Power and the organized community. The basics of participatory democracy.

Initiated by the Autonómia Foundation, we gave a training today with Bálint Vojtonovszki for young Roma and non-Roma who want to apply for the European Union's Youth In Action funds. Our aim was to help participants gain new skills so that they can more effectively reach out to people living in their settlement, involve them in the project preparation process and have more people take a role in the implementation of the project.

Participants increased their knowledge in:
- techniques to increase group cohesion
- community needs surveys: listening tours and one-to-ones
- organizing skills and building the organization
- a good leader and their responsibilities
- facilitation techniques, role of a moderator, how to cope with tension in group discussions, putting together the agenda
- involving new people in group work and recruit members
- power

TRAINING AGENDA

9.00-9.25: INTRODUCTION

9.25-9.35: COMMUNICATION PRINCIPLES. We lay down the principles we want to use when we communicate in the group, thus we learn a technique to moderate a group discussion.

9.35-10.10: IDEAL SETTLEMENT - STRUGGLE FOR POWER
We use the communication principles in the group work, and in an activity we create a situation when community members cannot realize their urban development ideas due to external influence.

10.10-10.25: ORGANIZED COMMUNITY I.
We collect ideas about how a community can become stronger and more effective in representing their interest towards decision-makers.

10.25-10.45: BREAK

10.45-11.15: ORGANIZED COMMUNITY II.
Techniques to involve new people. Introducing the listening tour. We collect ideas how we can identify community issues, involve new members and build the organization.

11.15-11.35: ONE-TO-ONE
Practicing one-to-ones as part of the listening tour.

11.35-12.00: FIRST GROUP MEETING I.
What is a good meeting like? What is the role of the moderator? How can participants contribute to a successful meeting? How do you facilitate a meeting?

12.00-13.00: LUNCH BREAK

13.00-14.15: FIRST GROUP MEETING II.
Preparing the meeting. Elaborating the recruitment plan and the agenda of the meeting.

14.15-14.45: POWER
What is power? Scale line.

14.45-15.00: CLOSE

Thanks to Marci Gosztonyi for brainstorming about the training concept.

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A community organized in a neighborhood of high crime

Jim Field, on the left
Source:
http://jesssteele.wordpress.com

Jim Field is the Director of Community Organizing at the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. He has been organizing for 40 years in different neighborhoods of Chicago. This is the synopsis of an interview made in 2012 during my three-week internship with the organization.


In 1992 in Chicago's mostly Polish American, Avondale neighborhood, the most immediate issue was the elimination of crime. How did you start organizing there?
Jim: I kicked off with canvassing. I started in those blocks which were the closest to the headquarters of the gang dominating the neighborhood. I went on the blocks in concentric circles until the residents started to say that their everyday life is not so much affected by the gang's activities. I was tracing potential leaders, one or two people in each block who were affected by the issue. Then I organized a meeting with them. We discussed how the level of crime influences their lives. In the meantime, I tried to make them understand that the authorities will not solve the problem without them putting on pressure.

Were they afraid, were you afraid that the gang would take revenge?

Jim: The gang had already taken revenge. The gang kept them frightened, crimes already happened. The question was if the community is capable of a level of cooperation, as a result of which it could step up against the intimidation. "What if the gang retaliates?" they asked. "The gang has already retaliated, you have been living in fear," I answered. "I am afraid for my child," they said. "If you want your child not to be afraid, you have to do something," I replied. I agitated them. They had to understand that unless they do something, everything will stay as it was. Then I stepped back and let them make the decision. Finally they committed themselves. They also agreed that if a community member was intimidated, they will step up as one against the gang. It also helped them make the decision that I already carried out such a campaign and could tell them that it had been successful in other neighborhoods. As an organizer, you have to take away every excuse they have. They will say in the white neighborhood that it can be done in an African-American neighborhood because they act more collectively, but not here. They will say in an African-American neighborhood that it can be done in white neighborhoods because they can more easily be gathered, but not the African-Americans.

How did the campaign go?

Jim: We started to put pressure on the authorities: we nagged at the police and went to the mayor's house. We generated media attention around the crimes so that it became inconvenient to the authorities not to deal with the issue. Unfortunately, the authorities started to take meaningful action only after a 16-year old girl's throat had been slit. The neighborhood was deeply upset and they started to heavily push the police commander and the state attorney to take action and to take the perpetrator to court. The police finally arrested the gang member and we mobilized the neighborhood so that we could pack the courtroom. On one of the days preceding the trial, however, the gang threw a brick into the window of our office. We immediately convened a gathering and 130 people came. We then decided to show the gang that we are not afraid and we would deliver back the brick to the headquarters of the gang. We wanted this to be a public action, so we announced it to the media. It blew the fuse at the police station, they said we were not allowed to do such a thing. The media loved it. And we insisted on carrying out the action. So two days before the trial, on a Wednesday evening, accompanied by police cars and the media, we marched to the headquarters of the gang and hand delivered the brick. Two days later we packed the courtroom.

