> Lacny, do you do any real organizing, or do you
> just pull this stuff out of some hat?
Personal note to Chuck: You don't want to go there, bro.
> Organizing doesn't just happen randomly. Activists
> in most communities work together on many
> different levels. They collaborate on projects. They
> form organizations. They organize cultural events.
> The activist community is an important mutual aid
> network which helps empower activists "to actively
> organize ordinary people." The strength of local
> activists depends on the healthiness of this local
> activist community.
Given some years' experience as a member of the local "activist community," I know whereof I speak. Which is that a pattern develops: the same limited group of people form several different organizations and then invite eachother to eachother's events. Then they call this "coalition building." Then the ones with 501(c)(3)s fight over foundation grants. Some of the younger ones pose as the more "radical" wing and form an Indymedia "collective" where they post their long, rambling communiques about the inviolability of consensus procedure. Nothing much happens.
This is a problem for all of us. Chuck probably thinks I'm picking on him, but that's not my intention. He's getting all defensive about it, but I would bet good money that everyone else knows exactly what I'm talking about. Chime in, folks -- let's have a consciousness-raising session. "Speak bitterness"!
- - - - - John Lacny http://www.johnlacny.com
People of the US, unite and defeat the Bush regime and all its running dogs!