Known as the “father of modern American radicalism,” Saul D. Alinsky (1909-1972) developed strategies and tactics that take the enormous, unfocused emotional energy of grassroots groups and transform it into effective anti-government and anti-corporate activism. Activist organizations teach his ideas widely taught today as a set of model behaviors, and they use these principles to create an emotional commitment to victory – no matter what.
RULE 1: “Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have.” (Grievance~Suit) Power is derived from 2 main sources – money and people. “Have-Nots” must build power from flesh and blood. (These are two things of which there is a plentiful supply. Government and corporations always have a difficult time appealing to people, and usually do so almost exclusively with economic arguments.)
RULE 2: “Never go outside the expertise of your people.” It results in confusion, fear and retreat. Feeling secure adds to the backbone of anyone. (Organizations under attack wonder why radicals don’t address the “real” issues. This is why. They avoid things with which they have no knowledge.)
RULE 3: “Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy.” Look for ways to increase insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty. (This happens all the time. Watch how many organizations under attack are blind-sided by seemingly irrelevant arguments that they are then forced to address.)
RULE 4: “Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.” If the rule is that every letter gets a reply, send 30,000 letters. You can kill them with this because no one can possibly obey all of their own rules. (This is a serious rule. The besieged entity’s very credibility and reputation is at stake, because if activists catch it lying or not living up to its commitments, they can continue to chip away at the damage.) (Note the repetitive hypocrisy attacks against Republicans)
RULE 5: “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.” There is no defense. It’s irrational. It’s infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions. (Pretty crude, rude and mean, huh? They want to create anger and fear.)
RULE 6: “A good tactic is one your people enjoy.” (empowered to be an asshole is fun) They’ll keep doing it without urging and come back to do more. They’re doing their thing, and will even suggest better ones. (Radical activists, in this sense, are no different that any other human being. We all avoid “un-fun” activities, and but we revel at and enjoy the ones that work and bring results.)
RULE 7: “A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.” Don’t become old news. (Even radical activists get bored. So to keep them excited and involved, organizers are constantly coming up with new tactics.)
RULE 8: “Keep the pressure on. Never let up.” Keep trying new things to keep the opposition off balance. As the opposition masters one approach, hit them from the flank with something new. (Attack, attack, attack from all sides, never giving the reeling organization a chance to rest, regroup, recover and re-strategize.)
RULE 9: “The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.” Imagination and ego can dream up many more consequences than any activist. (Perception is reality. Large organizations always prepare a worst-case scenario, something that may be furthest from the activists’ minds. The upshot is that the organization will expend enormous time and energy, creating in its own collective mind the direst of conclusions. The possibilities can easily poison the mind and result in demoralization.)
RULE 10: “If you push a negative hard enough, it will push through and become a positive.” Violence from the other side can win the public to your side because the public sympathizes with the underdog. (Unions used this tactic. Peaceful [albeit loud] demonstrations during the heyday of unions in the early to mid-20th Century incurred management’s wrath, often in the form of violence that eventually brought public sympathy to their side.)
RULE 11: “The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.” Never let the enemy score points because you’re caught without a solution to the problem. (Old saw: If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. Activist organizations have an agenda, and their strategy is to hold a place at the table, to be given a forum to wield their power. So, they have to have a compromise solution.)
RULE 12: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions. (This is cruel, but very effective. Direct, personalized criticism and ridicule works.)
http://www.geocities.com/WallStreet/8925/alinsky.htm
http://www.crossroad.to/Quotes/communism/alinsky.htm
http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/archives/7423-Alinsky-and-Gramsci.html
http://wildmonk.net/EuropeLeft.aspx
November 22, 2008
November 12, 2008
Obama & National Service (Why Would Obama et al Give a Crap About 3 Months Military Service Here…Something Smells)
Volunteers
Listen to this audio of Rahm Emanuel discuss with an inquisitive interviewer the ‘aesthetics’ of this Civil Defense concept. Mentioned are natural disasters, terrorist attacks, military service in local Guard/Reserve Units. Now I can see taking ‘volunteer’ units to serve in disasters (because we are having more now…let me guess: GW or CC). But, seriously how would we ever train or house ‘ACORN’ style volunteers in and around military installations? This seems so stupidly dangerous and suspicious…like a poorly conceived lie that cannot withstand some kids probing questions. Yet, you know what, that is probably harder questioning than any msm hack would venture to ask. This stuff has been hatched out of this sleaze factory of Chicago/Illinois Politics. Emanuel, Axelrod, Ayers, Khalidi, on and on…crazy ideas so casually bantied about, altered from mandatory to volunteer…makes me wonder what is really planned here…perhaps the vast sea of volunteers will be from the ‘community organizer’ contingency. If you don’t want to volunteer selfish America then we have a ready army of community organizers and their followers to absorb all that money and benefits…so my advice is screw the whole process because they want you to balk at mandatory..then they back off to voluntary and they create the voluntary, organized civil defense corp while we sleep or deal with taking care of our families. Forewarded=Forearmed. Something is fishy with this whole concept.
We already knew this, but it’s one thing to know it and another thing to hear it. I hope he presses Obama to implement it, as the weeks of fun we’ll have with “Imagine if Bush had proposed this” scenarios will amount to a new golden age for the right-wing blogosphere. Promise me this, Rahm: Not just barracks but uniforms, too.Exit question: They don’t have enough Obama cultists willing, able, and sufficiently underemployed to volunteer? On second thought, that’d be an exceedingly bad idea, wouldn’t it?
November 2, 2008
Obama & Community Organizers (Wake Up to Transformational Infiltration & Gradualism…You Are Surrounded…Now What?)
WAKE UP!
“There are serious antiracist organizers building a revolutionary base in working class communities — in neighborhoods, shops, mills, mines, social institutions. There are those who are working among women, GI’s, vets, prisoners, among youth, students and the unemployed in every part of the country. There are some who have been at it for years and some who have just begun. Thousands more are needed; and each particular piece of work will have to be linked up into a whole. We need to out-organize the sophisticated and well-financed forces of George Meany, Louise Day Hicks, Ronald Reagan, George Wallace and Albert Shanker. Organizers need to crush this reactionary leadership with a revolutionized torrent of people.”
http://www.zombietime.com/zomblog/
THANK YOU ZOMBLOG AND FRIENDS. READ EVERY LINE OF THE MATERIALS DISPLAYED ON ZOMBLOG AND THINK! PASS IT ON ASAP!!!
