Chapter 1: Election Night 2016 and the Power of Decentralized Networks
1. On January 24, 2017, Trump took executive action and approved the Dakota Access Pipeline. In June 2017 a federal judge ruled that Trump did not follow proper environmental procedures, but the ruling did not stop the oil from flowing.
2. Becky Bond and Zack Exley, Rules for Revolutionaries: How Big Organizing Can Change Everything (White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green, 2016), 44.
3. L. A. Kauffman, Direct Action: Protest and the Reinvention of American Radicalism (New York: Verso, 2017), xi.
4. adrienne maree brown, Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds (Chico, CA: AK Press, 2017), 3.
5. Margaret Wheatley and Deborah Frieze, “Using Emergence to Take Social Innovations to Scale,” Margaret J. Wheatley website, https://www.margaretwheatley.com/articles/emergence.html.
6. Marty Jezer, Abbie Hoffman: American Rebel (New York: Rutgers University Press, 1993), 296.
7. Texas Women’s Healthcare Coalition, “Texas Women’s Healthcare in Crisis,” https://texaswhc.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Texas-Womens-Healthcare-in-Crisis.pdf.
8. Jordan Smith, “HB 2 Protestors Return to Court,” Austin Chronicle, April 22, 2014.
9. Rocio Villalobos, “The People’s History: The Birth of the New Feminist Army in Texas,” Rewire News, June 25, 2014, https://rewire.news/article/2014/06/25/peoples-history-birth-new-feminist-army-texas.
10. Ben Ramalingam et al., “Exploring the Science of Complexity: Ideas and Implications for Development and Humanitarian Efforts” (working paper, Overseas Development Institute, February 2008), https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/833.pdf, 4.
11. Ramalingam et al., “Exploring the Science of Complexity,” 6.
12. Ramalingam et al., “Exploring the Science of Complexity,” 8.
13. Victor Hugo, “History of a Crime,” 1877.
14. Martin Luther King Jr., “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” (April 16, 1963), Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute, https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/letter-birmingham-jail.
15. “Edge of Chaos,” Systems Academy, http://complexitylabs.io/edge-of-chaos.
Chapter 2: Shutting Down the CIA and the Power of Bottom-Up Organizing
1. Kate Aronoff, “Peace Activists Pledge Resistance Against U.S. Military Intervention in Central America, 1984–1990,” Global Nonviolent Action Database of Swarthmore College, February 10, 2011, https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/peace-activists-pledge-resistance-against-us-military-intervention-central-america-1984-1990.
2. The Chicago 8 were put on trial for conspiracy to cross state lines to commit a riot at the Democratic National Convention. At the convention the Yippies ran a pig for president and were brutally attacked by the police.
3. At this time Abbie was on the run from authorities and living under a pseudonym, Barry Freed, with only a few select friends knowing his real identity. After the Save the River victory, he turned himself in, which he did in a dramatic way, with Barbara Walters coming to the river for an exclusive. She was put on a boat and taken out into the middle of the river, where another boat brought Abbie to meet her. He ended up serving four months in prison.
4. This was a huge victory that continues to protect the river to this day. I was given a key to the Thousand Islands for my work. Yes, it was made of tinfoil, but I was honored.
5. Adam Taylor, “The CIA’s Mysterious Role in the Arrest of Nelson Mandela,” Washington Post, May 16, 2016, WorldViews section.
6. Gary LaFree, Laura Dugan, and Erin Miller, Putting Terrorism in Context: Lessons from the Global Terrorism Database (Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 2003), 56.
7. Lucinda Glenn, “Inventory of the Pledge of Resistance Collection,” Graduate Theological Union Archives, collected 2011, https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt7c60424f/entire_text.
8. In addition, Paul Shannon, a local leader with the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), and Tony Palumbo at the Mobilization for Survival office were instrumental in launching the Pledge in Boston. Other key organizers included Dakota Butterfield, Ann Shumway, Frank Dorman, John Hoffman, Athena Lee Bradley, and Paul Miller. Noam Chomsky was also a huge backer of this work.
9. Athena Lee Bradley and Paul Miller were two of my good buds and partners in protest. I became roommates with Diane Adler from CPPAX and Ted German, living in their pantry closet. Ted and I remain good friends to this day!
10. Christian Smith, Resisting Reagan: The U.S. Central America Peace Movement (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996), 303.
11. This action was conceived by Athena Lee Bradley, Paul Miller, Karen Dobak, and C. T. Butler.
12. We negotiated to do community service in exchange for dismissing our trespassing charges. I spent days cleaning up trash on the Boston Common for this action.
13. In 1991 riots broke out in Mount Pleasant after a Latinx man was shot by a Black policewoman.
14. Folks working on the DC Pledge included Brian Adams, Paul Ruther, Pete Caplan, Sara Mahy, Amy Markowitz, Laura Worby, Jane Zara, Paul Rhemer, Doug Fishman, and Nadine Bloch.
15. This included Margie Swedish and Lee Miller at the InterReligious Task Force on Central America, the Nicaragua Network, CISPES, NISGUA, the Fellowship of Reconciliation, Mobilization for Survival, and the Coalition for a New Foreign and Military Policy, who convened the Central America Working Group, an essential strategy table of all the key players. I also started working with Stephen Slade and then Ken Butigan and Judy Rohrer, the national Pledge coordinators in the National Resource Center, which along with the Pledge shuttered its doors in March 1993.
16. The city mobilization group was staffed by Clarence Lusane. The mobilization and outreach group was staffed by Josh Bornstein. The fund-raising group was led by Greg More; the media group, by Ned Greenberg; the logistics and programming group, by Leslie Cagan, who served as the national coordinator.
