Transforming Power: From the Personal to the Political

by Judy Rebick

In Transforming Power , veteran activist Judy Rebick champions new ways of achieving political goals by emphasizing co-operation and consensus over confrontation and partisanship. Rebick argues that today's combination of environmental crisis, globalization, and rapid technological innovation is producing profound new ideas about social and political life, and that this groundswell is truly the vanguard of a global movement to change the way we live our lives, from the ground up.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Social Change, Social Justice

277 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Judy Rebick is a well-known social justice and feminist activist. My new book "[book Heroes in My Head] is a memoir of my healing from Multiple Personality Syndrome (now called DID). I am also the founding publisher of , Canada's progressive multimedia web site.

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading about social movements and social change particularly from a Canadian POV nearly 12 years after it was written will inevitably lead to a few moments that make the book feel naive but mainly it is a soft salve of reminiscent first person explainers of the changes in political thought and analysis of the time . The analysis isn’t perfect and there is too much hiphiphooray Obama is on his way that I couldn’t help but shake my head a few times but overall Judy’s writing is simple but sharp using a tone that makes you feel like you are having coffee together much of the time. The book excels when she gets more autobiographical and she shares her actual experiences and her points of view, which happens enough to keep you going. It’s an easy and fast read and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is into activism regardless of how familiar or not you are to it as it’s written to be accessible but whether despite or because of the easy reading will keep the veterans reading thanks to Judy’s rich experiences she shares.

[Nick Van der Graaf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Judy Rebick's lucid description of how power is manifested in our personal and political lives is a must-read.

[Jalene Johnstone · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little bit too heavy for my tastes, on the Obama love, but otherwise, a fantastic book about political organizing, grassroots power, with good perspectives about what works and what have been past missteps.

[Paul Lenart · Rating 2 out of 5]

Giving up hide-bound Marxism for ga-ga eclecticism is not an improvement, since it is often a way of returning to least-common-denominator liberalism. Rebick's role vis a vis black bloc in Toronto is completely understandable after reading this.