[Marxism] MY COMBINED COMMUNITY ORGANIZING PIECES -- WITH MUCH NEW STUFF

["Hunter Gray" <hunterbadbear@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

MY COMBINED COMMUNITY ORGANIZING PIECES -- WITH MUCH NEW STUFF  HUNTER
GRAY/JOHN R SALTER, JR [HUNTER BEAR]  SEPTEMBER 5 2004

Prologue by Hunter Bear:  [September 5 2004]

Initially I wrote and posted/published the two major following pieces at the
very end of December 2003 -- JUST WHAT MAKES A DAMN GOOD COMMUNITY
ORGANIZER?  BASED ON MY 50 YEARS OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZING;  &  then COMMUNITY
ORGANIZING PRINCIPLES --  OR, GETTING PRACTICAL. Obviously, this was a
holiday period  and many missed them.  Subsequently, they were reprinted in
journals --for which I am always grateful.   The specific comments I have
received on all of these have been consistently positive.

What I am doing here is reprinting/posting the two pieces, which I have
expanded somewhat -- along with some new material.  Anyone is free to use
any or all if he/she is a real or
aspiring Organizer but do give me stated and explicit credit as the creator
of the pieces.  Ultimately, they and much more in the genre will appear in
my next book.  [My initial book is JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI: AN AMERICAN
CHRONICLE OF STRUGGLE AND SCHISM and it has much in there about successful
down to earth organizing techniques and strategies in a most difficult and
challenging situation.  See http://www.hunterbear.org/jackson.htm

One thing that I should add is that, in addition to practicing the Art of
Organizing, I have also taught it and that is indeed an Art as well.
[All good teaching is an art.]  I have
taught it a few thousand times at the working grassroots and in all sorts of
constructive workshops and conferences.  I have also taught it many times at
the college/university level for both undergrad and/or graduate credit:  as
a full time prof at Tougaloo College, Goddard College, University of Iowa,
Navajo Community College [now Dine' or Dineh College], and the University of
North Dakota; as a full timer in other courses at Wisconsin State [Superior]
and Coe College; and as a part-timer at University of Washington and
Roosevelt University.

And -- wherever I've taught Community Org, grassroots or academia --
virtually every single person has wanted a practical, down to earth approach
replete with as many personal case histories of campaigns that I can
provide. This also includes the personal histories of various protagonists.
And, again, with no false modesty, I have plenty of those cases and people
as well -- many of which are on our now massive website, Lair of Hunterbear
at www.hunterbear.org

And, BTW, don't look for heavy ideological stuff from me. The radical
Southern poet, John Beecher, old friend and comrade, commented approvingly
and publicly of me that "He wears no man's collar." Though I am reasonably
well read, the only pronouncements  with which I am in full agreement are
the IWW Preamble and that of the old Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers -- each
explicitly class struggle and home-grown Red.  The only basic difference
between these two first cousins is that the Mine Mill call-to-arms does have
a statement also supporting appropriate political action.

Anyway, here are the two related pieces on Organizing.  First, though, among
other integral and related dimensions of which I am writing are:

1] Invitations to the Organizer from the grassroots -- spontaneous and
wrangled.  Some can come to one's own sponsoring organization; some can
come directly to you if you are reasonably well known; or you can arrange
an invitation.

2] Issues: Some are readily apparent, some not always apparent -- e.g.,
economic relationships; some are immediately realistic with work and some
are futuristic; some are frankly unrealistic in the foreseeable future.

3]  Planning philosophies: Top down, vs basic grassroots up [my preference];
general overall goals; long-range specific; short range specific.  Heavy
grassroots involvement is always critical.

4] Credibility of project:  should be made up and led primarily by the
people for whose benefit it is launched: e.g., "those of the fewest
alternatives;" the delineation and evaluation of active and potential
leaders; often things start out with a steering committee of leaders and
then, after the organization has grown and more people are
involved, have elections of regular officers.

5] Some people may want to move too fast and others too slowly; organizer
helps to develop group's tempo and helps grassroots leaders and people meet
those expectations.

6]  Direct action: First Amendment and related rights, picketing, sit-ins,
boycotts, mass marches; need for careful organization and tactical
nonviolence.  Direct action should be accompanied by judicious media
coverage.

7]  Media use:  Has to be used carefully; national wire services; local
television, often with national hookups; local radio; local and regional
press; specialized press;  news releases -- who, what, when, where, why and
how; press conferences; leaflets with ALL pertinent information;
newsletters; community newspapers; community cable TV; Internet; always a
need for up-to-date media/contact lists.

8] Lawyers and litigation:  defensive and aggressive legal actions --
"criminal" and civil; local volunteers; paid lawyers; national
organizational attorneys -- e.g., ACLU, Lawyers Guild, Native American
Rights Fund; some non-in-court matters can be handled very effectively by
good law students.

9]  Possible allies and political action:  National organizations; and
government agencies [be careful]; political -- informal approaches and
quiet contacts; formal approaches and lobbying and direct requests;
electoral [voting].  DON'T GET CO-OPTED!

10]  Power structure analysis:  Check out Moody's industrials and
Standard and Poor's; and check out lawyers and their big business
connections in Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory, and see FindLaw, and also
firms in U.S. Lawyer's Directory; City Directory will often give the
official occupation of people; check out corporate profit and not for profit
charters at the state secretary of state's office; check out annual
registration of organizations from state attorney general or sometimes
secretary of state; data on charitable organizations can be found at state
attorney general's office; county tax assessor; also various national and
regional Who's Who and IRS and U.S. Government Organization Manual and
Congressional Directory. DON'T NEGLECT HELPFUL NON-OFFICIAL GOSSIP!

11]  Coalitions [tend to be long term] and alliances [often shorter term]
are sometimes beneficial and sometimes not.

12]  Although no Organizer -- whether from the "outside" or the "inside" --
will ever have full consensus from the community, he or she must avoid the
temptation to be a "Lone Ranger."  That role can be temporarily justified
only in cases of extreme fear or heavy factionalism.    [Hunter Bear]
____________________________________________________________________________
The full combo article -- the just posted piece above plus the two slightly
older pieces, themselves newly expanded -- can be found at:
http://www.hunterbear.org/my_combined_community_organizing.htm

HUNTER GRAY  [HUNTER BEAR]   Micmac /St. Francis Abenaki/St. Regis Mohawk
www.hunterbear.org
Protected by Na´shdo´i´ba´i´
and Ohkwari'

In our Gray Hole, the ghosts often dance in the junipers and sage, on the
game trails, in the tributary canyons with the thick red maples, and on the
high windy ridges -- and they dance from within the very essence of our own
inner being. They do this especially when the bright night moon shines down
on the clean white snow that covers the valley and its surroundings.  Then
it is as bright as day -- but in an always soft and mysterious and
remembering way. [Hunter Bear]








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