and we claim, as a name, practicer

19th February 2012

Post with 2 notes

Self-organization and BRU meeting

Hey everybody!

Yesterday, several of us were able to attend the BRU meeting in K-town, and then we met with Tom and Tammy at the Center over pizza.  Before I share a bit about yesterday’s happenin’s, I wanted to talk about how we as a class are organizing ourselves (it came up a couple of times yesterday).  We’ve all been making a conscious effort to make it out to the Center and offer our time, energy, and thoughts for their work - that’s fantastic!  However, our efforts towards organizing ourselves have been a bit weak.  I’m not entirely sure what “organized” means in this context (it’s definitely a discussion we should have as a group at some point…or maybe now!), but in my understanding being organized includes

1) Coordinating transportation to the center,
2) Communication between students in different campaigns about our respective projects, opportunities at the center, and missed classes, and
3) Creating a space where we can process our thoughts outside of the Center and the classroom.  

I don’t think I’m alone in saying that we could step up our game a bit in each of these areas.  I’m glad we’re starting up this tumblr (woohoo!!!); the following blog post is me trying jump-start a habit of better communication and self-organization.  nonetheless, we may want to consider alternate spaces for discussion and communication. not everyone is comfortable processing their experiences through writing, and I think we lose some aspects of our classroom community when a blog is our primary means of interacting with each other as a whole group.  I know everyone has busy schedules, but do you all feel the need for a meeting time outside of class? I’d love to hear other people’s opinions on the matter, especially if they differ from my own!

OK. so, how was the BRU meeting?  I’ll try to recap what happened at the meeting, but remember, this is just my interpretation/observation of what last Saturday!

Um, first off, it was coooolll.  The meeting was in the basement of a church Ktown, and before they started off the meeting they fed everyone delicious cheese quesadillas and then went around and introduced all of the ~60 people in the room.  The meeting was conducted in three different languages (Korean, Spanish and English), and the organizing staff did a great job in headphones and translations to ensure that everyone was able to speak and listen in the language they feel most comfortable with.  

Afterwards, the Tammy pulled the newcomers (us included) into a separate room a short orientation of the BRU.  She highlighted the BRU’s history of struggle with the MTA, reviewed some basic principles held by the BRU, and then talked a bit about the current goals of the BRU.  The room was filled with a wide variety of people of different ages and backgrounds, so pushing through the presentation while also hearing the voices of audience members was definitely a delicate balance Tammy paid attention to.  Facilitating discussion is perhaps an art that many of us have mastered in the context of the Claremont Colleges, but community organizers must have to develop that skill at a whole different level when they are responsible for working with people with so many different experiences/beliefs! Bah, sounds so hard!  

Real quick - here’s a cool/revealing fact about the cost of transit in LA County:

The construction of 1 mile of light rail costs $150 million - the equivalent of 375 buses.
The construction of 1 mile of subway costs $450 million - the equivalent of 1000 buses. WOW!!!!!! 

At the beginning of her talk Tammy stated that one of her goals was to recruit new members, so true to her word, she finished off her talk by sending around membership forms and asking for membership fees.  The acquisition and retention of members is an important part of any organization’s sustainability, and you could tell that the BRU was very proactive about increasing their numbers: Tammy worked hard to remember each newcomer’s name, wrote down how they came to the meeting (who introduced them, etc.), and then had organizers follow-up with people who were reluctant to join as a member.  If anyone’s interested in more details on member retention, Tammy said there’s a workshop she could go through with us!

Afterwards we headed over to the Strategy Center for pizza and discussion.  A LOT was said.  Here are just a few bullet points. Talk to the other students for more dets!

• Tom reviewed the equation of hegemony (= force + consent + concessions) and applied the concepts to the work of the Center. In particular, Tammy and Tom talked about the importance of having a multi-racial, multi-class, multi-background organization because the roots of hegemony are not found simply within the state, but also in the realms of media, academia, religion, etc.  In order to address the consent to hegemony in all of these spaces, alliances need to be built between different groups of people.  With this, Tammy allayed some of my personal concerns about going out on the buses: how am I suppose to climb onto a bus I’ve never ridden before and talk about specific issues that I’ve not personally experienced?  We can’t deny that the students of the Claremont Colleges live with innumerable privileges, but (some of) our perspectives, our skills, and our efforts are essential in struggles of resistance.  However, it is still absolutely necessary to be mindful of who is in your organization, particularly within leadership positions.  Communities of color cannot and should not be organized by mid-upper class white folks. :(
• It is important to distinguish liberals from the left.  For example, the mayor of LA, Antonio Villaraigosa, has a fairly progressive background working with labor unions and the United Teachers Los Angeles, but in his current position, he acts as a barrier to many of the goals of progressive orgs like the BRU.  Villaraigosa may be seen as more of a liberal these days, rather than a leftist, and though liberals share many basic values on justice, they often become gatekeepers in institution, hindering political change.
• Tom and Tammy were throwing around a helluva lot of titles, but here are the two I wrote down: Robin Kelly Freedom Dreams, Mao Analysis of Contradictions

Haha, I’m sure Tom will send out 4+ more emails on all the stuff I missed. Anywho, y’alls, have a good day!

-kori