Welcome to Dispatch #42! This week we want to reflect on the role of sports, games, and spectacle in culture and how that affects the way we organize. It all comes down to culture! Let’s dive into the story of a football club in Brazil that helped take down the dictatorship, why the Left cannot ignore cultural organizing, and how the roots of organized religion explain sports fandoms.
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Easy Actions to Take
⏱~3min | Tell the Herald and ABC to Correct Their Headlines About the UN Report about Israel’s Genocide
Why: A UN inquiry found Israel is committing genocide by deliberately targeting Palestinian children. The Herald (Scotland) and ABC News (Australia) reported the targeting but cut the inquiry's central word from their headlines. Help enforce journalistic integrity by filing a complaint to both outlets. Organized by Newscord
⏱~3min | (US Only) Demand a Moratorium on new AI Data Centers
Why: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) introduced The Artificial Intelligence (AI) Data Center Moratorium Act to stop the expansion of these data centers until we have a framework to address the harm AI poses to our society, and now we need to overwhelm Congress with support. Organized by Color of Change
Why: Both the House and Senate versions of the FY27 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) contain a disastrous Netanyahu-backed proposal aiming to merge the U.S. and Israel’s military surveillance and tech apparatus. The next stop for the NDAA is the House floor, where a vote is expected as early as next week! The Senate's floor vote will follow shortly after. It's an all-hands-on-deck moment for the next few days leading up to the House vote: every member of the House needs to hear from constituents about shutting down this provision before it's too late. Organized by Adalah Justice Project
Little (Movement) Wins
How Football Helped Take Down Brazil's Dictatorship
Activist History
In 1964, Brazil's military seized power in a coup, overthrowing left-wing President João Goulart, establishing a military dictatorship that would last over two decades. By the late 1970s, Brazil’s economy was in crisis with inflation reaching 230% and foreign debt over $100 billion. It was in this climate that, in 1983, popular resistance to the dictatorship grew and a mass movement called Diretas Já ("Direct Elections Now") gained traction demanding the right to vote for president. Among this instability, a local football club (”soccer” for Americans reading) became a model for the type of democracy Brazilians wanted.
Continue reading to learn about the legendary soccer player Sócrates, how Corinthians Democracy used soccer as a tool for political organizing, and how they helped bring back democracy to Brazil
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Collective Effervescence
The Conscious Citizens Dictionary
Collective effervescence is a sociological concept coined by Émile Durkheim. According to Durkheim, a community or society at times comes together and simultaneously communicates the same thought or participates in the same action. Such events cause collective effervescence, which excites individuals and serves to unify the group.
Émile Durkheim's theory of religion, as presented in his 1912 volume Elementary Forms of Religious Life, is rooted in the concept of collective effervescence. Durkheim argues that the universal religious dichotomy of profane and sacred results from the lives of tribe members: most of their lives are spent performing menial tasks such as hunting and gathering, which are profane. But during the rare occasions when the entire tribe comes together, a sense of heightened energy and unity, "collective effervescence", emerges. This intense communal experience transforms certain physical objects or individuals into sacred symbols, as the energy of the gathering is projected onto them. The sacred object changes depending on the religion. Durkheim argued that in modern Western society that the individual has become the main sacred object.
Learn More:
The Biggest Gap on the Left: Cultural Organizing
Deep Dive
This summer is filled with spectacle. The World Cup is gathering millions of cheering fans from around the world. New York City is celebrating their basketball team, the Knicks, winning the championship for the first time in over 50 years. The American White House hosted a UFC fight to commemorate Trump’s birthday. Millions of everyday people are coming out and filling the streets. At the same time, there’s never a shortage of terrible things happening around the world, and the work of organizing against them never stops. A common question we’re seeing among leftists right now is, “where is all this energy for organizing against authoritarianism?!”
It’s a good question, and one worth digging into. To us, this moment reveals one of the weakest points of leftist organizing - regardless of whatever flavor of “Left” you ascribe to - cultural organizing.
Continue reading to learn what is cultural organizing, the origins of religion, and how culture can be used to advance leftist movements
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–Jerry Rubin, Activist
Resources & Tools
Here are some recent adds to the directory. Please share these links with anyone that might find them helpful:
- 📓 Digital Security While Traveling Guide | Traveling soon? Check out this guide on how to protect your data when you are traveling internationally and crossing borders.
- 📚 Librivox | A free audiobook library of books in the public domain.
- 📱 Storygraph | an Amazon-free alternative to Good Reads for tracking and discovering books with reading clubs, smart recommendations, content warnings, and more.
- 📱 1Password | Tired of getting hacked or receiving spam calls? Check out this widely recommended password manager to help keep your private information safe from data breaches. (We use it and love it too!)
- 📓 The Ground-Zero Guide for Community Building | A practical and tactical community-building guide to help you turn a disconnected neighborhood into a vibrant, safe, and connected community that adds value to your life. Our goal is to help you reduce your dependence from unreliable government structures and profit-driven systems while building up a powerful community system that can last for the long haul.
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With Love & Light,
Elisa & Ray
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