This book is for all those - community workers, adult educators, social activists of every kind - who want to overcome pessimism and play a part in changing society in the direction of peace, justice and dignity for all human beings. As author Brian Murphy- the independent analyst, organizer, educator and writer, and former staff member of the social justice organization, Inter Pares-points out, many of us are pessimistic about our ability to change the world when confronted by destructive political and corporative forces and the destruction they wreak. Murphy reveals the social and personal dilemmas which hold people back from social engagement, and argues that the various constraints we face can be overcome. In this new edition, David Austin explains in his Introduction why this book, first published in 1999, is perhaps more relevant to our times than ever, offering insights from his own experiences of engaging critically with the book and with others. And in his new afterword, Bria
Author Biography:
Brian Murphy Brian Murphy is an independent analyst, organizer, educator, and writer. Until his retirement at the end of 2006, Brian was a member of the staff team of the Canadian international social justice organization Inter Pares, where his work focused on policy development and programme support for Inter Pares' com- mon cause action in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Canada. He also served from 1983 to 2004 on the governing body of the Project Counselling Service, an inter- national NGO based in Costa Rica, which provided political and material sup- port to the self-organization of people and communities dislocated by violence and repression in Latin America. Brian served on the Advisory Committee for the Institute in Management and Community Development at Concordia University (Montr�al) from 1992 until it closed in 2010, where he was active as an external advisor and seminar leader on issues of social activism and citizen participation. Brian remains an active member on the Steering Committee of the Ottawa-based International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group-ICLMG (https: //iclmg.ca/about- us/), which he helped create in 2002; and is a founding member of the Board of Directors of AidWatch Canada, based in Black Rock, Nova Scotia (http: //aid- watchcanada.ca/about/). Brian is the author of numerous articles on global social justice, civil society organization, and the process of social change. He currently writes at MurphysLog.ca. David Austin David Austin is the author of Dread Poetry and Freedom: Linton Kwesi Johnson and the Unfinished Revolution (Pluto, 2018), Fear of a Black Nation: Race, Sex, and Security in Sixties Montreal (Between the Lines, 2013) and the editor of Moving Against the System, The 1968 Congress of Black Writers and the Making of Global Consciousness (Pluto, 2018). He is the winner of the 2014 Casa de las Americas Prize. He is the producer of a three-part radio programme on CLR James, The Black Jacobin (https: //www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/c-l-r-james-the-black-jacobin-1.5863866). David Austin is the author of Dread Poetry and Freedom: Linton Kwesi Johnson and the Unfinished Revolution (Pluto, 2018), Fear of a Black Nation: Race, Sex, and Security in Sixties Montreal (Between the Lines, 2013) and the editor of Moving Against the System, The 1968 Congress of Black Writers and the Making of Global Consciousness (Pluto, 2018). He is the winner of the 2014 Casa de las Americas Prize. He is the producer of a three-part radio programme on CLR James, The Black Jacobin (https: //www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/c-l-r-james-the-black-jacobin-1.5863866).
