A Leading Cult Expert Explains How the President Uses Mind Control
by Steve Hassan
Publisher: Free Press
Dr. Steven Hassan’s presentation to Commonwealth Club of CA
A Leading Cult Expert Explains How the President Uses Mind Control
by Steve Hassan
Publisher: Free Press
Dr. Steven Hassan’s presentation to Commonwealth Club of CA
How The Republican Party Became Donald Trump
by Stuart Stevens
Publisher: Knopf
Recommended by: Cindi S. and Steve G.
Stuart Stevens spent decades electing Republicans at every level, from presidents to senators to local officials. He knows the GOP as intimately as anyone in America, and in this new book he offers a devastating portrait of a party that has lost its moral and political compass.
This is not a book about how Donald J. Trump hijacked the Republican Party and changed it into something else. Stevens shows how Trump is in fact the natural outcome of five decades of hypocrisy and self-delusion, dating all the way back to the civil rights legislation of the early 1960s. Stevens shows how racism has always lurked in the modern GOP’s DNA, from Goldwater’s opposition to desegregation to Ronald Reagan’s welfare queens and states’ rights rhetoric. He gives an insider’s account of the rank hypocrisy of the party’s claims to embody “family values,” and shows how the party’s vaunted commitment to fiscal responsibility has been a charade since the 1980s. When a party stands for nothing, he argues, it is only natural that it will be taken over by the loudest and angriest voices in the room.
It Was All a Lie is not just an indictment of the Republican Party, but a candid and often lacerating mea culpa. Stevens is not asking for pity or forgiveness; he is simply telling us what he has seen firsthand. He helped to create the modern party that kneels before a morally bankrupt con man and now he wants nothing more than to see what it has become burned to the ground.
Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People’s Economy
By: Stephanie Kelton
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Recommended by: Bob B.
Stephanie Kelton’s brilliant exploration of modern monetary theory (MMT) dramatically changes our understanding of how we can best deal with crucial issues ranging from poverty and inequality to creating jobs, expanding health care coverage, climate change, and building resilient infrastructure. Any ambitious proposal, however, inevitably runs into the buzz saw of how to find the money to pay for it, rooted in myths about deficits that are hobbling us as a country. David French discusses his book with Jonathan Rauch hosted by Institute for Humane Studies
The Politics of Us and Them
By: Jason Stanley
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Recommended by: Steve G.
As a scholar of philosophy and propaganda and the child of refugees of WWII Europe, Jason Stanley has long understood that democratic societies, including the United States, can be vulnerable to fascism. In How Fascism Works, he identifies ten pillars of fascist politics—an appeal to the mythic past, propaganda, anti-intellectualism, unreality, hierarchy, victimhood, law and order, sexual anxiety, favoring “the heartland,” and a dismantling of public goods and unions—that amount to an urgent diagnosis of the tactics right-wing politicians use to break down democracies and a critical lens on the current moment.
Stanley knits together reflections on history, philosophy, sociology, and critical race theory with stories from contemporary Hungary, Poland, India, Myanmar, and the United States, among other nations, making clear the immense dangers of language and beliefs that separate people into an “us” and a “them.” By uncovering disturbing patterns that are as prevalent today as ever, Stanley reveals that the stuff of politics—rhetoric and myth—can become policy and reality all too quickly. Only by recognizing them, he argues, can we begin to resist their most harmful effects and return to democratic ideals.
By Baratunde Thurston
Recommended by: Bob
Here are some sources of ideas from a podcast by Baratunde Thurston, which began in 2020 and has four seasons of episodes. The overall theme is encouraging thinking about “citizen” as a verb. The four
pillars for doing this are:
The four seasons of episodes (ranging from 11 to 16 episodes each season) consist of interviews with folks who are thinking about and demonstrating democracy-building activities. It’s a wonderful resource for ideas. They include international, national, statewide, and local leaders.
WE HAVE SEEN THE BEST AND WORST OF AMERICAN POLITICS.
