1959 Highlander Way · New Market,
TN 37820 · phone: (865) 933-3443 · fax: (865) 933-3424
e-mail: hrec@highlandercenter.org
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1959 Highlander Way · New Market,
TN 37820 · phone: (865) 933-3443 · fax: (865) 933-3424 |
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Grassroots Action for Global ChangeDeveloping Healthy Perspectives & Promoting AlternativesOrganizations | Books | Magazines 
As we organize for global justice in our communities we must work to create a collective vision for a sustainable world, and pass on the skills for achieving and modifying this vision to future generations. Changing our social and economic environments requires creativity, organizing skills, collective process and evaluation, courage, and a strong alternative vision. Below are resources for developing the alternative grassroots visions that are the heart and soul of organizing. Organizations The Alliance for Responsible Trade & the Hemispheric Social Alliance ART is “a national network of labor, family farm, religious, women's, environmental, development and research organizations that promotes equitable and sustainable trade and development.” ART is the U.S. affiliate of the Hemispheric Social Alliance. HSA is “a coalition of citizens’ networks representing some 50 million people in the Americas.” HSA evolved out of more than a decade of cross-border cooperation amongst civil-society organizations, beginning with the development of a strong tri-national network during the NAFTA debate of the early 1990s. HSA continues to work to make the official process of trade negotiations democratic and transparent. World Social Forum With the slogan of “Another World is Possible,” the World Social Forum began in 2001 as a response to the World Economic Forum, an annual meeting of the world’s richest and most powerful people. The World Social Forum, also gathering annually, is an international gathering of tens of thousands of people from many different sectors. At the WSF people share strategies, hope and alternatives. Read the World Social Forum’s Charter of Principles at: http://www.dur.ac.uk/durham.socialforum/resources/ BooksThe Global Activist’s Manual: Local Ways to Change the World Magazines Yes! Journal of Positive Futures Yes! Journal of Positive Futures quarterly magazine invites the reader to be part of a global community of change makers. Each issue focuses on a theme, showing the possibilities and practical steps that can lead us all to a more positive future. Positive Futures Network (PFN) as an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting people’s active engagement in creating a just, sustainable, and compassionate world. Subscriptions: $19 New Subscription, $24 Renewal Subscriptions. VideosA Force More Powerful: A Century of Nonviolent Conflict A Force More Powerful contains six half-hour stories of non-violent civil disobedience from all over the world. They begin with Gandhi’s work in India, and then tell stories from Nashville, Tennessee sit-ins, civil disobedience in Chile, and others. They are created from a book of the same name. They are powerful testimonies of the ability of people and communities to fight oppression and win through the act of peacefully and strategically defying laws. A curriculum resource guide and other resources relating to this film are available at http://www.pbs.org/weta/forcemorepowerful/classroom/. The video is available in Spanish and in English. VHS: $399.95, DVD: $459.95. Global Village or Global Pillage: How People around the World are Challenging Corporate Globalization This video, produced and written by Jeremy Brecher, with Tim Costello and Brendan Smith, describes anti-sweatshop campaigns, campaigns for the rights of Bridgestone workers, and campaigns to decreasing international debts. The film gives an overview of global corporations and the creation of international trade decision-making bodies. Cost is $25 per copy, $10 student/low-income. The film has an accompanying resource guide. Who’s Counting: Marilyn Waring on Sex, Lies and Global Economics Who’s Counting is a film by Terre Nash, based on Marilyn Waring’s book If Women Counted, published in some countries as Counting for Nothing. Marilyn Waring was elected to the New Zealand parliament in 1975. During her tenure as a parliamentarian, she began to question economic assumptions being made by governments, posing questions such as: “Why isn’t the unpaid work of women counted in the gross domestic product? Why is there no place in the national accounts for negative figures or costs such as damage to the environment? Why is the market economy all that counts?” The film is available in 52-minute and 94-minute versions. The film is produced by the National Film Board of Canada, 1995. The web site http://www.thewhoscountingproject.org contains study and discussion guides to accompany the video, as well as other related teaching resources. VHS or DVD: $250 for institutions, $75 to rent. Discounted rates are available for activists and grassroots organizations. WorkshopsThe Ethics and Values of Economics Workshop “The Ethics and Values of Economics is designed to introduce the notion that the economy is constructed by human choices of certain values; get people thinking about their personal values and how economic reality might look if it reflected those values; and bring out some of the common beliefs and assumptions in the present economic system.” Other ResourcesAlternatives for the Americas “Alternatives for the Americas” provides an alternative to the present model of globalization. This 110-page document “outlines concrete and viable alternatives to the Free Trade Area of the Americas based on the interests of the peoples of our hemisphere.” The document was developed by the Hemispheric Social Alliance, a “coalition of citizens' networks representing some 50 million people in the Americas. It has evolved out of more than a decade of cross-border cooperation among civil-society organizations.” If the World Were a Village of 1,000 people From “The Global Citizen” column by Donella Meadows, “If the World Were a Village of 1,000 People” gives an accurate outlook on the world’s population, religions, languages, land usage, occupations and concentration of wealth. A statistical update is available at http://faculty.philau.edu/russowl/villageof1000.html. Other columns by Donella Meadows (1941-2001) are available at http://www.pcdf.org/meadows/. GlobalLocalPopEd GlobalLocalPopEd is a new website with organizational profiles, workshops, artists and resources to help groups strategize how they can work locally and address global issues at the same time. This site particularly works to illustrate how low-income communities and communities of color are affected by global forces, as well as how these communities can use popular education to communicate issues clearly and to build new grassroots leadership for global justice. Contributions to the site are welcome and can be shared by e-mailing alija@ucscalumni.com. Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1948, is an international declaration of values. The declaration, named by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most translated document, is available in over 300 languages at the United Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights website listed above. While the declaration is cited by many groups around the world in their social justice work, few activists in the United States have recognized its potential. Amongst the U.S. groups who have used the document for social change is the Kensington Welfare Rights Union. You can learn more about how KWRU is using the Declaration to work for international human rights by going to http://www.kwru.org/action/docguide.html or calling the KWRU office at (215) 203-1945. |
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