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A podcast hosted by Wally Wackiman, a purple, Jewish puppet trying to make his way in a human's world. The podcast features interviews with people in the puppetry field, whether professionals or "pup-and-comers". Other topics in pop-culture and "pup-culture" are discussed, as well.
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The Listen, Organize, Act podcast focuses on the history and contemporary practice of community organizing and democratic politics. Alongside this specific focus are two others: the first is to explore how organizing connects democracy and religion, particularly at a local level; the second is to explore the visions and practices that shape small 'd,' participatory democratic politics. The name of the podcast reflects these concerns. Through a series of conversations with folk who live and b ...
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S2.E8: The Bible & Democratic Organizing - Part 2
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In this final episode of season two I continue discussing the relationship between the Bible and organizing. I begin by talking to Keisha Krumm, who opened the first episode of season one (you can hear more about her journey there). Here she gives a reading of Luke 18, or what she renames the parable of the tenacious widow, and reflects on what Scr…
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S2.E8: The Bible & Democratic Organizing - Part 1
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1:02:42
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In this and the final episode of this second series I discuss the relationship between the Bible and organizing. The turn to Scripture to imagine and narrate politics is often assumed to be the preserve of authoritarian theocrats. But since the formal development of community organizing in the 1930s, and long before that, texts from the Bible are c…
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S2.E7: Bernard Crick on Politics & its Enemies
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This episode discusses the work of British philosopher Bernard Crick, with a particular focus on is his seminal essay “In Defence of Politics.” In clear prose and with sharp insight, Crick sets out a definition of politics and an account of why and how politics is essential not simply to survive but to thrive. Community organizers, alongside many o…
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S2.E6: Sheldon Wolin & Radical Democracy
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1:28:44
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This episode discusses the work of the influential American political thinker, Sheldon Wolin. Wolin is one of the foremost theorists of radical democracy. His insights are also extremely helpful in naming the contemporary forces and dynamics that undermine and subvert democracy - all in the name of being democratic. Like other figures discussed in …
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This episode discusses the work of the hugely influential political theorist, Hannah Arendt, and how it provides profound insights into the nature and purpose of both politics and democratic organizing. Arendt's books include the Origins of Totalitarianism, Eichmann in Jerusalem, The Human Condition, and On Revolution. These works, along with her n…
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Building on the previous episode, this one continues to discuss the work of Bayard Rustin and the overlapping struggles that shaped his vision of democracy and his approach to organizing. I do so with Harry Boyte. We focus on Rustin’s practice as an organizer, his conception of nonviolence as a form of democratic politics, and how to understand Rus…
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This episode discusses the remarkable figure of Bayard Rustin who pioneered many of the tactics and strategies still used in large scale organizing work. A lifelong and committed Quaker, Rustin is in many ways a paradoxical figure. A utopian realist or pragmatic radical he was criticized for many of the positions he took yet his commitment to peopl…
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In this second part of the episode on Ella Baker, I talk to Gerald Taylor. We discuss the influence Baker’s approach and vision had on him as an organizer, how he sees her understanding of organizing play out on the ground, and his own involvement in myriad grassroots democratic initiatives. Along the way, he recounts a compelling set of stories an…
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This episode discusses the work of Ella Baker and the different traditions and influences that shaped her organizing and her understanding of democracy. Baker didn’t write much and what she did write is not widely available. Instead, her approach is taught through accounts of it by historians of the civil rights movement and her biographers. So it …
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This two-part episode discusses the work of Saul Alinsky, the “dean of community organizing” and the different traditions and influences that shaped his democratic vision. The key texts discussed are his two books: “Reveille for Radicals” published in 1946, and his more well known latter book, “Rules for Radicals,” written in 1971. In this second p…
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This two-part episode discusses the work of Saul Alinsky, the “dean of community organizing,” and the different traditions and influences that shaped his democratic vision. The key texts discussed are his two books: “Reveille for Radicals” published in 1946, and his more well known later book, “Rules for Radicals,” written in 1971. In this first pa…
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S2.E1: Thucydides and the Athenian-Melian Dialog
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With Jed Atkins, I discuss Thucydides understanding of politics, how he has shaped the history of political thought, and the context for him writing "The History of the Peloponnesian War." We then focus on a passage from "The History" known as the Athenian-Melian dialog, reflecting together on the ways this dialogue frames the relationship between …
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A brief introduction to the new season of the Listen, Organize, Act! Podcast. This season explores the people, texts, and ideas that organizers have turned to again and again to inspire shared action and explain the meaning, purpose, and character of democratic politics. I start the series with an episode on the ancient Greek historian, Thucydides.…
