>--- Jon Johanning <jjohanning at igc.org> wrote:
>
>>I think a more promising approach is the opposite of this one --
>>start by approaching ordinary folks themselves, get comfortable
>>with communicating with them, and then consider, in a modest,
>>self-reflective way, what you can provide to help them in their
>>various distresses
>
>Just wait a minute, sir. You are actually asking me to talk with these people
<snip>
>Why should I go out there amongst them, when I can surround myself
>with comrades
You need fellow organizers and activists before you go out to talk with others who do not know you, _unless_ you are imagining that you can talk to all the people you want in a movement _by yourself_, which is impossible. Organizing is not an individual effort but a collective one. Take union organizing, for example. First, you get together with a few like-minded fellow workers who you already know are inclined to unionizing, and together you try to expand from there to form an organizing committee. Only after doing so can you move onto calling bigger meetings and making systematic home visits (usually as a two-person team) to reach out to other fellow workers and seeking community support from likely supportive institutions such as other unions, liberal churches, community organizations, student groups, environmental groups, etc. Reaching out to the rest of the public comes only after your organizing committee successfully completed all of the above steps. -- Yoshie
* Bring Them Home Now! <http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/> * Calendars of Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html>, <http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & <http://www.cpanews.org/> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> * Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> * Solidarity: <http://www.solidarity-us.org/>