I’ve been horribly remiss in posting! There’s just so much awesome stuff to do and so many cool people to hang out with in Boston. But, I swear, I have at least 14 draft posts already started. In particular, I’ve been totally soaking up the convenient access to any number of compelling lectures—social justice, human rights, identity, women’s history, and more.

Bill Fletcher, Jr.

Bill Fletcher, Jr., advocates strategic collaboration for effective change.

A few weeks ago, I heard Bill Fletcher, Jr.—a dedicated labor, racial-justice, and international-solidarity activist—speak at an event put on by the Simmons Institute for Leadership and Change in collaboration with the Majority Agenda Project. Described in the introduction as “a clarion voice in the progressive movement for solidarity and movements working together,” he analyzed the current situation progressives find themselves in, pointed up the challenges, and put forth concrete suggestions for how to move forward.

First, he identified the triple crises of the current situation: (1) There’s an economic crisis, that’s not about mismanagement by certain institutions, but about the system of capitalism itself. (2) There’s an environmental crisis, marked by climate change and the pervasive degradation of our natural world. (3) There’s a crisis of state legitimacy, featuring a declining ability of the state to serve as an adequate force of distributing wealth.

Fletcher offered an analysis of not only the Obama administration but the progressive reaction to the Obama administration. In his view, the liberal disappointment with Obama is a function of magical, wishful thinking during the election and an unwillingness, in the midst of our excitement for change, to acknowledge his actual politics. Fletcher identifies the Obama administration as marked by corporate influence and representing the center-right, while also acknowledging that Obama offers hope and the possibility of a transformative political process. I think that it’s key that Fletcher believes that we must not fall prey to cynicism and the inaction that often goes with it. In the face of the right-wing populism that Fletcher outlined, it’s essential that we reenergize to make change at this critical time.

How do we do it? We strategically organize. Fletcher talked about what he called the “Tecumseh paradigm”—assuming a new identity in confederation with others in order to stave off invaders. In other words, different social movements need to look for overlap and band together strategically in order to move this country in a just direction. Here are some of the things that Fletcher put out there:

  • We need an anti-capitalist political party.
  • We need to learn how to talk about what we believe in a way that uses vision and narrative to greatest effect.
  • We need to talk through the truth of U.S. history, which many people don’t want to hear or accept, and articulate the collective struggle for justice.
  • We need to end our reluctance to criticize the Obama administration.
  • We need to pose these questions in person, not just on Facebook and e-mail (ummm, or on our blogs); effective organizing is made up of direct, individual personal encounters reinforced by electronic communications.
  • We need to identify what we want to change, how we want it to change, and demand that the change. (“Power concedes nothing without a demand.”)
  • We need to actively challenge the right (when they mobilize, we must also mobilize).
  • We need to actively mobilize right now.

To close, in the spirit of building effective social movements, I offer you this video inspiration a friend sent to me: