Weekly Featured Profile – Joel Rogers

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Joel Rogers

Joel Rogers is a prominent U.S. academic and far left activist. He is professor of law, political science and sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a long-time “government and campaign adviser and Democratic activist.”

A contributing Editor of The Nation and Boston Review, Rogers has received many academic honors and a MacArthur Foundation “genius” fellowship. Newsweek identified him as among the 100 Americans most likely to shape U.S. politics and culture in the 21st century.

He is married to Sarah Siskind, who has worked for the same law firm as Barack Obama.

The two key founders of the socialist New Party were Joel Rogers and Dan Cantor.

The first strategic meetings to plan the New Party were held in Joel Rogers’ home in Madison, Wisconsin in the very early 1990s. Present were Rogers’ wife Sarah Siskind, Dan Cantor, ACORN leaders Wade Rathke, Zach Polett, Steve Kest and Jon Kest, Steve Cobble from the Institute for Policy Studies (in an advisory role), Sandy Morales Pope (for the first 18 months), Harriet Barlow and Barbara Dudley.

The very first meeting included Gerry Hudson from Democratic Socialists of America and SEIU and Gary Delgado; plus labor activists Sam Pizzigati and Tony Mazzocchi.

Barack Obama would become the New Party’s most famous member.

In 1996, Milwaukee AFL-CIO Central Labor Council President Democratic Socialists of America member Bruce Colburn and New Party Chair Joel Rogers wrote a “provocative article” in the November 18 issue of The Nation arguing “that the left’s capacity for independent political action must be built from the grassroots up. Their stress on independent left electoral activity at the local level — whether inside, outside, or fused with the Democratic Party — evidences the realism of the New Party’s approach to building a third electoral force.”

In 1996, Joel Rogers, while at the University of Wisconsin, was one of the original 130 founders of the highly influential “progressive” grouping, Campaign for America’s Future.

In March of 1997, Democratic Socialists of America convened their annual Socialist Scholars Conference at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, New York.

The conference was themed “Radical alternatives on the eve of the millennium.”

Invitees were asked to “listen to the United States’ only independent and socialist congressman,” Rep. Bernie Sanders, “dialogue with” Joel Rogers of the New Party and In These Times’ ….Salim Muwakkil on independent politics.

On September 20, 2001, 500 people gathered at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City to celebrate Richard Cloward’s life and Work. Speakers included Frances Fox Piven, Barbara Ehrenreich, Cornel West, Gus Newport (all members of Democratic Socialists of America), activists Howard Zinn, June Jordan, Joel Rogers and Tim Sampson, plus long-time voter registration advocate, Demos President, Miles Rapoport.

Cloward, with his wife Frances Fox Piven, was the originator of the infamous Cloward-Piven Strategy – the deliberate overloading of city welfare rolls to induce bankruptcy, then socialism.

On November 29, 2006, George Soros’ Open Society Institute held a roundtable discussion entitled: “How Do Progressives Connect Ideas to Action?”

Individuals and organizations with similarly progressive goals often dilute their power by working alone or even working at cross-purposes. As Americans who are politically left of center move forward, questions of infrastructure, communication, and collaboration are particularly important.

Participants included several key leaders of the “progressive” movement, including Joel Rogers.

Rogers has served on the board of the Apollo Alliance, a coalition of socialist environmentalists and labor activists.

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1 thought on “Weekly Featured Profile – Joel Rogers

  1. Trevor:

    Was Glenn Beck right again? Is Joel Rogers “The Wizard”? An in the shadows director of Obama’s agenda?

    Joel Rogers connected to Apollo Alliance, the New Party, et. al makes one wonder if he is the one that “Dreams of being a King” and not Soros. Soros is just the moneybags to fund the Progressives.

    Joel Rogers and Progressives new goal: Joel Rogers, “ALICE and Why Progressives Should Take Back Statehouses” http://www.law.uchicago.edu/audio/rogersACS022713

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