Getting Smarter -Strategy and Tactics what is the difference?

Is it just me, didn't the last guys who did this win? I mean they won big. Sacked city, ruined culture, women and children enslaved. Was this a good idea or what? Thought of by the great Odysseus whose fame reaches down through the ages to our modern time. While it is pretty clear who ever did this was probably trying to make fun of Mexicans,  I'm not sure they picked the right visual. But it does offer an interesting visual context to begin to talk about strategy and tactics.

Strategy, writes Gene Sharp, the director and founder of the Albert Einstein Institution and alleged mastermind of the non-violent "color revolutions" that swept across Eastern Europe after the fall of the Soviet Union, in his book "From Dictatorship To Democracy" is "the conception of how to best achieve particular objectives in a conflict ... strategy is concerned with whether, when, and how to fight, as well as how to achieve maximum effectiveness in struggling for certain ends" (Sharp, 39).

Sharp goes on, "some individuals and groups, of course, may not see the need for the broad long-term planning of a liberation movement. Instead, they may naively think that if they simply espouse their goals strongly, firmly, and long enough, it will somehow come to pass. Others assume that if they simply live and witness according to their principles and ideals in face of difficulties, they are doing all they can to implement them. The espousal of humane goals and loyalty to ideals are admirable, but are grossly inadequate to end a dictatorship and a to achieve freedom" (Sharp, 37). 

Just to be clear. Whether it is deserved or not Gene Sharp is quite a controversial figure. He has been accused by the likes of Hugo Chavez, the Government of Iran and others of playing a significant role in the overthrow of governments across the globe considered unfriendly to the United States. Not to shabby. For those of us purporting to engage in the building of a mass movement reading Gene Sharp might not be a bad idea. In what I would call some very sound advice and as a definite thread in his most wide spread and read publication Sharp is clear among many other things about the need for strategic planning. 

Tactics, according to Sharp are "a limited action, employed to achieve a restricted objective. The choice of tactics is governed by the conception of how best in a restricted phase of conflict to utilize the available means of fighting to implement the strategy ... tactics are always concerned with fighting, whereas strategy includes wider considerations" (Sharp, 40). 

The picture above is an example of a tactic, one used at the end of a seemingly failed strategy. What makes this picture tragically humorous is that it serves to point out our greatest failing as a community, that we as a people do not have a master strategy for political empowerment - only tactics. Which brings us to the news article below. This story tells how Jack Davis, a self made manufacturing millionaire and DEMOCRAT candidate for Congress in New York's 26th district. To some it may seem like beating a dead horse, but look at what is written below. This guys was a Democrat running for U.S. Congress; a millionaire, self made man, business tycoon the type of guy everyone looks up to. Is this guy a crack pot? I mean if this man sat you down at a table and said "I think you can make money, this way" you would take what he has to say very seriously.

Instead this guys says, "I think they'll do it without a civil war. They'll take control of the state government and start voting themselves anything they want." 

Excuse me, but isn't that what democracy is all about? Or is it only okay when we're forced to vote for the only game in town? It is easy for me to say I think this will happen. But imagine the anguish and torment this patriotic old man must have gone through to come to this mind numbing conclusion. He sees something is us we do not see in ourselves. He also see through the eyes of a free person. Free to make his own destiny. 

We don't get it. But men like Jack Davis and Gene Sharp do. It is all about power and how we go about building power to make change. Gene Sharp knows it is possible for the citizens of a government by their non compliance topple that government or at the very least create some political elbow room for themselves. Down load the Sharp booklet, read it and implement it. Who knows, maybe there is something to this advice he's been spreading around the rest of the world for the past 25 years.  

------------News Article------------ 

Davis warns of a new civil war with Southern states
Sees possibility of secession due to Mexican immigrants

By Jerry Zremski NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF
Updated: 08/23/08 8:17 AM

WASHINGTON — Congressional candidate Jack Davis, in a speech earlier this year, warned that increasing immigration from Mexico could lead to a new civil war between northern states and Mexican-influenced Southern states that may want to secede from the United States.

“In the latter part of this century or the next, Mexicans will be a majority in many of the states and could therefore take control of the state government using the democratic process,” Davis said in the speech. “They could then secede from the United States, and then we might have another civil war.”

A supporter of one of Davis’ rivals for the Democratic nomination in the 26th district, Jon Powers, posted the video to YouTube. The Powers campaign alerted The Buffalo News to the Davis video.

The YouTube video is labeled as a speech Davis gave at the Center for Inquiry in Amherst on Feb. 1, but a center press release indicates that he spoke there on March 19.

No matter when he spoke, Davis could not have made his point of view on Mexican immigrants any clearer.

