Randall Amster
Encyclopedia
Randall Amster is an author, activist, and educator in areas including peace
, ecology
, homelessness
, and anarchism
. Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1966, Amster has worked as an attorney
, judicial clerk, professor
, and academic administrator during his professional career. He presently lives in Arizona
, where he teaches Peace Studies at Prescott College
and writes for outlets ranging from academic journals to online news media.
degree in Physics
& Astronomy
from the University of Rochester
in 1988. He then attended Brooklyn Law School
, where he was a Law Review
editor, and graduated with a Juris Doctorate in 1991. Following law school, Amster served as a law clerk to a Federal District Court Judge in Miami, FL, and worked for a brief period as an Associate in a large law firm in Manhattan, NY. After a two-year stint traveling through North America
, Amster enrolled in a doctoral program in Justice Studies at Arizona State University
(ASU), from which he received his Ph.D.
in 2002.
In 2001, Amster was hired to teach Peace Studies at Prescott College in northern Arizona, where he presently works as a faculty member and program chair. In 2008, he began serving as the Executive Director of the Peace and Justice Studies Association
(PJSA), the largest professional organization in the field. He is the editor of the association’s newsletter, The Peace Chronicle, among other duties, and Prescott College serves as the national headquarters for the PJSA. Amster also serves on the editorial advisory boards for academic journals including the Contemporary Justice Review, the Peace Studies Journal, and the Journal of Sustainability Education, and is a Senior Editor of the Peace Studies Book Series sponsored by the Central New York Peace Studies Consortium.
and winning an injunction
against enforcement of the law before it was overturned on appeal. Amster organized "sit-in
" demonstrations against the ordinance, which he argued was aimed primarily at the local homeless population. He also helped to spearhead a successful campaign to preserve one of the last remaining open spaces in downtown Tempe, AZ. These efforts resulted in a number of articles, editorials, and interviews about his work – including an extensive Phoenix New Times
portrayal in 2000 – and also formed the basis for his doctoral dissertation, which subsequently yielded two books on these themes of public space
and nonviolence
. He was featured in Jeff Ferrell's 2001 book Tearing Down the Streets: Adventures in Urban Anarchy as a practitioner of nonviolent "anarchist direct action" in the effort to "reclaim public space" in downtown Tempe. Amster received the Dondrell Swanson Advocate of Social Justice award in 2001 for the campaigns he was involved in during his graduate studies at ASU.
Amster has been a vocal opponent of the wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan
since their inception; following the announcement of the death of Osama bin Laden
on May 1, 2011, he characterized the previous decade as one of "perpetual warfare, contravention of the rules of war, an expanding war economy, and the militarization of nearly all aspects of our lives," and observed that "the forces at work behind these eventualities have shown themselves to be largely undeterred by protest, legality, oversight, or ethics." He was part of a local group engaging in civil disobedience
when the Iraq War began in March 2003, resulting in a trial later that year during which he acted as lead attorney for the group as they invoked a "necessity defense" in light of their assertion of the war's illegality under international law
. He was part of grassroots
relief efforts in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina
in 2005, working with Food Not Bombs
and local collectives in the region. Amster has worked with the Catalyst Infoshop
in Prescott, AZ, and was part of the group of Friends that supported founder Bill Rodgers
during the course of his arrest, judicial proceedings, and eventual death in jail in December 2005. From 2005 to 2007, he was part of a legal observer
initiative on the U.S.-Mexico border that monitored the activities of the Minutemen
and sought to ensure that human rights
were respected and upheld. In 2008, he received an award for Entertainment Program of the Year for hosting and producing a local television program on politics and culture, The Artist's Mind.
