[Peace] Critical Research and Action Caucus (CRAAC!) will meet Tuesday, December 14th at 5:15pm in the Chapel at the University YMCA

[Karen Medina]

The Critical Research and Action Caucus (CRAAC!) will meet Tuesday,
December 14th at 5:15pm in the Chapel at the University YMCA, 1001
South Wright Street Champaign, Illinois

Selected Readings:

1. Doug McAdam, “Tactical Innovation and the Pace of Insurgency” in
American Sociological Review (Dec. 1983)v Available for download here:
McAdam_Tactical Innovation
http://craac.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/mcadam_tactical-innovation.pdf

2. Joe Burn’s, “Secondary Strikes are Primary to Labor’s Revival” in
Labor Notes (Nov. 4, 2010). Available online at:
http://labornotes.org/2010/10/secondary-strikes-are-primary-labor-revival.

3. “The New School Occupation: Perspectives on the Takeover of a
Building or, Why Do Student Organizers Bother to Get Out of Bed in the
Morning?” (2009) Available online at
http://www.scribd.com/doc/11562065/The-New-School-Occupation-Perspectives-on-the-Takeover-of-a-Building.
Pay particular attention to the final section entitled “Seven Points
on Occupation”.

This reading circle session will focus on a discussion of tactics, an
issue of critical important to the current student-labor movement on
this campus and beyond. Careful deployment of innovative and
well-organized tactical campaigns is critical to, amongst other
things, securing a tuition freeze, ensuring tuition waiver security,
and ensuring that the campus remains accessible to working people and
people of color.

Collectively we will address some of the following questions:

What are tactics?
How can specific tactics assist us in reaching our larger goals?
What tactics have we used in the past?
Which tactics are best in the current climate?
Do tactics need to be tied to demands?
To better facilitate our discussion, Kerry selected three brief
readings for us to collectively read. Before performing these
readings, you should also (re-)read Roberta Garner’s brief section on
“Tactics” in Contemporary Social Movements available for download
from:  http://craac.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/garner-1996-contemporary-social-movements.pdf
. Garner’s definition of tactics will provide us with a common
language with which to approach the other three readings.