Power
What is Power? How does it work? Power is the ability to act. Power is not good or bad. It is how you use it and toward what end. Power unchecked or unaccountable can corrupt – it can also reveal… Power is not a zero sum game – there is not a limited amount. Power is not set, it is relational. People power has the ability to alter the relationship. Exercising our power consciously can manifest the outcomes we desire. There are different kinds of power: Power Over – that’s what the boss or state use Power With – horizontal organizing, that what we need to model and build Power Within – every single one of us has...
What a Direct Action Campaign Can Do
What a DA Campaign can do 2 main ways DA works Key Concepts Point a Spotlight Raise public awareness about an institution, program or injustice. Bring hidden wrongs to light. Example: Campaigns against WTO, IMF/World Bank; genetically engineered foods. Delegitimize Organizations, Institutions and Programs Withdraw consent from the functioning of unjust bodies, laws, programs. Interfere with their operations. Raise their social costs Examples: U.S. Civil Rights Movement, antinuclear activism, etc. Build a Movement Provide opportunities for people to engage in action, experience solidarity and support, take greater risks, deepen commitment. Examples: almost any powerful action. Educate and Inform: Both those in the movement and those who hear of actions: Almost every good action. Strengthen Voices of Reform It...
People Power
From winning concrete improvements in people’s lives to toppling dictators, people power is a method that works. Every successful social change movement in US history has had a key element of people power and mass direct action; abolition, women’s suffrage, workers, civil rights, anti-Viet Nam war, anti-nuclear, Central America solidarity, global justice, and other recent movements. It was in the heat of struggle by communities of color and poor and working white communities that people-power methods were developed in the US. But people power is more than just a set of civil-disobedience and direct-action tactics. It is a different understanding of power and a wide range of organizing and tactics based on that understanding. The conventional view of power sees some people holding power-the...
Liberation
“I have come to see that violence against other living things is oppression, just as I have come to see that oppression is violence”. Oppression Oppression is when anyone regardless of their race, gender, class, age etc imposes their will against another through acts that are harmful–physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually. This also plays out at a societal level where institutions use their power to exploit, deceive, enslave or imprison. To me all of these are an abuse of power. Recognizing our own oppressive behaviors and the oppressive behaviors in our community institutions is an important first step in developing into healthy, freer individuals and communities. Developing practices that liberate can build strong and powerful communities. Working toward the...
Interest
Interest is something that benefits a person or group or institution or community. Self-interest is a way to cross boundaries. Not everyone has the same interests and our interests change over time We need to identify our interests and our opponent’s interests. Our problems are usually a result of our opponents’, interests. The process of achieving a solution to our problems is by making our problems their problems, or said another way, making our interests their interests. To do this we need to build an organization that has the power to act. In the workplace or community we have a problem that is not being addressed… Problem Solution They don’tknow about our problems Inform Them Bad/IncompetentManagers/Leaders Change managers/trainthem...
