that operate under the “Principles of Environmental Justice,” first ratified in 1991 at the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit in Washington.
jwj.org: Jobs for Justice (JwJ) was founded in 1987 with a belief that people must unite and organize in order to provide a better way of life for themselves and their families. With a presence in forty cities and twenty-nine states across the country, JwJ has created a national network of labor, faith-based, community, and student organizations working together on behalf of "workplace and community social justice campaigns." It helps individuals become advocates for the workplace rights to which they are entitled, all the while trying to connect them to larger national and international struggles for economic and social justice.
now.org: With 500,000 members and 550 chapters in all fifty states, the National Organization for Women is the largest U.S. organization dedicated to guaranteeing equality for all women. Since its founding in 1966, NOW has been committed to taking positions and actions that are uncompromising, unorthodox, and ahead of their time. NOW's long list of priorities includes amending the U.S. constitution to guarantee equal rights for women, protecting abortion rights and reproductive freedom, opposing racism, class-based discrimination, and bigotry against sexual minorities, and ending violence against women.
rainbowpush.org: The Rainbow/PUSH Coalition (RPS) is a multiracial, multi-issue, and international membership organization that works on behalf of social, racial, and economic justice. RPS is the result of the 1997 merger of two organizations: Operation PUSH (founded in 1971) and the National Rainbow Coalition (founded in 1985). In fighting for affirmative action, equal rights, employment rights, and civic empowerment, RPC has explicitly linked its struggle for justice to the principles of the "American Dream." As RPC’s founder, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, explains: "The American Dream is one big tent of many cultures, races, and religions. Under that tent, everybody is assured equal protection under the law, equal opportunity, equal access, and a fair share. Our struggle demands that we open closed doors, extend the tent, and even the playing field."
peta.org: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), with more than 800,000 members, is the largest animal rights organization in the world. Founded in 1980, PETA is dedicated to establishing and protecting the rights of all animals. PETA operates under the simple principle that animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, or use for entertainment.
Magazines and news resources
zmag.org: The best of the best. An independent monthly print periodical on political, cultural, social, and economic life in the U.S.
guardian.co.uk: The online site for the UK's most notoriously influential independent news magazine.
motherjones.com: Mother Jones is an independent nonprofit whose roots lie in a commitment to social justice implemented through first rate investigative reporting.
democracynow.org: Democracy Now! is a national, daily, independent, award-winning news program airing on over 225 stations in North America.Pioneering the largest public media collaboration in the U.S., Democracy Now! is broadcast on Pacifica, community, and National Public Radio stations, public access cable television stations, satellite television (on Free Speech TV, channel 9415 of the DISH Network), shortwave radio and the internet.
inthefray.com: INTHEFRAY.COM is an online magazine devoted to understanding, reporting on, and acting upon issues of identity and community. INTHEFRAY is about individuality — who we are, how we differ, what we have in common. It is about relationship — bridging those identities through education and personal connection. It is about action — uniting people of diverse backgrounds to work toward causes and ideas greater than themselves.
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