17. Personally I was wowed by the members of the steering committee itself, which included big names in my mind like Joseph Lowery from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Kathy Engle from MADRE, Alice Cohan from NOW, Randall Robinson from TransAfrica, Damu Smith and Imani Countess from the Washington Office on Africa, and David Cortright from SANE/FREEZE.
18. A congressional lobby day was also scheduled for Monday, which disappointed some of us because it would split our ranks. But recently I have reevaluated this. Complexity science has helped me appreciate that multiple options allow for greater participation. Many who attended the lobby day would not have joined us at the CIA anyway.
19. Lee Hockstader, “560 Arrested at CIA Headquarters,” Washington Post, April 28, 1987.
Chapter 3: Justice for Janitors and the Power of Escalation
1. Maryann Haggerty, “Protest of Carr Companies Blocks Bridge; 38 Arrested,” Washington Post, December 9, 1994, http://georgetownlaborhistory.org/news-article/protest-carr-companies-blocks-bridge-38-arrested.
2. Frank Swoboda and Maryann Haggerty, “Janitors Approve Contract,” Washington Post, June 21, 1998.
3. Stephen Lerner and Jono Shaffer, “25 Years Later: Lessons from the Organizers of the Justice for Janitors Campaign,” The Nation, June 16, 2015.
4. She also taught me what it was like to be part of a big, loving family. She is the oldest of eight kids, born and raised by politically conscious parents in Philadelphia.
5. Stephen had a long history organizing low-wage workers, including farmworkers and garment workers. He has always believed that disruption has to be part of the mix!
6. Along with a group of courageous union leaders, including Jay Hesse, Valarie Long, and organizers like Bill Ragen in DC and Jono Shaffer in Los Angeles. Other key organizers included Lenore Friedlander, Mary Anne Hohenstein, Maria Naranjo, Mauricio Vasquez, Jaime Contreras, and Lynn Turner. Some key researchers include David Chu, Manny Pastreich, and Carol Tyson.
7. Alyssa Russell, “Cleaning Up the Service Sector: The Justice for Janitors Campaigns in Washington, D.C. and Atlanta, Georgia” (honors thesis, Georgetown University, May 2017).
8. Ross Eisenbrey, “Employers Can Stall First Union Contract for Years,” Economic Policy Institute, May 20, 2009.
9. Mark Jenkins and Charles Paul Freund, “The Man Who Tore Things Down,” Washington City Paper, May 12, 2000.
10. Chin-chinas are noisemakers made out of empty soda cans that have been washed, dried, and then filled with popcorn kernels, BBs, or dried beans, which are then sealed with a little piece of paper covered with duct tape. Drying the can’s contents and the little piece of paper are important so that the contents don’t get sticky. These make a great sound when you shake them!
11. Russell, “Cleaning Up the Service Sector.”
12. Ken Cummins, “Brazil’s Surprise Victory,” Washington City Paper, February 17, 1995.
13. Wendy Melillo, “D.C. Police Dispute Clarke’s Description of Protest,” Washington Post, March 9, 1995.
14. We thought we were being clever with “DC Has Carr Trouble” since we knew we would be impacting the streets, but nobody really understood what we were talking about. Our second round of messaging made much more sense to everyone.
15. I developed a long-term relationship with Bob King and his team and supported the UAW on a number of campaigns. When Governor Rick Snyder was driving Michigan to be a Right to Work State in 2012, Bob’s chief of staff, Wendy Fields, called me and said, “Lisa, we broke the emergency glass, and your name came out!” I traveled to Michigan to coordinate a week of actions at the capitol. We did not win, but we gave them a hell of a fight!
16. Mary Ann French, “Taking It to the Streets,” Washington Post, April 14, 1995.
17. “Penalty for Bridge Blockers,” Washington Post, August 5, 1997, http://georgetownlaborhistory.org/news-article/penalty-bridge-blockers.
18. The agreement included wages raised from $3.35 an hour to $6.50, then $8.50 within a five-year period. The contract also included health care, retirement funds, and a fund to help mostly immigrant workers learn other skills that would allow them to move to higher-paying jobs.
19. John Howley, “Justice for Janitors: The Challenge of Organizing in Contract Services,” Labor Research Review 1, no. 15 (1990), https://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/lrr/vol1/iss15/4.
Chapter 4: The Battle of Seattle and the Power of Going to Jail for Justice
1. Miguel passed away from a heart attack on May 6, 2005.
2. “Highest to Lowest—Prison Populations Rate,” World Prison Brief, Institute for Criminal Policy Research, Birkbeck University of London, updated November 2018, http://www.prisonstudies.org/highest-to-lowest/prison-population-total.
3. In 1987 Katya broke into the Vandenberg Air Force Base and destroyed a computer mainframe that she believed was part of a first-strike nuclear launch system. She served a five-year sentence for this action, during which time she studied for the LSAT and was accepted into Harvard Law School.
4. “Contras Set to Free 8 Germans,” New York Times, June 6, 1986, https://www.nytimes.com/1986/06/06/world/contras-set-to-free-8-germans.html.
5. Black bloc is a tactic used around the world by people who dress typically in black clothes and masks to hide their identity. A black bloc is more inclined to engage in property destruction and fighting back against the police.
6. Seattle Police Department, After Action Report, compiled after the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference in Seattle, Washington, November 29–December 3, 1999, April 4, 2000.
7. Katya Komisaruk, “Solidarity Tactics in Seattle, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles,” https://organizingforpower.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/solidarity-tactics-seattle-on.pdf.
8. Elizabeth Betita Martinez, “Where Was the Color in Seattle? Looking for Reasons Why the Great Battle Was So White,” Colorlines, March 10, 2000.
