Marv Gandall wrote: > Thanks, Carrol. I can't agree, however, that such movements can be "argued" > into existence - a not uncommon misconception among those trade in ideas.
I completely agree. My attacks on such volunteerism over the years have been the basis for weird accusations of passivity on my part. The actual appearance of such movents _always_ catches everyone by surprise, and so far as I know that everyone includes the people who bring them into existence. In fact, I am sceptical that anything can be "argued" into existence. But that is a subject for another day. But one _can_ to some extent prepare for those surprises. I've always had a personal slogan which goes something like this: If you lose, you lose, that's the way the cookie crumbles; but to _win_ and not be prepared for it is unacceptable. I don't thin;k we can usefully debate organizational forms (though I reject both 2d & 3d International forms) or "how to start a movement." Thee are several things we can debate however. Consider discussion (in any and all forums agiven activist has access to) around the following question: When we find ourselves suddenly involved in a mass movement which has caught us by surprise, What will we wish we had been saying in the preceding years? We keep plugging away in whatever local struggles available, in part because we never know but what one of those local struggles won't be the spark that sets a prairie fire, but mostly (1) to have a center to relate to such movements when they arrive and (2) to keep up a conversation and say the things we will wish we had said. I think OPEN BORDERS is one of those rallying points. A four-day week is another. Stop all Foreign Aid a third. All troops within the 50 states another. Eliminate the Prison system. And so forth. Keep conversation going on such topics within both local organizations and national forums. I'll try to get back to some of your other points on another day, because I'm under pressure to complete a paper just now. Carrol _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
