SS STIR IT UP Lessons in Community Organizing and Advocacy Rinku Sen JOSSEY: BASS A Wiley Imprint ‘ww josseybass comSS CHAPTER ONE. NEW REALITIES, INTEGRATED STRATEGIES [ites taitpower our oanizing has tobe grounded ina lant ‘mon unde-standing of how the world works. Because our world has expanded and changes at a rapid pace, we can easly become overwhelmed by the scale and character ofthe change taking place around us. But our analysis of the work pro- vides more than background for our work, more than an intresting discussion ‘very once ina while. It provides an evaluative benchmark against which to mea- sure the effeciveness of and need for our particular organizing program. ‘This chapter is about what I consider the central political and economic trends we need to take into account while we do our work Tn the United States ‘orl, three tends in particular are relevant to every progressive group: he resur- sence of comervative movements and the power gained by such movernents in the United Siates since the early 1970s; the character and organization of the new economy whichis distinguished by the rising use of neoliberal policies and contingent workers; and the continued, unyielding role of racism and sexism in the organization of society. The prominence and stubbornness of these three aspect of lien the United States, and globally, have many implications for our ‘work. Fit, even local onganizing is more likely to make a postive, long-term con- tribution if itaddresses ideological questions while building a strong and active base among tke people most affected bythe trends Ilised above. The mest impor- ‘ant goals increasing our organizing to haild new constituencies of progressiveséritup activists among people in the most desperate straits. Such direct action organiz- ing needs to be accompanied by substantial research and media capacity—intel- lectual resources, Our daily work wil be stronger if we revive the roe of analysis and ideology development in our organizations. Second, our inercasedincllec- tual capacity should allow usto reframe key debates and influence public opinion. ‘We can then take on issues that have not been traditionally popular, edgier issues ‘that challenge the fundamental hierarchies of society. Third, we need to be able to build organizations andl contribute to social movements simultaneously. “Many aspects of our current situation are not entirely new, jst ag many inn vations in our organizing have been used before. But enough has changed in the ‘world since the progressive mass movements of the 1960s and 1970s to warrant cxamination and shift in our organizing practice. Certainly, there has always been 4 powerful rghe wing in this country, and modern capitals was built on the backs of women, immigrants, and men of color. However, the rapid pace of techno- logical innovation and the globalization of US.style capitalism have made the world simultaneously larger and smaller. People experience the results of a shrink- ing safety net, religious fimdamentalism, and racial supremacy regardless of where they live. Those who make decisions about our lives enjoy a further reach and ‘more protection than they have in several generations. The New Right hasinglu- ‘enced public opinion away from racial, gender, and economic justice; it has essen- tially cajoled or forced people to vote and act against their own values and scifsinterest. For example, legal immigrants frequently support measures limiting access to public services for undocumented immigrants, only to find themselves next in ine for the chopping block. Low-wage workers might support forcing wel- fare recipients to work, but their working creates increased competition for low= ‘wage jobs and drives wages down farther Possibly it has always been true that progressive strategies need to be ascom- plex and far-reaching as our conditions and opposition. I so, progressives have often failed to learn from previous movements. The inability oF unwillingnss to adress ideology and organizing simultanconsly, for example, weakened @ numn- ber of potentially progressive movements—labor, civil rights, community orga- nizing, identity polities, and feminism—and undermined the possibilty of sustaining power for distranchised communities, ‘This chapter is organized into four sections. Initially I explore the seope and character of the conservative resurgence, the new economy, and the een- ‘tality of race and gender in contemporary institutions. In each section, I out line the implications for our organizing. Finally, I describe the characteristics of ‘ffective organizing for economic and social iberation; these characteristics are the focus of the remaining chapters.New Reais, Integrated Suatagies 3 The New Conservative Infrastructure With the Goldwater for President campaign in 1964, US. conservatives feeling that they had been losing ground since the New Deal, launched a three-decede plan to regain control ofthe public imagination and insinations (Hardisy, 1999), This plan had three goals—the return to traditional family structures, the reser vation of white supremacy in U.S, culture, and the reduction of government's re in redisuibuting wealth and controling capital coupled with an increase in its mil- itary role around the world and at home. From the late 1960s to the mid-1980s, the New Right prepared to expand the constituency that would rebel against the agains made by liberals and progressives since the 1980s, Building a New Infrastructure Conservatives greatly expanded their existing institutions and built new ones, including think tanks, media