Following the passage of Arizona's immigration law, SB 1070 in April 2010, Amster began to refocus his activism on human rights
and peacemaking
in light of the contentious nature of the issues involved. He authored a series of articles for local and national publications on the state of affairs in Arizona, and helped to spearhead an initiative that brought together more than a dozen academic and professional associations in issuing a joint statement condemning SB 1070 and related state policies. The group held a press conference at the Arizona State Capitol on May 19, 2010, and Amster continues to be active in addressing issues of immigration
, racial profiling
, and the "atmosphere of legislated intolerance" noted in the group's comprehensive statement. After a federal judge blocked parts of SB 1070 from taking effect in July 2010, Amster's writing was featured in a USA Today
editorial forum on immigration issues, where he argued that "there is a sense of vindication and relief on the part of many who have been working for justice in regard to immigration issues. Still, there remains a basic recognition that this ruling is only a temporary piece of the larger puzzle, and that (the law) itself ... is likewise merely one aspect of a larger struggle for human rights, dignity and a morally tenable immigration policy in this country." In the ensuing months, he spoke frequently on the relationship between immigration, security, and violence; and when Arizona's ban on ethnic studies
took effect on January 1, 2011, he described it as an example of "enforced indoctrination" and a potential "ethnocide" in the making.
: A Radical Journal of Geography. An earlier co-edited volume, with Pat Lauderdale
, focusing on issues of injustice and inequality in the global system, appeared in 1997. A later co-edited work, with Elavie Ndura, focused on the theme of "building cultures of peace," and was released by Cambridge Scholars Publishing in 2009. His most notable book is the collectively edited volume Contemporary Anarchist Studies, published by Routledge
in 2009, which received the Critics Choice Award that year for "recent scholarship deemed to be outstanding in its field" by the American Educational Studies Association.
Amster is also the author of numerous journal articles and book chapters on subjects including social control
, criminal justice
, anarchism and community, social movements, critical pedagogy
, eco-terrorism
, border
issues, post-Katrina New Orleans, and Peace Ecology
. In addition, he is a frequent blog
ger and op-ed columnist, writing on similar themes in venues including his local newspaper, The Daily Courier, and online media such as The Huffington Post
and Truthout, where he is a Contributing Writer. Amster's work continues to focus on social and ecological issues, including nonviolence
, activist research, conflict transformation
, cooperative resource management, immigration, and homelessness
, which he has observed is largely viewed through the lens "of a capitalist mythology that [says] everyone can make something of themselves, and if they don't it's their own fault.... The homeless are just like everyone else, with hopes and dreams and complex emotions. We often fail to see their basic humanity, and in the process we lose part of our own as well."
At the close of 2010, Amster issued a public call "to seek a balance and nurture a perspective that remains open to the possibility that good still exists despite the overseers' attempts to abolish it altogether.... We can respect the critical perspective that aims to deconstruct the challenges before us, yet also acknowledge that without an equal emphasis on the productive potentials in our midst, pure critique can foster profound pessimism and lead to further entrenchment in the despair-denial cycle." Following this call, Amster launched an initiative in January 2011 to reflect his intention to highlight positive, constructive aspects of current events while maintaining critical rigor and scholarly engagement with the issues. The result was a new site called "New Clear Vision" (NCV), for which Amster serves as Contributing Editor, and which also includes among its regular contributors Devon G. Pena, Jay Walljasper
, Mary Sojourner, Pat LaMarche
, and Michael N. Nagler
. The site's stated intention is "to advance a multiplicity of views on what people are standing for, rather than merely highlighting what they’re against," and seeks to foster "a constructive take on politics, ecology, economy, community, family, culture, and current events." NCV authors have had their writings on these subjects placed in international publications including Truthout, Common Dreams, CounterPunch
, and Revista Amauta, bringing a constructive discourse to the news cycle in general and to the progressive
commentary surrounding current events in particular.
Peace
Peace is a state of harmony characterized by the lack of violent conflict. Commonly understood as the absence of hostility, peace also suggests the existence of healthy or newly healed interpersonal or international relationships, prosperity in matters of social or economic welfare, the...
, ecology
Ecology
Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
, homelessness
Homelessness
Homelessness describes the condition of people without a regular dwelling. People who are homeless are unable or unwilling to acquire and maintain regular, safe, and adequate housing, or lack "fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence." The legal definition of "homeless" varies from country...
