SRRT (Social Responsibilities Round Table)

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The Social Responsibilities Round Table works to make ALA more democratic and to establish progressive priorities not only for the Association, but also for the entire profession. Concern for human and economic rights was an important element in the founding of SRRT and remains an urgent concern today. SRRT believes that libraries and librarians must recognize and help solve social problems and inequities in order to carry out their mandate to work for the common good and bolster democracy.

Learn more about SRRT on the ALA website.

  • 1.  Democracy will die by the end of the summer

    Posted Apr 24, 2025 08:47 AM
    I just watched journalist Nobel Prize winner, Maria Ressa, head of Rappler in The Philippines on Democracy Now! She just came back from the International Journalism Festival in Perugia, Italy. She quoted Steffan Lindberg, founding director of V-DEM (Varieties of Democracy) which rates all democratic countries. Lindberg said that if trends continue, democracy will die in the US by the summer. 

    You can see the 2025 V-DEM report at https://www.v-dem.net/

    Al


  • 2.  RE: Democracy will die by the end of the summer

    Posted Apr 24, 2025 09:25 PM
    Al, thanks for this info.  

    Things will definitely worsen. However, there has never been a democracy for workers anywhere. The big manufacturers and bankers determine foreign policy and economic conditions. We may vote on what politician gets elected, but we don't vote on wages, wars, climate, etc.

    Only in a workers' state, communism, can we decide what to produce based on need (housing) not based on enriching a small group. We're a long way from this, but we can fight the assaults we face in libraries and beyond. We can also adopt the proposed statement on "radicalizing" SRRT.

    Karyn Pomerantz
    Co-editor of the multiracialunity.org blog







  • 3.  RE: Democracy will die by the end of the summer

    Posted Apr 24, 2025 09:35 PM

    Thanks for sharing this, Al. And well said, Karyn! I completely agree.



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    Mads Kerlan, MLIS
    they/he
    News Editor
    Journal of Intellectual Freedom & Privacy
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Democracy will die by the end of the summer

    Posted Apr 24, 2025 11:38 PM
    Thanks Karyn and Mads. There are degrees of democracy. There are a small number of cooperatives where workers have a lot of decision-making power, but of course most workers have little influence in their workplace. Unionized workplaces can sometimes provide some semblance of participation in decision-making. Academics with tenure have much more freedom from arbitrary administration than other workers. Local elections can provide the possibility of electing progressive candidates, and a few progressives have been elected to state and national office where they can advocate for the 99%. Let’s not underrate the gains that workers struggles have won over the years. It is those gains that are in jeopardy.

    Al


    Original Message