Organize!: Building from the Local for Global Justice

How do we organize for progressive social change in an era of unprecedented economic, social, and ecological crises? How do political activists build power and critical analysis into their daily work for change?

Grounded in struggles in Canada, the USA, and Aotearoa/New Zealand, as well as transnational activist networks, Organize! links local organizing with global struggles for social justice. From organizing immigrant workers to mobilizing psychiatric survivors, from arts and activism for Palestine to support for Indigenous Peoples, activists, academics, and artists reflect on the tensions and gains inherent in a diverse range of organizing contexts and practices. Organize! encourages us to use history to shed light on contemporary injustices and how they can be overcome.

Aziz Choudry (1996-2021) was Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Social Movement Learning and Knowledge Production in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education, McGill University, and Visiting Professor at the Centre for Education Rights and Transformation, University of Johannesburg. He was involved in a range of social, political and environmental justice movements and organizations since the 1980s. He is the author of Learning Activism: The Intellectual Life of Contemporary Social Movements, co-author of Fight Back: Workplace Justice for Immigrants. His co-edited books include Organize! Building from the Local for Global Justice, Unfree Labour: Struggles of Migrant and Immigrant Workers in Canada, and Reflections on Knowledge, Learning, and Social Movements.

Jill Hanley is Assistant Professor in the McGill School of Social Work, where she teaches community organizing, social policy, and applied research.

Eric Shragge teaches at the School of Community and Public Affairs, Concordia University in Montreal and is co-author of Contesting Community: The Limits and Potential of Local Organizing (2010).