Did the gang ever intimidate somebody from the community organization?

Jim: It helped that we worked in close cooperation with the police and we generated media attention to our issues. It happened though that a gang member popped in to our meeting. The new leaders were freaked out. At that meeting a policeman also participated. He said that if somebody is ready to give a testimony, he could arrest the intimidator, but nobody decided to do so.

What is a good leader like?
Jim: A good leader really cares about the interest of the community, and about building the organization. They respect people but can be tough at the same time. I work with leaders' natural instincts. If I am going into a fight with legislators, and I need someone who vehemently expresses their views; I am bringing the pitbull type.


In the beginning of your career, you organized in a Lithuanian neighborhood in Chicago. Without any Lithuanian ancestors, how did you bridge the gap of cultural differences?

Jim: The Lithuanians are a very closed community, and at the beginning, they were reluctant to accept me. I did not give up, I wanted to understand who they are and where they are from. The community organizer is like water - water always finds its way. Most of the people living in that neighborhood are upper-class Lithuanians who migrated to the U.S. after World War II, after the Soviet Union occupied Lithuania. In the meantime, I was searching for those Lithuanians who would talk to me. The second generation was more friendly. I persuaded them to talk in the Lithuanian community media about the issue I identified (it was a badly directed bus service which embittered the life of many in the neighborhood). The older Lithuanians became very angry with me because the younger ones appeared in the media even though they did not speak perfect Lithuanian. But as a result of this incident, I got on friendly terms with a first generation Lithuanian. I was looking for leaders. Organizing is like sifting sand. You are looking for new leaders and new leaders continuously. First I started with the "anointed" leaders, with the president and the vice-president of a Lithuanian organization dating back decades. First I thought I cannot avoid them although they did not do anything else in the name of organizing but drinking beer and talking about the good old years. Then I realized that I don't need to build on them; instead I tried to find those people who do not just pretend to be leaders but are real leaders. And of course I involved the president and the vice-president when it was possible, and they turned out to be good fundraisers because of their connections.

What is a good organizer like?
Jim: A good organizer believes in people, handles them very well and shows patience. They will take the time to grow a leader. They understand power, strategy and tactics. They can bring people together in a collaborative manner and use the media well. They are good at confrontation but also good at building allies: every target is a potential ally, and in one case, they can be worthy of cooperation, but in another case, you have to humiliate them. One of the challenges for an organizer is to understand that they don't have to be liked all the time. If you want somebody to like you, go and get a dog. The role of the organizer may be somewhat schizophrenic: you want to win, but eventually you are not just there to win, but to build a powerful organization.

Read it in Hungarian.

Can homeless folks and service providers join in their struggle?

Springfield, Lobby Day, Nov 29 2011. Source: FB

The Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (CCH) was established in 1980 by service providers and charities - it was not initiated by homeless folks. The coalition mobilizes service providers or neighborhood organizations (institutional community organizing) and homeless people. Can the two parties equally assert themselves in different campaigns through this community organizing strategy?


CCH sets its campaign agenda based on research and by canvassing the residents of shelters for the homeless. The organization organizes active listening tours in service providing institutions and the community organizers talk to hundreds of homeless folks. They want to know what the most pressing issues are for their constituency. (Who are you and what have you gone through? What do you think about it? What makes you angry?) Or they ask the opinion of homeless folks on a concrete campaign.

In CCH every new community organizer starts with a listening tour, and in the first month they conduct a one-on-one with at least 50 homeless or formerly homeless people. The people interviewed, however, are not involved in the actual decision-making process, but the campaign goals are set by the staff of the organization.

Personal relationships with homeless folks are very important for CCH community organizers. The one-on-one is an important tool to build trust and to find out to what extent the group is organized and what skills its members have which they could use for the benefit of the whole group. The community organizers try to figure out who can be involved in specific tasks in an action, and determine who are real leaders, those members who are able to represent the interest of the broader community.