, and anarchism
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
. Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1966, Amster has worked as an attorney
Attorney at law
An attorney at law in the United States is a practitioner in a court of law who is legally qualified to prosecute and defend actions in such court on the retainer of clients. Alternative terms include counselor and lawyer...
, judicial clerk, professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
, and academic administrator during his professional career. He presently lives in Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, where he teaches Peace Studies at Prescott College
Prescott College
Prescott College is a private liberal arts college in Prescott, Arizona, founded in 1966. It is a non-profit organization which has an undergraduate body of roughly 800 students, and an average student to faculty ratio of 7:1 in on-campus classrooms...
and writes for outlets ranging from academic journals to online news media.
Education and career
Amster earned a Bachelor of ScienceBachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
degree in Physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
& Astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
from the University of Rochester
University of Rochester
The University of Rochester is a private, nonsectarian, research university in Rochester, New York, United States. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The university has six schools and various interdisciplinary programs.The...
in 1988. He then attended Brooklyn Law School
Brooklyn Law School
Brooklyn Law School is a law school located in Brooklyn Heights, in Downtown Brooklyn, New York.-History:Founded in 1901 by William Payson Richardson and Norman P. Heffley, Brooklyn Law School was the first law school on Long Island. Using space provided by Heffley’s business school, the law...
, where he was a Law Review
Law review
A law review is a scholarly journal focusing on legal issues, normally published by an organization of students at a law school or through a bar association...
editor, and graduated with a Juris Doctorate in 1991. Following law school, Amster served as a law clerk to a Federal District Court Judge in Miami, FL, and worked for a brief period as an Associate in a large law firm in Manhattan, NY. After a two-year stint traveling through North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, Amster enrolled in a doctoral program in Justice Studies at Arizona State University
Arizona State University
Arizona State University is a public research university located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area of the State of Arizona...
(ASU), from which he received his Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in 2002.
In 2001, Amster was hired to teach Peace Studies at Prescott College in northern Arizona, where he presently works as a faculty member and program chair. In 2008, he began serving as the Executive Director of the Peace and Justice Studies Association
Peace and Justice Studies Association
The Peace and Justice Studies Association is a non-profit organization headquartered at Prescott College and based in Prescott, Arizona; its current Executive Director is Randall Amster. It was formed in 2001 as a result of a merger of the Consortium on Peace Research, Education and Development ...
(PJSA), the largest professional organization in the field. He is the editor of the association’s newsletter, The Peace Chronicle, among other duties, and Prescott College serves as the national headquarters for the PJSA. Amster also serves on the editorial advisory boards for academic journals including the Contemporary Justice Review, the Peace Studies Journal, and the Journal of Sustainability Education, and is a Senior Editor of the Peace Studies Book Series sponsored by the Central New York Peace Studies Consortium.
Activism
During his time at Arizona State University, Amster was engaged in a number of well-reported and controversial activist endeavors. He led an effort to overturn an ordinance making it a criminal offense to sit on the local sidewalks, arguing the case before a Federal JudgeFederal judge
Federal judges are judges appointed by a federal level of government as opposed to the state / provincial / local level.-Brazil:In Brazil, federal judges of first instance are chosen exclusively by public contest...
and winning an injunction
Injunction
An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a court order that requires a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. A party that fails to comply with an injunction faces criminal or civil penalties and may have to pay damages or accept sanctions...
against enforcement of the law before it was overturned on appeal. Amster organized "sit-in
Sit-in
A sit-in or sit-down is a form of protest that involves occupying seats or sitting down on the floor of an establishment.-Process:In a sit-in, protesters remain until they are evicted, usually by force, or arrested, or until their requests have been met...