outlets, philanthropic foundations, and grassroots organizations; these instnations added up to an effective new infrastructure. Think tanks form the intellectual base of this infrastructure, and they far outstrip their liberal counterparts in resources and sheer production. ‘The Heritage Foundation, for example, was founded in 1973 with a grant of $250,000 and is now Wash= ington’s largest think tank, with an annual budget over §23 million and the ati ity to produce intellectual resources from books to legislative briefing packets (Heritage Foundation website: wwwheritage.org/about; these publications are delivered to hundreds of policymakers and thousands of reporters nationvile and internationally. Heritage played a key role in reducing the power of federal civil rights laws and affirmative action and developed the plan that became Newt Gingrich’s "Contract with America.” It made stars of such people as Ward nerly (leader of the Proposition 209 attack on affirmative action in California), Ron Unz (sponsor of California’s ballot initiative outlawing bilingual educa tion), and Charles Murray, author of The Bell Gree, whose pseudo-scientfc the ois linking race intelligence, and poverty have been widely discredited. Heritage is joined by other, including the American Enterprise Institute, the Manhattan Institute, the Hoover Institution, and the Cato Institute, almost all of them with budgets exceeding $20 million Examples of conservative interconnections are numerous: trustees and advis- rs of think tanks are officers of the largest corporations; high-profile people go back and forth between government positions and think-tank fellowships; the net- ‘working at conferences, congressional hearings, and social evens is continuovs,seritup “The Enron scandal perfetlyiutrated the depth ofthis cros-erilzation of eco nomic and political interests, Even the mainstream press qustioned the conflict of interest implied by the fac that the chairman of the Manhattan Instiute was a top executive at Alliance Capital Management, a Wall Sueet investment frm ‘that repeatedly got contracts fom Florida Governor Jeb Bush, despite the fact that it invested Florida’s pension money in plummeting Enron stocks for eighteen onthe and in the proces lost $300 milion of pensioner’ money (Lyte and Horvitz, 2002}. That same Aliance executive, Roger Hertog, was also onthe board ‘of uustees of che American Enterprise Institute. Through the overarching Coun- ‘lfor National Policy, an organization shrouded in secrecy, brads of media onga- nizations, key congresional figures, conservative ideologues, and wealthy conservative donors craft strategy thee times a year (Ambinder, 2002) “The New Right’ activist groups have also built large voting constituencies and lobby operations, as well as their own rescarch and public poliy institutes. ‘These include Concerned Women for America, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (BAIR, the Christian Coalition, the Farily Research Coun- cil, and the Promise Keepers, The Christian Coalition has a huge voter base and dominates the Republican Party in atleast eighteen sates (Conger, 2002 Concerned Women for America Christian fundamentalist group, considers sell the largest public policy women's organization in the county (htp://wwwowa corg/about asp). We cannot afford to underestimate the power and influence these institutions wield atthe top levels of government and busines in virally every policy arena, domestic and foreign. Raiph Reed, former present of the Christ inn Coalition, said, in commenting on the Coalition's prospec atthe White House afte George W. Bush was declared president, “You're no longer throwing stones at the building, you're inthe building” (Milbank, 2001), “Most impressive, perhaps, isthe New Right's media empire. In part, empire building in this ares is indicated by the consolidation of print and electronic cutlets, Consolidation amounts to the erasure of the diverse points of view that are represented in a variety of outlet. Technology ha enabld the right to get its message out in many ways. The Christian Coalition, for example, has access to founder Pat Robertson's 700 Cuba television show with an esimated one milion viewers) and his Christian Broadcasting Network, whose programs are disributed in ninety counties and cover a huge array of issues fom the Israel/Palestine con- flict to abortion to free trade. Several American Enterprise Institue fellows have regular assignments in major print and broadcast media, Exch thnk tank bas a ‘media arm tha feds research and experts into the major ates. The Heritage Foundation runs the Center for Media and Public Policy and the Computer ‘Assisted Research and Reporting Database, two resources that direct journalists toward conservative research and public policy papers. Regular users include ABC[New Reales, negated Svateles s News, the Hall Sheet jana, Seripps Howard News, the Det Fre Pres the Hous- ‘im Crowe, USA Tidy, and the Associated Press. Finally conservative recruitment and training of young journalists on college campuses provides a steady stream of \writers and commentators ready to populate the newsrooms of media outlets, Devising Policy Campaigns ‘The New Right buile itself through a series of economie- and social-poicy eam- paigns that it never gave up on: English only, affirmative action, welfare, multi- cultural education, immigration, union busting abortion, sexuality, and crime. Each campaign resulted from years of investment in polling and focus-group research to figure out the circumstances under which Americans could be “wedged” away from