Sep 22, 2012

Films For Action project takes root in Dallas, TX

By Films For Action / filmsforaction.org

We're excited to announce that Films For Action is planting roots in Dallas, Texas. Jon Burroughs is kick-starting the local chapter. For those that are new to Films For Action, we're a local and international organization dedicated to providing you with the information and perspectives essential to creating a more just, sustainable, and democratic society. Along these lines we are many things.

We're community film screening organizers. We're an alternative news center. We're a problem/solutions learning library. We're a city-wide activist hub. We're a solutions and actions incubator and instigator. Perhaps most importantly of all, we're a megaphone to amplify the voices of all the movements working to change the world. Together, all of these efforts tie into our mission to create the media infrastructure necessary to radically accelerate all of our efforts to transition to a sustainable world. 

Our Dallas chapter aims to serve this mission at the local level. We believe an informed, well connected, and engaged local community is the first step to creating a just and sustainable society.

To achieve this end, our website includes:

A unique sub-domain (Dallas.FilmsForAction.org) for Dallas to create a completely tailored and dedicated place for people in our city to stay informed, get involved, and network and organize with others in the area.

A calendar of events, dedicated to all of the activist events happening in and around the city at any given time, which anyone can submit to. 

A directory of local activist groups, united by our common vision of a more just, sustainable and democratic future, detailing who they are, what they do, and how those interested can get involved. Group represenatives can submit their group to the directory and use the updates feature to keep us current on recent updates. Group pages also provide a subscription form to let people quickly sign up for the group's email Newsletter. 

Local news and articles written and contributed by local residents in the spirit of democratic, participatory journalism. Please contact Jon or leave a comment if you'd like to start blogging with us.

A constantly growing learning library full of online viewable documentaries, short films and videos hand-picked to change the world. 

News headlines republished from independent and alternative news sites.

A "Take Action" section providing a wealth of practical action ideas for individuals or groups to draw inspiration from. Accompanying each "Action" are supporting articles, how-to guides, related websites, media tools, videos, and other learning materials to help carry out the action.

Community powered content allowing anyone to become a member of the site to add videos, news headlines, original articles, actions, events and groups. It's free and easy to sign up, so we encourage you to start participating in the site today. It's your site, so join us and help this project reach its potential!

 

Our chapter hopes to achieve several goals:

  • To keep people informed on important local and global issues not adequately covered by the mainstream press
  • To provide a local online news and organizing hub that is dedicated specifically to supporting movements for social justice and sustainability
  • To make activism more accessible to a wider demographic of people
  • To be an attractive and welcoming place for people new to activism to get informed, find other people in the area of like-mind, and get involved with local activist groups
  • To help strengthen the city's activist community, and to help it grow in both number and effectiveness
  • To reduce the amount of promotional work groups must do to ensure a strong turn out at events
  • To strengthen the solidarity of all the different people and groups working together in this wide movement for a more just, democratic and sustainable future
  • To make much of the invisible work of local groups visible to the wider community, and to other activist groups, so we can gain a better sense of our collective efforts and find areas of convergence and synergy
  • To launch non-partisan action campaigns or support the campaigns of other local groups that will have a positive impact

Vision:
We believe we have a historic opportunity to develop the foresight and vision necessary to make Dallas a sustainable, just and thriving ecological city. We believe that the leadership for this movement will come from the bottom up, and that the solutions necessary to make this happen already exist. Whether here in Dallas, Curitba, Brazil or in Samso, Sweden - solutions already exist. They are in development all over the world, by millions of people and thousands of organizations.

Indeed, we are a movement millions strong, but this movement has no name, no "ism" to tie us all together. There is no single manifesto that articulates our vision in a single language. In its place we have a thousand different ways of articulating this vision, spoken in the words of every language. However, the vision we share of a better future is common. We just need to connect the dots.

Independent media like Films For Action is not the solution itself. It is the means to help realize this vision in tangible form - here in our own city, in our own particular place. It is the compass, the binoculars, the hiking shoes, and the walking stick that will help us get there.

Join us! Leave a comment, sign up for a member account, or contact Jon to get involved.

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