" demonstrations against the ordinance, which he argued was aimed primarily at the local homeless population. He also helped to spearhead a successful campaign to preserve one of the last remaining open spaces in downtown Tempe, AZ. These efforts resulted in a number of articles, editorials, and interviews about his work – including an extensive Phoenix New Times
Phoenix New Times
The Phoenix New Times is a free, weekly Phoenix, Arizona newspaper, put out every Thursday. It is the founding publication of the New Times Media , but The Village Voice is now the flagship publication of that company....
portrayal in 2000 – and also formed the basis for his doctoral dissertation, which subsequently yielded two books on these themes of public space
Public space
A public space is a social space such as a town square that is open and accessible to all, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, age or socio-economic level. One of the earliest examples of public spaces are commons. For example, no fees or paid tickets are required for entry, nor are the entrants...
and nonviolence
Nonviolence
Nonviolence has two meanings. It can refer, first, to a general philosophy of abstention from violence because of moral or religious principle It can refer to the behaviour of people using nonviolent action Nonviolence has two (closely related) meanings. (1) It can refer, first, to a general...
. He was featured in Jeff Ferrell's 2001 book Tearing Down the Streets: Adventures in Urban Anarchy as a practitioner of nonviolent "anarchist direct action" in the effort to "reclaim public space" in downtown Tempe. Amster received the Dondrell Swanson Advocate of Social Justice award in 2001 for the campaigns he was involved in during his graduate studies at ASU.
Amster has been a vocal opponent of the wars in Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
and Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
since their inception; following the announcement of the death of Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
on May 1, 2011, he characterized the previous decade as one of "perpetual warfare, contravention of the rules of war, an expanding war economy, and the militarization of nearly all aspects of our lives," and observed that "the forces at work behind these eventualities have shown themselves to be largely undeterred by protest, legality, oversight, or ethics." He was part of a local group engaging in civil disobedience
Civil disobedience
Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government, or of an occupying international power. Civil disobedience is commonly, though not always, defined as being nonviolent resistance. It is one form of civil resistance...
when the Iraq War began in March 2003, resulting in a trial later that year during which he acted as lead attorney for the group as they invoked a "necessity defense" in light of their assertion of the war's illegality under international law
International law
Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...
. He was part of grassroots
Grassroots
A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...
relief efforts in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
in 2005, working with Food Not Bombs
Food Not Bombs
Food Not Bombs is a loose-knit group of independent collectives, serving free vegan and vegetarian food to others. Food Not Bombs' ideology is that myriad corporate and government priorities are skewed to allow hunger to persist in the midst of abundance...
and local collectives in the region. Amster has worked with the Catalyst Infoshop
Catalyst Infoshop
The Catalyst Infoshop is a volunteer-run activist center located in Prescott, Arizona. The Catalyst has been serving the needs of Yavapai County's community since 2004...
in Prescott, AZ, and was part of the group of Friends that supported founder Bill Rodgers
Bill Rodgers
William or Bill Rodgers may refer to:*William Rodgers, Baron Rodgers of Quarry Bank , British politician*Bill Rodgers , American marathon runner*Bill Rodgers , American MLB player...
during the course of his arrest, judicial proceedings, and eventual death in jail in December 2005. From 2005 to 2007, he was part of a legal observer
Legal observer
Legal observers are individuals, usually representatives of civilian human rights agencies, who attend public demonstrations, protests and other activities where there is a potential for conflict between the public or activists and the police, security guards or other law enforcement personnel...
initiative on the U.S.-Mexico border that monitored the activities of the Minutemen
Minutemen
Minutemen were members of teams of select men from the American colonial partisan militia during the American Revolutionary War. They provided a highly mobile, rapidly deployed force that allowed the colonies to respond immediately to war threats, hence the name.The minutemen were among the first...
and sought to ensure that human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
were respected and upheld. In 2008, he received an award for Entertainment Program of the Year for hosting and producing a local television program on politics and culture, The Artist's Mind.
Following the passage of Arizona's immigration law, SB 1070 in April 2010, Amster began to refocus his activism on human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
and peacemaking
Peacemaking
Peacemaking is a form of conflict resolution which focuses on establishing equal power relationships that will be robust enough to forestall future conflict, and establishing some means of agreeing on ethical decisions within a community that has previously had conflict. In order to do so there...
in light of the contentious nature of the issues involved. He authored a series of articles for local and national publications on the state of affairs in Arizona, and helped to spearhead an initiative that brought together more than a dozen academic and professional associations in issuing a joint statement condemning SB 1070 and related state policies. The group held a press conference at the Arizona State Capitol on May 19, 2010, and Amster continues to be active in addressing issues of immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
, racial profiling
Racial profiling
Racial profiling refers to the use of an individual’s race or ethnicity by law enforcement personnel as a key factor in deciding whether to engage in enforcement...