The Lincoln Project is dedicated to the preservation, protection, and defense of democracy. Since our launch in December 2019, The Lincoln Project has played a unique role in American politics. We entered the political arena with two stated objectives: first, to defeat Donald Trump at the ballot box in 2020. (Done.) The second was to ensure Trumpism failed alongside him. We understand that the real fight against Trumpism is just beginning and we’re committed to seeing it through. Our democracy depends on it.
Founded by former Republican strategists who understood the grave threat of Trumpism to our nation, the Lincoln Project team has expanded to include individuals from across the political spectrum.
We are first and foremost: pro-democracy.
Our mission is to protect the American Republic from Donald Trump and those who identify (publicly or privately) as MAGA supporters. While we are optimistic about the future, we are not complacent. In 2020, it took an ad-hoc coalition to ensure Trump’s defeat. In 2022, we built a coalition across the political spectrum and again bought democracy some breathing room. We agree with Trump on only one thing: 2024 is a battle for America’s future.
President Abraham Lincoln led the United States through the bloodiest, most divisive, and most decisive period of our nation’s history. He fought not because he wanted to, but because he knew the dual goals of preserving the Union and the end of slavery would be achieved only through armed conflict. At Gettysburg, he implored us not to forget those who had given “their last full measure of devotion” to preserving the American experiment.
Today, we find our nation divided again – faced with a growing authoritarian movement populated by millions of radicalized voters for whom this fight is existential as well as hyper-partisanship and Ultra-MAGA movements within the government itself. Donald Trump and those who ascribe to Trumpism are a clear and present danger to the Constitution and our Republic.
This is why we fight.
A Very Practical Guide
by Peter Boghossian and James Lindsay
Publisher: Balance
by Ralph Ranalli
Publisher: Harvard Kennedy School
A short article by Ralph Ranalli published on the website of the Harvard Kennedy School in 2019, summarizing Erica Chenoweth’s work.
A year-long project of More in Common launched in October 2018.
by: Stephen Hawkins, Daniel Yudkin, Míriam Juan-Torres, and Tim Dixon
Publisher: More in Common US
Recommended by: Bob B.
The report was conducted by More in Common, a new international initiative to build societies and communities that are stronger, more united, and more resilient to the increasing threats of polarization and social division. We work in partnership with a wide range of civil society groups, as well as philanthropy, business, faith, education, media and government to connect people across the lines of division.
America has never felt so divided. Bitter debates that were once confined to Congressional hearings and cable TV have now found their way into every part of our lives, from our Facebook feeds to the family dinner table. But most Americans are tired of this “us-versus-them” mindset and are eager to find common ground. This is the message we’ve heard from more than 8,000 Americans in one of our country’s largest-ever studies of polarization: We hold dissimilar views on many issues. However, more than three in four Americans also believe that our differences aren’t so great that we can’t work together.
Recommended by: Bob B.
More in Common was established with the mission of tackling the ‘us-versus-them’ divisions that pose a generational threat to the United States. We have published over 30 reports since launching in the US in 2018, with a foundational study that helped shape the emerging field of efforts to tackle polarization in America. Hidden Tribes: A Study of America’s Polarized Landscape showed that rather than being evenly divided, most Americans belonged to an ‘Exhausted Majority’. America’s Exhausted Majority is tired of tribalism, fed up with the country’s polarization, and more flexible and less ideological than the strident voices who dominate public debates.
We work with leaders across the ideological spectrum to strengthen American democracy, solve problems, and better navigate the dynamics of a polarized society. The common thread through our ever-increasing range of projects and partnerships is a simple truth: what we as Americans have in common is greater than our differences. Through both our research insights and on-the-ground projects, we’re building evidence-based solutions to bring this truth to life.
More in Common is a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization. We receive funding from foundations, organizations and individuals who share a commitment to building communities and societies that are more resilient to the forces of social fracturing and polarization. Philanthropies that support More in Common’s work fund projects across a wide range of issue areas.
Galvanize Action connects with moderate women in rural, small-town, and suburban communities to build an America that works for everyone. We work at the intersection of data science, behavioral psychology, and neuroscience to find women who want progress on key issues but aren’t reliably playing a role in getting us there, connect with them on their values, and influence their civic behavior. We’re sharing our unique insights into moderate women voters and making our full creative library available to the movement.
