Activism - Social Movements

• active - Stuff for social change
  A listing of activist events in Autralia.

• American Social Movements Cultures
  A (cyber) space of the cultural forms and forms of culture active within American social movements. A project of the American Studies program of Washington State University, USA. The sites includes bibliographies, social movements links, online courses on social movements, and a discussion list on social movement cultures.

• Association for Progressive Communications (APC)
  A global network of networks whose mission is to empower and support organisations, social movements and individuals through the use of information and communication technologies to build strategic communities and initiatives for the purpose of making meaningful contributions to human development, social justice, participatory democracies and sustainable societies.

• Autonoom Centrum
  A Dutch political organization that supports illegal people and refugees. (Dutch and English version).

• Black/African Related Resources
  Many resources on social/progressive activism relating to or of concern to Black or African people, culture, and issues around the world. However, the site doesn't seem to be updated since 1994. Editor: Arthur R. McGee (Clearinghouse Guide)

• Cleaver, Harry [January 1999] (Austin, Texas, USA)
  Computer-linked Social Movements and the Global Threat to Capitalism
  Cleaver argues that the most serious challenge to the basic institutional structures of modern society flow from the emergence of computer-linked global social movements that are, increasingly, challenging both national and supranational policy-making institutions. He suggests that we are currently witnessing an accelerating circulation of social conflicts whose participants recognize a common enemy: contemporary capitalism. Although they reject business priorities and their struggles recall notions of "class warfare", this common opposition to capitalism is not accompanied by the notion of a unified alternative project of socialism. Such a vision has been displaced by a proliferation of diverse projects and the notion that there is no need for universal rules. In response to these struggles, the threatened institutions are responding in various ways, sometimes by military and paramilitary force, sometimes by co-optation aimed at reintegrating the antagonistic forces.

• Collective Behavior and Social Movements
  An online course, created by Douglas Martin (Northeastern State University, USA).

• Collective Behavior and Social Movements: ASA Section.
  Includes a Member Directory

• Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
  A non-profit, non-partisan organization working in the public interest to protect fundamental civil liberties, including privacy and freedom of expression in the arena of computers and the Internet. EFF is bases in San Francisco, California, with a satellite office in Washington, D.C. New digital networks offer a tremendous potential to empower individuals in an ever-overpowering world. However, the same forces that make technology such a positive force, such as the speed and ease of transmitting or evaluationg information, can pose substantial challenges to basic human and legal rights. EFF is an organization that is focuced on representing the rights of individuals worldwide from those threats.

• Global Solidarity Site (GSS)
  GSS reflects on and strategizes around global solidarity in its organisational and cultural forms. It concerns itself with historical, contemporary and future internationalisms, with notions of and efforts to create global social movements, a global civil society, a global solidarity culture. GSS begins as a combined personal and general site but wants to collaborate with others. The editor: Peter Waterman, publishes his own material and papers and revies of others.

• Grassroots Political Activism Online
  Cybersociology Magazine, Issue 5. Arpri 1, 1999.

• Herrick, James [1999]
  Empowerment Practice and Social Change: the Place for New Social Movement Theory.
  A critial examination of the empowerment theory and its relationship to social change.

• Information Activism (IA)
  A movement dedicated to maintaining the integrity of information on the Internet. They want information that is up to date, accurate, and of high quality. On the IA site you can learn how you can help. The IA movement was started by Wendy Murdock, the chief researcher for Harley Hahn's Internet and Web Yellew Pages.

• Kling, Joseph (New York, USA)
  Narratives of Possibility: Social Movements, Collective Stories and the Dilemmas of Practice
  A paper using narrative as a conceptual entry point into the practices through which people make choices, shape action, and create social movements.

• Konfrontatie
  A radical view on socialist movements in the Netherlands.

• Mamay, Sergey
  Theories of Social Movements and their current development in Soviet Society
  Considers four approaches: collective behaviour theory, resource mobilisation theory, new social movements' interpretations, the action-identity approach.

• New Social Movements Network (NSMNet)
  

• Path to Change
  "Nothing less than a revolution is required in order for man to achieve the realization of his human potential. The future will be one of tremendous struggle because the world has been held captive. Itis time to rise up to break out of this bondage... We will use our hands as weapons of mass creation." Editor: Jules Dervaes.

• Political Parties, Interest Groups and other Social Movements
  A collection of links composed by Richard Kimber (Keele University, UK).

• United for a Fair Economy (UFE)
  UFE is part of a broad social movement of people concerned that the concentration of wealth is hurting the nation. It was first formed in 1994 by community organizers from the labor, women's, civil rights, and anti-poverty movements. The welthiest 1% of the population now has more wealth and assets than the bottom 95% of the population combined. This concentration of wealth and income is hurting the society. Security is being sacrificed and community institutions are falling apart. UFE wants to revitalize the democratic process by taking away the influence of big money from politics, ensuring health care, maintaining safety net programs and ensuring that all kinds of voices be heard. One of the UFE projects is Responsible Wealth (RW). Although the members of this initiative belong to the wealthiest 5% of Americans, they advocate fair taxes and support a living wage for all.

