View Single Post
Old November 28th, 2013 #1
Alex Linder
Administrator
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Posts: 45,756
Blog Entries: 34
Default Leftist-democratic strategy

Grassroots campaigning.

Step One: Identify the specific type of discrimination, adequately and specifically define it (this is really important), and make sure to control its definition throughout the inevitable public debate that will occur. Effect public advocacy campaigns are focused like a laser upon three things: 1) what's the thing that needs to be changed, 2) what's the injury if it doesn't change, and 3) what outcome would prevent the injury. The campaign must be outcome oriented or it will fall apart like occupy wall street did.

Step Two: Identify groups who are harmed by the discrimination and the specific harms (financial, social status, personal identity, psychological) which are the result of the discrimination. This will be the base of the grassroots movement. Identify other organizations who have similar interests to those of the base. Coordinate with these groups. This could mean an exchange of donor lists, coordination with funding drives, exchange of operational information, etc. Organize your base by creating a non-profit and registering as such with the IRS. Contact your local bar association for information regarding pro-bono attorney work. Use of social media sites for organizing and identifying supports will be essential.

Step Three: Identify those among the base who are good community organizers, personally motivated, and/or whose particular experiences with discrimination may resonate with the public. These will be the managers and the face of the organization. These people must be articulate and look "normal." One of the reasons that the legalize pot movement has struggled in the past is that its public advocates look shaggy from Scooby Doo or wear "George Washington grew Pot" shirts to interviews on Larry King.

Step Four: Get managers out front by encouraging them to organize workshops, public information sessions, and community outreach. The goal being to increase awareness and generate a cash flow. With cash you can hire office staff, buy a printer, rent an office space, etc. Generating revenue is essential. It would help here to seek out celebrity endorsements if they can be had.

Step Five: Operate and manage a local grass roots campaign to increase awareness and generate funding. This is by far the hardest part. Many types of discrimination are so ingrained into the cultural norm that the organization's message is going to be asking people to see things they take for granted from a different perspective. At this point, there is no substitution for grinding it out. Make sure your operations managers remain motivated and understand that there will be more failures in the beginning than successes.

Step Six: Use any successful revenue generation to expand the organization. Put together signature drives to pass laws outlawing discrimination. Frequently, motivation at the local levels is just as, if not more, effective than at the national level. This means petitioning and lobbying city council members, school boards, and state senators. Again, failure will be the norm and it's the daily grind that has to take over here. Expect turnover within the organizations ranks to be fairly high as well as opponent criticism.

Step Seven: Assuming that the advocacy has gained traction, begin using revenue to establish regional offices and try to move from a grassroots local campaign to a national movement. Hopefully this will include the ability to hire professional lobbyists, contribute significant campaign contributions to candidates in state and local elections, and investment in substantive media information campaigns. At this point, the campaign may be able to afford to fund legal challenges to the discrimination you're targeting.

So there you go. That's how you stamp out discrimination. Public perception must be changed and laws must be put in place to protect the individual rights of those who have been discriminated against in the past.

And since I detected a tone of sarcasm in your message, you can kiss off. Today 1:05am