| “There is No Cavalry Coming.” So wrote Skye Perriman in the New York Times on August 31. She continued: “We don’t have the luxury of fantasizing that we are just one legal victory or perfectly poll-tested message away from turning the nation around. Such thinking unintentionally obscures the urgent need for all of us, especially those in relative positions of comfort, to roll up our sleeves, walk out our front doors and make ourselves part of the answer to this crisis… “In our retelling of American history, we too often mythologize our institutions and political leaders as if they were the ones that brought about social change and forced our nation to make way for all of us. We sometimes think of justice being ‘handed down’ by the Supreme Court in landmark decisions like Brown v. Board of Education. Or that a virtue-minded, bipartisan Congress willed the Voting Rights Act into being, while glossing over the underlying agent of change: the American people. Nothing is handed down by political leaders without the people demanding it. We must do so again.” Shorter version: IF YOU WANT CHANGE, YOU HAVE TO WORK FOR IT. Not your political heroes. Not the economic, educational, journalistic or religious institutions that have quietly accommodated fascists in this crisis. IT’S UP TO YOU. Every week, The Audacity’s newsletter describes various ways for YOU to ACT. The future relies on YOU. |
| Take Action! SIGNS OF FASCISM HEADS TO SCARBOROUGH TUESDAY 9/8 WHO: In collaboration with Lincoln County Indivisible and Indivisible Team Southern Maine DATE: Tuesday, September 8 TIME: Noon to 1:00 p.m. PLACE: Starting at The Holy Donut, 398 U.S. Rte. 1, Scarborough, then heading to 40 Manson Libby Road, Scarborough |
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| MAINE-WIDE MEETING TO ORGANIZE ACTION AGAINST ICE ICE OUT – LARGE COMMUNITY GATHERING DATE: Monday, September 14 TIME: 6-8pm PLACE: Scarborough Town Hall, 259 U.S. Route 1, Scarborough, ME PURPOSE: This meeting should not be misconstrued as a one-off meeting. This is NOT a protest meeting – it is to be a planning meeting. There will be some lead off guest speakers, but after that we’ll be breaking off into large groups, each with a different purpose, and starting our resistance mission in earnest to drive ICE OUT of Scarborough … for starters. VOLUNTEERS: Yes, we need volunteers!! We’re hoping to draw people from all over New England and so it would be beneficial to have at least one or two volunteers, and a marketing guru or two. Onsite organizers are also going to be needed. CARPOOLING is encouraged. CONTACT FMI: Rick Nowak, email address: itsme04043@yahoo.com [Image credit above: Pam Smilow] |
| ARE YOU READY TO GET ARRESTED FOR JUSTICE? REALLY READY? TAKE THIS FREE & LOCAL 10-WEEK COURSE IN NONVIOLENT CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE TO REALLY PREPARE… TOGETHER Civil Disobedience Course Starts Sep. 21. REGISTER NOW. Civil Disobedience: Theory, Design and Practical Implementation in Groups is a new 10-week course facilitated by Dr. James Cook (Sociologist, PhD University of Arizona 2000 — email jamescook@audacitycat.com). It will be held on the 2nd floor Community Conference Room of the Thomaston Public Library in Thomaston, Maine on Mondays from 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm. The course begins Monday September 21, meets weekly except for Indigenous Peoples’ Day October 12, and ends Monday November 30.There will be no financial charge to participate in the course. Online registration for the course will begin on Tuesday, September 1 and will end on September 14. A Course Syllabus with readings and activities is available at https://audacitycat.com/civil-disobedience-course/.Click here to apply to join the course. Course Summary This ten-week course begins by exploring the ethical and moral foundational of civil disobedience through the works of Thoreau, Gandhi, King, and Berrigan before considering the practicalities of nonviolent power and strategic campaign design. Students will examine the legal mechanics of the justice system, participate in “Know Your Rights” roleplays, and learn tactical skills ranging from reconnaissance to the affinity group model of decentralized organization. The course also provides intensive training in operational risk management, nonviolent discipline under pressure, and the critical logistics of jail support and media strategy. In this time of crisis, the purpose of this course is practical: study groups will emerge from the course with greater knowledge of the conceptual elements of disobedience, experience with techniques used in civil disobedience campaigns, increased solidarity, and a written Group Action Protocol containing group agreements regarding the ideological, organizational, and technical elements of a civil disobedience campaign. At the end of the course, we will have developed a Group Action Protocol for an actual campaign of civil disobedience that can be carried out by the group. Click here to apply to join the course. All are welcome to apply. The course will run if we reach 10 participants by September 14. Above that number, participants will be selected based on the level of expressed commitment to the course and to carrying out a campaign of nonviolent civil disobedience. |
