What organizing IS and ISN'T
Unfortunately, everything is still on fire, and the public’s health (and SO much else) remains under threat.
I talked earlier this month about how taking action requires a) actually planning and committing to take action and b) organizing.
But what even is organizing?
Today, I want to share a little primer on what organizing IS and what it IS NOT.
Most of the content here is from a National Academies panel with Jamila Michener and Jonathan Heller during a workshop earlier this month on democracy and governance.
Organizing IS NOT merely mobilizing.
During this panel, an attendee asked an excellent question - we’re talking about organizing to protect and advance democracy and public health, but what about all those that are organizing against those goals? Couldn’t one argue that those who don’t share these goals have basically organized us out of a democracy at this point? In their response to this question, the panelists drew a distinction between organizing (where the process of organizing has to be a democratic one and develop the critical consciousness of those involved) and mobilizing (which is just about putting people into movement, even if it’s “astroturf” or other such entities telling the community what to believe).
Organizing IS NOT merely “individuals brandishing banners stating scatter goals”.
You’ve heard me quote Grant Ennis on this before, but it bears repeating. Historical protests that led to meaningful policy change did not involve “individuals brandishing banners stating scattered goals” but rather “organized citizens focused on political action” with banners that “listed their demands and the names of the groups they represented.” We need organizational weight and structure behind demands in order to sustain the efforts to make the demands reality beyond a single protest or set of protests/actions.
Organizing IS about both building and breaking power.
The panel I mentioned was titled “Building and Breaking Power” and I think this distinction is so important. I loved how they broke down these concepts. Building power in community looks like community organizing, developing coalitions, starting social movements. Breaking power where corporate interests (or, random unelected billionaires, as the case may be) have too much of it looks like profit minimization, regulation, enforcement - and, I would add, as I heard chanted at a recent rally, it looks like litigating, legislating, agitating, and resisting. Both building and breaking power involve negotiation and storytelling and making and pursuing collective demands.
Organizing IS about a lot more than just direct action.
Don’t get me wrong, direction action is important (I’ve been dusting off my long forgotten bubble letter/coloring skills and running my daughters’ markers dry these last couple weeks making signs for rallies), but it’s just one component of organizing. During the panel I mentioned, they shared many different concepts that make up the idea of organizing (from a forthcoming publication called “Let’s Talk: Community Organizing”). I’ve organized them into three groups below.
There are aspects of organizing related to internal change in those involved:
Increasing their sense of control/agency/power;
Increasing their ability to reflect critically and hold complexity (which relates to the prior point about how organizing isn’t merely mobilizing);
Building their capacity - to identify problems, to identify change targets (that solve problems, unify the base, and build power), to organize, and to collectively solve problems.
There are aspects of organizing related to external change by other actors:
Making demands and taking actions (including via campaigns/initiatives).
And there are aspects of organizing related to structural change in how the organizing is happening (this relates to the prior point about how organizing isn’t just individuals brandishing banners):
Building a base, “expand[ing] the number of people impacted by problems in their community who are in relationship with one another and involved in collective action”;
Developing leadership, “shifting from private shame about the problems they face to a public stance, and [building] leadership to solve these problems”;
Forming an organization to coalesce and sustain power (this one is incredibly important - without the structure of an organization, it's extremely difficult to keep efforts coordinated and sustained).
I continue to feel that the only way out of the many messes our country is currently in is through meaningful, effective organizing. I hope this primer is a helpful lens through which to think about it.
And I hope PoP Health's upcoming free webinar on action planning for community coalitions and launch of a new initiative that aims to change the narrative and inspire organizing to build and break power (and make organizing itself easier and more effective!) help too - we'll be sharing dates for these launches soon.
In the meantime - keep taking action! I really love this distillation of different ways (and varying levels of effort) to do something in support of democracy - https://choosedemocracy.us/what-can-i-do/.
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