[Marxism] Grassroots Prison Campaign

[Mike Kramer <mkramer666@xxxxxxxxx>]

Friends and Comrades,

The Bring the Ruckus website has been updated with
several new articles, including

-Not on Donovan Jackson, On Haters Who Claim We're
White
by juan de la qruz

-Bring the Ruckus vs. Race Traitor
by Geert

-Theses on Workplace Organizing
by Sojourner Truth Organization

and

-The Grassroots Prison Campaign, which follows below.

For the full text of these articles and more info on
BTR, go to http://www.agitatorindex.org/

The Grassroots Prison Campaign
January 29, 2005 ? February 11, 2005

The Grassroots Prison Campaign (GPC) was a national
project of Bring the Ruckus (BtR) and a pilot project
for Communities United for Action, Power & Justice
(Communities United). The aim of the GPC was to bring
BtR cadre members and interested others to Atlanta in
early 2005 to assist the newly formed coalition
Communities United. The project offered a chance for
people to learn or hone practical organizing skills
through on-the-ground political work.

This evaluation is composed of the individual
reflections of each of the participants and ends with
a list of lessons learned. The lessons came from a
collective debrief of all participants at the end of
the two-week session.
Background

Participants came to Georgia for two weeks
specifically to do outreach with family members of
incarcerated people in the Atlanta area. The tangible
goal was to get family members to turn out for Poor
People?s Day, an annual education and action gathering
of low-income people from around the state. The
gathering has a strong education component which
explores the links between different issues.

Poor People?s Day is divided into 2 days: Education
Day and Action Day. Education Day features a key
speaker, plenary gatherings, and workshops on key
issues facing Georgians. On Action Day we take it to
the streets and speak truth to power. We meet directly
with decision makers to move a program that meets the
needs of poor people.

The Up & Out of Poverty NOW! Campaign, staffed by the
Georgia Citizens' Coalition on Hunger (Hunger
Coalition) and Project South, is the umbrella group
that organizes Poor People?s Day. Beginning in the
fall individuals and organizations from across Georgia
are invited to planning meetings where all decisions
about the event are made. At these meetings
participants choose speakers, themes, workshop topics,
as well as the action for Action Day.

Communities United for Action, Power & Justice
Communities United is part of the Up & Out of Poverty
NOW! Campaign because criminal justice reform is an
expansion of the struggle for economic justice.

This project was proposed and accepted by BtR for the
same reason anti-prison and anti-police work was
proposed and accepted ? because we believe this is a
point of strategic, necessary struggle. The prison
system puts poor, communities of color on the outside
trying to survive economic strangulation and poor,
people of color on the inside trying to survive being
brutalized. There is nothing abstract about this work.
How does the state use the intersection of oppression
to advance social control? Look to people?s lived
experiences with prisons, the police, etc., and we
have a concrete answer. This is a concrete fight.
Through an educational process people are able to
articulate the larger system of social control,
analyze its weaknesses, and effectively organize to
take advantage of those weaknesses. They stay involved
because they have a good, real reason: the life of
someone they love.

Liz Reflection


Liz is an activist based in Portland, Oregon and a
member of Bring the Ruckus. She was also part of the
BtR planning committee that coordinated BtR?s
involvement.

During the beginning of February I had the opportunity
to participate in the Grassroots Prison Campaign.
Although I had been part of the planning process,
going into it I still had a lot of questions about how
the project was going to be run, who I would be
working with, and the possibilities of similar
campaigns in the future. These questions became more
pronounced when I found out I was the only Ruckus
person that was going to be there besides Dan.
Initially this was disappointing. I had been looking
forward to working with more Ruckus members and was
worried having a smaller group would limit the degree
to which the GPC could support the Atlanta
organizations? campaigns. I was also concerned because
we had chosen two campaigns at the last national
meeting: the GPC and RNC. While we agreed that the GPC
was the priority, more Ruckus members attended Life
After Capitalism and the RNC, which I consider less
important to organizing work and building BtR. I
understand, however, that the timing of the GPC was
not the best for taking time off of work, and while I
would have liked to have seen more Ruckus people in
Atlanta, it turned out that having a small group of
participants that approached the GPC from different
contexts was very helpful in evaluating the GPC and
brainstorming ideas about out how it could/should be
structured in the future.