Central Valley Matters is a coalition of organizations in California working to strengthen democracy and activate the electorate. We started as a group of volunteers who actively participated in the congressional elections in the Central Valley starting in 2018, and have grown into an alliance of volunteer groups focused on fundraising and supporting selected local, grassroots organizations in the Central Valley. For activism in the communities of the Central Valley to be sustained, it must be developed organically by and for the people who live there.
Central Valley Matters is dedicated to supporting locally based grassroots organizations that know their communities best and can be most responsive to their needs, and translate that into political power. Such support is a proven and crucial strategy for preserving our democracy, as was evident in Georgia and Arizona in 2020. We believe that when community voices are heard through voting, they are better represented at all levels of government. And our country is better for it.
Currently, our coalition of over 40 California volunteer groups helps to fund civic engagement in the Central Valley, supporting our carefully vetted grassroots organizations based in CA’s CD 22:
Community Water Center Action Fund, Dolores Huerta Action Fund, Poder Latinx, plus Delano Guardians, Loud for Tomorrow & Valley Voices.
Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
by Timothy Snyder
Publisher: Crown
INTERVIEW: Listen to Professor Snyder discuss his book at Politics and Prose Bookstore
Frame Lab advises calling Trump a loser, a fraud, or a betrayer of trust. A dictator creates an image of power, whereas a loser is a label no strict father/wannabe dictator will admit.
State policy becomes national policy, state leaders become national leaders, and states serve as a bulwark against an activist Supreme Court and chaos at the federal level. Sister District works to protect our democracy by electing Democrats in swing states like Arizona, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Texas.
Founded in January 2017, Swing Left continues to work hard to win elections for Democrats. Since merging with Flippable in 2019, Swing Left has remained committed to strengthening our democracy by fundraising, letter writing, phone banking, and canvassing.
Local Majority’s mission is to provide critical research to Democratic state legislative candidates. Since 2017, Local Majority has produced issue papers for state candidates in Virginia, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Arizona. Local Majority provides research that is practical and accessible to support Democratic campaigns for the state legislature.
Who We Are
A group of residents from San Mateo and neighboring communities who oppose Trump and his authoritarian policies. We are a peaceful people gathered for a common purpose of protecting our democracy, our Constitution, and our rule-of-law.
What We Do
Schedule and participate in actions such as protests, bannering over freeways, door-to-door canvassing, phone banking, and much more!
Since January 2017, more than 4,000 San Franciscans have united as Indivisible SF to march in the Women’s Marches, protest the Muslim Ban, meet regularly with our Members of Congress, and make thousands of phone calls to their offices to pressure them to do everything in their power to counter the policies and politics of Trumpism. There is much work in progress and many actions to come.
Members of Indivisible SF are defined by our action and find solidarity in our shared opposition to Trump and Trumpism. Each of us explicitly reserves our individual stances on specific issues for other forums as we believe resisting Trump is more important than any single issue. We adhere to a Code of Conduct that welcomes and respects everybody.
Members of Indivisible SF come from all kinds of backgrounds and political persuasions. Some of us are first-time activists and others have been at this for decades. We are citizens and non-citizens. Most importantly, we are all patriots that want the best for our country and are willing to work for it.
Recommended by Steve.
Democracy Forward uses the law to build collective power and advance a bold, vibrant democracy for all people.
Democracy Forward is a national legal organization that advances democracy and social progress through litigation, policy and public education, and regulatory engagement.
In towns and cities across America, we provide legal representation and expert counsel to the people and communities who make up the very fabric of American democracy — free of charge.
Everyone can do something to resist the Trump regime. Every act of resistance will combine with every other act of resistance to let them know we will not be quiet as they try to dismantle democratic institutions, erase our history, and destroy our rights.
We will not obey in advance!
Coastside United for Action was established after the Nov 2016 Presidential election. We have worked with groups such as Indivisible, Sister District, Activate America, and Reclaim Our Vote. In 2018, we registered as a Sister District affiliate, and each year we sponsor two Sister District candidates through fundraising, phone banking, and postcarding.