 The Future Needs YOU!Attend The Audacity’s Monthly Mass Organizing Meeting Sat. Sept 5 @ 10AM 345 Broadway, Rockland |
| Ongoing Actions! |
| Office Hours on Friday: Meet up with Audacitizens at Main Street Markets Cafe’s back room in Rockland at 10:30 AM over coffee and share your ideas, plans, and notions to act up. Stand Up and Sing Out on Saturday @ noon: Come to Chapman Park in Rockland for our weekly demonstrations. We sing, hold signs, have conversations, give away buttons and postcards. We collect food/hygiene items for the local food bank and clean up the park every week. Stand Out with Maine Voices for Palestinian Rights Camden, on the Village Green, Fridays @ 5 PM Rockland, at Chapman Park on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays @ 3PM Belfast, in Post Office Square, Sundays 12-12:30 PM |
 Chalk It Up! Grab some bright colors, write loud and clear: ICE OUT * MELT ICE * ABOLISH ICE * ICE COLD KILLERS * NO ICE for ME * Then, take pictures and share the message on social media, emails, and in the Audacity newsletter! Free chalk available on Saturdays at Chapman Park. |
| Upcoming Actions to Join |
 The League of Women Voters of Maine is starting fall election observation training. They are considering an in-person training in Rockland; if you are interested, please let them know at the link below. This training is available for new and returning volunteers.Sign Up Form: If you’d like to join us on Election Day, please sign up here by October 14! Training & New Information: Attending another training isn’t required for volunteers who observed the June primary. In October, we’ll make sure to email you refresher resources and any new information you’ll need to know. While attending another training isn’t required, we’re planning October in-person trainings in Portland, Ellsworth, and potentially Rockland, for returning and new election observation volunteers, and we’d love to see you there! If you’re interested in joining one of these events, sign up below Portland Training, Monday October 19 at 5:30pm: sign up here Stay in the loop about Rockland and Ellsworth trainings: let us know here and we’ll be in touch with more details.If you can’t make one of these events but would still like to attend another training, you’re always welcome to join a virtual election observer training too! You can sign up for a virtual training here. |
| OTHER WAYS TO GET INVOLVED |
| Join The Audacity’s Book Club A new book group is forming to read and discuss books by Timothy Snyder, such as ‘On Fascism’, ‘On Freedom’, and ‘The Road to Unfreedom’; books by Colin Woodard, ‘A Resistance History of the United States’ by Tad Stoermer, and MORE (beginning with the new book by Brian Tyler Cohen, “The Day After”). If you are interested in joining us, please send a message to Contact@audacitycat.com and put “book group” in the subject line. Join a Democracy Circle You are invited to be a part of something that is happening and growing. It’s called Democracy Circles.In order to protect and rebuild our democracy we need to find power. That power comes from the organizing of people in solidarity: people power. The best way to do that organizing is by building community groups, discussing common issues and discovering solutions. By joining a Democracy Circle, you will be adding critical mass to the numbers of people needed to organize in solidarity and build the power needed to keep our democracy. People Power – of the people, by the people, for the people.2 Top Goals: Defeating Susan Collins/ Electing Troy Jackson to the US Senate; and Building/Rebuilding this Country of ours.Currently, Democracy Circles are heavily tied to Troy (as the first one was tied to Graham before), but the deeper and ongoing need is the work we need to do – and it is going to be WORK, to not only put this country back together, but to rebuild it better. And after the Nov. 3rd election the Democracy Circles will continue on as a productive force to build and care for our democracy. Circles can help maintain communication with those elected as well as be there to hold them accountable. If you would like to join a democracy circle, please just reach out to me through Contact@audacitycat.com and I can give you more information. |
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| Get a Free Lawn Sign!The Audacity is distributing signs around the Midcoast for free — delivered right to you. We’ve been delivering Robert’s Court signs, and we now have ICE OUT signs too! |
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| A benefit garage sale for Rockland’s Emergency Warming Center – donate stuff to sell or help out in person. FMI: talk to Jennifer or Stephy. |
| “Many of us confuse consuming political news, engaging on social media and participating in group chats with doing the things that we, as individuals, can do to help change our country’s trajectory. Instead of doomscrolling, we can organize our neighbors.”Skye Perryman |