Paul Engler is the director of the Center for the Working Poor in Los Angeles, movement director at the Ayni Institute, and co-author, with Mark Engler, of “This Is An Uprising.”
Changing the ‘world as it is’ into the ‘world as it should be’
Resolving the conflict between being visionary and being pragmatic is critical for those who want to transform society.
December 19, 2022
Why movements need to start singing again
Social movements are stronger when they sing. That’s a lesson that has been amply demonstrated throughout history, and it’s one that I have learned personally in working to develop trainings for activists over the past decade and a half.
December 7, 2022
What’s the problem with taking state power?
Should we maintain independence and function as a critical force outside of mainstream politics, or should we attempt to take hold of the levers of institutional power in order to create change?
October 27, 2022
Political polarization is pushing evangelicals to a historic breaking point
But the current juncture has created a moment loaded with potential, in which the unprecedented alignment of evangelicalism with the Republican right is being shaken — at least at the margins — and new possibilities are emerging.
July 27, 2022
Movements are vying for political power — is ‘co-governance’ the answer?
Those promoting co-governance describe it as a new relationship between social movements and the candidates they help win office — a partnership in which activists and elected officials work to maintain a long-term relationship, closely coordinate strategy and advance grassroots priorities.
May 27, 2022
How movements can maintain their radical vision while winning practical reforms
Ever since it launched its first audacious land occupations in the mid-1980s, in which groups of impoverished farmers took over unused estates in Southern Brazil and turned them into cooperative farms, the Landless Workers Movement has stood as one of the most innovative and inspiring social movements in the world.
April 19, 2022