Move to Amend Reports

JUNE 2, 2016

Move to Amend Reports is the weekly podcast that details current events and features guests specializing in movement building, grassroots organizing, amending the Constitution, and issues being addressed by Move To Amend. 

The politics of hate is strong in the 2016 election cycle, and its rhetoric has few bigger targets than the people of the Muslim community. US history reveals a longstanding pattern by the ruling class using systems of oppression to divide and conquer the masses, with the poor and middle class of all colors being its biggest targets. Islam is no exception to this oppression, as the religion practiced by over 2 billion people is a frequent target for right-wing corporate networks seeking to make money off spreading fear and misinformation which fuels anti-Islamic extremism in the United States and a highly-profitable “War on Terror” in the Middle East.

As communities of color mobilize movements for black lives and immigrant rights, the Muslim community is also rising to challenge the systems of racism and other oppressions still being enforced. We confront the problem of Islamophobia in American politics and clear up the common misconceptions about Islam in a conversation with Maheen Ahmed from the Sacramento Valley chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Move to Amend Reports is the weekly podcast that details current events and features guests specializing in movement building, grassroots organizing, amending the Constitution, and issues being addressed by Move To Amend.

“What would the San Francisco Bay-Delta ecosystem say?” Movement Rights director Shannon Biggs and several members of the Bay Delta community answered this question in the Bay Area Rights of Nature Tribunal, held April 30 in Antioch, California.  Join Shannon and Move to Amend Outreach Director, David Cobb, in a conversation about the insights gleaned from the tribunal and the rights of nature and how they impact California’s Sacramento River Delta, in the third podcast of this three part series.

MAY 19, 2016

Move to Amend Reports is the weekly podcast that details current events and features guests specializing in movement building, grassroots organizing, amending the Constitution, and issues being addressed by Move To Amend. 

The presidential race is exciting, but local party politics can be just as exciting and lead to serious national impact. Just weeks ago, Vincent Campos and Patrick Tarr led the Iowa’s Pottawattamie County Republican Party to change its party platform to call for an end to corporate constitutional rights -- in similar language to our We the People Amendment! Campos and Tarr join us to tell all about his effort to amend his party’s platform and endorse Move to Amend in this week’s episode of Move to Amend Reports!

MAY 12, 2016

Move to Amend Reports is the weekly podcast that details current events and features guests specializing in movement building, grassroots organizing, amending the Constitution, and issues being addressed by Move To Amend. 

Join us for a live broadcast from the 4-H National Conference Center in Washington, DC!  We’ll hear the latest on-the-ground developments from Move to Amend’s National Leadership and discuss artful activism and the role of art in people-led movements with front-woman for the band Rooftop Revolutionaries and host of Act Out, Eleanor Goldfield!

Eleanor Goldfield is a creative activist and writer based in Washington DC. She works with organizations to create digital content as well as live events to combine pop culture and politics - art killing apathy; her political hard rock band Rooftop Revolutionaries being a primary example of this. As a writer, she writes for several political publications on our corporatocratic government and all the issues that stem from that.

This May 6-9, the Move to Amend Coalition is converging on Washington DC for it's first-ever National Leadership Summit. Join us this Saturday, May 7th, at  6pm PDT / 9pm EDT for a LIVE broadcast from the 4-H National Conference Center, where we'll hear the latest on-the-ground developments from Move to Amend's National Leadership Team and discuss artful activism and the role of art in people-led movement with front-woman for the Rooftop Revolutionaries, Eleanor Goldfield!

MAY 5, 2016

This week, we’re talking with Move to Amend East Coast Volunteer Coordinator, Johannes Epkes who spent a few days representing Move to Amend at the multi-day event Democracy Awakening in Washington DC.  Johannes gives us the full scoop on what the event held, high points, low points, and some very important lessons on current democracy movement.

Move to Amend Reports is the weekly podcast that details current events and features guests specializing in movement building, grassroots organizing, amending the Constitution, and issues being addressed by Move To Amend.

APRIL 28, 2016 (PART 2)

If the San Francisco Bay-Delta could speak, what would it say? That is the question being asked by residents of the Bay Area's Delta Community on April 30th, when witnesses and environmental experts come together to testify against the systemic co-violations against human rights and nature's rights by California government’s water grabs.

Join us for the conclusion of our extended conversation about the upcoming Bay Area Rights of Nature Tribunal on April 30th with a discussion about water policy, rights of nature, and its intersection with human rights with Linda Sheehan, executive director of the Earth Law Center.

Click here to listen to Part 1.

APRIL 21, 2016 (Part 1)

If the San Francisco Bay-Delta could speak, what would it say? That is the question being asked by residents of the Bay Area's Delta Community on April 30th, when witnesses and environmental experts come together to testify against the systemic co-violations against human rights and nature's rights by California government’s water grabs.

Join us for an extended conversation with Linda Sheehan, executive director of the Earth Law Center, and Osprey Orielle Lake, executive director of the Women’s Earth and Climate Caucus, about Earth Jurisprudence, water policy, and the intersection between human, community, and nature’s rights which will be the focus of the upcoming Bay Area Rights of Nature Tribunal taking place on April 30th.

APRIL 14, 2016

We conclude our extended conversation with international activist Bill Fletcher, Jr. as we talk about the importance of labor organizing and the role of unions and race in building an inclusive democracy movement.

Bill Fletcher, Jr. was involved in activism as early as high school. After graduating from Harvard, Fletcher took a job as a shipyard welder as a way into the labor movement.  There he became involved in issues such as union democracy, health and safety, and racial justice.  Fletcher involved himself in the desegregation of the building trades in Boston, and later was a staff member in various unions including District 65-United Auto Workers, the Service Employees International Union, the National Postal Mail Handlers Union, and the national AFL-CIO. Fletcher served as Education Director for the AFL-CIO and, eventually, Assistant to the President. A visiting professor at Brooklyn College-CUNY, Fletcher was also president of TransAfrica Forum, a non-profit advocacy, research, and education center focused on justice for the African world.

During his prolific writing career, Fletcher co-authored The Indispensable Ally: Black Workers and the Formation of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, 1934-1921; and Solidarity Divided. His most recent book is, “They’re Bankrupting Us!”: And 20 Other Myths about Unions.  You can learn more about Bill and his books at billfletcherjr.com.

Click here to listen to Part 1.

APRIL 7, 2016

The call for “political revolution” is strong in the 2016 election cycle, with many Americans turning to “outsider” political campaigns like Bernie Sanders to lead this revolution. Is it the role of political campaigns to be at the helm of popular movements, or is it the other way around? Join us as we examine the difference between political campaigns and social movements in the context of history with international, labor, and racial justice activist Bill Fletcher, Jr.