> I'm not sure what you exactly mean by the "radical democratic
> movement." If it means "anarchism," well, I'm not an anarchist,
> though I have been to a D.C. protest against the WB/IMF once (where I
> failed to hook up with Max despite our vow to look for each other,
> alas) and work with local anarchists, who are part of our anti-war
> coalition here.
>
> As for the racial composition of any political outfit & social
> movement, the first question is if the main organizers are persons of
> color themselves; the second question is if organizers are plugged
> into social & communication networks of people of color; and the
> third question is if goals & tactics of the outfit or movement are in
> keeping with what people of color are looking for. Always practice
> affirmative action in movement-building.
It has been my experience that these goals are usually held by the main organizers in white-dominated movements and organizations. There is a frustration there about how hard this is to implement. In my experience as a "main organizer" there seem to be several common obstacles to involving more people of color in a group or movement:
1) Misguided strategies - I've touched on this in another email. For certain campaigns and movements is makes more sense to build alliances with community groups that are predominantly comprised of people of color. It simply doesn't make sense to ask them to join your organization, when an alliance can build unity that respects the different goals of various organizations.
2) Social networks - Let's face it, we tend to organize with people we know. This may be people we know on campus, or people we know who are interested in a specific topic, i.e. alternative publishing. It takes some time and effort to diversify one's social circles and the same goes for activist groups.
3) Age and subcultures - This was touched on in other posts, albeit somewhat roughly. Many Left groups base themselves on "the youth." There is this elevation of young people as some kind of spontaneous vanguard or radical politics. Many Left groups spend large amounts of time recruiting on college campuses. Young people are highly mobile, so groups and campaigns based on them are highly unstable. Also, movements and groups that base themselves on college students or radical subcultures like punk rock, subscribe to the entrenched racial composition of those groups.
I'd be interested in hearing thoughts from others with organizing experience.
Chuck0