liberal and progressive policies in these arenas. Conserva~ ‘ives have masterfully crafed language that highlights popular anxieties and val- ‘ues and relates them to these issues. Thus, the growing incarceration of people of. color was conducted under the guise of the War on Drugs in the 1980s. Affir- mative action was attacked asa system of preferences because polls showed that Americans supported affirmative action o fight discrimination bat did not approve of preferences. Welfare was equated with dependence and fraud, again because Americans believe in the value of a temporary helping hand. Conservatives worked on these issues over ten to thirty years. My friends often joke about the power of the “lunatic fringe,” a label that was surely applied to many conserva~ tive ideas until they gained credibility and power. Many of these campaigns shared a central feature: reducing government's role in public life and turning over functions to the private sector. Defunding gow- ‘ernment and deregulation have been Key to that agenda. Since the 1970s, con- servative tax revolts effectively robbed the public coffers of the resources needed to carry out regulation. In her important work Mobilizing Rentmer, Hardy writes that “the wimming ofthe progresive income tax, the campaign to eliminate the long-term capital gain tax, and the attack on corporate taxes, federal regulations and unions—all rely on a public that identifies with free-market capitalism. The right has created such a public” (1999, p. 25} ‘Conservatives reduce the protective functions of government in other ways Few are as overt as overturning specific laws, Conservative legislators and judges hhave gutted the power of regulatory agencies, inching the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Legal Services Corporation, the Department of _Iustice, the Environmental Poteetion Agency, and the Department of Labor. C= cuit courts and a Supreme Court peopled with conservatives have consistently ruled to undermine an agency’s regulatory power ora law's coverage. For exam- pile, circuit courts decided chat the millions of state employees—groups in which,‘women and people of color are overrepresented and generally organized into unions—are exempt from the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Age Dis- crimination Act. And although legislation is the solution of last fesort, conserva tives have passed plenty of laws and have undone them when necessary. Implications for Progressive Organizing How does the growing power of extreme conservatives lft us? Many activists and scholars have suggested that progrsivs ned to take alesson from the New Right—is disciplined organizing atenion to ideas, wilingnes to lose bates in coder twin the war, apparent unity in messages and polcl goal In one of the sos persuasive angen, Hardy points out the important lessons we can dra ‘First, dramatic social change can be achieved through the electoral system. Second, moving int poical dominance means recating new consuencies of winning to your side opposing and undecided constituencies, Third, move- sent bing insisionalizes a social movement and prevent the movement from collapsing during periods of electoral setback Fourth mulpe strate tes—both a national and a state/local foes, both religos and sear orga ‘izing, bot an electoral and a movementbulding focus bot ingle-inue and broadly defined idsoogica pie edueation—protet the manement fiom electoral vicistudes. And ith, a movement mst repnate wih the public mood, so thats messages ean “hick” on it 19, p. 171] But Hardisty also points out that some of the right’ tactics are not options for our side: scapegoating unpopular communities and building politcal empires run dic- ‘aorialy by powerful men do not mesh with progressive values. Besides these lesions, the resurgence ofthe right has other implications for pro- gresives, Firs, we cannot pin our hopes on government intervention as we have in the past At the risk of overstating the availabilty of goverament protection— after all it took decacies before any president supported antiynching legislation — ‘government has been the primary target of most left iberal efforts since the 1960s. But increasing corporate control of government and the overall reduction in gov- ‘ernment itself suggest that we need a plan that allows us fo take over government rather than just influence i. Second, the righ’s political success, symbolized by the Republican takcover of Congress in the 1994 elections and by the eleetion of George W. Bush in 2000, has shifted all economic and political debate rightward. The center, as defined by conservatives, is now seen as the only available space in which liberals and pro- sressives can be taken seriously: Even progressive groups feel strong urge to com‘New Reais negrated Strateles 7 promise for politically pragmatic reasons. Many believe that what the other side says we can win determines what we ask for. These limitations may be rea, but woul argue that we have mare options than to just accept these terms of debate and abandon our less “palatable” demands, By limiting ourselves in this way, we hhave lost valuable ground for progresive ideals Regaining that ground requires that progressive organizes turn their attention to ideological work without delay inorder to articulate a set of values that will help win back the constituencies we ae rapidly losing to the right. ‘Third, itis important to note how interconnection affects the way in which cepponents and decision makers respond to organized resistance. The average com- serative oficeholder’s connection tothe