, and the "atmosphere of legislated intolerance" noted in the group's comprehensive statement. After a federal judge blocked parts of SB 1070 from taking effect in July 2010, Amster's writing was featured in a USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
editorial forum on immigration issues, where he argued that "there is a sense of vindication and relief on the part of many who have been working for justice in regard to immigration issues. Still, there remains a basic recognition that this ruling is only a temporary piece of the larger puzzle, and that (the law) itself ... is likewise merely one aspect of a larger struggle for human rights, dignity and a morally tenable immigration policy in this country." In the ensuing months, he spoke frequently on the relationship between immigration, security, and violence; and when Arizona's ban on ethnic studies
Ethnic studies
Ethnic studies is the interdisciplinary study of racialized peoples in the world in relation to ethnicity. It evolved in the second half of the 20th century partly in response to charges that traditional disciplines such as anthropology, history, English, ethnology, Asian studies, and orientalism...
took effect on January 1, 2011, he described it as an example of "enforced indoctrination" and a potential "ethnocide" in the making.
Writing and scholarship
Amster's writing covers a range of topics and themes. His work on homelessness and public space has resulted in two books, the most recent of which is Lost in Space: The Criminalization, Globalization, and Urban Ecology of Homelessness (LFB Scholarly, 2008), which was called "a savvy look into local and global processes of neoliberalization, particularly as it transforms what it means to be a citizen" in a 2011 review appearing in AntipodeAntipode
Antipode, Antipodes, or Antipodeans may refer to:* Antipodal point, the diametrically opposite point on a sphere* Antipodes Water Company, a premium bottled water brand...
: A Radical Journal of Geography. An earlier co-edited volume, with Pat Lauderdale
Pat Lauderdale
Pat Lee Lauderdale received his doctorate in the sociology of law from Stanford University and was a professor in the School of Justice and Social Inquiry at Arizona State University. In 2008, he was appointed a visiting scholar at the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity at...
, focusing on issues of injustice and inequality in the global system, appeared in 1997. A later co-edited work, with Elavie Ndura, focused on the theme of "building cultures of peace," and was released by Cambridge Scholars Publishing in 2009. His most notable book is the collectively edited volume Contemporary Anarchist Studies, published by Routledge
Routledge
Routledge is a British publishing house which has operated under a succession of company names and latterly as an academic imprint. Its origins may be traced back to the 19th-century London bookseller George Routledge...
in 2009, which received the Critics Choice Award that year for "recent scholarship deemed to be outstanding in its field" by the American Educational Studies Association.
Amster is also the author of numerous journal articles and book chapters on subjects including social control
Social control
Social control refers generally to societal and political mechanisms or processes that regulate individual and group behavior, leading to conformity and compliance to the rules of a given society, state, or social group. Many mechanisms of social control are cross-cultural, if only in the control...
, criminal justice
Criminal justice
Criminal Justice is the system of practices and institutions of governments directed at upholding social control, deterring and mitigating crime, or sanctioning those who violate laws with criminal penalties and rehabilitation efforts...
, anarchism and community, social movements, critical pedagogy
Critical pedagogy
Critical pedagogy is a philosophy of education described by Henry Giroux as an "educational movement, guided by passion and principle, to help students develop consciousness of freedom, recognize authoritarian tendencies, and connect knowledge to power and the ability to take constructive...
, eco-terrorism
Eco-terrorism
Eco-terrorism usually refers to acts of violence or sabotage committed in support of ecological, environmental, or animal rights causes against persons or their property....
, border
Border
Borders define geographic boundaries of political entities or legal jurisdictions, such as governments, sovereign states, federated states and other subnational entities. Some borders—such as a state's internal administrative borders, or inter-state borders within the Schengen Area—are open and...
issues, post-Katrina New Orleans, and Peace Ecology
Peace Ecology
The term Peace Ecology has been used by Christos Kyrou of American University to describe a proposed theoretical framework that is intended to provide "a better understanding, of the inherent capacities of the environment to inform and sustain peace."...
