“I want to be the kind of person who’s impossible to steal from.” –Utah Phillips The stories on this website are uncopyrighted. That means you should feel free to share them, copy them, print them and tell them without asking my permission. These are not my stories. They’re our stories. I’ve been lucky to have […]
What would it look like if organizing was so internalized in a society that people spontaneously took direct action in the moment of the injustice? What if this was so widespread that unscrupulous power-holders felt compelled to do right because of the imminent accountability? I understand that there are places in the world where this […]
If organizing is about transforming power, we need to understand the power relationships already in place. This is called a power analysis, and there are a number of ways of doing it. I’ve seen very detailed maps, with different people and organizations along x and y axes which represent the degree to which they are […]
Recently I was training a group of organizers in Boston on direct action campaigns and telling a lot of stories to illustrate different tactics. Afterwards, a trainee came up to me and asked, “How do you have so many crazy organizing stories at your age?” “By mistake,” I said. For all of the exciting victories, […]
In 2007, a group of janitorial workers came to Fuerza Laboral’s office because they hadn’t been paid for several weeks of work. One of the workers was Santa’s son. Santa was his last name, but that’s all anyone ever called him; a clean-shaven-jolly old man who often came to our meetings and, no matter how […]
At the top of this site is a photo of one of the moments in my life most clearly responsible for my transition from a middle school history teacher to a direct action community organizer. I’m actually in it, on the right hand side, but my face isn’t visible; only the lime green bandana tied […]
Greg Pehrson 