Next Left Notes (NLN) is an independent radical publication and weblog connected to the 2006 re-incarnation of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). NLN began producing print versions in March 2008 - to mark its 4th anniversary.

Next Left Notes
Typeweb/print journal
Formatweb, magazine
EditorThomas Good / NLN Editorial Collective
Founded2004
Political alignmentNew Left
HeadquartersNew York City
Websitenextleftnotes.net

Founding and new SDS edit

Next Left Notes was founded in March, 2004, by Thomas Good, its current editor.[1][2] Good and other NLN contributors were one source of the refoundation statement of SDS in January 2006.[3][4]

Next Left Notes differs from New Left Notes, the publication of SDS in the 1960s from which it takes its name, in that it is not officially connected with SDS - although Good and other members of the NLN "collective" are members of Movement for a Democratic Society (MDS), the non-student entity that emerged from SDS at the National Convention in Chicago, Illinois in 2006.[5]

Contributors have included 1960s SDS veterans (Bernardine Dohrn, Bill Ayers, Paul Buhle,[6] Mark Rudd) and young people who are involved in the new SDS (Allison Van Doren, Brendan Dunn, Brian Kelly,[7] Pat Korte) and members of pacifist (Frida Berrigan, David McReynolds) and labor activist groups (Penny Rosemont of Charles H. Kerr, various members of the Industrial Workers of the World[8]).

Publication and ideology edit

According to Next Left Notes,[9] their role in the movement is to cover the New Left actions, conferences and other aspects of the struggle. They provide news articles on left wing events in the United States,[10] as well as commentary and photographic galleries.

Like the 1960s magazine New Left Notes, the publication's contributors and readers are largely New Left and anti-authoritarian.[citation needed] The articles written for NLN support participatory democracy and direct action. The original New Left Notes motto, "Let the People Decide", appears on the NLN masthead.[11]

Criticism edit

Some writers outside the new SDS have criticized Good and NLN as "militant", "sectarian" and too close to former members of the Weather Underground.[12]

Format edit

NLN has published as both a web based news site and, since March 2008, as a print publication.[13] Its content, along with an increasing amount of video and photographic work, is largely released under the GNU General Public License.[14]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Students for a Democratic Society (re)Form National Organization, Industrial Workers of the World, 2006-01-16.
  2. ^ Harvey Pekar, Paul Buhle, Gary Dumm. Students for a Democratic Society: A Graphic History. Hill and Wang (2008) ISBN 0-8090-9539-4
  3. ^ "Students for a Democratic Society Chapters form National Organization" (PDF) (Press release). Students for a Democratic Society. January 16, 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 4, 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-14.
  4. ^ GARY SHAPIRO. Radicals To Return To Chicago After 37 Years, The New York Sun, 24 July 2006.
  5. ^ Jenny Brown. SDS Meets in Chicago. The Gainesville Iguana, September 2006.
  6. ^ SDS: Why Now (Again)? by Paul Buhle. Monthly Review, 15 January 2006
  7. ^ Kelly, B. "'Youthism' and Ageism in Our Movement?" Next Left Notes (2006).
  8. ^ Brandworkers Turns on City Bakery, Calls Wild Edibles Boss Racist. New York Magazine, 18 July 2008.
  9. ^ Next Left Notes: About, Retrieved 2008-07-28.
  10. ^ Iraq Moratorium, February 15, 2008 The World Can't Wait
  11. ^ Matt Meyer and Sara Steele. What if They Gave an Empire and Nobody Came? Peace & Change Volume 32 Issue 1 (January 2007), Pages 89 - 98. "Good, a founder and editor of the web-based Next Left Notes (a reference to the original SDS New Left Notes), has been the key publicist of the new SDS."
  12. ^ Jesse Lemisch, Sectarian Rage in the New SDS, History News Network, 18 August 2006.
    Christopher Phelps. The New SDS, The Nation, 2 April 2007.
  13. ^ Vol 1, no. 1, March 2008
  14. ^ NLN license statement, retrieved 2008-07-28.

External links edit