[Peace-discuss] When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder?

[John W.]

On Mon, Aug 24, 2009 at 9:53 PM, LAURIE SOLOMON <LAURIE at advancenet.net>wrote:

>  It is interesting a) how you picked one of the reasons I gave to focus
> on, b) which reason you selected, and c) what you selected to give as a
> response. Leading free-thinking people is for sure hard but not impossible;
> but  being free-thinking is not the same as undisciplined self-centered.
> Leading the latter and getting them to engage in a cooperative enterprise
> involving hard mundane work over a long duration is next to impossible given
> that everyone is  focused on  “doing their own thing” and not accepting
> leadership of anyone.  I have no idea what anyone else’s experiences have
> been; but those are mine.  I do not have the time, energy, or resources to
> spend changing peoples minds who are dead set on achieving their own
> personal goals and attending to collective goals only in so far as they are
> in line with their individual personal goals or who are not into doing any
> detailed advance or systematic  long range planning.
>
> You may be able to draw cats to what cats want; but first one has to know
> and be sure of what the cats want.  I make no such claims, although you seem
> to.
>

Speaking as one who organized the campaign for Citizen Police Review Boards
in this community, I can say that members of this list were crucial to the
effort.  Ricky Baldwin was absolutely indispensable; Stuart Levy was deeply
involved; Mort Brussel gave of his energy and wisdom.  And of course there
were others.  I hope I'm not leaving out any current readers of this list.
If I have, I deeply apologize.

We spent virtually no time arguing points of ideology, and none jockeying
for "power".  There were minor disagreements over strategy and tactics, but
they were resolved amicably.  There's no doubt that some individuals did
more of the behind-the-scenes "grunt work", while others limited their
participation to speaking out at city council meetings.  Both forms of
participation were necessary.  All in all, though we didn't get everything
we wanted, it was an extremely valuable lesson in community organizing
around a specific goal upon which we were all in agreement.

In like manner, Carl seems to have organized a small but faithful cadre
around his weekly UPTV show(s).  They have their disagreements on air and in
life, of course, but lively discussion of the issues is the very purpose of
the shows as I understand them.

And of course there are the now-monthly Peace demonstrations, which have
been going on since 2001.  Nor have I forgotten the successful campaign for
a living wage, or the vibrant and active CU Citizens for Peace and Justice
which meets weekly on Saturday afternoons.

So I don't see community organizing as so horrendouly difficult, though it
does have a price.  Once the 'collective goal' is clearly identified, those
who are passionate about that goal will give of their time and energy and
talent.  Those who are uninterested will decline to participate.  What
surprised me most about the campaign for Citizen Police Review Boards was
how FEW genuinely committed individuals are actually necessary to bring
about some sort of meaningful change in a local community.

John Wason




>  *From:* peace-discuss-bounces at lists.chambana.net [mailto:
> peace-discuss-bounces at lists.chambana.net] *On Behalf Of *E. Wayne Johnson
> *Sent:* Monday, August 24, 2009 5:27 PM
> *To:* LAURIE SOLOMON
> *Cc:* 'Morton K. Brussel'; 'Peace-discuss'
> *Subject:* Re: [Peace-discuss] When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder?
>
>
>
> This is disappointing, Laurie.  I was hoping you would take the challenge
> and run with it.
>
> Leading any sort of free-thinking people is sure enough like herding cats,
> hence the tendency toward more authoritarianism, more dumbing down,
> more bread and circuses, and more admonitions to "not think too much",
> since
> a dumbed down, unthinking, amusement-oriented, submissive population is
> much
> easier to control.
>
> Ya cant drive cats.  But you can draw them to what cats want.
>
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