Made in LA, Agape Grantee Spring ‘07
According to the US Department of Labor, the first Monday in September is celebrated as Labor Day, dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well being of our country. (more…)
Peacemakers deliver hope. With their actions. With their vision. With their leadership. They light the path to equality and justice. For us to follow. (more…)
by Karen Topakian
That’s what I saw when I exited the bus at 7th and Market the other day. Small gnawed bones. Picked clean of meat. Not yet brittle. Looking very new. The memory of those bird remnants haunted me for days until today, when they made complete sense.
Why today?
Because today is August 6th. And 63 years ago today, in 1945, Hiroshima was transformed into a landscape of charred bodies, human shadows burned into the sidewalk and bones. 140,000 died that day and afterwards. (more…)
by Nicole Hsiang
Last weekend, I attended the 2008 Raising Change Social Justice Fundraising Conference, which was organized by the Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training (GIFT). I was able to meet fellow fundraising comrades from all over the country (and some from other countries, as well), and attend workshops that covered everything from practical fundraising skills to analyzing our place in the global movement for social change.
The second morning of the conference kicked off with a lively debate on the topic, “Is the non-profit sector a vehicle – or has it become a barrier – to social justice?” This debate, by now, is not unfamiliar, thanks to the women of Incite! Women of Color Against Violence who recently produced the popular anthology, The Revolution Will Not Be Funded: Beyond the Non-Profit Industrial Complex, in which its contributors seriously critique and challenge foundations and non-profit organizations to be more accountable to the communities that they serve. Their book serves as affirmation of the growing frustration among activists with the non-profit sector, a now highly professionalized, highly funded field, becoming the home for social justice movement building. Having to pay salaries, office rent, postage and more, non-profits are often enticed to conform to the interests of wealthy funders. Radical politics are downplayed, subversive language is watered down, and hours of weekly work time are spent writing grants, gathering data, and filing reports. And this is the way the wealthy may maintain the privilege and security of the powerful ruling classes, using their charity to manage and control activism. (more…)