Dear Lost Sheep,
Hallelujah that you found Subcomandauntie. The websites thou describes are of the old, scary and cult-like left. But forget that "there's no room at the inn" crap; there are lots of radical church groups doing good work out there. You didn't say whether you are Catholic, but Subcomandauntie says Amen to the international (and anarchist) group Catholic Worker. Founded by journalist Dorothy Day and philosopher Peter Maurin in 1933, it originally promoted the biblical promises of justice and mercy. Maurin and Day opened a "house of hospitality" where the homeless, hungry and forsaken were always welcome. Nowadays their God-loving anarchist successors protest against injustice, war and violence in all forms.
Similarly, Church Action on Poverty is currently tackling the exploitation of migrant workers by gangmasters, and also dabbles in asylum-seeker rights.
And you may find a niche in the peace movement. Pax Christi, for example, is a radical Christian anti-war group that believes in social justice and non-violent direct action.
Then there's always the Quakers. But Friends' worship meetings may not be for the gregarious: Quakers meet in complete silence.
But do steer clear of the Christian Socialist Movement. It's shamelessly affiliated to the Labour Party: even the prime minister is a member, and leading patron rev Leslie Griffiths just slithered into the House of Lords.
Subcomandauntie's message to them is: God is watching.
The crack pipe of peace Dear Auntie
_ War, famine, economic depression and global warming - the idea that 'another world is possible' seems remoter than ever. Will we ever have a just and peaceful world?
_ Desperate for peace, Preston
Learning by number Dear Auntie
_ At one of the Gaza protests in London, Stop the War put the number of protesters at around 100,000 but the police insisted it was only 20,000. Can Auntie reassure me that the Met has a scientific methodology for estimating crowd numbers?
_ Numberless in London
No hope Dear Auntie,
All my left-wing friends seem to be overjoyed about Obama winning the US election, holding real hope that he will bring change, that he'll stop the wars, and that he'll somehow make America all cuddly and nice. But haven't we been here before? I'm getting flashbacks to the expectations people had of politicians like Tony Blair and Bill Clinton, and how quickly they betrayed us. Is it terrible that I think Obama will be just more of the same?
Hopeless, London
February 15, 2003: The day the world said no to war Phyllis Bennis argues that while the day of mass protest did not stop the war, it did change history
Egypt: The revolution is alive Just before the second anniversary of the Egyptian revolution, Emma Hughes spoke to Ola Shahba, an activist who has spent 15 years organising in Egypt
Workfare: a policy on the brink Warren Clark explains how the success of the campaign against workfare has put the policy’s future in doubt
Tenant troubles The past year has seen the beginnings of a vibrant private tenants’ movement emerging. Christine Haigh reports
Co-operating with cuts in Lambeth Isabelle Koksal reports on how Lambeth’s ‘co-operative council’ is riding roughshod over co-operative principles in its drive for sell-offs and cuts in local services
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