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This episode discusses the process of identifying an issue, developing a campaign to address that issue, and the kinds of public action a successful campaign involves. How organizing develops and conducts campaigns is different to how many other kinds of campaign are run, whether that be an election campaign or an advertising campaign. To discuss w…
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S1.E10: Strategy, Tactics, & Direct Action
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This episode examines the ways organizing develops a strategy to bring about change, the kinds of tactics used to achieve change, and the different kinds of democratic action involved in moving from the world as it is towards a more just and generous one. To ground the discussion it focuses on the initiation, development, and success of a campaign …
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S1.E9: Organized Money II: Economic Democracy & the Solidarity Economy
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This episode focuses on is how to organize money so that it fosters the flourishing of where we live and work through generating different kinds of institutions and ways of building wealth in a community to those that dominate the existing economy. Alternative, more democratic forms of economic production and investment and ways of structuring work…
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S1.E8: Organized Money I: Money Power & Fundraising
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This episode discusses the positive and negative ways money and politics connect and the means to organize money through politics so it serves human flourishing. Democratic politics has always involved a struggle to ensure money serves people rather than people serving money. The paradox is that, to do so, democratic politics necessities not just o…
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S1.E7: Popular Education: Organizing Knowledge & Learning to be Political
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This episode focuses on popular education, discussing what it is and why it’s key to good democratic organizing with Ernesto Cortes, Jr. Alongside organized money, organized people, and organized action, building power to effect change requires organized knowledge. Organized knowledge generates the frameworks of analysis and understanding through w…
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S1.E6: Institutions: Why They're Vital for Democratic Politics
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Building on the previous episodes on power and leadership, in this episode I examine the place of institutions in organizing, discussing what is an institution, what makes for a healthy institution, how and why institutions are central to the kind of place-based, relationally driven democratic politics organizing undertakes, and why without them th…
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S1.E5: Leadership, But Not As You Know It
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This episode discusses the nature and purpose of leadership in organizing, how it is defined and understood, who are leaders, the difference between leaders and organizers, and what their respective roles are in the shared work of organizing. The understanding and practice of leadership in organizing is very different to that put forward in most le…
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S1.E4: The Ability to Act: Power Over and Power With
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This episode discusses power, defined simply as the ability to act. It focuses on the relationship between power and democratic politics, the distinction between "power over" or unilateral power and "power with" or relational power, and questions such as who has power, how should it be analyzed, is anyone really powerless, the nature of self-intere…
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S1.E3: The Other Basic Tool of Organizing: House Meetings
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In this episode I examine the second key tool organizing uses for listening, building relationships, and effecting change: the house meeting. As a form of democratic politics that begins with listening and is attentive to the experience, conditions, and stories of people where they live and work, organizing needs practices for listening well. Along…
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S1.E2: The Basic Tool of Organizing: The One to One or Relational Meeting
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This episode discusses why and how listening is the beginning point of democratic organizing and the role of the one-to-one or relational meeting in that work. The first part is a discussion with Lina Jamoul about what is a one to one, what it involves, and how it differs from other ways of engaging with people in democratic politics. In the second…
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S1.E1: What is Community Organizing? And Why is it Needed?
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In this, the first episode, I talk to Keisha Krumm and Mike Gecan about what is community organizing, what it involves, and why it matters. Community organizing can also be referred to as broad-based organizing, institution-based organizing, faith-based organizing, or neighborhood organizing. Keisha and Mike prefer just to talk about organizing as …
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Wally has something every important to say to all of his listeners, and it has to do with a new crowd-funding effort he and Zach started, currently running at https://igg.me/at/zanyzach , and what he may or may not be willing … Continue reading → The post A Serious Message From Wally Wackiman first appeared on WallyWackiman.com.…
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Wally is back with a brand new episode! After a bit of a hiatus, Wally has released a long-anticipated third episode, where he is joined by a very special mystery guest. Who could it be? Well, there’s only really one … Continue reading → The post Episode 3 – Special Mystery Guest first appeared on WallyWackiman.com.…
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Wally starts a new year of the Pupcast with a bang, as he is joined by puppetry living legend, Noel MacNeal. Listen intently as Noel shares plenty of stories from his lifetime having a career (not just a job) in … Continue reading → The post Episode 2-Noel MacNeal first appeared on WallyWackiman.com.…
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Wally Wackiman introduces himself and his history to the world at large, via an increasingly popular form of internet-based entertainment media. *Please note that this was originally recorded shortly before The Best Show With Tom Scharpling returned. The post Episode 1-Introduction first appeared on WallyWackiman.com.…
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