Though the world of activism never sleeps with literally scores of brave grassroots organizing being done 24/7 across America today ActNow will be off until January 12. Please take the time to read the archives. Many of the campaigns I’ve written about, especially the National Conference on Organized Resistance, the fight to save reproductive rights and the Restore FOIA efforts, are still very much in progress and can use all the help they can get.

There are also a number of websites I’d recommend to keep in touch with various activist currents and issue-oriented campaigns. An incomplete, unrepresentative list would include:

Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch tries to inject democratic interests into the debate on globalization by arguing that the current corporate-led globalization model is neither a random inevitability nor is it “free trade.” The site offers a host of matchlessly researched material written in unusually readable language, so there’s no need to feel intimidated. There are also a host of ways for you to get involved at whatever level.

Nation columnist Naomi Klein’s website, NoLogo.Org, also features updated writings, by Naomi and others, on both new models of globalization and popular struggles against the manifestations of these new forms.

Nation contributing editor Doug Henwood’s Left Business Observer is another unique and invaluable website, offering informed economic and political reporting that’s difficult, if not impossible, to find elsewhere. (Doug also has a new book, After the Economy.)

CommonDreams has carved out a niche for itself and looks like it’s here to stay as a useful filter for the mainstream and alternative press. A daily updated collection of links to articles of progressive interest with a thrice-daily updated news-wire, it offers smartly chosen pieces and a well-organized format.

Happy New Year!