Open Left

No people in the streets (4.00 / 4)

Because there exists no organization (or set of local organizations) to mobilize them.  And no clear target to mobilize against.  And no clear "we" to come together to speak to power.

Of course it could "happen."  Sometimes things do "happen."

Or existing organizations could be used for new purposes.  

As Paul has pointed out, the "depression" is not new news for many of the most oppressed people in our country.  18% unemployment for many of them would be a luxury.  This silence in the face of employment genocide has been going on for a long time.


--Aaron Schutz (Core Dilemmas of Community Organizing)

---

by: educationaction @ Sun Jul 05, 2009 at 21:01:22 PM CDT

[ Parent | ]

we still have labor unions and community groups (0.00 / 0)

what i would strongly suggest is that the next time people are interested in volunteering for a democratic campaign or giving money to one or otherwise supporting electoral politics that is not ready to be fully supported right now, that they give at least half, if not all, of what they were planning to give (whether in labor or in cash) to labor unions.  We need social institutions that can mobilise, that can go beyond compeltely pragmatic calculations to involve an ethos of justice, and which can focus on greater ends.

A great example is the california anti-gay marriage prop - if the millions that had been invested in that had gone into supporting lgbt community organisations, it would have laid the groundwork for a groundswell on that issue.  Not that that's not happening anyway and that the high profile campaign doesn't have any effects in our media-controlled and electorally controlled culture - I just would like to see a different culture AS WELL AS gay marriage legalised :)

And so forth on other issues...if you want single player health care, support people who believe in single payer health care!  

---

by: dr anonymous @ Tue Jul 07, 2009 at 04:50:18 AM CDT

[ Parent | ]