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The “Imagine a New California” Campaign for Governor

“To be radical is to grasp the root of the matter. But, for man, the root is man himself.”  —Karl Marx In 2014, I managed a seemingly crazy move, against all odds, and with literally no chance of success: I ran for governor in the most populous, costliest, and economically divided state in the country, California.  I decided to do this at a time when every political party and movement in the U.S. was steeped in crisis. When society was rent with irreparable economic and political ruptures, including a massive mortgage and financial calamity that began in 2008. When archaic

Political Independence and the Movement to End Slavery

The following is a transcribed conversation between members of the University of the Poor’s History & Political Strategy Team, who facilitate studies on moments of history, in particular Lessons from the Movement to End Slavery and W.E.B. Du Bois’s Black Reconstruction in America. The members of the team present for the conversation were Kevin Kang, CIara Taylor, John Wessel-McCoy, Phil Wider and Willie Baptist. It has been edited for length and clarity. Kevin: The conversation is centered around the theme of political polarization and political independence, and what history, particularly the movement to end slavery and the period of Reconstruction,

Fusion Organizing and Independent Politics: An Interview with Reverend Tonny Algood

In presenting this issue of the University of the Poor Journal, we consider the possibilities and challenges for political independence of the poor and dispossessed in the U.S. In his piece, Dan Jones affirms that the movement for political independence of the poor and dispossessed has “always faced its greatest obstacles in the U.S. South and in particular the Black Belt, the home soil of the ideology of all-white all-class unity…The central battleground for the political independence of our class is in the South today.”  Current struggles to organize the poor and dispossessed in the South, such as the fight

Becoming a New and Unsettling Force: The role of Leadership Development in Building Political Independence

Tim W. Shenk, for the University of the Poor Journal: In this inaugural issue of the University of the Poor Journal, we’re focusing on the political independence of our class. We know that we can’t just announce that we want to be politically independent of the formations of the ruling class. We have to build that independence, and that comes with developing leaders who can navigate difficult and ever-changing terrain. Charon, you’re a leader in the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. You’re part of the Kairos Center and University of the Poor. These are some significant

The Middle and Political Polarization

Introduction In University of the Poor spaces, we often speak of the political strategy of “uniting the poor and dispossessed as a social force to win over the middle strata to the program of the poor as opposed to a program of the rich.” This political strategy is not a formulation our network has derived out of thin air, but from study of successful revolutionary processes in human history in which masses of people took control of political power to reorganize society and economy to the needs of the many. These experiences inform us that if we are to win,

Chris and Sheilah Interview

This political moment is overflowing with stories about the minute-to-minute fights within the two-party system and the changes happening within each party. These battles and ruptures are signs of a time of deeper, society-wide polarization, likely only to intensify. Throughout history, it is exactly contexts like these that have offered real possibility for the poor and dispossessed to build and exert politically independent leadership. But destabilized times are also full of enormous danger and reaction. To move through them effectively, we need to develop a serious assessment of the political dynamics playing out around us, as well as the economic

Revolutionaries and Electoral Politics

Electoral politics in the contemporary U.S. context are complicated for revolutionaries. As we are all well aware, because of the way our political system is structured, there are very few mechanisms for new/third parties to gain a widespread foothold. We may be heading into a period in which greater political polarization could cause fractures or shifts in one or both of the two major parties. However, the jumping off point of this piece is an examination of electoralism via the Democratic Party, which is currently ascendant among segments of the so-called “left”. Since people are throwing around a lot of

Divisions, Disruptions and Polarizations

Everywhere you look these days, serious divisions, disruptions and polarizations are erupting across society. How we analyze these ruptures and schisms has a critical impact on how we organize in our fight for the basic necessities of life. As revolutionary political organizers, it is necessary that we don’t lose the forest for the trees; that we always take into account the “big picture.” To effectively organize and build power, we must develop a deep understanding of the conditions we are facing.   The University of the Poor Concept Paper, the basic political document of the  University of the Poor, points out

Introduction – Political Independence for the Poor

The horrors of the last year were, as always, felt most deeply by poor and dispossessed people. In this country, the virus spread along the faultlines of our society, further revealing a system that puts profit over people at every turn, from healthcare to housing to the earth, water, and air that gives us all life. Poor and dispossessed people haven’t just suffered because this system deems our lives expendable. They have suffered, and continue to suffer, because they don’t have the unity, organization, and political power to make their needs and demands the order of the day.  This is

The Ability to Act for Ourselves

Our network has looked at what’s happening in the world today and come to the conclusion that a deep transformation of our social life is not just possible, but truly necessary. Without it, the vast majority of people will be left hungry, homeless, sick, held at gunpoint and unprotected from the growing effects of climate change. Without a total reorganization of the world’s economy, war and other kinds of organized violence will continue to spiral and spread. History teaches us that these kinds of necessary transformations aren’t made by good ideas or good intentions, or by individuals or organizations, but

Power, Not Pity: The Poor Organizing the Poor to Abolish Poverty (Part 1)

This serious and sacred struggle of the poor and dispossessed is a fight for our lives and self-emancipation; for economic, social, and cultural justice for all. The lives of these warriors and leaders teach us that power for the poor, not pity, is the only path to ending poverty. Their lives teach us how we must each commit ourselves to the path of uniting and organizing the poor and dispossessed as a revolutionary social force. This commitment is the first indispensable step in the path to building political power.

Growing Inequality

During the first year of the pandemic, the number of billionaires across the world grew by nearly a third, to 2,755 people.

How could a few people gain so much wealth in one year while millions are in poverty in this country alone?

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