> http://amleft.blogspot.com/archives/2004_12_01_amleft_archive.html#110417441839143285
>
> How Nonprofit Careerism Derailed the "Revolution"
>
> I thought this Counterpunch piece
> http://www.counterpunch.org/donnelly12272004.html
> by someone named Michael Donnelly was a little harsh but
> thought-provoking and probably correct. Donnelly argues that because
> privileged college graduates can now have reasonably well-paying
> careers in the nonprofit sector the American left has lost much of its
> momentum and power, given that the biggest nonprofits seldom do more
> than greenwash corporations or shill for the Democratic party.
I thought that Donnelly's article is a good start for talking about several important issues, but blaming the existence of nonprofit jobs on the failure of the left is just absurd. The American left has been a failure for many reasons, but leftist non-proft organizers is not a significant reason. Unless you want to talk about the meta processes by which capitalism and the ruling class co-opt dissent.
I worked in one large Washington nonprofit. The people who worked there were mostly liberals, but very few of them could be considered radicals or activists. The only person there that I met who might have fit the Donnelly's carcicature was an African-American women who came up to me after the 2000 World Bank protests and expressed support for what we were doing. She had evidently been an activist at one time, perhaps in the 60s.
My chief criticism of Beltway nonprofits is that they are resource blackholes for progressives. Very few of these organizations do anything towards social change, but lefties, liberals and progressives send them millions every year. The Beltway nonprofits are like the fucking Democratic Party. They keep on doing the same stupid shit because they understand that a nation of leftist suckers will keep sending them funds. Smaller nonprofits, activist groups, and other worthy projects outside of the Beltway sector go begging for funds, while leftist idiots keep sending donations to Nature Conservancy, Public Citizen, World Wildlife Fund, and others of their ilk.
Very little to none of this money funnels down to grassroots activists, even those operating in Washington, DC. You would think that a respected grassroots group like the Mobilization for Global Justice could meet in the offices of any number of Washington-based non-profits? Of course not! During my years with the Mobe, we were relegated to meeting in a church basement. For a while we met at the SEIU headquarters and for a time at the Justice for Janitors and the CEPR offices. With hundreds of lefty nonprofits based in Washington, we always had a hard time meeting at these places. They couldn't even be bothered to let a group like the Mobe use one meeting room one night of the week.
Beltway nonprofits are worthless.
Chuck