Alinsky? Who is he and why is the rightwing talking about him?

thanks! :hi:

Pretty much wrote the book on radical activism and organizing communities for same. Literally, it is called 'Rules For Radicals"....

Wow. That's kind of crazy. Was this what the whole "Oligarhy" fiasco was about? Huh.

Glad to see you around again. You were missed. I had to hunt your profile down to give you a heart on the V-Day fund drive. ;)

I'm going to throw it around as needed......

organizer who worked to improve housing for the poor, among other things. He was an idol of mine when I was in Grad School for Urban Planning. I never thought he was a radical, just a visionary.

Empowering and organizing the poor scares the shit out of conservatives and some liberals.

President Obama was trained in organizing by Alinsky's group, the Industrial Areas Foundation. Despite Republican claims, President Obama wasn't actually "Alinsky-trained" since Saul Alinsky died when the future president was eleven years old when Alinsky died in 1972.

What really angers(and, of course, frightens, since fear is always the root of conservative anger)the Right is that Alinsky was able to get middle-class white people, the kind of people the Republicans think they have an absolute right to the permanent support of, to join him in successful campaigns for radical change on the community level. Alinsky's approaches were a mortal threat to the Spiro Agnew/Pat Buchanan/Sarah Palin tradition of suburban paranoia politics that dominates the Republican party and the "conservative"(actually, right-wing radical)movement of today.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saul_Alinsky

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Areas_Foundation

I wondered what the Obama connection was.

I need to read more about Mr. Alinsky.

thanks again everyone!

:hi:

Mother Jones too!!!