Chapter 5: The Global Justice Movement and the Power of Creative Nonviolence
1. We had been collaborating with the folks in Philly organizing against the RNC in July. Unlike the RNC efforts, we put a central focus on anti-racist organizing. They, too, faced infiltration and a terrifying crackdown down by the police, under the leadership of Chief Timoney. Timoney was later hired as chief of the Miami police and orchestrated a brutal crackdown during the FTAA protests in 2003.
2. We won an injunction to prevent them from raiding our space. We won the right to assemble close to the convention when they tried to force us into Pershing Park, and we embraced non-cooperation in our jail strategies and ultimately won reduced charges for all.
3. One of our actions involved fifty people engaging in civil disobedience shutting down all the doors of the Rampart Police Station.
4. These action guidelines are the same ones I was raised up on during the Central America movement. I believe they may have originated within the Clamshell Alliance that was organizing mass direct action to stop the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant in New Hampshire. They have since been passed on to generation after generation, to those who are committed to disciplined nonviolent direct action. At times, “We will not destroy property” has been modified to say “We will not destroy property, unless it is obstacles put in our way.”
5. Years later I learned that at least three European direct-action trainers groups emerged from that mobilization.
6. During this march my friend David Rovics, an anarchist troubador whose music fills my soul, sang “We Will Shut Them Down.”
7. Kate Connolly, “Prague Protestors Say They Were Beaten in Jail by Police,” The Guardian, October 3, 2000.
8. This formation grew out of a response to the moralistic and controlling nonviolent position held by the Montreal-based organizing group Operation SalAMI.
9. Nicolas Phebus, “Radicalize This! Building the Resistance to the FTAA and Summit of the Americas,” Northeastern Anarchist, January 19, 2001.
10. Paul D’Amato, “Diversity of Tactics or Unity in Action?” SocialistWorker.org, March 26, 2012, https://socialistworker.org/2012/03/26/diversity-of-tactics; the concept of a diversity of tactics has a much longer history going back to the 1960s, at least, but this was the first that I became aware of it being codified as an action agreement.
11. Oscar Olivera, a Bolivian labor leader, was a key leader in this fight.
12. Andrew Boyd and Dave Oswald Mitchell, Beautiful Trouble: A Toolbox for Revolution (New York: OR Books, 2012).
13. Once again, the air was our ally, and in this moment I learned the importance of moving into the wind as it blows the tear gas away.
14. James Vassilopoulos, “We Live to Tread on Kings: The Significance of Genoa,” Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal, http://links.org.au/node/96.
15. Paddy Agnew, “Italy Found Guilty of Using Torture During G8 Protest,” Irish Times, April 8, 2015.
16. Bob Arndorfer, “People Stream Out as Security Move in Around G8 Summit,” Gainesville Sun, June 9, 2004.
17. A year later they practiced domestic internment at the 2004 Republican National Convention when they arrested 1,800 people and put us in cages at a bus depot at Pier 57. We called it Guantanamo-on-Hudson. Most of the charges were dismissed. You can read about it here: https://www.thevillager.com/2004/09/pier-57-pens-are-called-guantanamo-on-hudson/.
18. The infiltrator, Brandon Darby, was someone I had worked with and never trusted, the same misogynist who created problems at Common Ground after Hurricane Katrina.
19. In 2004, during the Republican National Convention, Nightline showed pictures of the twenty most dangerous anarchists in the country, and I was one of them.
20. At this meeting I met Mike McGuire, an organizer from Baltimore with long-standing connections in the Global South, and it was lucky I did because he spoke fluent Spanish and became my translator both before and during the mobilization. Our collaboration was a real gift, and I consider him my brother to this day.
21. There were concerns about Plan Puebla Panama (PPP), a regional development initiative that would create a protected biological corridor that would make privatization of biodiversity profitable and legally possible.
22. At the initial gathering Walden Bello, a well-known and respected movement leader from the Philippines, reminded us that the weak link in WTO is consensus—all countries must agree for a rule to be adopted. He also said that the WTO with its policies of trade liberalization was like a bike—it must keep moving forward or it collapses.
23. At another international meeting, it was agreed that there would be a People’s Forum on Alternatives to the WTO and a call for a Global Week of Action from September 7 through 14. The 9th would be an International Day of Action, the 10th would have a forum on Agriculture, the 11th would be an International Day of Mourning against war and economic violence, the 12th would focus on privatization of services, and the 13th would be a big anti-WTO march.
24. Merging permaculture with political action was something we did a lot with the Pagan Cluster. One of my favorites was the compost toilet at the anti-FTAA mobilization in Miami that said GIVE A SHIT FOR THE REVOLUTION.
25. When I moved to Austin, I befriended Skotty Kellogg and his partner, Stacy Pettigrew, the initiators of the Rhizome space in Austin, an amazing permaculture, political, and art space that was a model for how things could be. I was in love with its beautiful flowers, fruit trees, and vegetable gardens, which extended outside and up the street. There was a bike shop, a welding shop, and a laundry area that channeled the water out through a series of bathtubs with gravel and plants, cleaning it before watering the gardens. There was also a child-care room, a stage, an art space, and a pirate radio station.
26. The Group of 22 was a recent formation of developing nations that were working together to stop the destructive policies of the WTO.
27. The 2003 FTAA protests in Miami were a pivotal moment for our movement. We brought forward a set of Solidarity Principles and Practices that were designed to bridge the divide on tactics in our movements. We wanted to avoid getting stuck on the questions of nonviolence or diversity of tactics, instead focusing on a set of beliefs and behaviors that would allow all to be in relationship, even with those with whom we did not agree. It was at a spokes council meeting in Miami, attended by direct actionists, NGOs, and representative from the AFL-CIO, that these were agreed to. A new era of solidarity was beginning, and while it was not perfect, it opened up new relationships and understanding. The police were brutal in Miami, and when they turned their guns on labor activists, many finally understood that we were not the cause of the violence, and that the media criminalization campaigns were lies.