“They have an allegiance to Mexico, where they were taught the U. S. fought an unjust war with Mexico and took this territory,” Davis said. “They believe the territory of these states belongs to Mexico.”

Davis did not name specific states that might be prone to succession.

But he appeared to be referring to Texas — which seceded from Mexico, briefly became an independent republic and then joined the United States — and the territories Mexico lost as a result of the Mexican-American War of 1846-48. California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and much of Colorado were all once Mexican territory, only to become U. S. states after the war.

Asked this week about his speech, Davis said he no longer believed Southern states would be prone to leaving the union in order to assert Mexican control over what is now U. S. territory.

“I think they’ll do it without a civil war,” he said. “They’ll take control of the state governments and start voting themselves anything they want.”

The video of the Davis speech was posted to YouTube on April 14 by Robert Harding, a blogger at the Albany Project blog who supports Powers. He said the video was provided to him by someone who attended the speech.

Powers’ campaign manager, John Gerken, said the speech was very telling.

“I think Jack Davis’ rant says it all: He thinks we are going to go to war with California and Arizona,” Gerken said. “This is probably why his handlers won’t let him debate and hide him from the press.”

Alice Kryzan, an environmental lawyer who is also running for the Democratic nomination to face Republican Christopher Lee in the race to replace retiring Rep. Thomas

M. Reynolds, R-Clarence, was equally critical of Davis.

“Many of these comments are wrong and offensive,” she said. “We should address our illegal problems thoughtfully, not by demonizing anyone.”

Meanwhile, a top official at the National Council of La Raza, the nation’s leading Hispanic organization, termed Davis’ comments “extremely offensive.”

“He’s feeding an environment of intolerance that doesn’t distinguish between legal and illegal immigrants,” said Clarissa Martinez, director of immigration and national campaigns for the organization. “He’s presenting our whole community as invaders — people who want to take over the country.”

In fact, Davis in his speech, said: “Our country has been invaded, occupied and settled by 10 million illegal aliens.”

Davis issued a statement Friday, trying to clarify his earlier comments.

“My remarks at the Center were designed to bring urgency to the conversation,” he said in the statement. “I believe passionately in protecting our homeland and securing our borders. If my language was hyperbolic, the danger it described certainly is not.”

In the Thursday interview where he discussed the speech, Davis said he didn’t recall everything he had said in the speech.

But among the topics he discussed in the speech was his solution for the illegal immigration problem.

“I think building a double wall long the southern border is the least expensive long-term solution to maintaining the heritage of our fathers,” Davis said in the speech on YouTube.

Davis, a 75-year-old Akron industrialist who has vowed to spend $3 million of his own money on the congressional race, plans to stay on the ballot in November — on his new “Save Jobs and Farms Party” line — even if he loses the Democratic primary.

Many Western New York farmers rely on migrant workers from Mexico to bring in the crops.

After hearing quotes from Davis’ speech, John Lincoln, the president of the New York Farm Bureau, said: “The farmers overall would be really concerned about his statement.”

Told what Lincoln said, Davis replied: “He’s not a regular farmer. He’s one of these big guys . . . I’d call him a multinational farmer.”

Lincoln, 70, is a dairy farmer with 200 head of cattle in Bloomfield, a village of 1,258 in Ontario County, southeast of Rochester. Asked if he had ever met Lincoln, Davis said he had not.

Moving Masses

The house meeting is a basic component in community mobilization. This tool allows the organizer to speak on a private basis with potential supporters and activists. This is where all the different aspects of mobilization we have talked about, the rap, list building, etc. come into play. If we are truly serious about building political power and ideological unity then we must make it our business to speak with as many different members of the community as possible.

Setting up the house meeting is done with a high-pressure pitch. Normally calling someone up and asking if you can come over to speak with them about an important matter is the most direct of beginning the conversation. Organizers should not feel constrained to speak only with individuals they know. You never know who will get involved. It is best to let others make that decision for themselves. Our job is to tell them about what is going on. The following outlines the action steps each organizer should follow for setting up and conducting house meetings with in their community.

This idea of conducting meetings at the homes of individuals from the affected community is also a proven and time-honored method of education. The benefits of doing this are immediate and quantifiable. Meeting people where they are the most comfortable is important to their and your success. If they are allowed in the privacy of their own homes to ask unlimited questions surrounded by friends and family then we, as organizers are able to have more meaningful conversations with them about the issues we are organizing around. For most people opening up their house for an educational meeting is a strong first step toward involvement in any issue.