The GPC was composed of two main components: political
education and organizing. Political education took
place through workshops, dinners with experienced
organizers, tours of Atlanta, and informal
conversations. Education focused on movement building,
the political importance of the South, and the
historical context of the organizing work we were
supporting/participating in. I enjoyed the political
education portion of the program, and I learned a lot,
but also would like to have had deeper political
conversations. Political education was structured to
be accessible to a group with varied political
experiences. I think this was a smart approach, but in
the future I think it would be good to have space for
more in depth conversations.

The organizing component of the GPC fell under the
auspices of several organizations based in Atlanta
(Fairness for Prisoners? Families, Communities United,
Georgia Citizens Coalition on Hunger, and Project
South). All of them were doing incredible and
inspiring work. We were trained for house visits and
phone calling, and did phone banking, house visits,
mailings, and helped with logistics for Poor People?s
Day. I was very nervous about this piece of the
program. After we all laid out our fears at the
beginning of the two weeks and started doing the work,
my fears of making mistakes, and nerves about visiting
people?s homes dissipated. I remembered that I had
those skills and I was able to work on improving them.
One of the things that made doing this ?behind the
scenes? kind of work so good was that it was framed to
us in the context of a long term strategy. I never
thought, ?Why are we doing this?? Instead, I thought,
?How could we be doing this better to meet our goals??

Besides myself there were two other participants: Wes,
a member of the Communities United Organizing
Collective, and Jay, a non-affiliated college student
from UMASS Amherst. In the two weeks of the program
the three of us developed political relationships and
friendships during the time we spent together
traveling for house visits and discussing how the
program was going. I think that all of us furthered
our political development and enhanced our organizing
skills. Although we had assumed he had been
beforehand, at the end of the two weeks Jay confessed
to becoming revolutionary. They both were awesome to
work with, and it would be a great gain for Ruckus if
they decided to join the organization. Hopefully they
will be attending the national meeting this May.

The GPC raised key questions we need to focus on as an
organization and has pointed out ways Ruckus needs to
grow to be a relevant revolutionary organization.
Three questions arose in the group and my personal
reflections on the GPC: 1- How does Ruckus relate to
mass work? 2- What is our public face? 3- What is our
vision? None of these questions are new, but the GPC
made it painfully clear that these are underdeveloped
areas that we need to discuss and work on if we are
going to be principled about mass organizing Ruckus
members are involved in (particularly the GPC in
Atlanta) and build Bring the Ruckus. I think the
national meeting in May is a perfect place to have
these conversations and outside of this brief personal
report back I will expand my thoughts on these areas.

Winter ?05 GPC was a successful pilot project, and the
work that came out of it helped build organizations in
Georgia as well as Bring the Ruckus. As a pilot
project, it was a success, and I am looking forward to
taking the lessons learned to help build a stronger
program. The GPC is going to be a great asset not only
to Bring the Ruckus, but also to organizations in
Georgia and revolutionaries nationwide. In the brief
time I was there I got a crystal clear, first hand
understanding of why the South is so important and
strategic to a national revolution. Part of what I
liked about it so much was that it was organizing
focused, about instituting praxis, rather than solely
intellectual. We need more of this in our
organization! I left the GPC more committed to and
excited about Ruckus than I have ever been, hopeful
that we can move nationally in this direction.


Jay ?Nicodemus? Venezia Reflection


Jay is attending university in Western Massachusetts.
The GPC was his first serious campaign. He believes
his experience and analysis should be read with this
in mind.

The GPC was the first effective campaign that I have
worked on. I am, it seems, too far from the state of
mind I was in during the campaign to have much more
than factual recall of events. There are swimmy masses
of light and emotion from my time in Atlanta that have
become fused together into a jumbled whole.