. In addition, he is a frequent blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
ger and op-ed columnist, writing on similar themes in venues including his local newspaper, The Daily Courier, and online media such as The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post is an American news website and content-aggregating blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, featuring liberal minded columnists and various news sources. The site offers coverage of politics, theology, media, business, entertainment, living, style,...
and Truthout, where he is a Contributing Writer. Amster's work continues to focus on social and ecological issues, including nonviolence
Nonviolence
Nonviolence has two meanings. It can refer, first, to a general philosophy of abstention from violence because of moral or religious principle It can refer to the behaviour of people using nonviolent action Nonviolence has two (closely related) meanings. (1) It can refer, first, to a general...
, activist research, conflict transformation
Conflict transformation
Conflict transformation is the process by which conflicts, such as ethnic conflict, are transformed into peaceful outcomes. It differs from conflict resolution and conflict management approaches in that it recognises "that contemporary conflicts require more than the reframing of positions and the...
, cooperative resource management, immigration, and homelessness
Homelessness
Homelessness describes the condition of people without a regular dwelling. People who are homeless are unable or unwilling to acquire and maintain regular, safe, and adequate housing, or lack "fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence." The legal definition of "homeless" varies from country...
, which he has observed is largely viewed through the lens "of a capitalist mythology that [says] everyone can make something of themselves, and if they don't it's their own fault.... The homeless are just like everyone else, with hopes and dreams and complex emotions. We often fail to see their basic humanity, and in the process we lose part of our own as well."
At the close of 2010, Amster issued a public call "to seek a balance and nurture a perspective that remains open to the possibility that good still exists despite the overseers' attempts to abolish it altogether.... We can respect the critical perspective that aims to deconstruct the challenges before us, yet also acknowledge that without an equal emphasis on the productive potentials in our midst, pure critique can foster profound pessimism and lead to further entrenchment in the despair-denial cycle." Following this call, Amster launched an initiative in January 2011 to reflect his intention to highlight positive, constructive aspects of current events while maintaining critical rigor and scholarly engagement with the issues. The result was a new site called "New Clear Vision" (NCV), for which Amster serves as Contributing Editor, and which also includes among its regular contributors Devon G. Pena, Jay Walljasper
Jay Walljasper
Jay Walljasper is a writer and speaker who explores how new ideas in urban planning, tourism, community development, sustainability, politics and culture can improve our lives as well as the world....
, Mary Sojourner, Pat LaMarche
Pat LaMarche
Patricia Helen "Pat" LaMarche is an American political figure and activist with the Green Party; she was the party's vice-presidential candidate in the 2004 U.S...
, and Michael N. Nagler
Michael N. Nagler
Michael N. Nagler is an American academic and peace activist.-Life:He graduated from New York University, and University of California, Berkeley with an M.A. and Ph.D...
. The site's stated intention is "to advance a multiplicity of views on what people are standing for, rather than merely highlighting what they’re against," and seeks to foster "a constructive take on politics, ecology, economy, community, family, culture, and current events." NCV authors have had their writings on these subjects placed in international publications including Truthout, Common Dreams, CounterPunch
Counterpunch
Counterpunch can refer to:* Counterpunch , a punch in boxing* CounterPunch, a bi-weekly political newsletter* Counterpunch , a type of punch used in traditional typography* Punch-Counterpunch, a Transformers character...
, and Revista Amauta, bringing a constructive discourse to the news cycle in general and to the progressive
Progressivism
Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...
commentary surrounding current events in particular.
Academic articles
Reviews- Review: Globalization and Its Discontents The New Formulation, Volume 2, Issue 1, February 2003
- Review: Breaking the Law: Anti-authoritarian Visions of Crime and Justice The New Formulation, Volume 2, Issue 2, Winter-Spring 2004
- Review: Less Than Two Dollars a Day: A Christian View of World Poverty and the Free Market Journal of Church and State, Volume 51, Issue 1, pages 157-9, 2009
- Review: Policing Dissent: Social Control and the Anti-globalization Movement Contemporary Justice Review, Volume 13, Issue 4, pages 487-9, 2010
- Review: Toward Climate Justice: Perspectives on the Climate Crisis and Social Change Z Magazine, Volume 24, Issue 5, May 2011.
