Presenters: Erenberg, Hershaft, Jones
Click here for a formatted version of Alex's outline.
As the youngest movement for social justice and planetary survival, we need the support of more established kindred organizations. This workshop addresses the process and issues involved.
Collective power (Niemoller quote)
Definition: association of groups for the purpose of accomplishing
one or more objectives
Larger pool of resources (time, money, equipment, traits,
skills, ideas, contacts, influence)
Learning about related issues
Affinity: connected, kindred, alien
Issues: multiple or single (slaughterhouse workers)
Membership: two, invitation, open
Time: temporary, long-term
Stance: public, silent (5Aday), legitimizing (ALF)
AR and vegism metaphor for all public interest struggle
Waft – life-affirming: health, world hunger, pro-life,
nonviolence, environment
Warp – social justice: children, elderly, women,
disabled, racial, ethnic, religious
Hems – power instruments: police, courts, administrative
agencies, legislatures
Benefits: open to many partners, single-issue, motivated,
geographic spread, some resources
So why so remarkably unsuccessful in forming coalitions?
Obstacles: fringe of fabric, limited public acceptance,
holding up mirror, no central body
Need to emphasize benefits and deal with obstacles: legitimizing,
background work, avoid sensitive issues, build personal
relationships (Cesar Chavez)
Select potential partners and type of coalition
Establish personal relationship and trust by offering to
help with a small project
Become familiar by raising questions and being helpful
at functions
Read publications, attend functions to learn about ideology,
priorities, structure, personalities
Recognize commonalities and diversities and learn to live
with them
Propose and implement a time-limited, single issue joint
project
Determine objectives, governance, responsibilities, communication,
funding, other resources
Develop mechanism for handling disputes
Work toward a longer term, multi-issue arrangement, if
appropriate
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Power
Power is the capacity to create change. Most movements
focus on how to get and use power but our task is more
nuanced because, while we have much less power than the
institutions and cultural practices we oppose, we already
have too much power over those for whom we purport to
act. Thus we must ask both how to get power and how to
give it back. We also are obligated to think deeply about
how best to deploy the power that we have and obtain.
Theories of Social Change
We all have beliefs about what motivates people to change
their attitudes and behavior. We must make sure that
the theory that guides your actions is consistent with
what we about how individuals, groups, and institutions
really do change. Assumptions about the impact of particular
tactics must constantly be tested against reality. Strategies
must be comprehensive, including both ultimate and intermediate
aims as well as a realistic program of tactics likely
to achieve those aims. The most effective strategies
are multi-faceted, involving both "inside the system" and "outside
the system" approaches to systemic changes as well
as cognitive, emotional, and behavioral approaches to
individual change.
Social Change Movements
Movements are living processes rather than inert things.
Like ecosystems, movements require biodiversity, clean
air, and regular infusions of new genes to survive and
thrive. If we want an effective movement for animal liberation,
we all have to be willing to change. We have to see our
efforts as an ongoing experiment in effective activism.
We have to use trial-and-error, understanding that we
might be in error and being willing to change our ways
if that proves to be true. We must also understand that
motion derives from emotion and that empathy and rationality
must flow into and feed each other.