Midwest Academy

From KeyWiki

The Midwest Academy is a training organization that works to advance "movements for progressive social change by teaching strategic, rigorous, results-oriented approach to social action and organization building. The Academy provides training (introductory and advanced) and consulting" for organizers, leaders, and their organizations.

Heather Booth is a founder. It is an affiliate of USAction.^[1]

Board of directors

The 2009 Midwest Academy board of directors consisted of^[2];

• Heather Booth President

• Nancy Shier Treasurer

• Alicia Ybarra SEIU

• Cathy Hurwit (Rep. Jan Schakowsky)

• Paul Booth AFSCME

• Jacky Grimshaw, Center for Neighborhood Technology

• Jackie Kendall Executive Director Midwest Academy

DSA influence

According a December 1998 Freedom Road Socialist Organization document^[3];

Probably the most well-known organizing method is Alinskyism, named after Saul Alinsky, a Chicago-born community organizer who helped set up the Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council and later the Industrial Areas Foundation in the 1930s.(Today in New York Alinskyism can be found in groups that do neighborhood-based organizing like ACORN, Mothers on the Move, TICO as well as NYPIRG). The Mid-West Academy is a training center set up by members of DSA that draws heavily from Alinskyism.

Earlier Activities of the Midwest Academy by Year

• 1985

The following article about the leftist Midwest Academy appeared in the Sept. 23, 1985 edition (Issue #367) of The American Sentinel newsletter which described itself as "Your Inside Report on National Defense, Foreign Affairs and Internal Security".

"The leftist Midwest Academy in Chicago recently brought together over 1,000 liberals and leftist activists for a conference, whoe theme was: "Building Democratic Populism." The Midwest Academy is a school set up by former members of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the far-left activist group. The Academy's leaders have included Heather Booth, wife of former SDS leader Paul Booth."

Groups Attending the Conference Included:

• The Citizens Action network of statewide consumer groups
• Mass Fair Share, from Massachusetts
• Campaign for Economic Democracy (CED), Tom Hayden's political group
• ACORN, the activist group

Speakers at the Conference Included:

• Rep.Paul Lane Evans (D-Ill)
• Sen.Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), one of the Senate's most radical members
• Sen.Paul Simon (D-Ill)
• The Rev. Jesse Jackson - the ex-presidential candidate and head of the Rainbow Coalition
• Owen Bieber - head of the radical United Auto Workers Union (UAW)
• James Hightower - Texas Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower
• California State Assemblyman Tom Hayden - head of the Campaign for Economic Democracy, a founder of SDS, and "Mr. Jane Fonda."

Planning to Take Over Local Governments: "Conference participants planned a national agenda that supported an 'anti-arms race' defense policy (translation: unilateral disarmament) and an 'anti-intervention' foreign policy (translation: complete American isolationism in the face of Soviet Imperialism)."

"Conferencegoers discussed methods of taking over local governments, and penetrating government agencies, as they have done so already in Burlington, Vt., Berkeley and Oakland, Calif., and Detroit, Mich."

External links

• Midwest Academy website

References

--Kiwi 01:40, 20 April 2010 (UTC)