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| <back | home Introduction by Bob Banner We are at a stage where we need to critically evaluate all our activist activities. We have lost the war of ideas. We need to understand our minority status and work smarter; not more diligently. The latter will only lead to more burnout and resentment. We need to embody a new vision that is compelling for the majority of Americans. We need to abandon the incessant single-issue, complaint-based activism that has become the air we breathe. Many articles in this issue will challenge the way we see our activism. New ideas are coming, and with it the defensive posture of many of the old guard who wish to hold on to their agendas and strategies. When something is no longer working, we need to become resilient enough to let it die, rethink it and experiment with other options that are challenging indeed but perhaps more effective and exciting at the same time. In each issue there is always material that will resonate with you. These are the positive solutions we need to get involved in. We are in a dire emergency, and we have to up the ante but in ways that are different than what we are accustomed to. Liana Forest, Larry Santoyo and Brad Lancaster have been writing about incredible solutions for years. They need our support. We need our support. We need to engage in a more committed fashion. You would not believe the number of wannabees I encounter every day. And I can’t blame them. They all have big hearts. They want to do good. But we’ve become slaves to a culture that demands we work 2-3 jobs so we can make the rent or mortgage... or we go bankrupt because of our outrageously outmoded health insurance model. If we can learn how to give our activist activities more TIME and FOCUS, we will succeed; but it’s as if we are going backwards, doing activism with no time and not enough focus. Perhaps next issue we will publish material that deals with those two elements so that our activism and social concerns are lying on a more solid foundation. Without focus and time, we will burn out, and we cannot afford to burn out at a time like this. More than ever I keep hearing the words, "We are needed now more than ever." Since we’re needed now, let’s get our houses in order. Bob Banner, Publisher <back | top^ |