In Stir It Up: Lessons in Community Organizing and Advocacy, Rinku Sen describes the important political and economic trends that need to be taken into account when doing community organising. She explains that:
“If we are to shift power, our organizing has to be grounded in a clear and common understanding of how the world works. Because our world has expanded and changes at a rapid pace, we can easily become overwhelmed by the scale and character of the change taking place around us. But our analysis of the world provides more than background for our work, more than an interesting discussion every once in a while. It provides an evaluative benchmark against which to measure the effectiveness of and need for our particular organizing program.” [1]
This book was published in 2003 and the focus is the US but when I read this chapter I was struck by the importance of an assessment of the context in which we struggle. Sen identifies “three trends that are relevant to every progressive group:
“the resurgence of conservative movements and the power gained by such movements in the United States since the early 1970s;
the character and organization of the new economy, which is distinguished by the rising use of neoliberal policies and contingent workers; and
the continued, unyielding role of racism and sexism in the organization of society.” [2]
Ren describes the ‘New Conservative Infrastructure’, how it was built, the economic and social campaigns it ran, and then the implications for progressive organising. The ‘new economy’ refers to neoliberalism, the current form of capitalism. Ren describes the major neoliberal policies and the implications for progressive organising. The final trend Ren describes is the centrality of race and gender. She describes racism, sexism, how these are maintained through welfare reform, and then the implications for progressive organising.
Clearly, these three trends are still very relevant and we have had developments and events such as new internet and digital technologies; the 2008 financial crisis, leading to different forms of populism and nationalism; climate change and the destruction of the natural world. I will explore the political and economic context and trends in the 2020s in Britain in future posts. I will also broaden the scope to include political, economic, social, cultural, and ecological trends. As well as understanding the situation now, we also need to understand how and why it came about. To do that we need to look at our history.
Endnotes
- Stir It Up: Lessons in Community Organizing and Advocacy, Rinku Sen, 2003, p1
- Stir It Up: Lessons in Community Organizing and Advocacy, Rinku Sen, 2003, p1
Building a Revolutionary Movement 