Connie Hogarth Center for Social Action: A Movement Without Demands?

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

A Movement Without Demands?

A Movement Without Demands? | Possible Futures:

The question of demands infused the initial weeks and months of Occupy Wall Street with the endless opening of desire. Nearly unbearable, the absence of demands concentrated interest, fear, expectation, and hope in the movement. What did they want? What could they want? Commentators have been nearly hysterical in their demand for demands: somebody has got to say what Occupy Wall Street wants! In part because of the excitement accumulating around the gap the movement opened up in the deadlocked US political scene—having done the impossible in creating a new political force it seemed as if the movement might even demand the impossible—many of those in and around Occupy Wall Street have also treated the absence of demands as a benefit, a strength. Commentators and protesters alike thus give the impression that the movement’s inability to agree upon demands and a shared political line is a conscious choice.

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1 comment:

AMERICA HAS SECRETSMarch 9, 2012 at 3:55 AM
I WORKED FOR YEARS BELIEVING WE COULOD UNITE AND WORK TOGETHER- I BUILT THE CENTER WITH MY MONEY - WHILE OUR COMMUNITY IS STILL EXPLOITED FOR CRUMBS- RACE WILL PLAY A VERY IMPORTANT PART WHILE YOU FIGHT FOR FOREIGN INTEREST - BLACKS ARE DYING 10,000 A YEAR AND NOT AN EYEBROW RAISED- HIDDEN DEATH FROM ALL NIGHT LONG SPRAYING AND ORGAN TARGETING- NOT A DONATION OR A CAN WE HELP- MDO NOT ASK FOR MY ASSISTANCE-DO NOT WRITE YOUR CONGRESSMAN WRITE THE WEATHERMEN - GEEKS AND MANIACS-AFRICANS-PALESTINIANS-PAKISTANIS-INDIANS ROBBING US BLOIND- COPYRIGHT AND PATTENTS - NOT FOR A DAMN CAUSE - THE CAUSE IS MONEY NOT HUMANITY
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The Connie Hogarth Center for Social Action

The Manhattanville College Departments of Sociology and Political Science work closely with the Connie Hogarth Center for Social Action, which is located in the Gallery of Founder’s Hall.

The Center’s mission is to help the next generation of college-educated activists acquire, in the course of their undergraduate training, the practical skills and knowledge necessary for work in some field of social change. Recently retired after 23 years as Executive Director of the Westchester People’s Action Coalition (WESPAC), Connie Hogarth is recognized throughout the metropolitan area and the nation as a leading activist in various struggles for peace and justice.

The Center runs a lecture series and a mentoring program, supports student research and publishes a student-edited journal devoted to social change, helps locate internships and employment, and runs workshops in public speaking, the use of computers, fund raising, media access and organizing.

About Connie Hogarth

CONNIE HOGARTH

Director, Connie Hogarth Center for Social Action at Manhattanville College
Founding Member and Steering Committee Member, Climate Crisis Coalition

Connie Hogarth is a lifetime peace, justice, anti-nuclear and environmental activist. As co-founder and executive director of Westchester People’s Action Coalition (WESPAC) for 23 years (she has been executive director emerita since 1996), she was actively organizing for the shut-down of Indian Point nuclear power plants. Ms. Hogarth is a current member of the Indian Point Safe Energy Coalition (IPSEC), and continues to work for the shut-down of Indian Point. In 1998, Manhattanville College established the Connie Hogarth Center for Social Action, which Ms. Hogarth now directs, dedicated to training students to move from academics to social activism. She is a founding member and serves on the steering committee of the Climate Crisis Coalition in Lenox, MA. She has been active in the local NAACP, the Mid-Hudson Progressive Alliance, Lower Hudson Valley Civil Liberties Union and the Beacon Sloop Club. She serves as a committee person on the Fishkill Democratic Committee and is a member of the Dutchess County Democratic Committee.