In 2022, we formally affiliated with Indivisible. We have an active postcard group and have written over 160,000 postcards and letters since 2017.
The Election Official Legal Defense Network (EOLDN) connects election officials in need of advice or assistance with licensed, qualified, pro bono attorneys and with communications professionals. EOLDN is a project of the nonpartisan, nonprofit Center for Election Innovation & Research.
We are a group of dedicated volunteers who’ve been meeting since 2016 to advance our democracy through civic action and resistance. We’ve already reached a million voters through letters, postcards, calls, and texts and are continuing to resist Trump’s destruction of America through driving electoral change, protecting voting rights, fighting disinformation, building pro-democracy infrastructure in rural districts, creating art against the power grab, and more. We welcome newbies and introverts, and anyone within driving distance of Mountain View, CA (we have members from Gilroy to Napa)! We host weekly and monthly events, we take direct action at protests and rallies, we chat, eat and watch debates, we celebrate wins and discuss the best way forward. As one of the oldest Indivisible groups on the Peninsula, we hold the most in-person events. Join us to build a better future!
In America, we don’t do kings.
We’re a grassroots movement of thousands of local Indivisible groups with a mission to elect progressive leaders, rebuild our democracy, and defeat the Trump agenda.
Defeating a multi-decade right-wing takeover of American government ain’t easy. But we’re here to win, and we have a plan. Here’s how we’re doing it:
We Are Indivisible. Our opponents depend on a divide-and-conquer strategy, so we treat an attack on one like an attack on all. We show up for each other, and particularly for those facing the brunt of right-wing ideologues’ attacks – often immigrants, people of color, and low-income people. We share a vision: a real democracy, of, by, and for everyone.
Strong Leaders, Strong Groups, Strong Movement. We build and sustain our movement’s power by helping individuals take leadership. They grow and lead local Indivisible groups, take independent action, and coordinate with their fellow local leaders. As a movement, our power comes from coordinated national campaigns where we act together, indivisible.
Inside/Outside Strategy. We understand systems of power – like how Congress operates – and we work inside them to get results. That complements our outside strategy of locally-based constituent pressure to demand elected leaders, regardless of political party, work for our democracy.
A Virtuous Cycle of Advocacy and Elections. We show up to advocate for policy wins in off-years and get out the vote in election years. These efforts reinforce each other to ensure our democracy works for all of us and that the people in power do too – or we will replace them with electeds who will.
Civic Influencers is committed to ensuring young voices and votes matter in our democracy. They have reimagined how and where to engage young voters. Their Organizing, Advocacy and Learning model equips young people to dismantle barriers to voting.
Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion
by Jonathan Haidt
Drawing on his twenty-five years of groundbreaking research on moral psychology, Jonathan Haidt shows how moral judgments arise not from reason but from gut feelings. He shows why liberals, conservatives, and libertarians have such different intuitions about right and wrong, and he shows why each side is actually right about many of its central concerns.
If you are not interested in reading the book, he has a TED talk that covers his main points. See:
Continue reading The Righteous MindVoteRiders is a non-partisan, non-profit organization with a mission to ensure that all citizens are able to exercise their freedom to vote. VoteRiders informs and helps citizens to secure their voter ID as well as inspires and supports organizations, local volunteers, and communities to sustain voter ID education and assistance efforts.
The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict
by Erica Chenoweth and Maria Stephan
Publisher: Columbia University Press
For more than a century, from 1900 to 2006, campaigns of nonviolent resistance were more than twice as effective as their violent counterparts in achieving their stated goals. By attracting impressive support from citizens, whose activism takes the form of protests, boycotts, civil disobedience, and other forms of nonviolent noncooperation, these efforts help separate regimes from their main sources of power and produce remarkable results, even in Iran, Burma, the Philippines, and the Palestinian Territories.