House meeting campaign run in 8 week cycles. During that time the organizer holds a series of meetings in peoples homes. These meetings should have somewhere between 5 - 8 people. It is organized in three parts personal visit, House meeting, Area meeting. At the end of four weeks a mini area meeting should be held where everyone contacted during that time are called and invited to the meeting. At this committees should be established, perhaps even working to recruit individuals who can begin holding house meetings on their own. At the end of eight weeks everyone contacted during the two month period should be contacted to meet and kick off the new campaign. After this a new eight week campaign should begin again.

This is the type of campaign where it is important to develop a rap for (1) personal visit, (2) the house party, and the (3) area meeting.

What to say to set up a personal visit

1. Thank your for agreeing to meet with me.
2. Urgent Situation needs your help.
3. Only with your help can we change the economic downslide of today’s government.
4. Need you to set up a meeting at your house with people that you know we can explain this urgent situation to them.
5. All over the city people like you are having meetings like this.
6. Conservative forces from around the state are working to mislead voters on economic issues. This affects our lives and our children.
7. Give details of moral misleading.
8. Just need a few people.
9. When and what time is good for the householder.
10. Meeting will be only one hour long. Refreshments at the end of the meeting.

Steps to a house party
1. Last for one hour with four parts: Rap, questions, what can you do and invitation to attend area meeting.
2. Each homeowner will invite between 3-6 persons for the meeting – no more than eight,
3. The rap will be given,
4. All questions will be answered,
5. Each person attending will be asked to do three things –
a. give money, b. have a house meeting, c. suggest other people who would be interested in having a house meeting immediately.
6. Everyone is invited to attend and help build for the area meeting.
7. All house-meeting attendees will be data based and contacted on a regular basis

Area Meetings
1. Half hour presentation will take place.
2. Attendees will meet with respective organizers.
3. Each attendee will be asked to join a committee.
4. Mobilization for Fall Event will continue.
5. Take reports from other cities.
6. Discuss the necessity of raising money.

Using this type of organizing methodology could make the idea of a national political party for Xicanos/Mexicanos in the United States a reality. Sooner or later we have to make that choice. Work for ourselves or someone else. Building power within communities is an intentional act of resistance. As resisters we pursue the realization of justice and as organizers we “swim like fish in the sea of the people.” We take from our oppressors by any and all means our acquiescence to their domination. It is not enough to explain the world where we live and struggle. We must re-determine our relationship to this world and rethink our struggle.

Don't let'em fool yah.

This just in from the West Coast. Latinos are the fastest growing population of registering voters. Huh? Who would have thought something like that? A recent article posted on the Daily Bulletin website titled Many Groups Recruit Latinos to Vote brings some important points to the discussion of a political party for Xicanos/Mexicanos and other Latinos in the United States. In part it states,

"There are an estimated 50,000 Latino voters in San Bernardino and Riverside counties who are not registered and many others who do not vote, according to Latino advocacy groups. 

Latinos could play a crucial role in determining not only who winds the presidency, but the fate of local races and ballot measures as well. 'It is very, very critical that we have a voice in being able to elect someone who can best represent our communities,' said Jose Zapata Calderon, a professor of sociology and Chicano Studies at Pitzer College in Claremont."

That is a lot of people interested in participating in the political process. Maybe not the exact process we want them to but participating none the less. We have to ask ourselves seriously - how many of them would work to build a party that represents the Xicano/Mexicano community in the United States. Think about the numbers quoted above. It is not a joke. 

For those of you out there shaking your head, thinking it could never happen consider these next few things. Recently a report titled "The Myth of Widespread Non-Citizen Voting" released by The Truth in Immigration organization has categorically refuted very serious allegations by the Heritage Foundation that "large numbers of non-citizens, including undocumented immigrants, are voting in federal elections and could be the deciding factor in November's elections"

The introduction of the report goes on to say the Lou Dobbs segment which broke the news of this "scandal" is based on a report for the Heritage Foundation written by a former recess appointed Federal Elections Commission (FEC) Hans von Spakosky, titled "The Threat of Non-Citizen Voting".

In brief, my point is this. Lots of people are taking the emerging possibility of a Xicano/ Mexicano political organization very seriously. Why don't we? 

What is a simple tool we can use to help our community get more organized? Face to face communication throughout the community about the issues facing us is an important step toward political self reliance. In order to have these beginning conversations we need something called a RAP.

While it may be obvious to you and members of your organization why the issue (or issues) you are working on are important that doesn’t mean everyone can automatically see the issue.
You have to write it down.
What are the main points?
What information is vital and what can wait?
More importantly what do the people in the community want to know?
What are their issues?
What are they talking about to each other?

Can you explain yourself in two minutes or less? When this basic declaration of your ideas and major issues are made to a person or group of people in a mobilization campaign it is called doing THE RAP. Without doubt this is one of the most important tools in any campaign and is a basic element in any organizing effort. 

