WORK
idealist.org – Get paid to fight the good fight. Idealist.org is a nonprofit job listings site. Whether you’ve just started or finished college, or you’re thinking about making a career change, go here to catch a glimpse of the kinds of things you could actually get paid to do.

LEARN
1. Daily/Monthly News
Democracynow.org – featuring host Amy Goodman,
one of our nation’s best independent reporters.

Truthout.org – forget TV news and hourly updates on the radio; subscribe to Truthout.org and you’ll get all the daily news you need, without the corporate media bias.

TowardFreedom.com – we all need to know something about the world. Here my friend Benjamin Dangl, editor, keeps us up-to-date on what’s really happening in Latin America and around the world. This is truly a unique news source. (Did I mention I write for them every now and again?).

Z Magazine – The things no one else has the honesty to say or print. Within the pages of this daring monthly journal you’ll frequently find works by Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn, among others. Pick it up at your local bookstore or check ’em out online.

The Humanist – with a big emphasis on maintaining the separation of church and state, The Humanist brings together reflections on the philosophy of life, the way in which we live, and important social justice issues.

Humanist Network News – Complete with secular/Humanist/atheist parenting and personal columns, HNN is a unique source of news and information for those of us who aren’t religious.

Dads and Daughters – An organization for the dads out there who are sick of seeing women degraded and who want to ensure that their daughters grow up in a healthy, sexist-free environment. The only organization of its kind, Dads and Daughters helps us be better dads for the girls whose lives we so greatly impact.

Democracy in Americas – For the real scoop on what’s happening in Cuba and Venezuela check out this organization’s objective work and research. The organization is working to move the U.S. away from its historically imperialist policies.

2. Required Reading
Nonfiction

• Cost of Freedom: Anthology of Activism & Peace (2008)
• William Blum, Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II (2004)
• Noam Chomsky, Hegemony or Survival (2003)
• Paul Farmer, Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor (2004)
• Charles Johnson, The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic (2005)
• Martin Luther King, A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches
  of Martin Luther King, Jr. (2003)
• Jeff Nall, Perpetual Revolt (2008)
• Greg Palast, Armed Madhouse (2006)
• Edward W. Said, Representations of the Intellectual (1996)
• Joseph E. Stiglitz, Globalization and its Discontents (2003)
• A Soviet Heretic: Essays by Yevgeny Zamyatin
• Georgi Markov, The Truth That Killed
• Mark Weisbrot and Luis Sandoval, “The Venezuelan Economy in the Chávez Years,”
  Center for Economic and Policy Research (Washington, July 2007) : 1-22
  

Fiction

• Upton Sinclair, The Jungle
• Zamyatin, We (before Orwell wrote 1984, Zamyatin wrote We)
• A. Calmus, The Plague

3. Required Watching

• The Revolution Will Not Be Televised Two independent filmmakers were presentt on April 11, 2002, when Hugo chavez was forcibly removed from office; and also 48 hours later when, remarkably, he returned to power amid cheering aides.
• The Battle of Algiers (a fictional account that carries a great deal of truth)
• Sophie Scholl (based on the real life of Sophie Scholl, one of the members
  of the anti-Nazi resistance group, the White Rose)
• Sicko
• V for Vendetta
• Fast Food Nation
• Iron Jawed Angels
• The Grapes of Wrath
• The Corporation
• Outfoxed
• Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price
• The Fog of War - Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara

ACT
MoveOn.org – it’s hard to find a more savvy or active group. MoveOn works hard to stick to its grassroots approach by listening to what its members have to say about what they should take on and how they should do it. Sign up for the organization’s regular emails. They won’t swamp you; but they’ll definitely give you plenty of actions to consider.

Code Pink – Let Code Pink give meaning to your life. Like the idea of bringing art and compassion together, sign up and be a part of the groundswell. Code Pink is dedicated to ending war; if you are, this is the group for you.

ANSWER – I’ll give it to you straight: ANSWER ain’t your gentle “please stop bombing other countries” approach to peacemaking kind of organization. ANSWER is comprised of many groups including the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the Muslim Student Association, and the Free Palestine Alliance. You want something a little less PR and a little more radical? ANSWER gives it to you. While they are off-putting to some, once you’ve done your homework (Required Reading), you understand that our nation has so much blood on its hands that nothing short of major changes in (foreign) policy are needed.

Americans United for the Separation of Church and State – Thank God for Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. They made it crystal clear, despite the screams from the religious right, that this country would not allow religion and government to merge. And Americans United work day and night to preserve the First Amendment’s separation of church and state.

National Organization for Women – Man or woman, if you care about gender equality, and you should, NOW is an organization that both deserves your support and makes it easy for you to get involved.

American Humanist Association – For those of us who aren’t religious or God-fearing at all, this is a group with the secular soul to ground our godless worldview.

ACLU – Did you say Close Guantanamo, Stop Torture, Protect Civil Liberties? If you did, thank God the ACLU's got your back. Give ’em some money if you got it. And get on their email list. When they send an alert, you know its important and something you should act on.

Amnesty International – simply one of the most important organizations on the planet.

Space Coast Progressive Alliance – If you’re ever in Brevard County Florida (Cocoa Beach, Melbourne, Cape
Canaveral), be sure to hit up SpaceCoastProgressiveAlliance.org. There’s always some kick-ass progressive soiree happening in this neck of the woods. Legend has it that before the Iraq war this county was home to the Christian Coalition and a congressman who not only opposed abortion rights, but contraception, too. Well, those days are over. And I’m proud to say I helped found this group a few years ago. These days it’s run by the most
amazing, compassionate progressives you’ve ever met. Check’em out.

Progressive Democrats of America – Help make the Democratic Party a party that truly represents the People. PDA aims to empower everyday Democrats to make sure the party fights the good fight and adopts a progressive vision of the world.

Secular Student Alliance – Looking for an organization that is doing its best to stand up to religious fundamentalism and make room for those of us who aren’t religious? This is the organization for you.