Combining statistical analysis with case studies of specific countries and territories, Erica Chenoweth and Maria J. Stephan detail the factors enabling such campaigns to succeed and, sometimes, causing them to fail. They find that nonviolent resistance presents fewer obstacles to moral and physical involvement and commitment, and that higher levels of participation contribute to enhanced resilience, greater opportunities for tactical innovation and civic disruption (and therefore less incentive for a regime to maintain its status quo), and shifts in loyalty among opponents’ erstwhile supporters, including members of the military establishment.
Lawfare is a non-profit multimedia publication dedicated to “Hard National Security Choices.” We provide non-partisan, timely analysis of thorny legal and policy issues through our written, audio, and other content—all of which you can find here. We strive to achieve academic-level depth with magazine-level readability at the pace of news. We aim to improve the discourse on the law and policy of national security with a relentless focus on substantive issues that matter—in a fashion that is useful to policymakers and practitioners, but also accessible to anyone who wants to access it. Our areas of coverage range from national security law, threats to democracy, cybersecurity, executive powers, content moderation, domestic extremism, and foreign policy, among many others.
The Mission of the Democratic Volunteer Center is to support volunteers and activist groups in the democratic process by providing the space, infrastructure and resources necessary to elect Democrats and pass legislation aligned with Democratic Party values at the local, state and national levels.
Recommended by: Bob B. – “Convergence Center for Policy Resolution, provides services and training for those wishing to transform conflict into collaboration.”
In a country marred by deep conflict, city, county, and state officials face mounting pressure to engage diverse stakeholders in resolving contentious and complex public policy issues. The Convergence Learning Lab’s training and consultation services empower leaders with the necessary skills to bridge these divides resulting in more productive public meetings, more constructive community engagement, and, ultimately, better outcomes for constituents.
Lab services are built on our unique, evidence-based collaborative problem-solving methodology which has been used to successfully address seemingly intractable political, social, organizational, and community-based issues.
Convergence’s success offers a beacon of hope for the majorities of Americans frustrated by divisiveness that change is not only possible, but that we have the tools and the knowledge to bridge even the starkest divides with consistency. In addition, our success highlights the rich set of tools, practices, and resources that others can use to achieve similar successes.
Focusing on politics, policy, business and international relations, The Hill‘s coverage includes the U.S. Congress, the presidency and executive branch, and election campaigns.[5] The Hill describes its output as “nonpartisan reporting on the inner workings of Government and the nexus of politics and business”.[6]
The company’s primary outlet is TheHill.com. The Hill is additionally distributed in print for free around Washington, D.C., and distributed to all congressional offices. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group since 2021.
George Lakoff is the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley, where he taught from 1972 to 2016.
Recommended by: Bob B. – “Books by George Lakoff (e.g., Moral Politics, Metaphors We Live By, Don’t Think of an Elephant, etc.), explain how framing of political messages can be improved by progressives, based on cognitive science.”
For more on framing see the Framing-Lab

Ten years after writing the definitive, international bestselling book on political debate and messaging, George Lakoff returns with new strategies about how to frame today’s essential issues. Called the “father of framing” by The New York Times, Lakoff explains how framing is about ideas—ideas that come before policy, ideas that make sense of facts, ideas that are proactive not reactive, positive not negative, ideas that need to be communicated out loud every day in public. The ALL NEW Don’t Think of an Elephant! picks up where the original book left off—delving deeper into how framing works, how framing has evolved in the past decade, how to speak to people who harbor elements of both progressive and conservative worldviews, how to counter propaganda and slogans, and more. In this updated and expanded edition, Lakoff, urges progressives to go beyond the typical laundry list of facts, policies, and programs and present a clear moral vision to the country—one that is traditionally American and can become a guidepost for developing compassionate, effective policy that upholds citizens’ well-being and freedom.
Available from:Amazon, iTunes, Publisher, B&N, Books Inc, IndieBound, Powell’s, WorldCat.org

Voters cast their ballots for what they believe is right, for the things that make moral sense. Yet Democrats have too often failed to use language linking their moral values with their policies. The Little Blue Book demonstrates how to make that connection clearly and forcefully, with hands-on advice for discussing the most pressing issues of our time: the economy, health care, women’s issues, energy and environmental policy, education, food policy, and more.
