09 July 2007

A New Activist Network?


Problem
: There is a disconnect between the will of the people of the United States of America and its government, if we are to believe various public opinion polls circulating today.
Problem: The ongoing complicated ménage among the press, our government, and business has stacked the deck against traditional models of mobilizing "people power."

A new multi-pronged, organized, and disciplined approach (not the Left's biggest strength since the days of the last war-time draft and civil rights protests!) can possibly overcome the obstacles that are in place in this new environment. I hope that some brainstorming can begin here about creating effective, coordinated responses to the Right Wing Noise Machine in order to enable We the People to assert our collective will.

In order to get the ball rolling, I have started this blog site. I have had some vague ideas, which I will list here. Nothing is written in stone; everything is potentially subject to the wisdom of any members who choose to participate.

Some thoughts:
People might self-select activities based on two over-arching functions: Issues and Tactics.

Issues could include any, all, or something different altogether (not an exhaustive list):

  • Rule of Law
  • Constitutional/Civil Rights
  • Impeachment
  • Labor/Trade
  • Universal Health Care/Environment
  • Torture/Unlawful Imprisonment
  • Voting Rights/Election Reform/Electoral College
  • Foreign Policy/War/Multi-lateralism

*Information/Reference/Fact-checking resources for Issues

Examples of Tactics (again, just for example... not an exhaustive list):

  • Demonstrations
  • Rapid-response Letter-writing/Telephone campaigns
  • Boycotts
  • Civil Disobedience
  • Education/Awareness
  • Advocacy

*Coordination among various organizations deploying respective tactics.

---Any/all thoughts and corrections are welcome.---

3 comments:

Jim White said...

Gordon,

Thanks for putting this together. I hope we are able to get some things going here.

Gordon said...

Hi Jim. Thank you for writing. I wonder if things will actually proceed here. Or if they do, what it will look like. I definitely need help. Got any ideas?

Jim White said...

Gordon,

It's a tough one. Organizing on the left is a bit of an oxymoron. I've ordered a copy of Rorty's book. Maybe I'll have more ideas after reading it. Until then, if we can just get a few more folks involved and start discussing the steps we are taking as individuals, maybe we can start heading toward some coordination.
Hang in there!