Given the diverse capabilities we embody, many people can creatively participate in seeking out and building just economic, health, and political systems in societies; working to empower oppressed and marginalized human persons; living lives of compassion; and fostering human flourishing through tangible means in a complex world of stark economic, educational, and health disparities. Such an approach takes economic, employment health, housing, welfare, environmental, and educational issues as moral issues more often than not and critiques systems that exploit people or that leave them tragically under-cared for.

 

The word "praxis" means action, and in the context, first, of Latin American Liberation Theology, it referred to "liberating action" against oppressive political structures before it was incorporated into other theologies of liberation. Paulo Freire writes, "Liberation is a praxis: the action and reflection of men and women upon their world in order to transform it."

 

In a sense, this site reflects a political forum in the wide sense of the word political--the politics of everyday life. The views expressed at this site encompass diverse ideological, religious, and politcal perspectives. Each contributor is challenged to provide a progressive vision reflecting her or his particular experience that relates to some notion of a common good, one of the ideas at stake here. The challenge for the contributors is to offer a progressive vision while eschewing what the site author finds to be often useless, non-dialogically productive rhetoric: mainstream American liberal and conservative dogmatism.

 

This site intends to think beyond the "beyond spectrum" in terms of political dialogue but remain political in another sense in its implications for action. On that note, it looks for progressive participants, who may have certain ideological slants on issues, who consider redefining and reappropriating political ideas and how we talk and reflect upon experience.

 

Hopefully, you will find this site to be a resource on forefront and likely underreported global issues, particularly under huge, often ill-defined umbrella of "human rights." Armed with knowledge of current inequities, I hope you can inform people in your own social communities about these issues and can use you this site for mobilizing responses in many forms: letters, protests, financial contributions, volunteer work, different economic consumption patterns, etc.

 

The newsletter section contains reflections on travel, work, education, and volunteer experiences as well as book, music, movie, and documentary reviews. As a predominantly non-sectarian site, the newsletter facilitates diverse views and as a forum. Letters-to-the-editor are encouraged as to how diverse people from particular can come together on the issues explored.