This promises to be a year of great work and base building. The candidates are certainly helping to build a strong case for progressive independent politics!

Here at IPPN we’re taking on strategic thinking about the organization’s future. Please help us by taking 10 or 15 minutes to complete this survey about IPPN’s role and our future.

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Today I started thinking about MLK day which is January 21st. I also thought about March 19th and imagined how disappointed my MLK (‘cause just like when people say ‘my Jesus’ in that tone expressing that they indeed hold a unique image and have a unique relationship to this possibly shared entity, I have my own sense of MLK – a leader – flawed and visionary that still leaves a hole in the fabric we’re to use to transform society) would be with the activists, leaders and self described revolutionaries among us these days.

The Independent Progressive Politics Network (IPPN) works from what, at the surface, may seem contradictory beliefs that 1) the current political system (especially at the national level) can do little to affect change for those most in need of justice in the US and the world because both the Democratic and Republican parties place corporate interests above all else and 2) grassroots driven electoral participation with equal access and clean elections is essential in addressing the ongoing injustices rooted in racism, economic and environmental oppression that the national parties continue to

Building effective grassroots driven democracy initiatives are key to transforming our current electoral system.

IPPN has increasingly seen the importance of a "popular education" perspective to the organizing. One of our partner organizations, Project South: Institute for the Elimination of Poverty and Genocide, has been doing organized popular education workshops for years and has developed toolkits and workbooks. To find out more go to www.projectsouth.org.

FairVote (www.fairvote.org) is a partner working for reforms and accountability essential to electoral integrity. FairVote works to transform our elections to achieve secure and universal access to participation, a full spectrum of meaningful choices and majority rule with fair representation and a voice for all.

IPPN has been active within the peace movement since right after the 9/11 attacks. We played a key role in forging a coalition which organized the first, major demonstration in April, 2002 in Washington, D.C. against the Bush Administration's militaristic and repressive reaction to that attack. 80,000 people marched on that day. As United for Peace and Justice (www.unitedforpeace.org) came together toward the end of that year we were active as it organized against the illegal invasion of Iraq, and we have been active ever since.

From WORT in Madison, Wisconsin, we have this interview with IPPN Co-Ordinator George Friday. It was originally broadcast on March 14, and is well worth a listen.

To download the file, right-click here, and choose "save target as".

Click here to visit the WORT website.