Huffington Post
Truthout
Common Dreams
New Clear Vision
ZSpace
The Daily Courier
- A mountain of greed vs. sacred balance The Daily Courier, August 21, 2011
- Arizona's failed policies only getting worse The Daily Courier, October 10, 2010
- Brewer brings only embarrassment The Daily Courier, September 19, 2010
- Constructive dialogue our only recourse The Daily Courier, January 16, 2011
- Corporate welfare sounds familiar The Daily Courier, October 5, 2008
- Corporations, politicians need work The Daily Courier, April 4, 2010
- Effects of Katrina devastating to this day The Daily Courier, September 2, 2007
- Environmental impact will soon be irreversible The Daily Courier, November 13, 2011
- Following wrong distractions, for wrong reasons The Daily Courier, July 25, 2011
- Free enterprise isn't free either The Daily Courier, May 31, 2009
- Garden helps community grow, flower The Daily Courier, April 25, 2011
- Homeless need our understanding The Daily Courier, May 2, 2010
- Humans add to destabilization of the planet The Daily Courier, September 18, 2011
- Incivilities aside, can we all get along? The Daily Courier, October 4, 2009
- It's harder for average folks to feel jolly The Daily Courier, December 5, 2010
- King's legacy manifests in current politics The Daily Courier, January 20, 2008
- Labor unions have strong place in U.S. The Daily Courier, August 31, 2008
- Lesson for the day: Life cannot exist without water The Daily Courier, July 8, 2007
- Midwifery has long, honorable history The Daily Courier, August 5, 2007
- Moving our state sideways, not forward The Daily Courier, January 10, 2011
- Never underestimate the power of words The Daily Courier, March 12, 2008
- 'People power' still the loudest voice The Daily Courier, February 4, 2010
- Prison protestor epitomizes value of free speech The Daily Courier, October 14, 2007
- Public discontent evident everywhere The Daily Courier, April 11, 2011
- Public dissent is a healthful thing The Daily Courier, May 3, 2009
- SB 1070 will cause only division, angst The Daily Courier, June 21, 2010
- Science fiction's predicted future is now The Daily Courier, July 22, 2007
- Season should include compassion The Daily Courier, November 30, 2008
- Shall we wall in the entire nation? The Daily Courier, May 16, 2011
- Sharing food should never be illegal The Daily Courier, February 3, 2008
- So many solutions found locally The Daily Courier, June 19, 2011
- Too much control bad for any government The Daily Courier, November 7, 2010
- Veterans know that peace is the goal of war The Daily Courier, November 11, 2007
- Waiting to change habits 'later' deeply flawed The Daily Courier, October 16, 2011
- Water, war have close relationship The Daily Courier, December 6, 2009
- Who's in danger, wildlife or us? The Daily Courier, August 14, 2011
CounterPunch
- Climate of Fear on the Border CounterPunch, July 27, 2010
- Empire of the Sunset CounterPunch, February 12, 2010
- Et Tu, Barack? CounterPunch, December 23, 2009
- First Amendment Remedies CounterPunch, January 22, 2011
- Obama Bags Osama -- Now What? CounterPunch, May 2, 2011
- Saving Sacred Spaces CounterPunch, August 29, 2011
- Take a Hike: Misperceptions and Machinations in Iran CounterPunch, May 25, 2010
- The Blog of War CounterPunch, December 13, 2010
- The Road to Health Care Reform is Paved With Bad Intentions CounterPunch, January 8, 2010
- Wikilessons CounterPunch, November 2, 2010
Waging Nonviolence
- Anarchism and Nonviolence: Time for a 'Complementarity of Tactics' Waging Nonviolence, July 14, 2010
- Changes in Gratitude: Eternal Thanks for a Nonviolent Future Waging Nonviolence, November 25, 2010
- Haiti Untold: Nonviolence and Humanization at the Grassroots Waging Nonviolence, January 27, 2010
- Noncooperation with Evil in the Streets of Arizona Waging Nonviolence, August 13, 2010
- War and Planet Earth: Toward a Sustainable Peace Waging Nonviolence, December 21, 2010 (with Michael N. NaglerMichael N. NaglerMichael N. Nagler is an American academic and peace activist.-Life:He graduated from New York University, and University of California, Berkeley with an M.A. and Ph.D...