Available from:Amazon, iTunes, Publisher, B&N, Google, Books Inc, IndieBound, Powell’s, Goodreads, WorldCat.org

In this classic text, the first full-scale application of cognitive science to politics, George Lakoff analyzes the unconscious and rhetorical worldviews of liberals and conservatives, discovering radically different but remarkably consistent conceptions of morality on both the left and right. For this new edition, Lakoff adds a preface and an afterword extending his observations to major ideological conflicts since the book’s original publication, from the impeachment of Bill Clinton to the 2000 presidential election and its aftermath.
Available from:Amazon, iTunes, Publisher, B&N, Google, Books Inc, IndieBound, Powell’s, Goodreads, WorldCat.org

In Thinking Points, George Lakoff and the Rockridge Institute not only offer a deep understanding of the progressive worldview, but also reveal the nature of the so-called political center. They show why the most effective way to appeal to those who identify themselves as moderates is to remain true to core progressive values. Download “Thinking Points” in its entirety here.
Available from:Amazon, iTunes, Publisher, B&N, Google, Books Inc, IndieBound, Powell’s, Goodreads, WorldCat.org

“Freedom” is one of the most contested words in American political discourse. In Whose Freedom? The Battle Over America’s Most Important Idea, George Lakoff describes how the country is divided by two dramatically different worldviews, cognitive frames that determine how we think about economic policy, religion, science, foreign affairs – and freedom.
Available from:Amazon, iTunes, iTunes Audiobook, Publisher, B&N, Google, Books Inc, IndieBound, Powell’s, Goodreads, WorldCat.org

In his new book, Lakoff spells out what cognitive science has discovered about reason, and reveals that human reason is far more interesting than we thought it was. Reason is physical, mostly unconscious, metaphorical, emotion-laden, and tied to empathy-and there are biological explanations behind our moral and political thought processes. His call for a New Enlightenment is a bold and striking challenge to the cherished beliefs not only of philosophers, but of pundits, pollsters, and political leaders. The Political Mind is a passionate, erudite, and groundbreaking book that will appeal to anyone interested in how the mind works and how we function socially and politically.
Available from:Amazon, iTunes, iTunes Audiobook, Publisher, B&N, Google, Books Inc, IndieBound, Powell’s, Goodreads, WorldCat.org
POLITICO is the global authority on the intersection of politics, policy, and power. It is the most robust news operation and information service in the world, specializing in politics and policy, which informs the most influential audience in the world with insight, edge, and authority. Founded in 2007, POLITICO has grown into a team of 700 professionals working across North America, with more than half of its staff dedicated to editorial roles. POLITICO Europe, its seven-year-old European edition, has grown to nearly 200 employees. In October 2021, POLITICO was acquired by and is a subsidiary of Axel Springer SE.
Working America is the political organizing arm of the AFL–CIO. It is the largest non-union workers’ group in the United States. Working America advocates for progressive policy issues, recruiting people in working-class neighborhoods on their doorsteps in an effort to persuade them to support labor-backed candidates at election time.
Bringing people together across divides to tackle today’s toughest challenges
Recommended by: Bob B. – “(NCDD), a nonprofit membership organization that maintains a database of collaborative organizations around the world.”
The National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation (NCDD) is a network of innovators who bring people together across divides to discuss, decide, and take action together effectively on today’s toughest issues. NCDD serves as a gathering place, a resource center, a news source, and a facilitative leader for this vital community of practice.
Dialogue and deliberation are innovative processes that help people come together across differences to tackle our most challenging problems. In a time when we are increasingly told how divided we are in so many ways in our nation and in our world, teaching, spreading, and supporting the skills of dialogue and deliberation are vital.
The NCDD website is a clearinghouse for literally thousands of resources and best practices, and our highly participatory national and regional conferences have brought together more nearly 3,000 practitioners, community leaders, public administrators, researchers, activists, teachers and students since 2002. We keep in touch monthly with 28,000 people involved in public engagement and conflict resolution work.
Above all, NCDD provides opportunities for members of the broadly-defined dialogue and deliberation (“D&D”) community to share knowledge, inspire one another, build collaborative relationships, and have a greater collective impact.
