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Hurricane Katrina: Getting Home Before It's Gone

In Getting Home Before It's Gone, Jeff Chang, Thenmozhi Soundararajan, and Anita Johnson take a very close look at what is happening on the ground and how it will affect displaced communities. Their article completely confirms my sense that reconstruction should be solidly in the hands of local communities, local nonprofits, and local citizens, not corporate profiteers. Posted: 9/26/05; 12:11:17 PM #

Nonviolent Activists Placed on Terrorist List in FBI Notes

Freedom of Information Act requests have revealed that nonviolent activist organizations have been placed on terrorist lists by the FBI. Combine this with other stories, if you will, such as the Utah police attacking young people at a dance with a paramilitary raid or recent federal court rulings that allow indefinite detention of American citizens without having to charge them with a crime. If your work is even remotely outside the mainstream, I would sincerely hope that you are discussing these threats at the highest levels of your organization's leadership. Posted: 9/26/05; 12:07:20 PM #

Stark Raving Mad

You may recall my recent mention of a police attack on a legal rave in Utah. As the story unfolds, it has been getting some main stream attention. In Stark Raving Mad, Farhad Manjoo looks at how the local community is circling the wagons. A local judge refused to prevent further actions like this and local political leaders are supporting the police. It was particularly interesting to realize that the excuses offered by the police apply just as well to NASCAR races, but I doubt we'll see SWAT teams shutting those down any time soon. This feels like a cultural war to me and if they can shut down legal dances this way, they can shut down your meetings and events too, especially if they involve youth. Posted: 9/26/05; 12:02:57 PM #

Retrospective Disaster Recovery
	Compumentor is putting a lot of work into developing their Retrospective Disaster Recovery guide (52 page PDF). It's being revised even now, so the document you download today could be much improved in the coming weeks. But if you're directly affected by recent disasters, you might want this information immediately. Posted: 9/26/05; 11:58:10 AM #

Funding the Right Wing Machine with Government Money

Joshua Micah Marshall takes a really close look at the political machine fed by Republican government spending, with a special emphasis on the money being funneled to the right wing propaganda infrastructure. This is happening everywhere these days, on a large scale in Iraq and now, again, with so-called relief and reconstruction work in the Gulf. Scroll down to the phrase "look at the pattern" to get to some recent specifics. Posted: 9/26/05; 11:54:41 AM #

Help People Stay Connected to the Communities They Love
	I am very pleased to note the philosophy of the New Orleans Network. They are focusing on rebuilding the community connections that have been stretched thin by the government supported diaspora of citizens. I'm not sure what programs they have running yet to do this, other than some online discussion forums, but this is really the right idea. Posted: 9/26/05; 11:51:47 AM #