This morning four organizations were added to our links.
The NAACP
From the site:
Since its inception the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was poised for a long, tumultuous and rewarding history. Although it may be possible to chronicle the challenging and harrowing legacy of the NAACP, the real story of the nation's most significant civil rights organization lies in the hearts and minds of the people who would not stand still while the rights of some of America's darker citizens were denied.
From the ballot box to the classroom, the dedicated workers, organizers, and leaders who forged this great organization and maintain its status as a champion of social justice, fought long and hard to ensure that the voices of African Americans would be heard. The legacy of those pioneers such as W.E.B DuBois, Thurgood Marshall and Roy Wilkens and the hundreds of thousands of nameless faces who worked tirelessly can not and must not be forgotten.
The history of the NAACP, is one of blood sweat and tears. From bold investigations of mob brutality, protests of mass murders, segregation and discrimination, to testimony before congressional committees on the vicious tactics used to bar African Americans from the ballot box, it was the talent and tenacity of NAACP members that saved lives and changed many negative aspects of American society. While much of its history is chronicled in books, articles, pamphlets and magazines, the true movement lies in the faces---black, white, yellow, red , and brown---united to awaken the conscientiousness of a people, and a nation. This is the legacy of the NAACP!
Democracy Now! has covered the administration's attacks upon the NAACP.
NAACP Refuses to Cooperate With IRS Over Probe
The NAACP announced Monday that it is refusing to cooperate with the Internal Revenue Service as the agency investigates whether the nation's oldest civil rights organization violated its tax-exempt status by criticizing President Bush. The IRS announced its probe weeks before November's presidential election. NAACP's interim president Dennis Hayes said the probe "was clearly motivated by partisan politics and intended to divert us from impartial voter registration." The IRS launched the investigation after NAACP Chairman Julian Bond gave a speech criticizing President Bush's war, economic and educational policies. The IRS claims Bond may have violated federal regulations that bar certain tax-exempt organizations from engaging in political activity.
Also check out Democracy Now!'s IRS Investigating NAACP For Criticizing Bush [L, W, R]
The Progressive has this online The state of race relations keeps us going, by Theodore M. Shaw (Shaw is the President and the Director-Counsel of NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.)
"Article Till Earth and Heaven Ring" is available online at The Nation.
The Flat Hat has an article on Roslyn Brock (vice chair of NAACP).
PBS's Frontline has an interview with Roy Williams (Chair of the NAACP Special Contribution Fund and National Board Member of the NAACP),
[See also "Highlighting Julian Bond on the first day of Black History Month" -- Bond is Chairman of the Board of the NAACP.]
MoveOn.Org
From their web site:
What is MoveOn all about?
MoveOn is working to bring ordinary people back into politics. With a system that today revolves around big money and big media, most citizens are left out. When it becomes clear that our "representatives" don't represent the public, the foundations of democracy are in peril. MoveOn is a catalyst for a new kind of grassroots involvement, supporting busy but concerned citizens in finding their political voice. Our nationwide network of more than 2,000,000 online activists is one of the most effective and responsive outlets for democratic participation available today.
What does MoveOn do?
When there is a disconnect between broad public opinion and legislative action, MoveOn builds electronic advocacy groups. Examples of such issues are campaign finance, environmental and energy issues, media consolidation, or the Iraq war. Once a group is assembled, MoveOn provides information and tools to help each individual have the greatest possible impact.
MoveOn.org is regularly attacked by people urging that the Democratic party move to the ever shifting (and right leaning) center. Somedays, it seems the attacks are never ending. MoveOn.org's power seems to inspire a fear-based paranoia on the part of those (Peter Beinart?) who can't seem to admit that, in their hearts, they're truly Republicans.
More about MoveOn.org can be found in The Nation's "The Web Rewires the Movement" and
"And the Winner Is..."
In These Times' You Make the Call is also worth checking out.
Democracy Now! has an interview with MoveOn.org's Eli Pariser CBS Censorship At Super Bowl? Network Bars Progressive MoveOn.org Ads.
ACLU:
From their web site:
The ACLU is our nation's guardian of liberty. We work daily in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States. Our job is to conserve America's original civic values - the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
The American system of government is founded on two counterbalancing principles: that the majority of the people governs, through democratically elected representatives; and that the power even of a democratic majority must be limited, to ensure individual rights.
Majority power is limited by the Constitution's Bill of Rights, which consists of the original ten amendments ratified in 1791, plus the three post-Civil War amendments (the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth) and the Nineteenth Amendment (women's suffrage), adopted in 1920.
The mission of the ACLU is to preserve all of these protections and guarantees:
Your First Amendment rights-freedom of speech, association and assembly. Freedom of the press, and freedom of religion supported by the strict separation of church and state.
Your right to equal protection under the law - equal treatment regardless of race, sex, religion or national origin.
Your right to due process - fair treatment by the government whenever the loss of your liberty or property is at stake.
Your right to privacy - freedom from unwarranted government intrusion into your personal and private affairs.
New Documents Show Marines Tortured Iraqis, Pentagon Admits 8 Detainees Died in U.S. Custody in Afghanistan provides you with a Democracy Now! interview of the ACLU's Amrit Singh. [L, W, R]
In These Times has this article available: ACLU to FBI: Release "spy files".
CodePink
From their web site:
CODEPINK is a women initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement that seeks positive social change through proactive, creative protest and non-violent direct action.
and:
We call on women around the world to rise up and oppose the war in Iraq. We call on mothers, grandmothers, sisters and daughters, on workers, students, teachers, healers, artists, writers, singers, poets, and every ordinary outraged woman willing to be outrageous for peace. Women have been the guardians of life-not because we are better or purer or more innately nurturing than men, but because the men have busied themselves making war. Because of our responsibility to the next generation, because of our own love for our families and communities and this country that we are a part of, we understand the love of a mother in Iraq for her children, and the driving desire of that child for life.
. . .
We call on all outraged women to join us in taking a stand, now. And we call upon our brothers to join with us and support us. These actions will be initiated by women, but not limited to women. Stand in the streets and marketplaces of your towns with banners and signs of dissent, and talk to your neighbors. Stand before your elected representatives: and if they will not listen, sit in their offices, refusing to leave until they do. Withdraw consent from the warmongers. Engage in outrageous acts of dissent. We encourage all actions, from public education and free speech to nonviolent civil disobedience that can disrupt the progress toward war.
CodePink's founders are Jodie Evans, Medea Benjamin, and Gael Murphy.
Protesters Disrupt Bush's Inaugural Address takes you to a Democracy Now! interview with Medea Benjamin of CodePink.
A 2003 article Medea Benjamin and Jason Mark The Progressive Media Project can be found online at The Progressive.
BuzzFlash has an interview with CodePink's Karen Pomer.
In These Times has "Pretty Effective in Pink."
The Nation has the following by Medea Benjamin "Afghan Victims Deserve US Support" and
"Response 3: Toward a Global Movement."
All four organizations are strong ones doing noble work. Please check them out and see if any speak to you.
