Power concedes nothing without a demand --Frederick Douglas
Looking at events such as the Occupy Wall Street movement in the U.S that began in late 2011, and numerous other social drives by the bottom segments of society to fight and preserve the little dignity they have not been stripped of, it is a shame that such movements like Occupy never went as far as many anticipated. Most movements have proven to ultimately be a failure.
The Inherent Flaws of Most Movements
Looking at a movement like the gay rights movement, many people may wonder why it hasn't garnered the amount of support that they think it deserves. Even movements like anti-war protests eventually lose their zeal and wane with the passing of time. There are many reasons why these movements fail. They don't fail because they are unpopular. Other factors such as infiltration by government intelligence and state-sponsored saboteurs may also play a factor, but ultimately movements fail for a number of major reasons.
Due to a lack of consolidation and organization, ideas and energies are not properly channeled. They become lost, falling into chasms a thousand fathoms deep. The movement becomes in danger of being co-opted, degenerating into riots which endows authority with the excuse to pummel and abuse their citizens and disburse them, like a farmer scatters their seeds.
In the words of historian and political analyst Webster Griffin Tarpley, "Protests are for wimps. Revolutionaries seize power." Protests should only be the initial phase, not the objective; the objective is the achievement of some, if not much, of your goals, whatever they may be. Protests are to simply be the voicing of grievances, the announcement of your political program. The inability of most movements to seemingly understand this simple fact, ultimately dooms them. And if you are someone like me who believes change is desperately needed in his/her country, then it can get frustrating, very frustrating. Because protests are as far as it goes for most.
Another flaw of political movements is that most of them (whether by intention or inadvertent) seem to be fairly exclusive to certain significant degrees. The gay rights movements propose for legislation to place same sex couples on identical legal status as heterosexual couples. The secessionist movement in the U.S. which seems to have taken steam recently, proposes for certain states to be abdicated from the central authority that is the U.S government and form their own countries if you may, in their claim (which is absolutely legitimate) that the government has "become out of control." There are periodical bouts of senior citizens protesting for programs that many if not most of them rely on for sustenance, not to be cut from the federal budget. All throughout the world, one can find one form of movement or another that is either happening or has just subsided (due to failure).
What most of these movements lack are popular demands (in other words, mass struggle for economic populism). Demands that create an amalgamation of many segments of society, consolidating their energy and productively channeling them into a positive direction are what put a political movement on the path to success. Families that are poor, barely struggling to make ends meet, find no benefit in going downtown and supporting a mass of disgruntled gays and lesbians when they have to worry about how they are going to stay in their homes the next or current winter, or to put food on the table.
Same applies to protests by senior citizens against cuts to programs like Medicare and social security. Although this is a very important battle, many are not aware of or even convinced that they should take up arms and join this movement, partly because their priorities are little different, with age one of the faactors symbolizing this reality. A young and unemployed college graduate may not be drawn to such a movement, worrying instead on how to find a job and move out of their parent's abode, in addition to trying to set themselves on the path to become debt-free.
Secessionism itself also lacks an economic platform and a set of grievances that can be sympathized with by much if not most segments of the population (not to mention its historically racist and aristocratic context). Young and/or middle age black and hispanic youth may not find traction with such a movement. Although these movements have legitimate grievances that many may argue deserve to redressed, they all have in common the fundamental failure to mobilize mass support from various segments of society.
You can protest for marriage equality or protest against the corruption of the federal government all you want. But when we have roughly over fourteen million children in poverty, a high rate of unemployed youth, the threat of destabilization for the family, a growing prison population that is due to a racist justice system, and so forth, issues like these become tossed on the wayside as the masses soon forget that there was even such movements, or simply choose to ignore it altogether.
The inherent flaw of many movements is that they are woefully inadequate They cannot be coupled with any other agenda, and so they are conveniently left on the wayside, bereft of substance, and resident to the ash heap of history's failed movements.
