Movements That Win - by Aric McBay (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

An inspiring collection of stories about brave people who organize, fight back, and prevail against corporate greed and government injustice, to learn from the tactics of how they won.

Includes illustrations and graphics.

As the world slides further toward authoritarianism and the prospects for advancing social justice through electoral democracy narrow, the power of communities to prevail against strongman politics and corporate domination becomes increasingly crucial. In Movements That Win, long-time activist Aric McBay urges readers to remain hopeful, connected, vocal, and strong. He champions the creative innovations, bravery, and persistence of those who take risks to organize their communities to confront injustices imposed on them in the name of greed, militarism, and racism.

Building on the analysis presented in his two-volume set, Full Spectrum Resistance, McBay showcases a wide range of attainable victories that--wins we can and should emulate through solidarity and direct action. Among the triumphs McBay describes are

• Indigenous groups' successful effort to shut down a pipeline and remove colonial statues,
• neighborhoods repelling gentrification and a nuclear waste dump in Australia,
• residents halting the construction of a parking garage in Boston's Chinatown,
• American disability rights activists' use of direct action to pave the way for the Americans with Disabilities Act, farmers preventing the construction of a nuclear reactor in rural Germany,
• and multiple neighborhood networks in the US preventing Wal-Mart from setting up shop in their community.

Along the way, McBay provides boots-on-the-ground insights into the key factors that inspire people to join local movements, how to persevere during backlash and repression, and how to build momentum through small victories.

Review Quotes

​"By sharing inspiring stories and highlighting the lessons of successful activist campaigns, Aric McBay has written an important book for our times. Movements that Win reminds us that people power makes a difference, especially when it is grounded in courage and solidarity.​" --Eileen Flanagan, author of Common Ground: How the Crisis of the Earth is Saving Us from Our Illusion of Separation

"Activist McBay (Full Spectrum Resistance) offers an encouraging survey of successful environmental justice activism. The victories spotlighted include an unlikely alliance between construction unions and conservationists that helped protect urban green spaces in 1970s Australia, the diverse coalition-building that prevented gentrification of Boston's Chinatown in the 1990s, the rural organizing and civil disobedience that stopped the construction of a nuclear reactor in Germany in 1975, and the ways in which Canadian environmentalists have built on a strong history of Indigenous land protection strategies to fight the installation of fossil fuel pipelines from the 2010s to today. Along the way, McBay points out common themes and approaches that led to each movement's success, spotlighting 12 key "patterns," including having "urgency" and a "positive vision" for the future, practicing strategic "escalation" and engaging in direct action rather than just protest, and building "coalitions across difference" and movements that can "persist and endure." . . . [A]n illuminating overview and a useful playbook for environmentalists."--Publishers Weekly

About the Author

ARIC MCBAY is a community organizer, organic farmer, and author of eight books, including the speculative fiction novels Kraken Calling and Inversion. His book Full Spectrum Resistance is a two-volume guide to building more effective movements. He writes and speaks on numerous social justice issues and has organized successful campaigns around fossil-fuel pipelines, Indigenous solidarity, unionization, prisoner justice, and other causes. He is also an award-winning digital game developer. You can find his work at www.aricmcbay.org.