An organized community. A radical movement. Just peace.
Professor Juan De Lara, asked pointedly, "How do we turn a liberal backlash into a radical movement for abolition?"
I answered, but he didn't like my answer. As in, literally he did not push like on my comment. I don't know whether he agrees or not. My answer was, organizing. And I expanded into a quick summary of my version of organizing. It has me thinking, though, because he didn't push the button. And then today, I found this quote by Cesar Chavez.
"The quote below is from him, just updated words to make it more inclusive," says his grandson, Alex Chavez:
Cesar Chavez on organizing. Picket lines. More human.
How do we translate this to marches on the streets? How do we make the beautiful thing which makes us all human have that kind of power? Community organizing versus worker organizing. Is the principle the same? And if so, what's the similar process?
Is this the way to the radical movement?
For me, the picket line, started in 2001. I saw anti-war rallies and marches fully formed in 2003, and I refused to join a line until 2006. But my line was smaller because I wasn't anti-war, I was pro-peace. And I had young relatives who had joined the military. I understood their impulse. But they had signed up to do the thing that the anti-war movement was protesting. The difference was being anti-company versus pro good job. Maybe.
But for sure, theoretically, I dropped my patriotism, unconscious war machine and walked off the flag, where everyone could see. I worked very hard to not be anti-company. There was no grand peace strike. A few folks saw me. I didn't even register a blip on the scale of things. I was attacked anyway. Marginalized. Until now a decade later, I am proven right. But back then, I did find some people doing the same, some bigger and better, others small and consciously and with every fiber of their being.
I have been organizing ever since.
Anyway, I did it for Peace. I walk the picket line most days. I am more human because of it.
I am deeply committed because I believe that is the core thing. I want to walk in peace, live in peace. Just peace. I want all of that for all of us. I want the good job.
I pay my dues, literally and figuratively. I negotiate where I can, where they let me in the room, and often, when they don't. I do my small part, knowing I have peace brothers and sisters, doing their part, as well.
Which brings us back to the essential question of liberal backlash, symbolized by the marches and actions. Women's March, Anti-Travel Ban, March for Science, March for Our Lives, there may be others, I missed. And now, Families Belong Together which may or may not shift into the rightful call to Abolish ICE and all its monstrous impacts, that Professor De Lara proposes.
I go to marches to organize.
In essence, those marches are the picket line. But they are so brief. And convenient. On a Saturday. After breakfast. With friends. Bottles of water. Lunch or dinner afterwards. For the most part, going home to a comfortable bed and a refrigerator and cupboards with food. Safe zones of outrage. With no clear demands. No unified course of action to fix the root causes of whatever the thing is.
There was a reason they dismantled those Occupy camps. It was a picket line. It was getting longer. The commitment was getting deeper. People were becoming more human.
And here we are again.
It should not take desperation, hunger, extreme discomfort, fear and nor a tyrant, for folks to see the injustice of the bad job we have, as a whole, and realize the power of numbers. But it does. That has to stop.
While the second World War was still being waged, Franklin D. Roosevelt said, "It is our duty now to begin to lay the plans and determine the strategy for the winning of a lasting peace and the establishment of an American standard of living higher than ever before known. We cannot be content, no matter how high that general standard of living may be, if some fraction of our people—whether it be one-third or one-fifth or one-tenth—is ill-fed, ill-clothed, ill-housed, and insecure." I would extend that mission to the world. Because we are too intertwined to think and act otherwise.
Yes, folks are marching now. The daily assaults on decency is getting us to march. But it's reacting to a one-off thing day-to-day, month-to-month. Reacting keeps us off, putting out fires, moving from one thing to another. Scrambling and occupied by issue after issue. Spread thin and seemingly disparate and unconnected constituencies. So many do not notice the way the issues are tied together inextricably because it's the first time they've seen the thing - the injustice, the humanity, the outrageous assault on certain groups. They've been insulated. Now they're insulted. Some feel guilty they never saw it before. Some are self-righteous and confident that now that they're here, the thing will be solved. (I speak from humbling experience.)
What we need is unity. And long picket lines. Unending. Through hot summer days, snowy winter nights, and everything in between. We need stewards who come from and return to the line after they negotiated with the bosses. Or gotten the bosses fired and replace with those who will negotiate in good faith and real results.
Cesar Chavez knew the workers needed a union. We need that now.
The bosses don't want us to know our power. They don't want us to know our demands can be met. They don't want us to know our demands are just. They don't want us to believe that lasting peace is inevitable.
I will see you on the metaphoric and literal, picket line. And we must ask for it all. Radical and just peace. And, on comprehensive immigration reform, let's start with the abolition of ICE.
