Organizing for Power
The content of this website is based on the notes I use for training and split into “building blocks for change,” each with analysis, tools, and resources to help you apply these concepts to your organizing work. They reflect lessons from over 30 years of organizing with the student, environmental, labor, immigrant, anti-war and global justice grassroots...
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 power to act. For some this is also spirit – a willingness to be fully alive, present and participating as an agent of change. Power Under – when we give up...
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 greater good, having a generosity of spirit and using timely and clear communication while restraining those parts of ourselves that want to act out or behave badly is key. It means...
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 It’s in the companies/govinterest to have these problems Change their interests Their Interests We Can Our Interests Money Cost Money Higher Wages Image Tarnish/Destroy Image Respect Doing Business Disrupt Business Job...
Strategy & Campaigns...
Strategy is your plan to win. Strategy is choosing the ground on which to engage the enemy Strategy means: Looking at the big picture Knowing who has the power to make the decision. Concentrating the right resources in the right place(s) at the right time(s) In Ancient Greece… Strategos = General Tacticas = Foot Soldiers Strategic campaigns are an important part of building a movement. They focus our energy on the forces that need to be changed, and can often result in some victory (big or small) or mitigation of damage. These efforts require participation and creativity. As we build power through campaigns, we model what can happen when we work together inspiring others and igniting imaginations that feed more and more organizing. The momentum of success attracts people who in general want to be aligned with those they believe have power. When we organize campaigns we build momentum...
Organizing
The process of change has two fundamental strategies. One is dismantling structures of oppression while the second is creating structures of liberation. If we don’t have something to replace what we take down, we will lose the confidence of those we are trying to wake up. This process of waking up and engaging in consciously liberating action is when we feel most alive and inspired and connected. Whatever issue is a person’s point of entry, anyone who takes on a struggle and organizes goes through a transformative process in which the world is never the same again. It is the experience of accessing one’s own power and the power of our collective actions. It is the understanding and experience that you don’t have to just obey or believe in that external authority – be it parent, teacher, priest, cop, coach etc; – that you can trust yourself and your...
Action
The Art & Science of Actions: Shutting Things Down to Open Things Up Change is about transformation – personal and political – at an individual, group, community, institutional, national, or international level. I have chosen direct action as my primary strategy for change because it is more effective that any other strategy I have used. It is a rapidly and radically transforming process that has had proven success over the ages. So much of organizing has to do with SPACE — physical, emotional, mental and spiritual space. We can reclaim it, transform it, occupy it, liberate it, shut it down, open it up, shift it or just be present in it. It is the art of knowing when and where to take it, to move into it or through it, then acting without hesitation, in that moment, because you know that if you do not do it now, the...
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Resources
This website is full of resources for organizers, activists, students, journalists, or anyone trying to learn about creating positive social change. The resources are broken up into section corresponding with the Building Blocks of Change, along with some others. Action Planning Resources: tools and resources for planning actions, including tactics, affinity groups, legal support, health, media, communications, direct action manuals, and training agendas Action Planning Template: a template for planning effective actions Anti-Oppression Resources: articles, exercises, tools, and links to trainers groups Campaign Planning: overview of how to plan a direct action campaign Campaign Planning Tools: a variety of power maps for strategizing Campaign Planning Worksheet: use this to plan...
RECENT FROM History
Movement History
This section contains historical documents from past campaigns and mobilizations, as well as pages with stories and resources from various campaigns I’ve been part of, including pages dedicated to Abbie Hoffman, Common Ground, and Camp Casey. You will find action agreements, direct action manuals, pictures, articles, reflections, and more; some organized by topic, some by mobilization, and some in multiple places where it makes sense. The ability to evolve is necessary to the work of any social movement, and this ability rests both in paying attention in the present and in knowing our history. Each generation has a chance to make things different, better, more just. But this has never happened without struggle. ...
RECENT FROM Media
Media
A compilation of select writings, articles, videos, photos, and slideshows by or about Lisa Fithian and the campaigns and mobilizations she’s worked on. Writings by Lisa Writings About Lisa Photos Videos Slideshows Lisa’s Right Wing Fan Club Steal This Book – by Abbie Hoffman with an introduction by Lisa What Lies Beneath: Katrina, Race, And The State Of The Nation – with chapter author by Sue Hilderbrand, Scott Crow and Lisa Fithian. Sexism, Ego’s and Lies: Sometimes you Wake Up and Things Aren’t Different by Lisa Fithian on FBI information Lessons from a Summit Hopper, an open letter to the direct action community in advance of the Miami FTAA...
Rocking for Peace for 50 Years!