Chapter 6: Hurricane Katrina and the Power of Solidarity
1. A. C. Thompson, “Post-Katrina, White Vigilantes Shot African-Americans with Impunity,” ProPublica, December 19, 2008.
2. Matt Taibbi, “Apocalypse in New Orleans: Five Days After Hurricane Katrina, a Journey into the Nightmare,” Rolling Stone, October 6, 2005.
3. And even within the Hurricane Harvey relief efforts, it was the Black and Brown communities in the area that received the least help.
4. Brentin Mock, “Why Louisiana Fought Low-Income Housing in New Orleans After Katrina” CityLab, August 27, 2015.
5. Each RV carried Iraq veterans, military families, and those we called Gold Star families, who had lost a loved one. The Veterans for Peace bus that had joined the southern route diverted in NOLA and set up a hurricane relief center in Covington, north of Lake Pontchartrain. From them, we got daily reports on what was happening on the ground. Veterans for Peace was one of the earliest supporters of Common Ground, providing money and material aid.
6. Common Ground was one of three locally led radical relief efforts that emerged in the month or so after Katrina. One of the others, the People’s Hurricane Relief Fund, was founded by Curtis Muhammad, a longtime organizer in NOLA who worked with his sons and other key nationalist-oriented Black organizers to build both material and political relief. And then there was Mama D, a Black leader who stayed through the storm in the Seventh Ward. With the help of the Soul Patrol, she organized a relief effort to support her neighborhood. More than once she clashed with both Common Ground and the People’s Hurricane Relief Fund, saying they were taking credit for her work, enabling them to raise money that they did not share. Mama D showed up for her community again and again, on her own terms.
7. I worked with scott at the Exxon Mobil Shareholder meeting in 2002 in Dallas and on several training camps. My friendship with scott was challenged by patriarchy in scott’s relationship with and support for Brandon Darby. When it became clear that Darby was an FBI informant, our relationship broke down, but we have since healed, knowing we all were harmed.
8. There were many people, especially women, that were the engines behind our work early on. Bork was instrumental in home and eviction defense. Soliel led the legal team that fought for prisoner rights and supported the residents with legal clinics. Emily drove the effort to restore community gardens and bring fresh food to the people. Jenka ensured that essential information was available through the radio station and setting up centers where people could access computers. Carolina brought heart and soul to residents in the Ninth Wards, gathering needed resources and organizing immigrant workers. Genevieve coordinated the gutting of thousands of homes. Kerul also helped to secure resources and disseminate information using corporate and social media. Mo, Aislyn, Catherine, Jennifer, and Carrie anchored a lot of the healing work at the clinic. Alex and Lou Lou did whatever needed to be done. Sue, Kimber, and Sam coordinated volunteers. Jen and Isabelle helped with distro. Kim, Jessie, and Anna worked the Ninth Wards. Marina managed the finances and Liz organized the bikes! Scott, Suncere, Sean, Jeremy, Brian, Tyler, Topher, Justin, Matt, Kobe, Francisco, Mikkel, Pauly, Randeep, Grumble, Nick, Peter, Kone, Benji, Alain, Jimmy, Jon, Glen, and more brought their skills, labor, and kindness to the work. Eric, Scott W., Scott M., Iggy, Greg, Noah, Bay, and Roger were key players in the clinic. There were many more key people as time went on including Olivia, Claire, Luke, Drew, Casey, Gabe, Sylvia, Sonia, Matthew, Shada, Alan, Jake, Renee, Rebecca, Molly, Annie, Jeremiah, Bronwyn, Ethan, Maddie, and Shakoor. And oh so many more!
9. A. C. Thompson, “If It Moved, You Shot It,” Texas Observer, January 5, 2009.
10. Thompson, “If It Moved.”
11. Thompson, “If It Moved.”
12. Campbell Robertson, “New Orleans Police Officers Plead Guilty in Shooting of Civilians,” New York Times, April 20, 2016.
13. Rebecca Solnit, “Reconstructing the Story of the Storm: Hurricane Katrina at Five,” The Nation, August 26, 2010.
14. “10 Years Later: Remembering Hurricane Katrina,” National Guard, https://www.nationalguard.mil/Features/2015/Remembering-Hurricane-Katrina/.
15. While scott, Malik, and Sharon were putting together ideas for Common Ground, there was a rescue effort under way for Robert King, a former Black Panther and member of the Angola Three, the group who were framed for a crime while in prison and locked in solitary confinement for decades. This was in Angola State Prison in Louisiana—the former site of the Angola Plantation. King was stranded with his dog, Kenya, in the Seventh Ward because he had refused to evacuate without her. As the story goes, it was King who suggested the name Common Ground when they got to Malik’s house.
16. One of our members, Elizabeth West, had grown up in Louisiana, and her aunt’s home off Grand Isle was badly damaged. The Pagan Cluster mobilized to support her and the whole relief effort.
17. Gary Rivlin, “Why the Lower Ninth Ward Looks Like the Hurricane Just Hit,” The Nation, August 13, 2015.
18. Rivlin, “Lower Ninth Ward.”
19. Deborah Sontag, “Months After Katrina, Bittersweet Homecoming in the 9th Ward,” New York Times, December 2, 2005.
20. Campbell Robertson and John Schwartz, “Decade After Katrina, Pointer Finger More Firmly at Army Corps,” New York Times, May 23, 2015.
