“Our ‘No!’ is only as powerful as our Yes! is compelling”
Bill Moyer
Executive Director, Backbone Campaign
Co-author of 2016 book Solutionary Rail - A people powered campaign to electrify American railroads and open corridors to a clean energy future.
Host of Reconnect America podcast
[email protected]
206-356-9980
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Bill Moyer is a radical solutionary, committed to addressing root problems by supporting a transformative vision and the capacity, cohesion and vision of a vibrant social movement. Bill’s belief that “Our ‘No!’ is only as powerful as our Yes! is compelling” led to the development of the Solutionary Rail campaign. Bill co-authored the book, Solutionary Rail in 2016. Since then, the campaign has evolved into a national effort to put US rail infrastructure back in service of public interest over Wall Street profit.
Bill grew up in the Pacific Northwest. Due to his father’s work with multiple tribes in the 60s and 70’s Bill spent much of his childhood on or near reservations from Yakama to Swinomish. He co-founded and has directed the progressive activist organization Backbone Campaign for over 20 years. Backbone has emerged as an innovative force in the theory and practice of "artful activism.
Through Backbone, Bill and his collaborators combine lessons of the performing arts and the Art of War to invigorate nonviolent movements for social change. They have trained thousands of change agents and designed and produced hundreds of creative protests. Backbone is renowned for its innovative tactics ranging from light projection to giant net banners, giant inflatable imagery to the kayaktivism made famous through their work on the 2015 ShellNo! campaign.
Bill presents on the application of grand strategy and principles from the Art of War applied to nonviolent social movement and leads creative tactics and campaign design workshops and around the country.
Grand strategy instructs that power is relational. Victory in a moral conflict relies on movement cohesion and broad alliances. Today, the divide and conquer strategy of those who concentrate wealth and power is working against the 99.9% of the people who have more in common than not.
Railroads are efficient, easily electrified and could provide the right of way for a national renewable energy grid. They connect us all and everyone has a stake in their future as critical infrastructure for a localized, just and sustainable society. Thus, Rail is unique in its capacity to be a source of common cause and shared vision amongst often unlikely allies. That's why Bill finds the Solutionary Rail work particularly compelling as an strategic antidote in these dangerously polarized times because
Bill lives with his wife and daughter in the woods of Vashon Island, WA in the Salish Sea.
Check out the Reconnect America podcast & Substack here.
Check out Backbone Campaign's Artful Activism work here.