Changing the world.

• Author: Conniff, Ruth
• Position: Editor's Note - Column

In this special issue of the magazine, we bring you a treasury of essays by writers, activists, and citizens who are doing their level best to make the world a better place.

Our working title for the issue was "Do It Yourself Social Change." The idea is this: Against the odds, despite the overwhelming power of corporate money in our elections, the daunting news about accelerating climate change, the sick feeling in your stomach when you read about U.S. drone strikes, and all the ways in which progressive gains are slipping, people are finding ways to join forces to fight for what our founder, Robert M. La Follette called "the public interest versus private greed."

In worker co-ops (page 22), in a midwife-led movement to overcome barriers to abortion access (page 31), in the growing number of citizens getting arrested to stop the fossil fuel industry from destroying the planet (page 25), and even in a Syrian nonviolence movement (page 54), people are taking matters into their own hands. And they are winning some important fights.

We are honored to publish a speech by Wendell Berry on the legacy of FDR ("When Government Was Neighborly," page 20) that explores what it means to have a government that actually serves the interests of ordinary people. Senior Editor Matthew Rothschild traveled to New York to see Berry give the speech, as Berry was accepting the "Freedom Medal" from the Roosevelt Institute.

We are delighted to bring you an inspiring essay on climate change activism by Rick Bass, who writes about putting his body on the line (page 25).

And speaking of inspiring activism, Naomi Klein explains how social movements, working together, can fight neoliberalism and its threats to workers and the environment (page 42).

The November 6 elections were widely interpreted as a defeat for...