Learning From Arnie Graf

Last week Arnie Graf, Co-Director of the IAF (Saul Alinsky’s famous school of organising), spoke at a TSSA meeting to share some of his organising experiences. He’s in the UK working for the Labour leadership to bring some much needed organising expertise. Here are some insights and links that he shared.

Power comes from four places:

1. Status – social position, organisational title, hereditary cultural titles, age
2. Wealth
3. Organised people – consistently and persistently
4. Collective resource – the financial clout of many small amounts brought together

You should only ever take an action in order to get a certain reaction. Otherwise all you’re doing is activity. In the most successful cases, the other side’s reaction does the organising for you by demonstrating precisely what you’re organising against. Your words and actions might not persuade people of your views – but the way that your opposition reacts to it can. For example, when Martin Luther King Jr choose to march in Salem, Alabama – it was a conscious choice to go there rather than Mississippi, Georgia or Virginia. The local Sheriff was known for his extreme racism and use of violence. King expected the Sheriff to over-react, as he went on to do. The images that emerged from the bloody police brutality forced passive supporters of Civil Rights across the country to become active supporters as they could no longer claim ‘I know racism is a problem, but it isn’t that bad’.

I learned about a new hero – James Farmer, one of the founders of CORE, a key organisation in the Civil Rights movement. Here’s an interview with him in 1965,

He also recommended some reading and viewing:

‘Going Public‘ – a book about community organising which he described as a ‘must read’ for any campaigner.

‘The Great Debaters‘ – a movie about a debate coach, played by Denzel Washington, at a historically black college to place his team on equal footing with whites in the American South during the 1930s.

Clay Shirky Against SOPA

Great TED talk.

h/t Rich Hawkins

Link Loving 21.01.12

• What if Citizens United actually united citizens? Ilyse Hogue.
• Greenpeace launches it’s first Digital Mobilisation Skill Share. So awesome.
• Triangulation on immigration, welfare state and the deficit doesn’t work. Sunny Hundal.
• The Iron Lady’s failed mid-career transition. Herminia Ibarra.
• Google adds UK train routes to its Maps service. Jamie Andrews.
• A Republican legistlator is introducing a publicly-owned bank in the state of Virginia – turns out that Socialist ideas are thriving in rural red America. John Cranston.
• Greedy Lying Bastards. The film that does what it says on the tin and calls out the oil industry .
• NASA finds 2011 ninth-warmest year on record.

Thatcher: The Downing Street Years

Fascinating viewing.

New Organizing Institute – New Campaign Resources

If you’ve not used NOI’s Organizer Toolbox – you’re missing out. It contains just about every resource you might want for your organizing campaign. Now – it also has:

• Coaching 101
• Using Needs Assessment
• The Art of Being an Upfront Trainer
• The Art of Facilitating
• Online Theory of Change
• Intro to Online Organizing
• Tips for Email Writing

Nice work people, nice work.

People Power

Full story here.

Link Loving 20.01.12

• The London Stock Exchange is occupied by coal. Carbon Tracker.
• Today was the largest ‘Anonymous’ attack on corporate and government websites, including the FBI. Brian Hayes.
• Hate splitting bills after dinner? Here’s your solution.
• Sustainable Development Goals – a useful outcome from Rio+20? Alex Evans and David Steven.
• The Community Lover’s Guide to the Universe.

Link Loving 19.01.12

• The Rockwood Institute newsletters are my favourite. Read this wonderful update from Akaya Windwood.
• Morality is relative, but not subjective. Samantha Eliza Benten.
• Josh Kahn Russell celebrates a big victory for the US climate movement.
• 2012’s most idiotic punditry so far is spotted by Natalya Sverjensky.
• Are you following @Sweden yet? David Bosco explains why you should.
• What wise leaders always follow. Prasad Kaipa.
• Seth Godin has some fantastic leadership advice – learning how not to do it from Congress.

Inequality Within The G20

Cross-posted from Global Dashboard

As the Occupy movement gets ready to hit the slopes of Davos, a new Oxfam report reveals that inequality is growing in almost all G20 countries.

Russia, China, Japan and South Africa have seen the largest gaps between rich and poor emerge over the last 20 years, with only South Korea succeeding in reducing inequality amongst high-income countries. The figures suggest that by reducing inequality in Brazil and Mexico to levels seen in Indonesia (close to the G20 median), the number of people in poverty would fall by 90 per cent over the next decade.

The World Economic Forum last week listed stark inequality as top global risk.

The data also reveals that unlike the G20, in most low-income countries, inequality is falling, and levels of inequality are converging towards those of the G20. Perhaps time to revisit that idea of Millennium Consumption Goals? Or set up The Spirit Level reading groups in the Swiss mountains?

Link Loving 18.01.12

• Co-operative members massively outnumber shareholders, according to a Co-operative Group report. Now that could be interesting. Manchester Evening News.
• The campaign to get MLK Day recognised by the US government. Lindesay Irvine and Jim Powell.
• There are holograms at Luton airport and they freak me out a little. Ross Falconer.
• Morocco’s silent revolution. Valentina Bartolucci.
• An ardent plea to our better angels. Lew Feldstein.
• A student rejects Oxford saying ‘”It was while I was at interview that I finally noticed that subjecting myself to the judgement of an institution which I fundamentally disagreed with was bizarre.’