Articles
This article by Lina Britto & Forrest Hylton offers an introduction to the history of the working class and organized labor in the US. It addresses questions including: Why is inequality greater in the US than in Europe, Canada, or Australia? What makes the historical trajectory of the US working class particular? How has organized labor developed over history in the US? And more...
Lina Britto is a Colombian journalist who has written for publications in Colombia, Bolivia, Spain, and the U.S. She is a Ph.D. candidate in Latin American history at NYU working on the social and cultural history of marijuana production and the war on drugs in La Guajira, Colombia. She is the editor of El gas: Debate nacional (La Paz, 2003), and Altupata warminakan sartasitapa lup’iwipampi wali ch’amampi/La fuerza y el pensamiento de las mujeres alteñas en el levantamiento de Octubre de 2003 (La Paz, 2005), an oral history of the role...
Social Justice Leadership orients its work around three spheres of activity and influence, all of which dynamically interact to contribute to the successes (and failures) of grassroots efforts to create a more progressive set of societal values and government policies. The three spheres are the individual, the organization, and the movement. We view our work as improving the effectiveness and impact of individuals, organizations, and the social justice movement, particularly as they relate to each other.
The 5 practices of leadership for the social justice arena identify core behaviors that can provide an anchor for individuals and organizations amidst the chaos and pressure of organizing, campaigns, and confronting politically reactionary forces in society. The practices, if embraced conscientiously, can make manifest on a day-to-day basis the values that drive social justice work; and they hold the potential to move our individual and organizational behavior into greater...
It is time for the social justice movement to have an authentic reckoning with its effectiveness. Transformative Organizing is about creating deep change in how we are as people, how we relate to each other, and how we structure society. By Social Justice Leadership.
By Ng'ethe Maina & Staci Haines.
What is Practice?
A central component of any change process – personal change or organizational change – is the concept of practice. But what is practice and why is it so important?
Practice is simply the act of doing something, whether that something is as complicated as doing a piano solo or as simple as washing the dishes. We call it practice when the act becomes a repeated behavior.
Practice can be both distinct and indistinct. We can set aside time to intentionally focus on our practice, such as when we set aside time to practice a musical instrument, practice basketball, or practice meditation. Practice is also indistinct in that we are always practicing something, whether we are conscious of it or not. The ritual of our morning coffee and newspaper, how we behave in meetings, our attitude when it is time to do unpleasant activities – in all of these situations we are...
This article by Forrest Hylton offers and introduction to the history of the working class and organized labor in the US. It addresses questions including: Why is inequality greater in the US than in Europe, Canada, or Australia? What makes the historical trajectory of the US working class particular? How has organized labor developed over history in the US? And more...
Forrest Hylton has taught political education in the Americas since 1996, and is currently writing a Ph.D. thesis at NYU on indigenous movements for self-government in late-nineteenth-century Bolivia. He has written widely for independent media, and is the author of Evil Hour in Colombia (New York, 2006). With Sinclair Thomson, he is co-author of Revolutionary Horizons: Past and Present in Bolivian Politics (New York, 2007); and with Thomson, Felix Patzi, and Sergio Serulnikov, he is co-author of ‘Ya es otro tiempo el presente’: Cuatro momentos de...
Transformative Organizing Practices and Tools
The Jo Kata is a practice done with a wooden staff known as a “jo.” It comes from traditional Japanese martial arts and is part of Aikido training. We use it at SJL not because we are martial arts students, but because it is an effective practice for developing self-awareness and for embodying new skills and qualities. Acting from Center, one of SJL’s Five Core Practices of Effective Leadership for Social Justice, is about engaging life and work from the place where we have the most balance, poise and power. It’s about responding to the pressures we face intentionally based on what we most care about, rather than reacting unconsciously in ways that are not aligned with our purpose and values. The Jo Kata is a great practice for building a centered presence, accessing our full power as leaders, building both steadiness and agility, and learning to work in coordination with others. We do this...