Free For All - The Free Liberal Blog: Robert Fuller Event at Busboys and Poets

August 2008

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The Liberty Coalition and the Center for Liberty and Community present:

Robert Fuller, author of All Rise: Sombodies, Nobodies and the Politics of Dignity.

This book event will take place at Busboys and Poets, 2021 14TH ST NW, on Tuesday, October 3rd from 6-7:30 PM

Please RSVP to Michael Ostrolenk, michaeldostrolenk [at ] gmail.com, if you are able to attend. And do pass this announcement along to friends and colleagues.

About the Book

“In mid-twentieth century, after a historic national struggle, America opted to extend its democracy by de-legitimizing racism and redefining itself as a multi-cultural society. "All Rise" argues that resolving our current political crisis and regaining the respect of the world requires an evolutionary step of comparable scope--de-legitimizing rankism and building a dignitarian society. To suggest that this is not a utopian vision, but rather democracy's next natural step-and that America is up to the job is what "All Rise" is about.”

About Robert Fuller (From: www.breakingranks.net):

"After earning his Ph.D. in physics at Princeton University in 1961, Robert Fuller taught at Columbia University and co-authored the book Mathematics of Classical and Quantum Physics. The mounting social unrest of the 1960s drew his attention to educational reform, and in 1970 he was appointed president of his alma mater Oberlin College at the age of 33.

In 1974 Fuller traveled to India (as a consultant to Indira Gandhi) and there witnessed firsthand the famine resulting from the war with Pakistan over what became Bangladesh. With the election of Jimmy Carter, Fuller began a campaign to persuade the new president to end world hunger. His meeting with Carter in the Oval Office in June 1977 led to the establishment of the Presidential Commission on World Hunger.

During the 1980s, Fuller traveled frequently to the USSR, working as a citizen-scientist to improve the Cold War relationship. This work led to the creation of the non-profit global corporation Internews, which promotes democracy via free and independent media, and for many years Fuller served as its chairman.

With the collapse of the USSR, Fuller’s work as a citizen diplomat came to a close and he began reflecting on his career and came to understand that he had, at various times, been a somebody and a nobody and the cycle was continuing. His periodic sojourns in “Nobodyland” led him to identify and investigate rankism – defined as abuse of the power inherent in rank – and ultimately to write Somebodies and Nobodies: Overcoming the Abuse of Rank (New Society Publishers, 2003). His sequel, All Rise: Somebodies, Nobodies, and the Politics of Dignity (Berrett-Koehler, 2006), focuses on building a dignitarian society."