Oranization

One of the most interesting things to me last week was that the group I worked with on the corners project (see my previous posts, such as here) with the Worker Center was that we were helping with the baby steps of the Organizing process. We so often hear about how bad things were, and how things have changed, but we rarely see what happens in between. For example, we know of the marches led by Dr. Martin Luther King, and the Suffrage movement, but we don't hear about how the people all got on the same page, or found the resources to petition the government, etc.. Seeing the brainstorming, the ideamaking, and the leads and seeing how they all go into developing a concrete mission was something I'd never taken into consideration. Organizing is not something that can be done on the fly. There has to be materials, plans, and time, time, time. Collette, one of the Organizers with whom we worked was so busy with the sudden influx of volunteers (the office went from about 5 to about 25 for a week, and she has another 30 this week), that she found herself too busy to even pick up propane for her trailer, meaning she had no hot water for showers and no heat for keeping warm at night. While some of the volunteers complained about having had to get up at 5 in the morning, wanting a chance to go out and get plastered at night, Collette, Saket, Marco, Elly, et al. was there when we got in and stayed there long after we left. We had the luxury of only having a week to donate - these people are fighting the fight in our presence and our absence, and for that, I am most impressed.