Van Jones reclaim the American Dream movement kicks off tomorrow. Denise and Mark Brenner - the director Labor Notes - talk about the struggle the labor movement has ha d engaging American working-class history. Mark and Denise emphasize that the labor-movement doesn't have a PR problem; it has had a movement problem, and we only have to look to past concrete labor-struggles in the form of strikes and occupations to see what can be done. Recently even, Mark points out, Egypt wasn't changed by "changing the narrative", but by filling Tahrir Square and closing down factories. Moreover, Mark emphasizes that we can do a lot better (than Van Jone's movement would suggest) than look back to the 1950s and '60s for prosperity, which was largely a white union phenomena. There are 21st Century goals - universal healthcare and education, mass transportation - that energize people by pointing beyond the myths of "how great it used to be" to the realities of how great it can be.
- KBOO