Crass, Chris

Crass, Chris

Chris Crass

1 August 2016Feature

Effective anti-racist organising in white rural and working-class communities in the US

Semi-functional artwork at TriMet’s Gresham central transit centre, Gresham, Oregon. PHOTO: Steve Morgan CC-BY-SA-3.0 via Wikimedia

With hundreds of volunteer leaders and 65 member groups across Oregon, the Rural Organising Project is a powerful example of a statewide social justice organisation with a statewide strategy. At the centre of their work for peace, justice and democracy is an organising strategy to develop anti-racist politics, leadership, and action in rural white…

20 December 2013Blog

Learning lesson for social justice organising using Harry Potter as an illustrative narrative.

Have you daydreamed about being a member of an intergenerational social justice organisation like the Order of Phoenix? Do you want Dumbledore to be your mentor? Have dementors ever burned you out to the point where you doubted your ability to take on the Voldemorts of our world? Do you find yourself analysing Dumbledore’s Army for lessons on developing liberatory vision, culture, leadership, and organisation? Me too. Let’s develop our magic, build our liberation movement, and defeat the…

1 May 2007Feature

Sometimes we find it difficult to see -- or counter -- some of the oppressive patterns in our movements. Including oppression against women, people of colour, and working class people. Food Not Bombs has struggled with these questions.

It was in the winter of '94 and I had just moved to San Francisco and wanted to get involved in Food Not Bombs locally.

Local activist Keith McHenry came over and talked to me at an event, and immediately started introducing me to other FNBers and invited me back to his house for dinner. He asked me question after question about how I got involved and what we did in Whittier. He gave me literature, told me about the meetings, and asked me what I was interested in doing. Over the next…