intellectual and financial resources of national onganizations is much suonger than in the past. Going up agains our Jocal machine—the racist mayor and police chief working together, fr exarmle— isthe least of our problems. Now that mayor and chief, along with their coun- texpars on the school board, in the pabic health department, ane onthe county ‘court, communicate regulary with the Heritage Foundation, the Christian Co- alition, and FAIR. Our local targets no longer even have to make decisions “themselves—they are essentially told the sight thing to do by the national infae structure, Nor do they have to defend their decisions themselves~that willbe done for them in newspapers and cours, again by the national infrastructure. We can point to numerous examples of such caliuion: consider the cases of Rodney King and Abner Louima, those of abortion foes who kil doctors, those of unéocu- sented immigrants picked up by the FBI, those of women who are denied wel- fare benefits, In every case, the national right wing has kcked in to advance the ideas thatthe police need to be all powerful abortion needs tobe punished the ‘United Sates isa white country and back women need to be working rather than breeding. Given this reality our strategy cannot stop wit local targets and orga- nizing we have to prepare to go broader. The New Economy ‘The rollback of government, the freeing of capital, and the rise of contingent ‘work—which have resulted from a set of policies known as naibwalion—have been key to the globalization of modern US. capitalism, These policies include allow- ing the fre investment of capital anywhere in the world, providing tax breaks ancl lirect subsidies to corporations for locating in a particular place, creating free trade zones in third world countries, and enabling migration for work purposes while limiting its cultural and political effects,a ssint up Major Neoliberal Pol ‘We can draw parallels between neoliberal sbsiy polices within the United States and those operating across national borders. A central goal of these policies i to provide public resources to draw corporate imsestment, National leaders like Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher popularized government interventions to provide a favorable business climate through the removal of Inbor and envi- ronmental regulations, the provision of tax reductions and exenuptions, and the privatization of publicly owned industries and services. This economic philosor phy supports the structural adjustment policies ferced onto developing countries by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, both heavily con- twoled by the United Stats, the United Kingdon: and France. Sesctaral adjust: ment, which requires nations o privatize resources and functions, produce for export, and recruit foreign investment, is generally acknowledged to aggravate poverty, particularly among women in impeverished countries. In the United States, these policies find one expression inthe practice of providing tax subsidies and reducing regulations to attract busineses back into urban centers after whites fle desegregation requiremenss. Another important feature of the new global economy i the restructuring ‘of the multinational firm on a scale not seen since the advent of industrializa- tion and the merger movement that took place atthe turn of the previous century ‘The rising use of contingent (parttime or temporary) workers signals this restruc~ turing and offers an adeitional example of government’ reduced role in pro- tecting workers. Cantingent work increases when companies cut back the number of workers for whom they are responsible by outiurcing as many jobs as possi ble. The Nozth American Alliance for air Employment (2000) says this estrac- turing constitutes a historic shift in corporate structures; it reorganizes the workplace from the vertical/horizontal model, in which the massive firms inter nalize all aspects of production and marketing, -0 a core-ring model, in which ‘mos jobs are located ouside the standard employment structure. As Working Par nerships Executive Director Amy Dean asserts, “There really ia new economy ‘hatin’ just new prodncrs and new technology i's about dhe way the frm has restructared ite: Anything that is not eore to innovation and product design is moved out.” Many federal las, including those that guarantee the right to organize, do not apply to those who work fewer than thirty hour per week oF who work by con tract. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, employers are not required to provide benefits such as overtime pay, protection forthe right to organize, or family leave to parctime, temporary or contract workers In the United States, only one-fourth of contingent workers are made eligible by employers for employer peasion plans‘New Reais, integrated Swategies 9 ‘Wile nearly half ofall permanent workers are included. Contingent work appears ‘to contribute to the depression of wages: between 1973 and 2000, as the US. job- lesc rave fel to its lowest point in thirty years, wages rose just one cent an hour (North American Alliance for Fair Employment, 2000). While contingency has always affected women and people of color, its use has spread to transform tras ditionally male-dominated good jobs in manufacturing, finance, and technology. Implications for Progressive Organizing "eolberal policies have effets that might not be fly apparent at frst They bank rupt government and public institutions through tax subsidies and the privaizae tion of public holdings. They make increasing numbers of workers into