A book for Labor Day: Playing Bigger Than You Are - A Life In Organizing

[Starry Messenger]

http://www.peoplesworld.org/a-book-for-labor-day-playing-bigger-than-you-are-a-life-in-organizing/

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For some who know Stewart, the reach and breadth of his organizing experience in this book will reveal a whole new side of him. Community organizing in Dallas, Texas and Memphis, Tenn., for ACORN, Stewart helped lead battles from getting stop signs at dangerous intersections, to fighting for more equitable distribution of Housing and Urban Development funds.

It's ironic that while GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney touts his dubious role in the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, Stewart really did play a critical leadership role fighting for union rights in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. After his 1991 election, Stewart hit the ground working to guarantee that the 1996 Olympics were union-made. He worked hard to help build a broad labor-community coalition that included key sectors of the civil rights movements.

And they won.

I would especially recommend this book to young organizer and activists who are in motion and just getting started. "Playing Bigger Than You Are" highlights many important lessons about organizing. But perhaps even more important, the book really underlines an approach to organizing that focuses on learning everyday from your experiences.

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"Playing Bigger Than You Are -- A Life in Organizing"

By Stewart Acuff, forward by Sen. Bernie Sanders

2011, Levins Publishing, 129 pp., $24.95, paperback $14.99
http://www.do-good.biz/PlayingBigger.html