School crisis: We’re not alone in Philadephia
When we know the names Plainfield, North Annville, Ridgefield, and Village Park as well as we know the names Wilson, Fairhill, Germantown, and University City – and vice versa – we will have a better...
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My Own Private Vigilante
It was the spring of 2007 and my students were amped about the US social forum in Atlanta. I was the Executive Director of the Philadelphia Student Union and also organizing at Sayre High School in...
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Pennsylvania: Organizing for the 21st Century
On a recent canvassing day in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, now famous across the country as the home of rogue police chief Mark Kessler, a local mother went door to door surveying residents about...
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That’s how Monessen made me, that’s how my grandparents raised me
I was raised in Monessen, PA. My maternal grandparents and I lived in a one-floor house on Reeves Avenue, almost at the top of a hill. There are some huge hills out that way. My family’s move up the...
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Thinking about Brazil
A year ago today I spent much of the day on planes coming back from 10 glorious days with the Landless Workers Movement (MST) in Brazil. I attended their National Congress and spent a few days visiting...
View ArticleWhat would freedom be like?
What would freedom be like? “Freedom is never voluntarily given from the oppressor It must be demanded by the oppressed” – MLK Freedom is connection Our natural genius would shine Because it hasn’t...
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A Persian Quatrain for the Times
My hands are not clean You know what I mean Appearance only matters Truth is rarely seen We importantly convened And then our rooms were cleaned By low-wage workers That we claim somewhere in our...
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Refuge, Reason and Resolve
Pictured: My mother’s maternal grandparents, immigrants from the Levant (at the time known as “Greater Syria” including what is now Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Palestine/Israel), pre WWI There is a...
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How to keep the political revolution going in PA
When I posted this on Facebook the morning after the PA primary. . . . “Bernie Sanders won 30 counties in PA. Primarily the rural counties. The counties people disdain as “Pennsyltucky”. The counties...
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Why I Fast
I fast to slow down and notice what’s happening inside and outside my body. I fast to enhance my discipline and my ability to examine my own habitual patterns. I fast to give my system a rest. For me,...
View ArticleCheck out my interview with Dan Denvir on his podcast, the Dig
“Building a Diverse Working Class Movement to Transform America” From the description of the epidsode: What is to be done? How can I get involved? Those are questions that a lot of people are asking...
View ArticleWhat’s Killing Me
Steven Covey, author of the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People talks about our “Emotional Bank Accounts”. Despite the fact that it’s weird to talk about banking in this context, I think the...
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Nijmie 101: Get to know me
Here are some snapshots from my organizing over the years in terms of some of the issues and campaigns that I’ve worked on, and the trajectory of my political orientation and theory of change....
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New Poems!
I’ve been in silent meditation retreat for the last week at Vallecitos in (New) Mexico getting My. Whole. Life. Together. In deep gratitude for this time. The practice and the nature ignited my...
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Movement-killing behaviors
Of special relevance within the context of movement-building organizations The author pictured with Larry Gibson, Keeper of the Mountains on Kayford Mountain in West Virginia with the Poverty Scholars...
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Healing our ancestors: a visualization
Healing our Ancestors: A Visualization Do you come from a lineage of people who led small, pinched lives because of oppression and trauma? And/or people whose own sense of freedom and joy was so...
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The Buddhist, the Jesus Freak and the Witch
The Buddhist, the Jesus Freak and the Witch The Buddhist says let everything go Attachment is the root of all suffering The Jesus Freak says suffering is noble And I am forgiven The witch says...
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But How Will We Pay For It?
We pay for it every day with our lives We pay for it in anxiety, sleeplessness and depression We’ll pay for it by taking back what was stolen from us We pay for it sitting in debtor’s prison We pay...
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Alive, Awake, Avenge Enthusiastic
“The only real revolutionary, people say, is a man who has nothing to lose” – MLK “I can’t sleep cause it’s a war zone in my head” – PTSD, G Herbo the first person i ever slept with dead my mother...
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Nijmie doing things
some stuff I’ve co-created in 2020 so far Where Do We Go From Here with the University of the Poor In Focus: NJ and DE Primaries and 2020 Presidential Election, Race and The Law, Poor People’s...
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