What it takes.(Editorial)

SOMEONE ASKED ME RECENTLY to come up with one word that described how I was feeling about the state of the country and what might happen next.

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I thought about it for a long moment, stumped. And then a word that surprised me popped into my head: Reinvigorate.

To be sure, I started explaining that we need to reinvigorate both the public debate and our movements at a time when it's critical not to accept war, poverty and racism as the norm, or to let complacency take hold. But, then I realized I also meant that I'm actually feeling reinvigorated, and I don't think I'm alone.

With this first issue of 2007, we begin the year by taking note of 15 innovators who are thinking big and moving their visions into reality. The people profiled are taking on challenges that include the denial of due process for thousands of poor and Black prisoners in the post-Katrina New Orleans justice system; a war in Iraq that "violates every tenet of international law, humanity and peace"; a U.S. government that refuses to stop the genocide in Sudan; and the devastation of communities here and in the Global South by corporate globalization.

Where do you even start when faced with such huge problems and a deep-rooted imbalance of power? To paraphrase First Lieutenant Ehren Watada, who's being court-martialed for refusing to serve in Iraq, first you have to seek ...