Dec 14 2007
Show and Tell
Last summer I spoke of the benefit of discussing strategy in advance of mobilizing against the old guard at our alma mater. Consistent with the sequential formula Research, Education, Organizing, Action, strategy involves pooling all available information in order to develop a plan of attack.
Dividing tasks according to skill and interest allows everyone to contribute without neglecting crucial work. These basic tasks are typically research, communications, security, and infrastructure.
Within this framework, someone could, say, check legal records on our adversaries, someone else could raise funds, another develop an outreach database, another do tech support, and another cultivate media relations.
In the present conflict, most of this has been done haphazardly, albeit not without some success. While it’s OK to learn from our mistakes, we shouldn’t continue to practice them as though there were no lessons to be learned.
Given our lack of resources and energy, though, I have to admit we’ve done pretty well. Maybe by our showing how activism is done, and then telling students what we showed them, we can pass on some skills and knowledge about politics that they can use later.