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Change.org
- Fight for Your Right - To Sleep Outside? Change.org, July 20, 2010
- Homeless Man Trapped in Dumpster Eats Own Foot Change.org, August 16, 2010
- Homeless on the Range Change.org, August 6, 2010
- Homelessness By Any Other Name... Change.org, May 13, 2010
- 'Injustice Anywhere': The Parallels Between Homelessness and Immigration Change.org, May 5, 2010
- Political Street Theater? Homeless Candidates Run in Arizona Change.org, September 8, 2010
Other websites
- 2010: A Peace Odyssey? Waging Peace, January 5, 2010
- A Modest Proposal on Immigration Reform BuzzFlash, September 24, 2010
- Americans Finally Join the Wave of Healthy Global Protest The Peace Worker, October 12, 2011
- An Open Letter Following the Tucson Tragedy Gilmer Free Press, January 23, 2011
- Arizona Heats Up National Immigration Debate The Indypendent, May 12, 2010
- Arizona's Long Dark Night Continues Institute for Social Ecology (ISE) Blog, January 9, 2011
- Challenging Media Narratives on Haiti Sojourners, January 29, 2010
- Desert Dichotomy: Will It Be Force ... or Discourse? Dissident Voice, January 20, 2011
- Healing the Wounds: Transforming Our Culture of Violence TFD News, January 13, 2011
- Homeland Insecurity: Why 'No-Fly' Just Doesn't Fly Anarchist News, February 3, 2010
- Homeless for the Holidays Huntington News Network, December 22, 2008
- 'I Want to Be a Farmer': Food Justice, Out of the Mouths of Babes Energy Boom, June 3, 2011
- If at First You Don't Secede... War Is A Crime, March 9, 2011
- Invasion of the Body Scanners Signs of the Times, January 25, 2010
- It's Time to Escalate the Peace PeaceVoice, December 22, 2009
- Meltdown: Unsafe at Any Screed Stars On Stars, April 4, 2011
- Metastasizing Xenophobia: U.S. Greens Work to Stem Anti-Immigrant Tide Green Pages, July 22, 2011
- Mic Check: Can You Hear Us, America? Posterous, October 25, 2011
- New Clear Energy Peak Oil, October 24, 2010
- No Winners in the Class War Cleveland Free Press, April 19, 2011
- Obama's Fake Progressive Birth Certificate iTrevino, April 27, 2011
- Occupy Everything: The Streets Are Alive with the Sound of Anarchism ABC-CLIO Blog, October 21, 2011
- Pot Luck? Arizona Approves Medical Marijuana Amid Conservative Landslide World News Mania, November 15, 2010
- Rage Against the Machine Peninsula Peace and Justice Center, May 19, 2010
- Support the Dominant Paradigm Revista Amauta, December 19, 2010
- Tangled Up in Blue: Can There Be Solidarity Between Movement Activists and Police Officers? Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center, November 23, 2011
- The Arc of the Moral Universe: Justice May Be Just Around the Bend Peninsula Peace & Justice Center, September 26, 2011
- To Protect and Serve? Aletho News, February 9, 2011
- Viva Obama! Now Let's Get to Work Black News Tribune, January 20, 2009
- Water, Water Everywhere? Sustaining Scarce Resources in the Desert AlterNet, March 10, 2009
- Welcome Home: Building an Inclusive Movement for the 99 Percent Fellowship of Reconciliation Blog, November 17, 2011
- Worst in Class: How Education in Arizona Became an Economic Casualty OpEdNews, February 6, 2009