This is a roundup of action diaries from the last week or so. Like a Daily Kos activism "Best Of".
Why? Because in the wake of the FISA disaster, I've seen a lot of angry comments about how we couldn't stop it, many of them centering on a perceived inability to translate our passion into concrete action. Buhdydharma's Ask a Kossak diary from Sunday was themed "What do we do?" and GussieFN said we should recommend more action diaries and then I commented, 'it'd be cool if we had an 'action diary rescue'' and ek hornbeck said Elise used to do that kind of stuff and suggested I pick up the torch... and well, here goes.
good vibes after the jump...
Check out the "ENOUGH!" diary series, some wonderful startup DIY activism on impeachment. You can find an excellent roundup of actions in forbodyandmind’s diary here. Also, here are links to wino’s and riles’s diaries covering events in Orlando, antiapollon’s diary from the OC, and WesClarkJr’s call to action diary that made the rec list on Saturday.
From Seattle, manaman’s diary about guerilla art used to raise awareness about community poverty. Check out http://www.family-services.org for more information. They’ll be at the Northgate Family Festival on August 11 and 12.
Diarist Hudson has some excellent, well laid-out ideas about how to strengthen local organizing on national issues like the FISA debacle, so maybe next time... ya know.
Diarist miguelmas offers a diary about some 20-somethings on a mission to raise money to fight poverty in Cambodia. You can find more information about the group here (and also how to donate).
In "DKos community, save a historic building!" first time diarist and long time kossack texaseditor asks for signatures to preserve a landmark in Denison, TX. Petition here.
If you’ve ever written an LTE, meet diarist snuffleupagus, who is attempting "to create an easily reachable resource where any liberal could come and find a short cogent argument on any political topic" by taking letters to the editor provided by Kossacks and re-parsing them into short arguments to be posted in the dkosopedia. The initiative is called "The Answers Project". If you have letters to donate, post them in this diary.
Diarist Kyril has a one person protest idea in mind for September.
[...] I'm going to road-trip to DC over the first weekend in September. On Monday, September 3, 2007, I will be somewhere in the vicinity of the Capitol (as close as I can get - which isn't very close anymore what with all the barriers) sitting on the Mall, wearing a black hoodie (props to Eminem) and an orange ribbon (Orange Revolution for impeachment) and playing protest music on my laptop.
And I'm going to stay there, every day, until we get
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
This is an open invitation. Join me any time between 9/3/07 and 9/21/07. Or if you can't afford to make the trip, protest in your own city. But please get out there. This revolution isn't going to happen on the blogs. We're screaming and they're ignoring us as well as their duty to the Constitution.
Speaking of September antiwar activism, here’s a link to all Moratorium Day diaries, and an old summary by MissLaura for the unfamiliar. Sign the pledge to participate here: http://iraqmoratorium.org/ Meteor Blades is on the rec list talking about it today, so there's some fresh discussion there.
Also, in case you need some inspiration, here are a couple recent stories about activism from Kossacks. In "First Protest: Better Late than Never" LibrariAnne describes taking part in a local Iraq vigil for the first time. In "My Victory Over Propaganda," diarist theloniously describes a small but successful act of activism. "With a single, personal email, I got my local credit union to stop posting signs indicating it was "proud" to comply with information-sharing provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act." It’s a nice story that really goes to show how little it can take to do something good sometimes.
Surprise~! Bonus actions!
- CodePink petition for the impeachment of Cheney. They also have a link to Digg it, too.
- A fresh Save Darfur petition to pressure the UN to stop delaying the deployment of peacekeepers.
- Amnesty International letter to restore Habeas Corpus (sign it, they'll send it to your Senator) and a link to AmnestyUSA's online action center (tons of human rights actions for the U.S. and abroad).
Not liking any of these actions? Then make up your own! These links can help:
Write your Rep: http://www.house.gov/...
Or your Senator: http://www.senate.gov/...
Email your Leader: comments@whitehouse.gov
Or your Leader’s boss: vice_president@whitehouse.gov
Please add other action diaries I've missed (there's just no way this can be all of them), or other action items you've seen lately.
the end!