• WebActive
  A guide to political activism links on the world wide web. Includes a nice topic index.

• Wolfson, Nathan
  • [May 1996] From Whence These Rumblings?
    Understanding of the Structural Pre-Conditions of Anti-Systemic Mobilization.
  • [1995-2001] How to Determine What Enables Protest?
    An attempt to expand the traditionally limited notion of 'opportunity structures' beyond formal political structures to encompass both socio-cultural and economic structures as well.

• Working for Change
  Resources for people with progressive values. Allows individuals to speak out on urgent issues of the day.

• Yates, Larry Lamar [1996] (Social Justice Connections)
  The Internet: What It Can and Can't Do for Activists
  An introduction to the internet for social justice activists.

Special forms of Activism and Social Movements

• Age Activism - Anti-Ageism - Grey Panthers Movement

• Anti-Racism - Ethnic Movements

• Disability Rights Activism

• Drugs Activism

• Ecological Activism - Environmentalism - Ecological Movement

• Feminist Activism - Feminism - Women's Movement

• Human Rights Activism

• LesBiGay Activism

• Peace Activism - Nonviolence Movements

• Poverty Activism - Anti-hunger Movements

• Religious Activism - Religious Movements

• Workers Activism - Trade Unionism - Workers Movements

• Socialism - Communism

Utopia

• Burniske, R.W. [1998] (University of Texas at Austin, USA)
  The Rhetoric of Utopia
  A course that examines the rhetoric of utopian - and dystopian - visions, explores the idea of utopia as both "ideal place" and "no place," while raising questions about the way this rhetoric shapes a society. What is the relationship between utopian visions and dystopian nightmares? How is that relationship expressed through art and politics? Does the rhetoric of utopia, and the dialectical tension it inspires, prompt social transformation or dystopian realities?

• Feminist Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Utopia
  Editor: Laura Quilter (Systems Group, University Library, University of Illinois at Chicago). Part of the Feminist Majority Foundation.

• Fung, Archon / Wright, Erik Olin [June 1999]
  Experiments in Empowered Deliberative Democracy
  An elaboration of a particular conception of participatory democracy called "empowered deliberative democracy". It lays out an inventory of problems and questions which can be used to analyse real world cases of instituttional innovation in terms of this model.

• Humphrey, Christopher C.
  Utopian Analysis - A Science of Civilization
  This may not be what you expect from a scientific approach: "Utopia, solar hydrogen sustainable economy and ecology, beautiful city without gridlock, crime or the homeless. Nine laws of civilization, tested by political experiment. New justice system, new form of democracy, new family structure. End to divorce, the tyranny of the war on drugs and the oppression of divorced men. Urban planning, new architecture. An end to bureaucracy." But he promises to solve the major social problems of our time, such as war, murder, homelessness, ennui, poverty, and the destruction of the ecology.

• Intentional Communities
  Provides information and access to crucial resources for seekers of community, existing and forming communities, and other friends of community. Intentional Community is an inclusive term for ecovillages, cohousing, residential land trusts, communes, student co-ops, urban housing cooperatives and other related projects and dreams...

• Matteoli, Lorenzo [1995]
  Utopia and Environs
  Paper presented at the Eleventh Western Australian Humanities Symposium 15-18 September 1995, Fremantle, Western Australia. The author proposes the features that commonly characterize utopian projects. The closing assessment is that modern utopian thinking is pervasive and diffuse according to pattersn which are not easy to detect.

• Principality of New Utopia, The
  A community dedicated to building a new and perfect country in the middle of the ocean.

• Oceania - The Atlantis Project
  A project dedicated to the goal of establishing a new country named Oceania. "This country will be devoted to the value of freedom, and will first exist as a sea city in the Caribbean. As no collectivist nation is likely to sell us the land we need, we will build an island out of concrete and steel."

• The Rain-Atlantis Project - Studies in Utopian & Peaceful Societies
  An online education program sponsored by the RAIN Network in Santa Barbara, California. Focused on Living Systems and Sustainable Environmental study, the program provides a full curriculum of history, literature, culture, science and health studies.

• Real Utopias Project
  Explores a wide range of proposals and models for radical social change. The basic idea is to combine serious normative discussions of the underlying principles and rationales for different emancipatory visions with the analysis of pragmatic problems of institutional design. The project itself consists of a series of conferences, all build around some provocative, innovative manuscript dealing with some salient issue in radical social change.

• Society for Utopian Studies
  An international, interdisciplinary association devoted to the study of utopianism in all its forms with a particular emphasis on literary and experimental utopias. The Society publishes the journal Utopian Studies and a newsletter, Utopus Discovered, which contains information about upcoming conferences and workshops, and details on publications in the field.

• Utopia
  Utopian visions of the internet and the metaphysics of virtual life. Is the internet a 'place' where a utopian community can be created? The site documents a discussion of the parallels between developments in utopian thought and the history of the internet. It also contains a general overview of the debate on the internet as a possible utopia. Presented by The New York Public Library.