21. Some street medics had arrived four days after the storm and with the help of Malik were able to establish the first civilian medical clinic in the Majid Bilal Mosque.
22. Tim Shorrock, “Common Ground: Post-Katrina Volunteer Medics on Bicycles Sparked a New Model of Community Health Care in New Orleans,” Mother Jones, March 2006.
23. In retrospect I feel deep awe at the fact that after Katrina, radical organizers from the Global Justice movement—folks who had spent the past several years developing skills at setting up alternative social structures to support mass mobilizations—were now applying what we knew to disaster recovery.
24. Grumble has served many movements both before and after Common Ground, and is a true unsung hero.
25. Rivlin, “Lower Ninth Ward.”
26. Rivlin, “Lower Ninth Ward.”
27. Roberta Brandes Gratz, “Who Killed Public Housing in New Orleans?” The Nation, June 2, 2015.
28. Rivlin, “Lower Ninth Ward.”
29. Laura Bliss, “10 Years Later, There’s Still So Much We Don’t Know about Where Katrina Survivors Ended Up,” CityLab, August 25, 2015.
30. Bliss, “10 Years Later.”
31. Sarah Carr, “New Research Sheds Light on Fates of Thousands of New Orleans Teachers Fired After Hurricane Katrina,” New Orleans Public Radio, June 18, 2015.
32. Our work was informed by our practice of direct action. Opening the Little Blue House was against their rules. No one was supposed to stay in the area, but we slept there, defying the police. We organized protests to disrupt media events organized by public officials and created a rapid response to stop bulldozers that came to demolish what was left. I remember one day we got a call that the bulldozers had been seen in the area. We all dropped what we were doing and sped over. We stood in the road, letting them know we were there and watching. There was no question that at some point, the debris and destroyed homes would need to be cleared, but we were determined to make sure that didn’t happen until the residents had a chance to come home and see what, if anything, could be saved.
33. Rivlin, “Lower Ninth Ward.”
34. In February we were looking for a place to house the influx of volunteers for spring break. Driving through the Upper Ninth Ward, I spotted a church and school called St. Mary’s of the Angels and happened to see a man standing in the parking lot. This turned out to be Pastor Bart Pax. When Katrina hit, he stayed behind and opened the school to shelter residents who hadn’t gotten out in time. Two hundred people were evacuated off the roof by helicopter. I talked to the pastor about using the school as a new volunteer center for Common Ground. He was hesitant, unsure if the archdiocese would support it. In the end he opened the space to us despite uncertainty about the rules—a man after my own heart! After the hard work of cleaning St. Mary’s, including feces left behind by two hundred people, it became a full-on hub that housed hundreds of volunteers.
35. One of the great tragedies is that the US government has covertly co-opted this work, training and funding uprisings like the “color” revolutions of the ’00s and right-wing coups like we are witnessing in Venezuela today.
36. Taibbi, “Apocalypse in New Orleans.”
37. Brian Thevenot and Gordon Russell, “Rape. Murder. Gunfights,” Times-Picayune, September 26, 2005.
38. Jarvis DeBerry, “Danny Brumfield’s Death at the Hands of New Orleans Police Shouldn’t Be an Aside,” Times-Picayune, December 11, 2011.
39. We also supported the immigrant “guest workers” who were brought in by the private sector on H-2B visas to do the hard cleanup and rebuilding work, pitting them against local Black workers who needed the jobs. The guest workers were living in horrible conditions in City Park and in the back of trailer trucks around the Gulf Coast starting in the fall of 2005. Carolina took this situation on. The workers sued for and eventually won a multimillion-dollar settlement. Black and Brown workers organized a massive May Day march in 2006, and Carolina secured a $20,000 grant that led to the creation of the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice, which is still organizing strong today!
40. In March 2006 the Archdiocese of New Orleans announced plans to close St. Augustine Church in the Tremé, the first free Black neighborhood in the city, and merge it into a predominantly white church, much to the shock and outrage of the parishioners. When Father Jerome, beloved in the community, was replaced during Mass, many of the parishioners walked out. Suncere from Common Ground took action. Suncere arrived early on after the storm and was one of the anchors of our work, running a distribution center in Houma and then one called Hope just east of the Lower Ninth Ward. Suncere, along with residents and other Common Ground volunteers, occupied the church offices. As the media exposed the story, the clear unwavering commitment of the occupiers forced the archbishop to back down. The church was reopened in April 2006 and continues to serve the community today.
41. Others went on to organize with Indigenous and local leaders to oppose the expansion of the nuclear complex in Los Alamos; Oak Ridge, Tennessee; and Kansas City, Missouri. We worked together for a year organizing Disarmament Summer. This included a week-long training for about forty youth leaders, a convergence in NY for a UN Summit, a two-week encampment in Chimayo, and a civil disobedience at Los Alamos Nuclear Lab. It was a heavy lift and we won some of what we fought for. There was no expansion of the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Facility at Los Alamos!
42. In Puerto Rico we are continuing to see the importance and power of self-organized local groups who rise up to help themselves when nobody else can or will. A network of Centros de Apoyo Mutuo—community-based centers for food and goods—has emerged. In many cases these are helped by grassroots groups in the US, including UPROSE in New York, the Climate Justice Network, the Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, and Mutual Aid Disaster Relief.
Chapter 7: The Gaza Freedom March and the Power of Taking Space
1. Mark was the main driver of this work, as my focus was on the wars in Central America, but together we hosted some significant events, including a Mass Teach-In with Hanan Ashrawi, who was and continues to be an important leader in the Palestinian struggle. She worked to humanize the struggle to help people in the US understand what life under occupation was like, including how stones, the primary weapon of the youth, were no match for tanks, fighter jets, and IDF assault rifles.