It is amazing for me to see grassroots community institutions like the Washington Peace Center not only survive – but thrive for 50 years! WPC holds a special place in my heart. I served as a coordinator there from 1987-1994 when I left to join the labor movement. I learned so much here about building organization, coalitions and movement building as we worked to build an anti-racist, multi-cultural organization in the Nation’s Capitol. I am so proud of the Washington Peace Center and it’s terrific staff including Sonia Silbert and Dany Sigwalt! It was wonderful to see so many old friends and new singing, eating, sharing stories and dancing the night away. Here are links to photos and...
Justice for Janitors Makes History!
On April 29, the Kalmanovitz Initiative at Georgetown University launch their digital history project on the DC Justice for Janitors Campaign. Justice for Janitors changed the lives of thousands of people and set a new model for winning in the labor movement. Since 2010, at Georgetown we’ve been collecting the stories of DC Justice for Janitors—union activists, politicians, employers, community leaders, and janitors themselves. I played a fairly significant role in organizing the actions and the bridge blockades. I have worked on many a janitor campaign since include Denver, LA, Boston and Houston. I learned so much from the janitors and organizers in this work and in many ways it has helped me build the template for what...
The Intersections of Oppression
I love going through my files. I am always finding cool things. I happened upon this recently and am only now getting to post it. This is a great graphic image that illustrated what happens at the intersection of the major oppressive systems. This is from the National Organizers Alliance, NOA Gathering V at Sonoma State University in CA during July of 2001. Doesn’t this just about sum it up? ...
2013 – So far I am FREE!
YES – as of my most recent flights to Chicago to do trainings around school closings and then to NY where I facilitated an Action LAB for Occupy and another strategy session with youth on student debt and Sallie Mae – I was able to print out my boarding pass and fly free of security, searches and escorts. For all of 2012 Homeland Security had me on their terrorist watch list. I could not print my boarding pass but had to go to the ticket agent who then had to go through a 45-60 min process on the phone with Homeland Security to get clearance for me to fly. I then had to be searched fully– 4 SSSS’s...
Stop the Frack Attack
posted on: Mar 9, 2013 | author: organizingforpower
I have done lots of different creative tactics over the years, but this action offered a chance to do something new – we replicated an EARTHQUAKE to dramatize what is happening in Texas because of fracking! In March, I lead an Organizing for Power Training at the Stop the Frack Attack Summit in Dallas Texas which culminated with an action at the State Capitol in Austin, TX on Monday while the Legislature was in session. In preparation of the event I was learning more about fracking in TX and how in Dallas they were literally fracking in public parks and schools. Areas with a lot of sand were being decimated by the greed for sand in the fracking process, just like the need for waters – millions of gallons needed to frack one well! I looked in on a hearing dealing with fracking and the Senators were giddy with glee about...
Rebecca Tarbotton, Presenté
posted on: Dec 30, 2012 | author: organizingforpower
I carry such sadness these days with the loss of Becky Tarbotton, an emerging, visionary, bold and charismatic leader serving as the Executive Director of the Rainforest Action Network. These tragedies are hard to bear. Why, how, it makes no sense. Just a freak accident that leaves us all weighed down in sorrow. I say “we” because Becky was core to a large extended community and family. We will all find ways to carry on with her passionate vision, being inspired by her dedication to justice. Becky was working hard to build bridges between movements. She always kept focus on the root causes and honoring the wisdom of indigenous and other impacted communities in creating resistance and solutions to the oppression and exploitation they face. Becky did not just fight, she also won. Bringing some justice where there was none. Goddess why did you take this woman from us? ...
Michigan – Awakening the Sleeping Giant
posted on: Dec 16, 2012 | author: organizingforpower
I was pulled from my “sabbatical” in Austin when I got a phone call from Bob King’s office at the United Auto Workers. They said “ We are in an emergency and we broke the emergency glass and your name came out…can you please come help?” I have a long history working with the UAW and Bob King’s team and this was clearly a big fight so it was pretty hard to say NO. I even knew this was likely a losing battle, but I took my own advice when fighting a big fight – Let’s give ’em hell as we go down! And that is what we did! Gov. Snyder made it easy through his dishonesty, his railroading tactics and his anti-democratic actions like locking people out of the Capitol. A legal injunction declaring it unconstitutional opened the doors but not their minds. I arrived this day and...
My talk with Cornel West & Lize Mogel @ MICA...
posted on: Sep 22, 2012 | author: organizingforpower
Check this out! MICA, the Maryland Institute College of Art, and the ACLU hosted this event where I spoke with Cornell West and artist Lize Mogel. Thanks to Ingrid B for making it happen. It turned out to be an awesome event and I am so glad that we can film this stuff and share! Lize’s slide show was spot on, Cornell was brilliant as usual and I did pretty well too! Hope you...