Fighting Back: Responding to Attacks on Community Organizers and Progressive Groups
For many years conservatives have attacked the very idea of community organizing and empowering the poor by attempting to destroy the role of progressive organizations. And they have sought to define the limits of national debates so as to exclude the views of progressives. Indeed, the very ideas of community organizing , progressive advocacy and social justice are under assault. In the wake of ACORN and other attacks on progressive groups, it is incumbent that the progressive community recognize this danger and shape a response that will both defend groups under attack and begin to develop a narrative that respects the value of progressive organizing, its contribution to our nation's progress and that conveys to the broader public the political motivations informing these attacks. This panel will look at what happened to ACORN, how the progressive community responded and efforts underway to organize a long-term response for all nonprofits.
A leading voice in public interest law for over 30 years, Nan Aron is President of Alliance for Justice, a national association of over 100 public interest and civil rights organizations. Nan, who founded AFJ in 1979, guides the organization in its mission to ensure that all Americans have the right and opportunity to secure justice in the courts and to have their voices heard when government makes decisions that affect their lives. Nan is nationally recognized for her vast expertise in public interest law, the federal judiciary and citizen participation in public policy. She is the author of Liberty and Justice for All: Public Interest Law in the 1980s and Beyond and has appeared as an expert in such media outlets as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, The Nation, Vanity Fair and National Public Radio. She has a B.A. from Oberlin College and a J.D. from Case Western Reserve.
Garlin Gilchrist II, a native of Detroit and creator of Detroit Diaspora, is Director of New Media at the Center for Community Change. After graduating with degrees in Computer Engineering and Computer Science from the University of Michigan, Gilchrist became a Software Engineer at Microsoft. During that time he co-founded The SuperSpade: Black Thought at the Highest Level, a leading Black political blog, co-founded blacknetaction, a diverse, strategic collective online activists and served as Social Media Manager for the 2008 Obama campaign in Washington state. Garlin is a highly sought after thinker doing cutting edge work at the crossroads of traditional organizing and online activism. From members of Congress and the Federal Communications Commission to the Annenberg Foundation and Netroots Nation, from community centers throughout the country to the next generation of social entrepreneurs, Garlin has spoken before every constituency on youth empowerment in revolutionary new organizing spaces, increasing civic engagement & participation though emerging technologies and protecting civil rights in the age of the Internet.
Ari Rabin-Havt is Vice President for Research and Communications at Media Matters. Previously, Rabin-Havt was the Managing Director of the Media Matters Action Network. In 2008 Rabin-Havt served as Deputy Director of Progressive Accountability, a joint project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund and the Media Matters Action Network, where he was responsible for, among other things, producing a feature length documentary titled Third Term, focusing on the similarities between John McCain's and President Bush's policies. Throughout his career he has worked with numerous progressive politicians and organizations including former Vice President Al Gore, the Alliance for Climate Protection, the ONE campaign, and the ACLU among others.