The community organizers hold regular events in shelters and they agitate homeless people to accumulate power and get involved in running actions to make the decision-makers accountable. And the leaders tell their own story in different places, take part in talks with decision-makers or less often give interviews to the media. CCH does not stress, however, urging the leaders to establish autonomous chapters (or cells) in their shelters, which can set their own agenda or decide about new campaigns.

Furthermore, CCH does not represent homeless people against service providers. The organization goes no further than mediating between the social worker or the institution and the homeless person. The community organizing strategy of CCH focuses more on issues which both parties have a self-interest in and can line up joint support (e.g., to increase state budget support to service providers or to increase housing benefits), rather than building the movement of homeless people. As a result, the organization does not put particular effort into strengthening cooperation and communication between different groups of different shelters and establish a strong network of organized cells. In addition, CCH in most cases works with people living in shelters or who are affiliated with a service provider. It does not organize people living on the streets and it does not directly represent their interests.

This does not mean that homeless people do not take part in the decision-making processes of the organization. In bigger thematic campaigns, such as the decriminalization of prostitutes and the reentry of former felons, persons who were affected by these issues sit on the campaign planning committees along with representatives of civil society organizations. And homeless or formerly homeless folks sit on the board of the organization or are employed as staff members.

CCH works in most campaigns in different coalitions, therefore service providers are their important allies. Just like in the case of homeless people, community organizers lay great stress on finding out their self-interest. They want to see and feel what kind of cooperation can be in the interest of these institutions and what would make them join the particular campaign. One-on-ones are therefore crucial with the representatives of the institutions, too. (During their listening tour, new community organizers also interview almost 50 shelter representatives besides the 50 homeless or formerly homeless people.) CCH sometimes ally with organizations who have less experience in doing advocacy and campaigning. In this case, they understand and start at the level where partners are the most comfortable and they gradually raise the stakes. Building trust is a process in institutional organizing, too: you have to know who is in the organization, who is worth negotiating with, who is capable of what and what they are ready to do.

Read it in Hungarian.

Draw your own stick person

Joe Szakos, the Director of Virginia Organizing talks about the process of building relations with the community.

Why would the neighborhood eventually trust me? Why would the gates open?

Joe: Community organizers, especially in the U.S., are much like parachuters. They go where they are sent. Even though they prepare about the field in advance, they cannot be certain about where they will exactly land. In the beginning of my career, I started to organize in communities in the coalfields in eastern Kentucky. I was a mere youngster in their eyes, someone who could not understand the complexity of their problems. A key to organizing is to gain the trust and the respect of the community. Good organizing will happen only if you trust and respect them. You really need to love their company, with all its challenges. And you accept that building trust is a process.

Why did they eventually trust you?

Joe: Because their thoughts and feelings were important to me. Because first and foremost, I actively listened to them. But sooner or later they also became curious about me. At this point, active listening is not enough. We had to find common ground. I started to think over what are those stories of my life, what are those layers of my personality that people in these communities could relate to. I found two key ones: I like playing baseball and my grandfathers were immigrant coal miners. Our identity and personality have a lot of layers. Community organizing is also the art of relationship building. We emphasize different aspects of our own self to different people, aspects which they can relate to. If I want to gain the trust of an academician, we will probably sooner or later talk about my publications. This seems obvious, but it is not at all when you are in a totally different and unfamiliar environment, where even the vocabulary of the people is different.

What can be helpful in building relations?

Joe: You need to prepare in advance for the meetings with the community. Think over who you are. Are there any overlaps between the community members and yourself? Draw your own stick person and think over who you are in the eyes of the people living there. What are those things which create a bridge between you and them. You really need to know yourself. Why are you passionate about this profession? What is your personal story? Why does injustice make you upset? Be clear about your two-minute and your five-minute story. The narrative about our own life is a constantly changing, personal construction. Some memories occasionally come to the front, others gain a new interpretation. Learn from trying to observe yourself through the eye of the community. Reinterpret your narrative of your life in terms of community organizing.

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Mobilizing along self-interest

Saul Alinsky

Saul Alinsky organized communities for instance in the slums of Chicago between the 1930s and the 1970s. He worked with teenage gangs, low-income immigrant groups from Europe, excluded African-American communities and racist whites. He was passionate about organizing groups cheated by people in power. He enjoyed seeing how they gain back their human dignity, start to organize themselves, and realize they can have influence on the "big" political and business interests.

