Yes, we can organize more effectively at the grassroots for many important issues.

April 26, 2019 GlenAnderson Climate, Criminal Justice (Also see Death Penalty), Democracy, Electoral Reforms, Voting Rights (Also see Political Parties and Elections), Economics, Labor, Capitalism, Trade, Poverty (Also see Taxes), Energy Issues (Also see Oil, Climate, Environment), Environment, Guns, Health Care Reform, Human Rights, Immigrants and refugees, International Affairs (Click to see specific nations and regions), Local Government, Military Spending, Nonviolence (Also see Peace, Conflict Resolution, Organizing & Activism), Nuclear Weapons, Oil (Also see Environment and Climate), Olympia area, Organizing & Activism (Also see Nonviolence, Outreach), Our Current Political Crisis (in addition to Trump and Trumpism), Outreach, Framing/Reframing (Also see Organizing & Activism), Peace (See Foreign Policy and specific nations and regions -- and ALSO see Military Spending and Nuclear Weapons), Race, Science, Taxes, Trump and Trumpism (Also see Our Current Political Crisis), Young People 0

Globally, nationally, and locally, we are confronted with very serious problems.

Some people feel overwhelmed and disempowered, so they feel powerless to solve the problems.  But that only allows the horrible problems to get worse.

I strongly support the opposite approach:  Recognize that WE CAN INDEED LEARN HOW TO ORGANIZE EFFECTIVELY at the grassroots level (“Think globally and act locally”) to solve the problems.

Sometimes people and organizations merely vent or flail about with random activities without a clear strategy for how to make the political and social changes we want.  We can do better than that!

Specifically, I seek out individuals and organizations that devise smart strategies to reach our goals.  (Sometimes this is hard because timeframes are short.)  But even so, we can quickly figure out what we want to accomplish, who has the power to decide the matter, and how to strategically push them to make the good decisions. This is a practical approach for short-term crises and for longer-term struggles.

Nonviolence is absolutely crucial, as I have explained in a number of posts to the “Nonviolence” part of this blog, www.parallaxperspectives.org.

We need smart strategies about how to be most effective.  While I do some lobbying, that has very little actual strategic power for several reasons, including the fact that it simply reinforces the mistaken notion that elected officials are where the power is based. Actually, the power is based in the broad public grassroots, and in various other entities and systems, so what we really need is strategically savvy grassroots organizing and power-building that is very different from mere petitioning and lobbying.

I have written about that extensively and posted useful information to my blog’s “Organizing” section.

Also, I will continue offering my 6-session series of workshops on “Nonviolent Grassroots Organizing.”   I’m willing and available to offer them anywhere in the Olympia area and in the wider geographical region.  SEE THIS FLYER:

6 workshops on NV Grassroots Organizing — FLYER

 

 

 

About GlenAnderson 1514 Articles
Since the late 1960s Glen Anderson has devoted his life to working as a volunteer for peace, nonviolence, social justice, and progressive political issues. He has worked through many existing organizations and started several. Over the years he has worked especially for such wide-ranging goals as making peace with Vietnam, eliminating nuclear weapons, converting from a military economy to a peacetime economy, abolishing the death penalty, promoting nonviolence at all levels throughout society, and helping people organize and strategize for grassroots movements to solve many kinds of problems. He writes, speaks, and conducts training workshops on a wide variety of topics. Since 1987 he has produced and hosted a one-hour cable TV interview program on many kinds of issues. Since 2017 he has blogged at https://parallaxperspectives.org He lives in Lacey near Olympia WA. You can reach him at (360) 491-9093 glen@parallaxperspectives.org