It is an opening conversation that allows continuity in the communication/message. Often organizers, especially those just starting out, will develop a rap without even thinking about it as a necessary step. They just look it as “what they say to people to get them interested.” The key to success in any project is effectively communicating what you want to accomplish. That may seem a simplistic statement but think about how many conversations you have had in your lifetime where the words “what I mean by that was…” were used. Since we have already established that the political education and mobilization of the community is our primary objective. Clear and concise communication is required to make this happen. Since, community support is not generated overnight and comes only from methodically developing relationships over time and is an integral part of any mobilization campaign. 

You should have a short rap and long rap - something that gets right to the point.
It may seem simple but if no one knows what you are doing then how will you ever accomplish the change you desire. Open communication and transparency in your organizing efforts are important when working with people on a community grass roots level. This keeps the organizing and mobilization efforts you are undertaking with others from becoming isolated from the greater community you are working with. Working in the community is a privilege and a trust.

Communicating with others – Often, the greatest obstacle to successful mobilizing is our inability to effectively communicate about the issues facing the community. Change is all about people understanding each other and how their respective visions of the world work together. If you cannot speak to people in a meaningful way about the change you want that change will never happen.

Use language people can understand –Talk to people at a level you and they are both comfortable with. Inexperienced organizers often try to talk at someone else “level.” This is a mistake. It is arrogant and elitists. What usually ends up happening is “talking down” to people. Big mistake.

Communication demands respect for others – Listening to one another creates respect. The dysfunctional relationships in society we are organizing against stem from lack of communication and respect. This is particularly true in gender power dynamics – people are constantly interrupting each other – constant interruption is a sign of disrespect and a sign you aren’t talking the person talking serious.

Listening is a form of communication – When you take the time to really listen it does a number of things. First, the respect and empathy that you feel for others is immediately recognized. Individuals and groups you are assisting will take your listening approach as a sign of solidarity and willingness to work on the needs of the community from their perspective.

Talk to People - Articulating to others the group's goals will help more clearly define the vision for you and for those listening. The more you do it the better you'll get at delivering your message, and the more powerful the message will become.

Listen To People - Be open and listen to how others respond to the articulation of your vision. You'll know by their response if they understand and support your vision and goals. Use this feedback to make modifications if required.

Proaction - not reaction.

If you are reading this blog you probably get messages like this one all the time. 

"ATTENTION ALL LATINAS!

FRIDAY, AUGUST 22ND

4 PM 

JOIN US IN PROTEST AT I.C.E. OFFICES ACROSS THE NATION!

It is imperative that we send a message to I.C.E., President Bush and the upcoming Democratic Party Convention that there must be AN IMMEDIATE MORATORIUM ON ALL RAIDS, DEPORTATIONS, INCARCERATIONS AND SEPARATION OF FAMILIES!" 

The press release goes on to urge all to make some type of response about this very situation. It is a legitimate, important and ultimately futile appeal. 

This is why. 

As long as we continue to react to the structures that surrounds us we will forever be one, two, three steps behind those in power planning our future. Organization means planning. Planning not based on reactions to someone else's laws, attitudes or conception of the world. Organization and planning are initial counter hegemonic steps that allow us as RAZA or simply a community to begin and shape the world around us according to our own vision. 

Take the idea of a political party for Xicanos/Mexicanos and other Latinos in the United States. Most elected positions available on a local level across this country are non partisan. Which means you do not have declare a party affiliation to run. However, since our entire political system is dominated by two parties the reality of each situation is Democrats are running against Republicans. 

So how do we get started?

1. Picking your issues shouldn't be that hard. Our community is faced with a multitude of different problems people want to address. Keep it simple. Build a platform around addressable issues in the community. It is important to have direct conversation with people about their problems and what can be done to change our situation as people.

2. Decide the non partisan position you or your slate wants to run for. I suggest something local and kind of small.

3. Every incorporated entity be it a village, town, city, county has someone that acts as a clerk. This person's job is to keep records. (1) Lists of voters that have names, phone numbers and address, sometimes if you ask a record of when (not how) the person has voted. These lists are public record and fairly easy to obtain. (2) At this office will also be a map of the area you are campaigning in which will show you how the area you live in is divided up politically. This map is also easy to obtain.

This first exercise is about coming to an understanding of the politics around us and how they are physically carried out. Seeing how your city or town is already be subdivided and mapped to make the process of representational democracy easier to facilitate will help you be creative in figuring out how to take advantage of this in your own organizing. 

Finally, whether you whole heartedly agree with someone or not find a candidate who needs some help and volunteer for their campaign. This is a good way of getting a least a ground level introduction into how to get something like this done.