I answered, but he didn't like my answer. As in, literally he did not push like on my comment. I don't know whether he agrees or not. My answer was, organizing. And I expanded into a quick summary of my version of organizing. It has me thinking, though, because he didn't push the button. And then today, I found this quote by Cesar Chavez.
"The quote below is from him, just updated words to make it more inclusive," says his grandson, Alex Chavez:
“The picket line is the best place to train organizers. One day on the picket line is where a person makes their commitment. The longer on the picket line, the stronger the commitment. A lot of workers think they make their commitment by walking off the job when nobody sees them. But you get a worker to walk off the field when his boss is watching and, in front of the other workers, throw down their tools and march right to the picket line, that is the worker who makes our strike. The picket line is a beautiful thing because it makes a worker more human.”
Cesar Chavez on organizing. Picket lines. More human.
How do we translate this to marches on the streets? How do we make the beautiful thing which makes us all human have that kind of power? Community organizing versus worker organizing. Is the principle the same? And if so, what's the similar process?
Is this the way to the radical movement?
For me, the picket line, started in 2001. I saw anti-war rallies and marches fully formed in 2003, and I refused to join a line until 2006. But my line was smaller because I wasn't anti-war, I was pro-peace. And I had young relatives who had joined the military. I understood their impulse. But they had signed up to do the thing that the anti-war movement was protesting. The difference was being anti-company versus pro good job. Maybe.But for sure, theoretically, I dropped my patriotism, unconscious war machine and walked off the flag, where everyone could see. I worked very hard to not be anti-company. There was no grand peace strike. A few folks saw me. I didn't even register a blip on the scale of things. I was attacked anyway. Marginalized. Until now a decade later, I am proven right. But back then, I did find some people doing the same, some bigger and better, others small and consciously and with every fiber of their being.
I have been organizing ever since.
Anyway, I did it for Peace. I walk the picket line most days. I am more human because of it.
I am deeply committed because I believe that is the core thing. I want to walk in peace, live in peace. Just peace. I want all of that for all of us. I want the good job.
I pay my dues, literally and figuratively. I negotiate where I can, where they let me in the room, and often, when they don't. I do my small part, knowing I have peace brothers and sisters, doing their part, as well.
Which brings us back to the essential question of liberal backlash, symbolized by the marches and actions. Women's March, Anti-Travel Ban, March for Science, March for Our Lives, there may be others, I missed. And now, Families Belong Together which may or may not shift into the rightful call to Abolish ICE and all its monstrous impacts, that Professor De Lara proposes.
I go to marches to organize.
In essence, those marches are the picket line. But they are so brief. And convenient. On a Saturday. After breakfast. With friends. Bottles of water. Lunch or dinner afterwards. For the most part, going home to a comfortable bed and a refrigerator and cupboards with food. Safe zones of outrage. With no clear demands. No unified course of action to fix the root causes of whatever the thing is.
There was a reason they dismantled those Occupy camps. It was a picket line. It was getting longer. The commitment was getting deeper. People were becoming more human.
And here we are again.
It should not take desperation, hunger, extreme discomfort, fear and nor a tyrant, for folks to see the injustice of the bad job we have, as a whole, and realize the power of numbers. But it does. That has to stop.
While the second World War was still being waged, Franklin D. Roosevelt said, "It is our duty now to begin to lay the plans and determine the strategy for the winning of a lasting peace and the establishment of an American standard of living higher than ever before known. We cannot be content, no matter how high that general standard of living may be, if some fraction of our people—whether it be one-third or one-fifth or one-tenth—is ill-fed, ill-clothed, ill-housed, and insecure." I would extend that mission to the world. Because we are too intertwined to think and act otherwise.
Yes, folks are marching now. The daily assaults on decency is getting us to march. But it's reacting to a one-off thing day-to-day, month-to-month. Reacting keeps us off, putting out fires, moving from one thing to another. Scrambling and occupied by issue after issue. Spread thin and seemingly disparate and unconnected constituencies. So many do not notice the way the issues are tied together inextricably because it's the first time they've seen the thing - the injustice, the humanity, the outrageous assault on certain groups. They've been insulated. Now they're insulted. Some feel guilty they never saw it before. Some are self-righteous and confident that now that they're here, the thing will be solved. (I speak from humbling experience.)
What we need is unity. And long picket lines. Unending. Through hot summer days, snowy winter nights, and everything in between. We need stewards who come from and return to the line after they negotiated with the bosses. Or gotten the bosses fired and replace with those who will negotiate in good faith and real results.
Cesar Chavez knew the workers needed a union. We need that now.
The bosses don't want us to know our power. They don't want us to know our demands can be met. They don't want us to know our demands are just. They don't want us to believe that lasting peace is inevitable.
I will see you on the metaphoric and literal, picket line. And we must ask for it all. Radical and just peace. And, on comprehensive immigration reform, let's start with the abolition of ICE.
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