What Should Be Noted
One of the reasons why the Labor Movement/Unions of the nineteenth and twentieth century was so popular (but is now dilapidated and all but destroyed) was that it included everybody. Yes, some unions were exclusive (i.e only permitting white males or whites in general), but in turn many were not. They provided a platform that was beneficial for everybody, mainly the working poor, the largest faction of society. Many attempts were made to discredit them including legislation that made it illegal to assemble in public, criminalizing speech that was in favor of collective bargaining and so forth. Unions were also a driving force (and the most primary one) against fascism and dictatorship. Hitler and Mussolini hated unions. In some South American countries, participation in a union is signatory to a death warrant. Unions are also despised by the reactionary factions of the ruling class. Because they were based on populism. Now they have been reduced to factions (teachers, nurses, garbage workers, bus drivers, etc) that are hardly in solidarity with each other..
Why? One of the fundamental flaws of many if not most political movements is their inability to adapt or evolve to meet changing times and demographics. The unions of today are hardly what they were four decades ago and beyond. They also fail to understand another fundamental principle in struggles. And that principle is that enemies eventually get smarter and perhaps even stronger. Unions have not taken note of this apparently. The ruling class has figured out new ways of union busting, whether it be President Bush's No Child Left Behind, or President Obama's Race to the Top Program, private equity firms like Mitt Romney and Bain Capital to asset-strip companies, and even "free" trade.
This has left the labor movement largely discombobulated. It now easily concedes to concessions, recedes on robust demands, and easily falls prey to neo-liberal capitalism, and is simply pusillanimous altogether. The success of a movement is half the battle. Now that movement must build on what it already has, and make renovations as time goes on. They require constant vigilance. Apparently something that unions eventually lost.
The Solution
In his scroll The Art of War, military tactician Sun Tzu states, "Now in order to kill the enemy, our men must be roused to anger; that there may be advantage from defeating the enemy, they must have their reward" (Chapter II--Waging War). The famous phrase, "Get angry and get organized," hastily comes to mind in reminiscence of this quote. Note that Sun Tzu implies leadership. Who else shall arouse the men and lead them into battle?
All factions of society that support economic populism (which is most) must be aroused. Many people, especially Americans of the downtrodden masses remain in abject ignorance and apathy as much as in poverty. Many of them don't understand the implications of the many significant and pernicious decisions enacted by their government. They live in their own narrow worlds, worrying about only themselves and those they are obligated to care for. That is where education, which broadens their scope must come in. There must be a concerted campaign to bring these factions of society together on common grounds. And as always, the common ground which has proven sacred and which many if not most are in fact willing to make a pilgrimage to, is on economic. Letting a fellow citizen know that you are willing to fight for their economic rights may cause their ears to prick up and their eyes to widen. They may become imbued with hope and optimism seeing that someone is prepared to help them achieve and/or preserve a condition or status.
There are many things that can be done aside from education. Once the movement begins, the call for inclusion must be sounded more and more. As the masses press forward in their protest--the initial phase of their movement, there comes a great opportunity: the authorities will almost always release their hounds, otherwise known as the "police," unto the mass. This is the time when the protesters have the golden opportunity to invite the officers as well. While this may sound confusing and even yet ludicrous to some, note that there has been a systemic attack on labor unions and pension funds, both of which public law enforcement personnel largely benefit from. Inviting them willfully and peacefully and engaging in dialogue to let them understand that they are not exempt from the systemic assault from reactionary oligarchical forces, may force them to think twice before abusing the protesters--the same people that are fighting for them to keep their jobs, their wages, and their retirement.
Around the core that is the economic populist platform, must also be embedded a socio-political platform. Many things are related. While making your demand to combat the immorality that is austerity, one must also correlate the austerity with the rise of the military industrial complex that is a major factor in the ringing of the austerity bells that cause an unpleasant tintinnabulation all across. In other words, demands also have to be made to drastically reduce the "defense" budget, in realistic hopes of fighting this austerity. This will give more appeal to the movement and generate more support. Soldiers and veterans are also citizens that must not be forgotten but often are. And their needs are the same as every other citizen's. The fight for their benefits (which are not exempt from austerity measures either) can also be annotated into the platform to include them as well, further broadening the base and support.