For most people, the functioning of a democratic state can be pretty complicated and incomprehensible. Decisions follow decisions, each having a huge impact on our lives, but many people can put up with the assumption that they are not in the position to influence how things work. Or their everyday struggle to make ends meet supersedes any other efforts. Legislators often seem to be distant, they listen only to those who are close to the fire. Due to the uneven distribution of power, communities with less capacity to advocate for themselves can easily become marginalized, which makes them subject to fraud, exploitation or oppression. One of the main tasks of a democratic state therefore would be to create space in the decision-making process for those social groups who need more effort to articulate their demands. In most cases, however, this happens only after putting pressure on the legislators.

But why would those who struggle for survival or assume they have no influence on how things work start to organize themselves? Alinsky says because it is their self-interest. So he traced those concrete, immediate and winnable issues which embittered the lives of most members of the neighborhood. And he wanted to track down those locals who can be allies in building a neighborhood organization. Because if the members of the community realize that together they have the power to influence the decisions on their lives, they will feel less marginalized.

For this Alinsky and his organizers needed to know the neighborhood like the palm of their hand. They started with data analysis: before the field work, they wanted to draw a preliminary profile of the neighborhood. They combed through census data, reports by local planning commissions, and public statistics, then they made an inventory of all the public institutions, associations, sport clubs, social agencies and  local businesses, etc. They carried out research on the history of the neighborhood and its people. They mapped power relations and the network of relationships. They started organizing only then. Obviously, by that point, they had several hypotheses of what the most crucial issues could be for the neighborhood, but they put these in brackets. They wanted to hear from the members what makes them angry. Alinsky's organizers built on people's self-interest.

After the research, they divided the neighborhood into smaller units and started canvassing. They conducted hundreds of interviews, with residents, shopkeepers, leaders of local civil society organizations, church leaders, or people active in other fields of public life. They took thorough notes on the behavior and social habits of the people. They visited new contacts other people mentioned. They used qualitative and quantitative research methods used in sociology and anthropology such as participatory observation, unstructured, semi-structured and in-depth interviews, statistical analyses, etc. At the end of the day they recorded voice reports on their conclusions. They wanted to draw a profile of the fears, sorrows, hopes and skills of people living in the neighborhood.

Area canvassing usually takes one or two months of intensive work. Within this period the community organizers get in touch with the whole neighborhood. Canvassing can happen through many different ways. Organizers can contact those who seemed interesting during the research phase, and they will suggest new contacts to talk to (this is the snowball method applied in sociology and anthropology). Organizers may have acquaintances from earlier and start tracing those networks. New opportunities can also come the their way through sheer coincidence.

Many organizations apply the more direct door knocking. Student volunteers or community organizers visit the members of the neighborhood in their homes, they knock on each and every door to try to identify the crucial issues for the community and make them open to cooperation. Building relations can be very tiring and may hold out little hope in the beginning. But there are communication techniques which make dismantling the walls easier. (For example: "What made you angry recently? "I don't know, leave me alone." "Your neighbor, Mary said that trash is not picked up. Is this a problem for you? What do you think should be done?)

Building trust is a process which starts from zero. Therefore in the beginning, rejection and suspicion are part of canvassing. One of Alinsky's most quoted story is how he infiltrated into one of Al Capone's mobs in Chicago. (At this point yet he worked as a young criminologist, not as a community organizer.) Through long weeks he hung around the headquarters of the mobsters, the Lexington Hotel in Chicago, and he was always dismissed by them. Then one night at the neighboring table, one of the professional assassins of Capone, Big Ed said: "Hey, you guys, did I ever tell you about the time I picked up that redhead in Detroit ?" The others moaned in chorus. "Oh, no... Do we have to hear that one again?" Big Ed got disappointed when Alinsky poked him and said: "Mr. Stash. I’d love to hear that story." The gangster's face lit up. "You would, kid? Here, pull up a chair."

Through these initial contacts and talks we can draw a profile of the concerns, skills and visions of the people living in the neighborhood. And through these methods, we can form more personal relations with those who seem reliable and pursue group interests. Through longer, personal conversations we can identify the concrete, immediate and winnable issues, in which many people have a self-interest and which can help mobilize the neighborhood. And we can identify those people who can lead on issues and become leaders. And we can determine the forces and resources which keep a community together, and which we can build on to organize the first neighborhood assembly.

(Source: Sanford D. Horwitt: Let Them Call Me Rebel: Saul Alinsky - His Life and Legacy. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1989; Playboy Interview: Saul Alinsky - a candid conversation with the feisty radical organizer. Vol. 19. no. 3. - March, 1972; Saul D Alinsky: Rules for Radicals - A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals. Random House, New York, 1971)

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