Next Left Notes

Last updated

Next Left Notes
Let The People Decide
Next Left Notes 2008 07 28.jpg
Typeweb/print journal
Formatweb, magazine
EditorThomas Altfather Good
Founded2004
Ceased publication2015
Political alignment New Left
Headquarters New York City
Website nextleftnotes.net

Next Left Notes (NLN) was a radical American weblog and news publication started in 2004 as a successor to New Left Notes, which had been the voice of the 1960s Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). [1] In 2006, NLN became associated with the re-established SDS. Calling itself an independent New Left journal, NLN began publishing print versions in March 2008 to mark its 4th anniversary. The journal featured domestic reporting from a left-wing perspective. It ceased operations in 2015.

Contents

Founding and new SDS

Next Left Notes was founded as a radical weblog in March 2004 by Thomas Altfather Good. [2] He was an organizer with the Direct Action Tendency group of the Socialist Party USA when he conceived the idea of starting a news publication patterned after New Left Notes. [3] He served as NLN's editor and main photojournalist until its demise in 2015.

In January 2006, Good was one of the prime movers in creating a reconstituted SDS. [4] [5] [6] Unlike its New Left Notes predecessor, Next Left Notes was never officially connected to the SDS. Instead, there was an informal connection since Good and other NLN staff members belonged to the Movement for a Democratic Society (MDS), a sister organization (composed of non-students) that emerged from the 2006 SDS National Convention in Chicago. [7] [8]

Publication and ideology

In its "About" page, NLN stated that it "paid close attention to the work of SDS and student activism while covering the Movement in general." [2] It added that its role was to be both reporter and participant in New Left actions, protests, conferences "and all other aspects of the Struggle. We'll see you in the streets." [2] As an example, in February 2008 at a New York City-based Army recruiting station, NLN staff members joined in a protest against the deployment of additional troops to the Iraq War, while also writing about the event. [9] NLN content consisted of articles, commentary, and photo galleries. On its masthead was the original New Left Notes motto, "Let The People Decide". [10]

Next Left Notes article contributors included:

Criticism

Some writers outside the new SDS criticized Good and NLN as "militant", "sectarian" and too close to former members of the Weather Underground. [7] [14]

Format

NLN content was initially only available on the web. In March 2008, a free print edition was introduced that could be downloaded in PDF format. [15] All NLN articles and photographs were released (except where noted) under the GNU General Public License. [16]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Sale, Kirkpatrick (1973). SDS (PDF). Vintage Books. p. 181. ISBN   0-39471-965-4. The chief instrument by which the NO [SDS National Office] tried to maintain contact with the growing number of chapters was New Left Notes, a (more or less) weekly newspaper which made its first appearance (with a box on the front-page reading, "SURPRISE!") on January 21, 1966.
  2. 1 2 3 "About NLN..." Next Left Notes. Archived from the original on October 9, 2008.
  3. ↑ "Statement of Principles". Direct Action Tendency. 2004. Archived from the original on February 7, 2005.
  4. ↑ "Students for a Democratic Society (re)Form National Organization". Industrial Workers of the World . January 19, 2006. Archived from the original on February 10, 2012.
  5. ↑ "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 April 14, 2007.
  6. ↑ Shapiro, Gary (July 24, 2006). "Radicals To Return To Chicago After 37 Years". New York Sun . Archived from the original on June 11, 2011.
  7. 1 2 Phelps, Christopher (April 2, 2007). "The New SDS". The Nation . Archived from the original on December 16, 2020.
  8. ↑ Brown, Jenny (September 2006). "SDS Meets in Chicago". The Gainesville Iguana. Archived from the original on October 4, 2006.
  9. ↑ "February 15 08 Military Recruiters Protests". The World Can't Wait . Archived from the original on September 28, 2011.
  10. ↑ Matt Meyer and Sara Steele. "What if They Gave an Empire and Nobody Came?", Peace & Change, Volume 32 Issue 1 (January 2007), pp. 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."
  11. ↑ "SDS: Why Now (Again)?" by Paul Buhle. Monthly Review , January 15, 2006.
  12. ↑ Kelly, B. "'Youthism' and Ageism in Our Movement?" Next Left Notes (2006).
  13. ↑ "Brandworkers Turns on City Bakery, Calls Wild Edibles Boss Racist". Grub Street , July 18, 2008.
  14. ↑ Jesse Lemisch, "Sectarian Rage in the New SDS", History News Network, August 18, 2006.
  15. ↑ "Surprise!". Next Left Notes. March 23, 2008. Archived from the original on August 23, 2011.
  16. ↑ "GNU Free Documentation License (FDL)". Next Left Notes. March 19, 2004. Archived from the original on May 14, 2012.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.