We (Liz from Portland, Wes and Dan from Atlanta and
Me, from Northampton) started the campaign with
education sessions. Much of the first few days had me
feeling that I had no idea where I fit into the work.
Much of the talk centered on ineffective tactics
and/or socio-political positions. What I tried to find
out was what position there would be. On the second
day of the campaign I wrote in my journal, ?is my
place to take a small, quiet, work horse role in a
fight that is not only not of my own class but whose
opposite is actually the creation and maintenance of
my own privilege?? I gradually worked out where I
would stand in relation to those I was working with; I
kept re-evaluating throughout the campaign to try and
understand the power dynamics that I was working in
and with.

The education sessions were definitely necessary in
informing me of the different dynamics that I would be
a part of working with people in the south. Popular
education and a background into civil rights movements
in the south such as SNCC, SCLC, the Black Panthers
(thanks Althea) and others allowed me to evaluate
tactics and understand much of the cultural background
of organizing in an area unfamiliar to me. The
education on phone banking was probably the only way
that I was able to get on the phone with any
confidence. After hearing that my concerns were
widespread, they seemed smaller and less important.

When we began to get out of the office onto the
streets of Decatur I began to realize that there is
only so much theory and experiential testimony that
could prepare me for conversations with family
members. To be honest, I choked every single time,
with or without someone there to help pick the
dialogue back up. I was always given a ?no, thank you?
when I went alone and of the few times that I was with
Liz or Wes and managed to get into a house I did
little if any talking. For some reason--and unlike
phone banking--it didn?t get easier as it went along.
As for tactical focus of time and energy I felt that
the campaign could incorporate better mapping and
geographical concentration. After the last full day of
driving I wrote, ?We completed all the listings we had
in three zip codes and doubled back on those in our
favorite Decatur zip, 30032. Again there was much
confusion on where to concentrate.? Problems like this
could be solved with more discussion on crucial areas,
better mapping technology (available for free soon)
and more consultation from people familiar with the
areas to be visited.

All in all, as the guinea pigs of the GPC we were an
effective group. We spoke to more people than we
thought we would and became close in the process. This
contributed greatly to making the work as smooth as it
was. I look forward to continuing this work on the
summer ?05 campaign.

Wesley Ware Reflection


Wes is an organizer based in Atlanta with experience
working on the Georgia criminal justice system. He is
a member of the Communities United organizing
collective.

One of the first things that struck me about the GPC
was that the connections between the GPC and BTR were
somewhat unclear to me. This piece was never fully
explained to me, and I didn?t realize until some days
into the program that BTR had been instrumental in the
planning process. This relationship needs to be
fleshed out more, and that relationship more
transparent to participants.

At our debrief, we mentioned the structural details of
the GPC that were missing- one of these was the maps
for house visits. This was a task that could have
easily been handed to someone (for instance, me)
before out of town folks attempted to drive around
unfamiliar areas looking for addresses. I think this
lapse in planning was due to poor communication
between Communities United and the Organizing
Collective (i.e. Dan and me) and Dan being stretched
too thin (organizing for Poor Peoples? Day and the GPC
simultaneously) and unable to manage all of the
details. We were able to pull it together among the
three of us, but some time was wasted in this process.
In the future and as Communities United grows, there
needs to be more than one point person for the GPC,
the Organizing Collective will be able to play more of
a role, and if the GPC remains a project of
Communities United, the Steering Committee should
provide more direction. We also discussed how the
flexibility of the two weeks worked well for us, but
how we could have gone deeper into some of the
workshops and discussions especially since there were
so few of us.

Overall, the GPC strengthened my organizing skills,
but mostly gave me the confidence I needed to continue
to work on them myself. To me, this was one of the
most important things I got from the two weeks and was
a necessary step I needed to take to do this work. I
felt a little apprehensive about the whole thing, not
knowing what the other folks would be like or where
they would be coming from in relation to their
political work. I didn?t know if I would be further
behind in developing my organizing skills or political
analyses. Once I met Jay and Liz, I felt like we hit
it off pretty quickly and I became comfortable
relating to and growing with them.