• Utopia
  A list of resources about Utopias: fiction books, short fiction, nonfiction books, articles & essays, communities, films etc. Compiled by Henry W. Targowski.

• Utopia
  Can you imagine a world without money? A world in which material equality goes hand in hand with individual freedom? Mattias Ostlund from Sweden can. Material equality is seen as a fair solution to the world situation. "Human values would effectively be released from profit, leaving democracy, responsibility and integrity of the individual."

• Utopia and Counter-Utopia
  This site is dedicated to literary expressions of Utopia. What is the purpose of utopian visions of society and what is the use to which we can put them? Are they merely imaginative, impractical and unattainable fantasies, or do they serve some concrete need in our construction of the social order? The purpose of this site is to serve as an on-line resource centre for readers of utopian literature.

• Utopian EcoVillage Network (EUN)
  A pilot demonstration of how to live in a real New World consciousness of sharing on all levels: spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically. They seek to provide a common ground for several groups, pods, villages, tribes, clans, extended families and communities within the same umbrella organization. And they're looking for co-conspirators.

• Will, Jon
  Utopian Philosophy
  A trilogy on Utopia.

• WWW Resources on Alternative and Utopian Communities
  Editor: Richard Robbins (Department of Antrhopology, SUNY at Plattsburgh).

Utopists

• Plato [428-347 BCE] Republic — Timaeus — Critias (or in frames). More information on Plato you find at the Metaphysics Research Lab (Stanford)

• Thomas More [1478-1535]
  • [1516] Utopia
  • Thomas More from the Thomas More Society.
    Information on More's life and works, and on Thomas More Societies.
  • Additional resources from Anniina Jokinen.

• Johann Valentin Andreae [1619] Christianopolis
  Translated and edited by Edward H. Thompson. Short description of the book and table of contents. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht. ISBN 0-7923-5745-0. June 1999.

• Tommaso Campanella [1623] The City of the Sun (Gutenberg)

• Francis Bacon [1626] New Atlantis (Wiretap), or via Levity

• Thomas Hobbes [1651] Leviathan (searchable) of from eserver, or from infidels

• William Godwin [1756-1838]
  • [1793] An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice and its Influence on Morals and Happiness. London: Robinson.
  • [1831] Thoughts on Man, his Nature, Productions and Discoveries. London: Effingham Wilson Royal Exchange.
  • William Godwin Archive edited by Dana Ward.
  
  

• Robert Owen
  • [1813-1816] A New View of Society - (McMaster)
    Essays on the Principle of the Formation of the Human Character, and the Application of the Principle to Practice.
  • [1816] Address to the Inhabitants of New Lanark
    Visionary plans for an astonishingly progressive and enlightened system of education which Owen believed was the key to a happier society, and universal harmony.

• Friedrich Engels
  • [1847] The Principles of Communism (Marxists.org)
  • [1877] Socialism: Utopian and Scientific (text files at Colorado).

• Edward Bellamy [1850-1889]
  • [1888] Looking Backward.
  • Edward Bellamy - a nineteenth century visionary
    A page created by Andrew F. Wood, with resources, excerpts, and original essays dedicated to the author of the most celebrated utopian novel of the 19th century.

• William Morris [1834-1896]
  • [1889] Socialism and Anarchism
  • [1890] News from Nowhere (HTML at Virginia) or via marxists.org.
  • [1894] How I Became a Socialist
    First published in Justice, June 16th, 1894.
  • William Morris Home Page
  • William Morris Society
    Morris-related events and publications, information about the William Morris Society, materials relating to the life and work of Morris, his friends, and followers, and links to other interesting places.
  • A Bibliography of William Morris's Writings
    Compiled by William S. Peterson and Mark Samuels Lasner.
  • The Victorian Web: William Morris: An Overview
  • Cody, David (Brown Univ, USA) Morris's Socialism

• Austin Tappan Wright [1883-1931]
  • The Islandia Home Page
    Editors: Stuart K. Wierand & C.T. Tahk.
  • Andrew F. Wood: The man who envisioned Islandia.

Activist NewsGroups

alt.activism alt.activism.age-restrictions alt.activism.children alt.activism.community alt.activism.death-penalty alt.activism.drug-war alt.activism.noise-pollution alt.activism.student	alt.activism.youth-rights alt.feminism alt.politics.communism alt.politics.equality alt.politics.homosexuality alt.politics.libertarian alt.politics.socialism.democratic alt.politics.socialism.libertarian	misc.activism.anti-fascism.announce misc.activism.anti-fascism.tactics misc.activism.militia misc.activism.progressive soc.feminism talk.politics.animals talk.politics.guns talk.politics.libertarian
If you don't see the newsgroup you are looking for, please try this list of newsgroups from Google.

Reference

• IGC - Activism
  You can browse one of the progressive sites by category: Anti-RacismNet, EcoNet, PeaceNet, People, Regions, and WomensNet.

Editor	dr. Albert Benschop Social & Behavioral Studies MediaStudies University of Amsterdam
Created	July, 1999
Last modified	19th December, 2005