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	VIEWS MAGAZINE ARTICLES

	WINTER, 2002 - VOLUME 22 Download Entire Volume

	Terrorism and Ideology In his stated objective of bringing to justice those responsible for the September 11th attacks and disrupting their ability to mount further offensives, President Bush has had extraordinarily broad support. By declaring a universal "war against terrorism," however, he raises a host of questions that demand our urgent attention.



	Washington State’s Living Wage Movement: Fighting for Economic Justice in a Post-September 11th Economy The Washington Living Wage Movement and allied organizers across the country are striving to chart a course for economic justice through the perfect storm of the "War of Terrorism," the recession, and the Bush-Cheney administration.



	Lessons from Timbertown: "a classic organizing drive we can all learn from" Three organizers review The Stranger Next Door: the Story of a Small Community’s Battle over Sex, Faith and Civil Rights by Arlene Stein.



	Sisters in Action for Power Rides Transportation Equity Campaign to Victory Over three years ago, Sisters in Action for Power launched a transportation equity campaign, calling on Tri-Met (Portland’s regional transit authority) to invest in their youth riders, and particularly students who rely on public transportation to get to school. Members of Sisters in Action, primarily middle- and high-school girls, led a campaign geared towards giving youth, people of color and low income communities a chance to identify public transportation problems and propose policies to better meet the needs of those most dependent on public transit. On August 8, 2001, Tri-Met's Board of Directors voted unanimously to create a special pass just for students at only $16 a month, benefiting over 200,000 students in the Portland Metro area. Western States Center asked Sisters in Action’s Lead Organizer Darlene Lombos about the campaign that produced this tremendous victory.



	Community Coalition for Environmental Justice Paints Polluter into a Corner A sunny day in Seattle finds many residents doing chores in the yard, perhaps mowing their lawns. But in the low income and largely Latino neighborhood of South Park, you might notice one disturbing difference: surgical masks. Until recently, surgical masks were the only defense against decades of air pollution that inflicted a widerange of health problems on community residents. The source: Long Painting Company, the Northwest’s largest increasingly severe range of environmental and public health problems.



	Organizing the Vote: Communities Gear Up for 2002 Elections The 2000 Census and related redistricting reflect the profound impact that demographic changes are having on the political and social landscape of our region. This year’s electoral cycle presents unprecedented opportunities for communities of color, new arrivals, and under-represented constituencies like low-income residents and women to build power through issue work and electoral activities.



	Building Grassroots Power: An Introduction to Electoral Politics Western States Center Debuts New Curriculum For the past thirty years, conservatives have methodically built their movement by mounting issue-oriented campaigns and running their own candidates for office. Political campaigns have enabled the right wing to expand its base of known supporters, to shape public debate on key issues, and to increase its clout within mainstream political organizations. The progressive movement can use political campaigns to out-organize the right wing. By joining the techniques of electoral campaigns with the values base and goals of ongoing community organizing, we can build power to advance social and economic justice.



	Community Alliance of Tenants: Challenging the Politics of Race and Place from the Inside Out For decades, government housing and transportation policies enforced racial segregation of neighborhoods and subsidized "white flight" to the suburbs. But today many cities are hot spots for a new wave of gentrification. Portland's inner-city neighborhoods, with their "vintage" houses and easy access to downtown, have become a desirable commodity. With the white middle class moving in, government investment has been fast-tracked back into urban neighborhoods whose historically African American residents suffered decades of disinvestment. Community Alliance of Tenants takes gentrification on, building power within communities faced with displacement.



	Progressive News Services: Spreading the Word Building the Movement As the need for civic journalism grows, some states in the West have found a new voice to examine social, economic, community and environmental issues from a progressive perspective. Washington is one of eight states where non-profits are supporting an independent news service providing fully produced, top quality news stories to radio news stations (and television stations in Idaho) that reach people on a daily basis through mainstream local Minnesota, South Dakota, Oregon, Iowa and Montana.



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