2. Sheila MacVicar, “Rights Group on Jenin: Massacre, No; Human Shields, Yes,” CNN, May 4, 2002, World.
3. My friend Charles was arrested and thrown in jail in one of these settlements.
4. Recent resistance began on March 30, 2018, when the Palestinians started weekly marches to the border fence called the March of the Great Return. Since then 210 people have been killed, and up to 18,000 have been wounded by Israeli snipers, including paramedics and journalists.
5. “Egypt Blocks Travel of Gaza Freedom March Activists,” Electric Intifada, December 28, 2009.
6. Sharat G. Lin, “Gaza Freedom March Marches in Cairo against Blockade,” Dissident Voice, January 4, 2010, https://
7. Mona El-Naggar, “Protestors Gather in Cairo for March to Gaza,” New York Times, December 29, 2009.
8. Joshua Brollier, “Lessons Learned from the Gaza Freedom March,” Wisconsin Network for Peace, Justice, and Sustainability, published December 21, 2009, http://
9. “Gaza Freedom Marchers Issue the ‘Cairo Declaration’ to End Israeli Apartheid,” Electric Intifada, January 4, 2010.
10. Ali Abunimah, “Gaza Freedom March Protests Continue in Cairo, Organizers Say Egypt Offer to Allow 100 into Gaza Not Sufficient,” interview by Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!, December 30, 2009, https://
11. Mark Landler, “Germany Conducts Raids Ahead of G-8 summit,” New York Times, May 10, 2007.
12. There were multiple actions leading up to the summit in Heiligendamm. For example, on June 1 about seven hundred of us went to a military site in Bombodrom where hundreds had established an additional encampment. One of my favorite memories was when a standoff between military police and a group of peaceful people praying was broken when a group from the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army (CIRCA) came in with feather dusters and started to dust the police’s boots.
13. This affinity group included Erik Forman, Causten E. Rodriguez-Wollerman, Logan Price, and Nick Simmons. Logan and Nick were Common Ground volunteers!
Chapter 8: On May 12th, Occupy Wall Street, and the Power of Multiplying Our Strategies and Tactics
1. Michael Mulgrew, “Letter from the President: September 2011,” The United Federation of Teachers, September 1, 2011.
2. Adam Gabbatt, “Michael Bloomberg’s 12 Years at the Helm of New York City Come to an End,” The Guardian, December 31, 2013.
3. Sean Thomas-Breitfeld and Marnie Brady, The New Bottom Line: Building Alignment and Scale to Confront the Economic Crisis, Building Movement Project, http://
4. Jon Kest passed away from cancer in November 2012 at the age of fifty-seven. This was just weeks after his daughter was killed by a falling tree during Hurricane Sandy. He was a longtime fighter for poor and working people and will be long remembered. Jon was a leader from ACORN who became the director of New York Communities for Change, a group advocating for poor communities of color. They worked closely with another new consortium, Strong Economy for All, comprising labor unions, community-based organizations, and nonprofits. Strong Economy for All was headed by Michael Kink, an organizer with a range of connections and a willingness to take action.
5. “Who’s Doing It,” On May 12, http://
6. The May 12 Coalition, Payback Time: $1.5 Billion Ways to Save Our City’s Budget and Make the Big Banks and Millionaires Pay Their Fair Share, http://
7. To this day we are family. I work with Johanna on the Abbie Hoffman Activist Foundation. Johanna and Abbie’s “kids” include myself, Joanna Balcum, Eliot Katz, Ola Manana, Al Giordano, Adrian Mann, Monica Behan, and dear Velvet Wells, who passed away in late 2018 from cancer.
8. In the early 2000s, law enforcement tactics were changing to using barricades, fences, nets, and pens to contain marches, rallies, or protests. Today we’ve become accustomed to this, but prior to the new millennium, it was not my experience that police would force peaceful protestors into demarcated areas.
9. The beauty of effective organizing is that last-minute changes—like changing the schedule to disrupt this meeting—are possible when each delegation has capable leaders in place and props ready to go.
10. Tactical communications are essential during big actions. Over the years we have used walkie-talkies, UHF radios, Nextel radios, and bikers. With all the cell phones around these days, we can just use signal groups, texts loops, or a secure conference call line as a way to all be on together.
11. “Teacher’s Choice a Casualty of Budget Cuts this Year,” United Federation of Teachers, August 4, 2011.
12. The Movement of Squares was emerging as people around the world rose up against austerity measures imposed by the EU and the big banks.
13. Matt Sledge, “Reawakening the Radical Imagination: The Origins of Occupy Wall Street,” HuffPost, November 10, 2011.
14. I developed a manual for creating large, citywide mobilizations and called it Kicking Corporate Booty. The material was the initial basis for this book.
15. I first met Marisa in Detroit in July 2007 when I was facilitating the second national gathering of the new Students for a Democratic Society. There were hundreds of young people there from all around the country who were deeply inspired and passionate about ending the US Global War on Terror and rebuilding a radical student movement. My friendships with the young people I met there have continued through today, with me often supporting them through movement questions, struggles, and collaborations, while they keep me connected and informed about a wide range of movement work.
16. It was Marisa Holmes who asked the question.
17. Kari Huus, “Homeowner Taps Occupy Protest to Avoid Foreclosure,” NBC News, October 17, 2011.
18. Marie Diamond, “Hundreds of Wall Street Protestors Shame Bank into Letting One Woman Keep Her Home,” ThinkProgress, October 18, 2011.