Condemnation and a call for a halt against illegal and imperialistic military and intelligence operations can also be annotated to stress the importance of national sovereignty and peaceful co-existence. This can bring out more of the staunch and disgruntled members of the anti-war faction. Substantive inquiries into the root of the nation's economic problems, such as "free" trade, regressive taxation, and an abhorrent public education system, and the pungent tentacles of vulture capitalism that has stretched into every facet of society can also be confronted.
A discussion on the unsettling reality of student loans and usury in general must be made and a possible debt moratorium can be entertained. The porous deficiency of the public and college education system and their inability to provide true knowledge and education that can help produce tangible and real wealth and assets for society can be another issue. Subsequently there can be a call for the revival of an alternative education like trade/craftsmanship. This will further broaden the base by attracting students and even teachers of higher and public education. A call to rebuilding the nation's infrastructure and vastly improving it, building it to last. The prison industrial complex, beneficiary of a racist and prejudice justice system must be also be confronted...this will be sure to further broaden the base, attracting many blacks and hispanics and the poor (the main victims of such a system) to join the struggle in addition to knowing that their economic condition is being fought for to be improved upon.
Better work place treatment and better economic prospects for women in the corporate sector can be another. A call for a hierarchical restructuring of the corporate pyramid and ladder, and a demand for fairer wages, including calls to halt all union busting can attract yet even more segments of society, mainly any one who supports and participates in such institutions. The discussion for a national bank which will result in the abolition of the private central bank as we know it, is another important topic.
A political movement must be broad, and must have a solid foundation. In addition it needs a moral voice, and not just an agenda of rational self-interest, for this alone renders inadequacy. Segments of the upper class can also be included, by being urged to show more charity and mercy and be compelled to support/fund the political movement in its embryonic phase, providing an opportunity for many of them to show solidarity and connect with their fellow citizens. They must also be educated on their rewards, such as an ease of class tension and possible work towards a better public relationship with the lower classes. While this may sound unrealistic to many, I am willing to wager that there are such people out there. I do not propose Communitarism, and while I may agree largely with Amitai Eztioni and this type of thinking, Communitarianism seems either very inadequate or unrealistic or simply a failure at this time considering many factors.
The Importance of Leadership
None of this can work without effective and central leadership. A movement this broad is sure to have its inherent contradictions, meaning disagreements among its members. Effective leadership will be sure to be a symbol and representative of a united front, placing all members on equal grounds and making sure the movement stays focused on the objectives that have the most chances of success and deserve the highest priority. No successful political movement may achieve all of its objectives--it would unrealistic to say otherwise. The inherent flaws of democratic politics will not allow it. However, without leadership, the movement is lost. It was Occupy's greatest folly, as well as that of many other movements. As in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., "A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus, but a molder of consensus."
Once this effective leadership is established, now comes the polls. They must be placed into positions of power through a unified campaign in order for the movement to achieve its second phase of success, in its march to begin implementation of its populist agenda (it may not happen at first, but as they stay the course, their numbers will increase). Once in power, the understanding of human nature must be acknowledged, and an eternal vigilance must be stressed. Public officials fall prey to very wealthy influences--the flesh is weak, as they say. They are human. However, their base must keep constant, unrelenting, and torrid pressure to keep them in line.
One can learn from two of the most successful movements in American history: the Abolitionist Movement of the 19th century that became synonymous with Republican party under Abraham Lincoln who underwent high pressure from his party to abolish slavery, and the Labor Movement of the 19th to early 20th century under the leadership of influential figures such as Mother Jones.
Lawrence Laryea is an amateur independent blogger and is the sole author of the Solutionist's Blog. Any questions, comments, or suggestions, he can be reached at Killerteddybear666@gmail.com. Feel free to drop a message.
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