Contributions from Bill Fletcher Jr.
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Time For a New Democracy Charter
Patterned in many respects on the 1955 South African Freedom Charter, the Democracy Charter proposed by the late civil rights activist Jack O’Dell articulated key elements of a progressive vision. Just as organizing around the Freedom Charter helped unify the movement against apartheid, an intentional process around a new Democracy Charter could advance the broad anti-MAGA front.
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We Failed to Block the Return of MAGA. Now What?
It will take rigorous, thoughtful collective inquiry to understand the outcome of this election and its implications for our strategy. Our panel suggests that for starters, we need to tease apart the contradictions and deepen our organizing.
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Campaigns and Movements: How Are They Connected, How Do They Differ?
“Beware of all simplistic calls that our urgent task is to 'build a movement.' That alone will get us swallowed in a swamp of spontaneity.”
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A Good Day in Our Movement: Organizers Debate in ‘Labor Power and Strategy’
Strategic locations, key occupations, networked relations—all bring workers power. “Labor Power and Strategy” offers an extended conversation among veteran organizers on how these modes operate and relate, and how best to deploy them.
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On Four Global Contradictions
Having an analytical framework to understand the key relationships that define the social conditions and political battles we face can guide us in formulating our strategy and tactics on every level—from local to global.
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Bill Fletcher: Keep Fighting Till the Lights Go Out
Hosted by
Steven Pitts
Black Work Talk comes full circle: This is the last episode of this iteration of Black Work Talk, and host Steven Pitts talks with Bill Fletcher Jr, who was the show’s first guest in November 2020.
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‘B4’ It’s Too Late: The Socialist Left’s Role in Fighting Autocracy
B4—the Broad Front Opposing the Right—can’t be about the status quo. While it must be aimed at defeating all attacks on our democratic rights, its thrust must be to expand democracy and shift US domestic and foreign policy.
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Q&A: Navigating the Left’s Ukraine Debate
“Sovereignty and self-determination are important concepts to keep at the heart of Left analysis”—and can help orient us in the confusion and misinformation surrounding Russia’s war on Ukraine.
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Time to Re-Align: We Can’t Win From Our Safety Zones
To fight the Right and win, Left and progressive organizations must cohere around strategy and message—and lose their fear of being politically uncomfortable.
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Will Jones: How Labor Built the March on Washington
his fourth episode of Black Work Talk’s Season Two, co-hosts Steven Pitts and Bill Fletcher talk with Will Jones. Will is Professor of History at the University of Minnesota. His particular emphasis is understanding the relationship between race and class in the United States during the 20th Century. His 2013 book, “The March on Washington: Jobs, Freedom and the Forgotten History of Civil Rights,” examined the role of Black labor leaders in the 1963 March on Washington and was the basis for our conversation.
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Bert Bayou: We meet our members where they live
In this third episode of Black Work Talk’s Season Two, co-hosts Steven Pitts and Bill Fletcher talk with Bert Bayou. Bert is DC Chapter Director of African Communities Together (ACT) and Vice President of UNITE HERE Local 23.
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April Verrett: Care workers bridge the partisan divide
In this second episode of Black Work Talk’s Season Two, co-hosts Steven Pitts and Bill Fletcher talk with April Verrett. April is president of SEIU 2015, a union of 400,000 long-term caregivers in California.