Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Moving to Action – workplace organizing beyond recipes

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Friday, September 9, 2011

Moving to Action – workplace organizing beyond recipes

Click here to access article by S. Nappalos from Liam Fox: Irreverence Cafe.

Organizing is absolutely critical in the war against capitalism and for a just, peaceful world. Too often we read or hear people advise about the necessity of organizing, but a discussion of methods and evaluating various tactics and strategies is missing. Hence, I am really impressed with this article which supplies some of this missing discussion.

We need to move away from models of organizing by lecturing people about why we could rule this world and capitalism is horrible, or believing getting people agitated will automatically lead to organization because the workers are already radical. Instead we need to think about organizing as a relationship, a back and forth between a revolutionary(ies) and their coworkers in dialogue and common struggle.