I had never worked so closely with Dan, but I knew
that I would be working with him as part of the
Organizing Collective so it was important to me that I
work on and think critically about this relationship.
In sheer size alone, Dan can be very intimidating
(sorry, but it?s true...), but I began voicing my
opinions, trusting my ideas and experiences more, and
more comfortable working with him as time went on.
This was a crucial step for me if I plan on doing
organizing work with him in the future. The GPC gave
me a good introduction to Communities United and
working with Dan that would not have been as easily or
as quickly accomplished otherwise. There is a certain
amount of trust that will need to be developed between
us, and I hope that we are on the path to building
that.

During the GPC, I was in a very difficult headspace,
working some days out of the week, and trying to
devote the rest of my time to the program. The GPC got
me re-inspired and feeling like I was able to hit the
ground running again. I?m excited for the next
organizing program when I will be in a better place
and able to fully commit myself to the development of
the program, Communities United, and the movement.
Dan Horowitz de Garcia Reflection

Dan is a member of Bring the Ruckus and is an
organizer with Communities United. He was on the Bring
the Ruckus planning committee that coordinated BtR?s
involvement.

My original goals for wanting BtR members to come to
Atlanta were:

1. Have BtR members learn critical organizing skills.
2. Have other members see firsthand the work going on
in Georgia.
3. Get some help in building a local and doing the
political work.

With the inaugural GPC over, I believe these goals
were met and the program should be considered a
success. A local is not yet technically formed in
Atlanta since it takes 3 members. However, I believe
we?re close. The organizing collective of Communities
United is much stronger for the effort and a strong
collective will be necessary for the formation of a
local.
What Worked Well


Political education ? There are organizations around
the country that sponsor organizing programs like the
GPC. In looking at their programs I find they are
light on educational forums. That is, people do a lot
but there isn?t space to process what they are doing.
I am very happy that we made political education an
integral part of the program although it needs to be
more specifically targeted and go deeper into topic.

Getting the work done ? With this being a first time
it was easy for things to go massively wrong. Despite
the setbacks that happened, the team was able to get
back on track. Each of those who attended had done
personal work on privilege and white supremacy and I
feel that helped in the process. Many of the
organizations involved in Poor People?s Day commented
on how easy the team was to work with. In Atlanta,
white activists are looked upon with skepticism (with
good reason). The GPC team proved they would walk the
walk.

Highlighting the political importance of the South and
the work ? The two participants who came from out of
state had never been in the South before. It?s
possible to highlight the unique position of the South
in US history through dialog, but it?s totally
different to be here. To see the work, the obstacles,
the opportunities, the style, etc. of the region
firsthand makes a significant difference. I believe
having been here will have a positive effect on the
conversations we have at the national meeting.

Showed it is possible to organize to scale without
mass resources ? One of the great challenges we face
in organizing on criminal justice issues is how to
organize to scale quickly. There are 600,000 people on
the prison visitations lists, 59,000 people in prison,
and another 340,000 under some form of correctional
supervision in this state. That?s about 1 million
people. There is no way we will ever have enough money
to hire enough organizers to talk to them all. This
program showed that another organizing model is
possible.

Taught skills ? Participants did learn valuable
outreach skills. To be more accurate, participants
fully realized they knew how to do outreach and became
comfortable with it. From the organization side,
Communities United learned a lot about doing turnout
with family members.
What Could Have Been Better


Recruitment - I didn?t do as good a job on getting the
word out. Our goal for participation was 10 people and
we failed to meet that mark. I take personally
responsible for that failure. The timing of the event
was difficult, but I had enough lead time to work
around it. In addition, with the exception of me all
participants in the GPC were white. BtR made an effort
to recruit internally, and given the demographics of
the organization it makes sense that the members who
came would be white. I did not do an adequate job in
outreach to communities of color I have relationships
with. As with recruitment in general, I think this was
due to being personally overloaded and not addressing
it soon enough.

