1959 Highlander Way · New Market, TN 37820 · phone: (865) 933-3443 · fax: (865) 933-3424
e-mail: hrec@highlandercenter.org

From 1989 to 1994, I received my education in global economics with the Tennessee Industrial Renewal Network, a community and labor coalition, and the Highlander Research and Education Center. My knowledge came not from classes at a university, but from organizing with factory workers in Tennessee; visiting the maquiladora region of Mexico and meeting with workers and organizers there; lobbying members of U.S. Congress about the North American Free Trade Agreement; and working with immigrant groups across the Appalachian region.

I learned three important lessons from these experiences:

1. In the United States, it is increasingly critical that we organize with an eye on the big picture of corporate influence and global economics. We must think not only of the impacts of U.S. policies on our own communities, but also of the impacts of U.S. policies on communities around the world.


2. People with direct experiences and knowledge of the issues addressed in this guide, when working together in a group, come up with amazing analyses and organizing strategies. It is critical to share experiences and strategies across communities in order to inspire others to take action and to learn from previous organizing efforts.


3. The pairing of experienced and effective organizers with people who have direct experience and knowledge of a critical issue is essential for the achievement of social and economic change.

Through a 2004 Rockefeller Fellowship at the University of Kentucky Appalachian Center, I had the opportunity to spend two months looking for resources on globalization. I searched for:

• Stories of innovative and effective organizing around issues relating to globalization
• Clear analyses linking local issues and larger global forces
• Popular education materials that help people learn about an issue through the lens of their own life experiences while inspiring them to take on forces that are big and powerful.

This list is the product of my research and experience working with communities in Appalachia. I have learned from others who work and live around me in this region – people who know this area the best. As a result, this list contains many groups from the Southern United States. My main goal was to provide information and inspiration for labor and community groups wanting to better connect their work with global organizing and global issues. I worked with other activists to provide the best information possible, but know that many good examples have not been listed. Please send information about additional resources and organizing stories you’ve heard about by using the form below.

I made a primary mistake when working on this list: basing so much of my research on the Internet. My discovery was that good organizing stories are really difficult to find on the web, and the web continues to be an inaccessible resource for many people who need the hope, inspiration and knowledge that comes from such stories. We must make more efforts in our interactions with other organizers and community groups to share our organizing experiences in order to learn from our experiences and to build supportive relationships.

A second informational gap I found while working on this list was a lack of short, readable analyses that help explain major global issues. For example, it is very difficult to find information about the connections between immigration and trade agreements such as NAFTA - connections that are clearly drawn by many immigrants in the U.S. South.

This list has been compiled with major support from Kristi Disney, also a former organizer with the Tennessee Industrial Renewal Network. Many contributions also come from scholar activists I worked with at the University of Kentucky’s Appalachian Center, a center supporting educational initiatives aimed at understanding Appalachian society, history and culture from local, national and global perspectives. I especially want to thank Betsy Taylor, Esther Long, Samir Raizada, and all the other folks associated with the Appalachian Center and the Committee on Social Theory at the University of Kentucky for their assistance with this project. And thanks to Ada Julia Smith for doing the final editing and layout.

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