Below you’ll find our contact info, mission, details about our membership, and more. You can also read the full story of NCDD’s beginnings and learn about the NCDD team. And, of course, if this resonates with you, please consider becoming a member or making a donation to NCDD!
NCDD is an educational organization and a Community of Practice. Communities of practice are formed by people who engage in a process of collective learning in a shared domain or topic area. In other words, communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.
Our members make up the core of our community of practice. As of January 2021, the Coalition’s membership has grown to include 700 organizations and individuals. Our website visitors, social media group members, conference attendees, and over
by George Lakey
Publisher: History As A Weapon
Recommended by: Bruce R.
This article is a comprehensive strategic framework for nonviolent revolution, combining historical case studies, practical organizing guidance, and theoretical insights about movement building.
We devote extensive resources to critical policy stories, like the decade-long GOP effort to repeal Obamacare, voter suppression, and the more recent push to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census.
We keep close tabs on the political fringe — militias, white nationalists, conspiracy theorists and more — because we believe they are greater drivers of American politics than mainstream news coverage allows.
This is a good independent source for news around the SF Bay area. It lists some upcoming events. Mostly, it has current news and past events.
Scroll to the bottom of any page to see the selections for defining the different interest areas: Regions, Topics, International, and More.
For example, the “Peninsula” region will show you events and articles for the Peninsula area. https://www.indybay.org/peninsula/
From “What is Indybay?”
Indybay is an open-publishing website for social justice news. That means you can directly Publish your own stories in your own words, unfiltered by the corporate media. You are encouraged to include your own photographs, video, audio, and/or PDFs in your posts. We do not require that you have any formal writing, multimedia, or reporting experience, only that you have a story to tell.
Indybay maintains a popular Calendar, too, so if you are organizing an upcoming event, feel free to Add Your Event to Indybay’s calendar.
Indybay news stories primarily focus on issues facing Northern California, specifically the San Francisco Bay and Monterey Bay areas, however we accept stories published from across the U.S. and all over the world.
Whether it’s supporting a candidate, passing legislation, or changing our culture, MoveOn members are committed to an inclusive and progressive future. They envision a world marked by equality, sustainability, justice, and love. And mobilize together to achieve it.
MS NOW is the go-to destination for domestic and international breaking news, and best-in-class opinion journalism.
Inspired by Justice William J. Brennan Jr.’s devotion to core democratic freedoms, the Brennan Center for Justice works to strengthen democracy, end mass incarceration, and protect liberty and security.
The Brennan Center for Justice is an independent, nonpartisan law and policy organization that works to reform, revitalize, and, when necessary, defend our country’s systems of democracy and justice.
The Story of the Village of Le Chambon and How Goodness Happened There
By: Philip P. Hallie
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Recommended by: Linda H.
“The story of Le Chambon, a Huguenot village in France that saved Jews during WWII, has lived in my heart for years. Imagine my shock and joy to find a You Tube featuring the village as I scrolled through Heather Cox Richardosn’s second traunch of 250 for 250.”
During the most terrible years of World War II, when inhumanity and political insanity held most of the world in their grip and the Nazi domination of Europe seemed irrevocable and unchallenged, a miraculous event took place in a small Protestant town in southern France called Le Chambon. There, quietly, peacefully, and in full view of the Vichy government and a nearby division of the Nazi SS, Le Chambon’s villagers and their clergy organized to save thousands of Jewish children and adults from certain death.
Recommended by: Bob B.
Vision – Nonviolence International seeks a world of justice, peace, and environmental sanity where the worth and dignity of all people is fully realized and conflicts are resolved without resorting to violence.
Mission – Nonviolence International advocates for active nonviolence and supports creative, constructive nonviolent campaigns worldwide. We are a backbone organization of the nonviolent movement, providing fiscal sponsorship to partners all over the globe. We tell the transformative stories of dynamic emerging nonviolent movements that give us hope in difficult times and are reshaping what we view as possible. By telling these inspirational stories and supporting these movements, we help to create a peaceful and just future.