Organization of Work ? The preparation of the work
could have been better. The team spent a lot of time
figuring out how to approach the work. This could have
been done ahead of time. Of course, every campaign has
surprises and this was no exception. We made course
corrections as necessary. Still, the work could have
been divided up in a more efficient manner.

Clarity on BtR relationship ? Although I was clear
with the Communities United steering committee about
my relationship with Bring the Ruckus, there was still
confusion. Many steering committee members didn?t know
why folks came or how they heard about it. This tells
me how difficult it is for a cadre organization to
clarify its relationship to mass work. We cannot
overestimate how difficult and necessary this process
is. I would like for it to have a higher priority in
internal discussions.
Recommendations


? The GPC should be an ongoing program.
This recommendation fits best if the proposal to focus
on the South passes. However, even if it doesn?t BtR
should consider this recommendation. From this
experience, Communities United is instituting a
permanent organizer training, leadership development
program called the Justice Organizing Project. This
semi-annual project will be designed to teach
organizing skills, develop Georgia leadership of
family members & incarcerated people, and solidify
relationship with other criminal justice organizations
around the country. The work will be built around
summer and winter projects. The GPC would be a program
to recruit BtR members and potential members into the
organizing program. BtR would commit to have 90% of
members go through the program within 2 years. In
addition to expanding organizing skills and seeing the
work firsthand, BtR members would build relationships
with people all over the country, but specifically
with southern organizers.

? BtR should talk about the experience.
Members who have gone through the program should
promote the experience. This would not be a speaking
tour (let?s not go down that road again), but it would
be events that locals and proto-locals could use to
build around. One or two members from BtR could go to
a city with a local or proto-local and talk about the
experience, the strategy of anti-prison organizing, a
cadre?s relationship to mass work, etc. The local or
proto-local could then use the GPC as a way to talk to
potential members about BtR?s work even if they do not
come to Georgia. This also gives us something concrete
to talk about at conferences (like we did at Life
After Capitalism).



WHAT WE LEARNED/ NEED TO WORK ON FOR NEXT GPC.
These lessons learned were identified during the final
collective evaluation done at the end of the two-week
session.

o We need a clear idea of the GPC vision and goals for
participants.
o The point person needs to be fully devoted to GPC,
not stretched thin with other organizing projects.
o Our incorporation of theory and action was
beneficial.
o The organizing model for COMMUNITIES UNITED and
Fairness for Prisoners? Families needs to be more
clearly developed.
o We need to pay particular attention to preparation,
divide up tasks beforehand, provide maps for door
knocking by zip code.
o We need to provide space to go deeper into workshops
and discussions, have more discussions among the team.
o We need to have more conversations specifically
about organizing against the prison industrial
complex.
o Provide someone with shared identity not involved
with GPC to debrief with.
o Think more critically about the challenge of
bringing folks together who differ politically and
recruiting family members.
o Do more outreach to folks who are most affected
(participants were all white, young, educated).
o Participants need to have explicit experience in
dealing with privilege.
o Consider involving high school kids.
o Think critically about how to work with folks who
already consider themselves organizers and make GPC
attractive to and beneficial for them.
o Pay particular attention to taking leadership from
those most affected, not ?revolutionary chauvinists?
who claim to know the answers.
o Think about relationship between family
members/prison work and larger goals of revolution (be
wary of using people as a ?tool? for revolution).
o Continue to be flexible, this helped in dealing with
problems, scheduling conflicts that arose.
o Pay particular attention to skills improvement.
Sharpened and enhanced organizing skills the team
already possessed.
o We should have looked to the Steering Committee for
more direction.
o Steering Committee was not clear on the relationship
to BTR. It was confusing about how people relate to
the organizations and individuals. We need to hash
this out more and make the relationship more
transparent next time.
o Continue thinking about keeping GPC as a BTR project
and how to relate to mass organizations.


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