Fighting To Win

Applies the precepts of samurai philosophy and practice to the problems of doing business and of daily living and shows how to defeat opponents by overcoming the "inner opponents"

Real stories of hard-fought battles for social change, told by those on the front lines—with clear lessons and tips for activists on gaining power from the ground up “As protests and demonstrations sprout across the land, young organizers and activists need to know why and how movements are sustained and how they grow. That resource has arrived.” —Mumia Abu-Jamal, author and activist In this visually rich and deeply inspiring book, the leaders of some of the most successful movements of the past decade—from the legalization of same-sex marriage to the Black Lives Matter movement—distill their wisdom, sharing lessons of what makes transformative social change possible. Longtime social activist Greg Jobin-Leeds joins forces with AgitArte, a collective of artists and organizers, to capture the stories, philosophy, tactics, and art of today’s leading social movements. When We Fight, We Win! weaves together interviews with today’s most successful activists and artists from across the country and beyond—including Patrisse Cullors, Bill McKibben, Clayton Thomas-Muller, Karen Lewis, Favianna Rodriguez, Rea Carey, and Gaby Pacheco, among others—with narrative recountings of their inspiring strategies and campaigns alongside full-color photos. It includes a foreword by Rinku Sen and an afterword by Antonia Darder. The recent nationwide explosion of protests has shown the power the people have when we join together with a common goal and compelling message. When We Fight, We Win! will give a whole generation of readers the road map to building resilient movements that can achieve real social justice.

Winning at competitive games requires a results-oriented mindset that many players are simply not willing to adopt. This book walks players through the entire process: how to choose a game and learn basic proficiency, how to break through the mental barriers that hold most players back, and how to handle the issues that top players face. It also includes a complete analysis of Sun Tzu's book The Art of War and its applications to games of today. These foundational concepts apply to virtually all competitive games, and even have some application to "real life." Trade paperback. 142 pages.

Fighting to Win chronicles Delatron Johnson's traumatic childhood. She painstakingly takes the reader through abuse, bullying, disrespect, and host of other negative experiences at the hands of family and strangers alike. From the ages of ten to twelve, Mrs. Johnson's hardships exceeded those of many adults, yet she found few adults who would see past her flesh into her heart, mind, and soul. At such a tender age, she attempted suicide three times. After realizing that that was not the way out of her difficult life, she became determined to fight for a better life. By the end of the book, the reader yearns to know more about what happens to the young girl, but the good news is that Mrs. Johnson plans to write two more books about her triumph over adversity. This is a touching story that should help others to realize it's always darkest before the dawn, but the sun always comes up, even when you can't see it.

AJ Withers draws on their own experiences as an organizer, extensive interviews with the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) activists and Toronto bureaucrats, and freedom of information requests to provide a detailed account of the work of OCAP. This book shows that poor people’s organizing can be effective even in periods of neoliberal retrenchment. Fight to Win tells the stories of four key OCAP homelessness campaigns: stopping the criminalization of homeless people in a public park; the fight for poor people’s access to the Housing Shelter Fund; a campaign to improve the emergency shelter system and the City’s overarching, but inadequate, Housing First policy; and the attempt by the City of Toronto to drive homeless people from encampments during the COVID pandemic. This book shows how power works at the municipal level, including the use of a multitude of demobilization tactics, devaluing poor people as sources of knowledge about their own lives, and gaslighting poor people and anti-poverty activists. AJ Withers also details OCAP’s dual activist strategy — direct-action casework coupled with mass mobilization — for both immediate need and long-term change. These campaigns demonstrate the validity of OCAP’s longstanding critiques of dominant homelessness policies and practices. Each campaign was fully or partially successful: these victories were secured by anti-poverty activists through the use of, and the threat of, direct disruptive action tactics.

How a lone Florida Sheriff fought the U.S. Justice Department--and won! The amazing career of Bob Vogel began in the Florida Highway Patrol, where he personally took over billion dollars in street value of drugs off the market in just three years. Bob tells his story about the war on drugs, on the controversial practice of profiling, and about his years-long battle to prove that his law enforcement efforts were both lawful and prudent. His results helped stem the flow of drugs north and south up Interstate 95 for a number of years, and he was featured on 60 Minutes for his remarkable record. Bob Vogel had taken the upper hand in the fight against drugs. Word in the drug trade spread - avoid Volusia County. His office and officers received numerous citations for a job well done. What should have followed was thankful support from the local media, the state of Florida and even the U.S. Justice Department. Despite full clearance by two separate FBI investigations and a Governor's Panel, and further vindication from a judge who tossed out a class action lawsuit for lack of evidence, two Department of Justice attorneys spent more than two years investigating Sheriff Vogel and his office, at a cost of millions to taxpayers. Fighting to Win is Bob Vogel's own story of his nightmarish odyssey against forces he never dreamed he'd have to battle. But, as he will tell you throughout this compelling chronicle of his career, when you have right on your side you will ultimately triumph.

This monograph answers the question “What must an encircled unit be provided and do in order to successfully hold?” Following the end of the Cold War and the subsequent drawdown, the United States adopted a military strategy of force projection. Given this new strategy, any future adversary of the United States is likely to attack early to deny the points of entry into the theater. The initial deploying U.S. forces must be prepared to fight and defend these points of entry until relieved or reinforced. The author uses historical examples of encirclements from World War II, Korea, and Vietnam to support lessons learned during a major simulation exercise in which a division had to fight encircled. The report presents the preconditions that an operational commander must set for the encircled unit which are: provide the necessary combat power, apply external pressure on the enemy, maintain air superiority, provide logistical support, and give the tactical commander freedom of action. Then the report takes a systems perspective to analyze the tactical commander’s mission using the battlefield operating systems as a tool. The author presents the specific tasks the commander must execute and the concepts that he must consider. If the operational commander does not provide the necessary preconditions for success or the tactical commander does not take a systems perspective when setting up the defense, the encircled unit will fail.

“I therefore so run, not as uncertainly: so fight I, not as one that beateth the air” (1 Corinthians 9:26). Every believer is faced with some type of trial to test their faith. My prayer is that after reading this book, you will be empowered with the power of God to combat all your enemies. This book was written for anyone facing trying times, who feels like they are not making progress and wants to throw in the towel. You may even feel like any hope of recovery is impossible. I want to encourage you today to get a second wind and get back in the fight. This book will teach you how to stand firm on the Word of God when the enemy is throwing his punches. You may be down today, but your victory is on the way. If God be for you, who can be against you? David faced a giant, Daniel slept with lions, the three Hebrew boys were thrown into the fire, and Jesus hung on the cross, but they all had something in common: they didn’t give up; they fought with purpose.