19. Peter Dreier, “Occupying Wall Street, Building a Movement,” The Nation, October 5, 2011.
20. The fact that it was the teachers who were fighting to save their jobs inspired many. Soon after On May 12th, the Chicago teachers went on strike and won. More recently we have seen amazing teacher uprisings, from West Virginia to Ohio and Los Angeles, going on the offensive in strategic campaigns to win wage increases and improved conditions. As Stephen Lerner once said, good actions set the stage for better ones!
21. Occupy was also reminiscent of Common Ground for me. We gathered enormous amounts of material and financial resources that we redistributed, free of charge, to those who needed things most. Many homeless people joined our ranks at OWS, and they were fed, clothed, and offered medical treatment. Our library provided free educational material, and artists contributed time and resources to help others create as well, with cardboard signs being our favorite medium.
22. The Occupiers had less fear, making direct action and the taking of space easier and fun. One such action during Occupy was when a group occupied a bank by setting up a living room inside a bank lobby.
23. In fact, $15 an hour in New York City was enacted on January 1, 2019.
Chapter 9: Ferguson and the Power of Liberation
1. MSNBC Staff, “Timeline: How the Ferguson Crisis Unfolded,” MSNBC News, August 7, 2015, http://
2. Amanda Taub, “What Was That? A Guide to the Military Gear Being Used against Civilians in Ferguson,” Vox, August 18, 2014.
3. Montague Simmons and Jamala Rogers were two of the elders at OBS who provided important counsel to the youth. Jelani Brown coordinated lots of the amazing art and props.
4. Tef Poe and Taureen “Tory” Russell were the strong local leaders for Hands Up United.
5. Laurie brought a thousand shirts that said UNARMED CIVILIAN with her. She had been in touch with the leaders in Millennial Activists United, Ashley Yates, Brittany Ferrell, and Alexis Templeton.
6. At MORE, Jeff Ordower was the director who understood the importance of putting MORE into the fight. Julia Ho organized with the youth and supported the actions. Molly Gott, a fantastic researcher, coordinated the legal team. Arielle Klagsbrun helped to coordinate direct actions, and Derrick Laney and Tia Bird became the co-coordinators of MORE in 2015.
7. Matt Apuzzo and John Eligon, “Ferguson Police Tainted by Bias, Justice Department Says,” New York Times, March 4, 2015.
8. Kim Bell, “Protestors Stage Sit-In at St. Louis University,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 13, 2014.
9. James Anderson, “St. Louis University Occupation Ends, but Movement for Justice in Ferguson Continues,” In These Times, October 25, 2014.
10. Olga Khazan, “In One Year, 57,375 Years of Life Were Lost to Police Violence,” The Atlantic, May 8, 2018.
11. Sophia Kirby, “The Top 10 Most Startling Facts about People of Color and Criminal Justice in the United States,” Center for American Progress, March 13, 2012, https://
12. Evie Blad and Alex Harwin, “Analysis Reveals Racial Disparities in School Arrests,” PBS News Hour and Education Week, February 27, 2017. Previously published by Education Week, January 24, 2017.
13. I reached out to Michael at the urging of Sarah Coffey, who had been on the ground in Ferguson supporting the legal operations. She had been part of the Midnight Special Law Collective for years, and when we talked she strongly urged me to come back, saying that many of the young folks were excellent and could use some mentorship in putting together mass actions.
14. The Don’t Shoot Coalition was the primary overall space that supported this effort, but within that larger group I was working with the staff of MORE, Julia and Arielle in particular; Montague and Kayla from OBS; Michael and Taylor from the Don’t Shoot Coalition; Bree, Diamond, and H.J., E.J., Doruba, and Talal from Freedom Fighters and Tribe X; and Sekou, with his team Gretchen and Lizzy, and Damon from Whose Streets.
15. These new affinity groups helped to shift the political calculus in the city, but the preexisting structural barriers of racism still made it difficult for newly politicized Black folks to get involved. Many of the new affinity groups were predominantly white people from South City, and some Black people could not travel across the city to attend the meetings there. And knowing the long history of infiltration in our movements and the vengeance of the local police, participating in the council could increase their risks of exposure.
16. Action tip: The flowers were scavenged from the dumpster at the flower wholesale market, and the coffins were made from the flower boxes we got there, spray-painted black!
17. The people with the Deep Abiding Love Project included Lizzey Padget, Gretchen Honnald, and Reverend Sekou.
18. Lizzy Jean, Coming to Ferguson: Building a Nonviolent Movement (Boston: Creative Commons, 2015), http://
19. Resmaa Menaken, My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies (Las Vegas: Central Recovery Press, 2017).
20. Bayard Rustin, I Must Resist: Bayard Rustin’s Life in Letters, ed. Michael G. Long (San Francisco: City Lights, 2012), 366.
21. Along with Brittany Packnett and Samuel Sinyangwe, Deray Mckesson and Netta Elzie launched Campaign Zero, a policy platform to reform the police. DeRay and Netta got a lot of attention as leaders of the movement because of their social media work. DeRay was born in Baltimore and had worked with Teach for America. He was living in Minneapolis when the uprising broke out. Netta was from North St. Louis and became active after Michael Brown was killed. As with many movements, the media likes to make stars, creating discontent within the movement, as it did especially with DeRay.
22. A sadder outcome of the movement work is the arrest of nineteen-year-old Joshua Williams, a brilliant street warrior whom I had the honor to work with. He was arrested for property destruction at the QuikTrip and was sentenced to eight years in prison. The police needed to make an example out of someone, and he is still incarcerated as I write.
23. During the uprising the Artivists created beautiful defensive shields and large banners to mitigate police assaults. They later sent shields of beauty to Standing Rock during their struggle. Today the Artivists continue to engage in creative direct actions, organizing out of a house they secured in St. Louis.