Organizational Information – Nonviolence International (NVI) was founded by Palestinian activist Mubarak Awad in 1989. NVI is a 501(c)(3) organization registered in Washington, DC, USA. NVI is also a non-governmental organization in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.
A Strategic Framework Describing The Eight Stages of Successful Social Movements
by Bill Moyer
Publisher: History Is A Weapon
Recommended by: BruceR
Within a few years after achieving the goals of “take-off”, every major social movement of the past twenty years has undergone a significant collapse, in which activists believed that their movements had failed, the power institutions were too powerful, and their own efforts were futile. This has happened even when movements were actually progressing reasonably well along the normal path taken by past successful movements!
The Movement Action Plan (MAP) was first published as the Fall 1986 edition of the Dandelion. Twelve-thousand copies were published and distributed. This is a revised edition of that article. People are invited to participate in the continuing development of MAP and help spread it to local groups.
About Us
Our active and vital program is unmatched by any other organization of similar size. We have the ear of our elected representatives, the attention of the media, and the support of thousands of local residents. That’s a formula for grassroots success.
amy-vidcapPPJC has a well-deserved reputation for presenting some of the world’s finest progressive speakers. We offer a free monthly forum on a wide variety of issues – broadcast live on local TV – and host visiting activists from around the globe. Thanks to PPJC, internationally known speakers like Noam Chomsky, Amy Goodman, and Robert Fisk make sure the Peninsula is a stop on their speaking tours.
With our popular website and email alert list, we keep thousands of people informed of urgent actions, upcoming events, and alternative information and opinions. PeaceandJustice.org features streaming videos of great speakers, over 10,000 archived articles, a community calendar, petitions and more.
We believe democracy occurs every day – when people actively participate in the great decisions facing our country and world. When times call for it, we organize demonstrations (including the largest peace demonstration in the history of the Peninsula), petition campaigns, and vigils. We sponsor Congressional call-in days and meet with our elected representatives. In other words, we use all the tools in the grassroots activist toolbox.
It all adds up to effective grassroots action with a local face.
Corporations have their lobbyists in Washington, D.C. The people need advocates too.
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization that champions the public interest in the halls of power. We defend democracy, resist corporate power, and fight to ensure that government works for the people – not big corporations. Founded in 1971, we now have 1 million members and supporters throughout the country.
With rare exceptions, we don’t participate in partisan political activities or endorse any candidates for elected office. We take no government or corporate money, which allows us to remain fiercely independent and call out bad actors – no matter who they are or how much money and power they have.
Founded with 4,000 core members in 1970 to serve as a people’s lobby, Common Cause has grown into a nationwide network of more than 1 million members and supporters, with a presence in 30 states and Washington, D.C.
Common Cause works to ensure that every vote counts, that every eligible voter has an equal say, that our elections represent the will of the people and that our government is of, by, and for the people.
Using the power of law, narrative, research, and people, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) defends the humanity and advance the rights of Black people in America.
LDF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
February 19, 2025
Today, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) and Lambda Legal filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of nonprofit advocacy organizations challenging three anti-equity executive orders from President Trump related to diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility and transgender people.
The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization working to protect and expand voting rights and ensure everyone is represented in our democracy. We empower voters and defend democracy through advocacy, education, and litigation, at the local, state, and national levels. IPV is affiliated with The League of Women Voters South San Mateo County
American Civil Liberty Union – Defend the rights of all people nationwide
The ACLU has evolved in the years since from this small group of idealists into the nation’s premier defender of the rights enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. With more than 1.1 million members, 500 staff attorneys, thousands of volunteer attorneys, and offices throughout the nation, the ACLU of today continues to fight government abuse and to vigorously defend individual freedoms, including speech and religion, a woman’s right to choose, the right to due process, citizens’ rights to privacy and much more. The ACLU stands up for these rights even when the cause is unpopular, and sometimes when nobody else will. While not always in agreement with us on every issue, Americans have come to count on the ACLU for its unyielding dedication to principle. The ACLU has become so ingrained in American society that it is hard to imagine an America without it.