Chapter 10: Standing Rock and the Power of Stories and Spirit
1. The ancient prophecies tell of a separation of the people into two worlds—North and South. The North, represented by the Eagle, holds our mental, technical, and masculine energies. The South is the land of the Condor, and it holds the energies of intuition, love, and an alignment with nature. When these worlds reunite, a new era will be born.
2. Saul Elbein, “The Youth Group That Launched a Movement at Standing Rock,” New York Times, January 31, 2017.
3. Alleen Brown, Will Parrish, and Alice Speri, “Leaked Documents Reveal Counterterrorism Tactics Used at Standing Rock to ‘Defeat Pipeline Insurgencies,’” The Intercept, May 27, 2017.
4. Some of the elders and important leaders at Standing Rock included Leonard Crow Dog, Sicangu Lakota; Chief Arvol Looking Horse, the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota Nations; Regina Brave, Oglala; Nathan Phillips, Omaha Nation; Raymond Kingfisher, Cheyenne Nation; Cheryl Angel, Sicangu Lakota; Theresa Black Owl, Sicangu Rosebud; Sonny Wonase, Standing Rock Sioux; Phyllis Young, Standing Rock Sioux; and Linda Black Elk, the Catabwa Nation. There was also essential youth leadership from the International Indigenous Youth Council.
5. While the original website for the Standing Rock Solidarity Network has been taken down, you can still find their resources packet here: https://
6. Desiree Kane also lived in the yurt. She helped to document and coordinate media for a lot of the actions.
7. The team grew to include Carolina Reyes, L.J. Amsterdam, Griffen Jeffries, Dylan Cooke, and Micah Hobbes Frazier.
8. It was during this meeting that I met Thomas Joseph II from the Hoopa Nation in Northern California. His family were the primary hosts of the California Camp, and they nourished us deeply with food before and after our actions! Thomas was one of the key organizers and leaders I had the honor of working with in the actions to come. My friend Kerul Dyer, whom I worked closely with at Common Ground, was also a key anchor for the California Camp.
9. This was due in part to security concerns over infiltrators, plus many of those who showed up at camp were transient, only intending to stay for a few days.
10. People came in and out, but the Action Gaggle had a solid crew that included myself, Carolina Reyes, Remy, Thomas Joseph II, Chris, Desiree Kane, Lola, Little Feather, Badger, Griffen, Dylan, Christina, Felicia, Noah Dillard, Kayla, Ethan, Anders, Ashley, Maria, Brandon, and Eric. Sorry for the names I may have missed. Ray Kingfisher offered prayers and leadership for many of our actions.
11. During the actions at the capitol, I was targeted and arrested by the police. I was so bummed until I was put in jail with Red Fawn. Her wisdom, her power, and the beauty of her spirit were a great gift to me. When I said we can’t wait for you to be free, she said, “I am free!” I was able to offer her a gift in return: the gift of stories from actions and camp. Forces greater than ourselves work in mysterious ways. I have never been so happy to be arrested.
12. Reuters Media, “Anti-Pipeline Protestors Arrested at North Dakota Shopping Mall,” Duluth News Tribune, November 25, 2016.
13. When the folks with the dogs returned to their car, they found that all their tires had been slashed.
14. adrienne maree brown, Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds (Chico, CA: AK Press, 2017), 18.
Epilogue: Life After Trump and the Power of Healing
1. Alexa Ura and Alex Samuels, “At Texas Muslim Capitol Day, Supporters Form Human Shield around Demonstrators,” Texas Tribune, January 31, 2017.
2. Joyce James and Bay Love, Overview of the Texas Model for Eliminating Disproportionality and Disparities, Texas Health and Human Services Commission, August 29, 2013, http://
3. Undoing Racism Austin came together during a meeting at the Cherrywood Café with Kellee Coleman, Eve Hernandez, Marisa Perles, Carmen Llanes, her father and longtime community organizer, Daniel Llanes, Juniper Lauren Ross, Tane Ward, and me. Kellee Coleman, born and raised in Austin, was a founder of Mamas of Color Rising, Communities of Color United for Racial Justice and has now become a fierce leader at Austin’s new Equity Office. I was able to support her family, who tragically lost their home in the Halloween Flood.
4. Alicia Inns, “No Contract: Austin City Council Votes for More Negotiations with APD,” KXAN News, December 13, 2017.
5. Michael Barajas, “New Contract Could Give Austin One of the Most Transparent Police Departments in the Country,” Texas Observer, November 16, 2018.
6. This was a revised version of the song we sang during the Flood Wall Street Action in August 2014 when over three thousand of us sat down in the streets around Wall Street, shutting the whole area down.
7. Jen Kirby, “Nearly 600 Women Arrested at Immigration Protests in Senate Building,” Vox, June 28, 2018.
8. Elizabeth Vega, founder of the Artivists in Ferguson along with local Indigenous organizers in El Paso and Dallas, put out a call to action. Mama Cat from Ferguson came and cooked a delicious holiday dinner while Vega was wrangling the white folks who were afraid, asking them to understand that raising giant puppets above the barbed-wire-covered chain-link fences was not violent.
9. At some points, white fears got in the way of the tremendous care and heart the people of color organizers were bringing. Leaders from Witness Tornillo, a white group that was there just to witness, led tours around the facility, taking newcomers away from the assemblies the Occupiers were holding. They developed close relationships with the security, much to the dismay of the Occupiers. When the Occupiers threw soccer balls with messages of solidarity, the youth inside wrote their names on the balls and threw them back over the fence. But the Witness Tornillo folks would not give the soccer balls to the Occupiers, who wanted the names to help identify the kids inside. This is not what solidarity looks like.