Rabbits Pulling Magic Outta Hats

The idea that we need to pay 20 people to do 900 hours worth of organizing labor needs to be challenged such that we are eventually working towards the goal of 5 million people doing 1 hour worth of organizing labor.

501c3s will not bring structural or institutional change. 5 million people will. And the question is not “should you have a job” or be a segregationist on high refusing to engage in any unclean impure politcs at all—the question is—how can we rethink 501c3s as “movement.” and how can we reach the goal of 5 million people fighting for gender liberation and radical transformative change.

from this
riffing off of this

THIS.

What pissed me off about the OP:

1. the overarching sense of entitlement.
2. the naivety. Come on.
3. the assumption that more social media equals more action. No, no it doesn’t.
4. the same old, same old lack of questioning one’s methodology. A movement isn’t relevant until and unless it is accountable to the people it is supposedly dedicated to. Conducting the same business in digital code doesn’t magically transform it into something more radical.
5. I’ll be impressed when I see how many of those Twitter followers will not only go a day without pay to be at a demonstration, but will bring someone else with them. Movements aren’t constructed on paper or on the net. They are composed of the warm bodies of people.
6. you prove your worth by putting skin in the game. Not on a short-term basis, but over time. The more time you put in, the more others know they can rely on you, even when it costs you….that’s what earns you respect.
7. yes, it is going to cost you. It will cost you your time. It will cost you money. It will cost you jobs and other opportunities. It will cost you in your social life. It will change the way others think of you. It will change the way you think of yourself. It will change your life. But rest assured, it ain’t easy, and it will take a piece out of you. If it doesn’t, UR DOIN’ IT RONG.

We have a phrase in the labor movement: “swivel-chair leader”. Its pretty self-explanatory.

Tell Me What Democracy Looks Like; THIS Is What Democracy Looks Like!

Rally in solidarity with Wisconsin workers, February 26th, Springfield IL. My favorite part starts around 8:19, with Dave Burns. All of us IBEW folk in the back were just waiting for him to come out with a quotable quote, and he finally delivered: “Without organized labor, we’d all be pickin’ shit in the dirt!!” Right on!

Answering the question: the politics of home cooking

(my response on the thread at Pandagon)

To further answer Amanda’s parting question, I made a list of all various things that people I know are juggling. Younger people and those without children aren’t juggling as many. People between the ages of 40-50 are juggling at least ten of these items:

• second job or side hustle
• night classes (for current job or to change jobs)
• caretaking of child(ren)
• transportation of child(ren)
• caretaking for elderly/ill/disabled parents
• caretaking for ill, disabled or injured partner
• activist/political work (labor, anti-racist/POC movement, LGBT, environment, etc.)
• cultural or artistic pursuits
• exercise
• volunteering for child(ren)’s activities
• volunteering in community (homeless shelter, rape crisis center, etc.)
• 12-step programs or other mental health therapy
• religious practice or other “centering” practice—something to regroup, reconnect with the flow of life. I really hesitate to say “spiritual” because that’s alienating to atheists, but I hesitate to say “emotional work” because that carries the connotation of being solely inner-directed rather than both inner- and outer-directed. I’m thinking things like meditation or walking in silence in nature, or a nice long jog—something that seems to take the “I” out of the equation and make it more a “we,” y’know? If you don’t, that’s cool too.
• home or personal errands (grocery, post office, pharmacy, etc.)
• home maintenance/projects (cleaning, cutting grass, gardening, painting, fixing things, etc.)
• managing one’s own chronic condition or pain (most often work-related; sometimes genetic)
• and somehow, someway trying to find time to socialize with friends/family, or enjoy some downtime entertainment

That’s what people are juggling. I’m juggling 14 of those items each week. That, and the transportation time it takes to do so. Most people my age are struggling with a dozen of ‘em (that “sandwich generation” thing). Yeah, I could give up some things in order to find more time to cook….but not really. I need everything I’m doing, or I wouldn’t be doing it. What isn’t rewarding: having lots of drive time. I wish my geographic circle was smaller. But….I need the activities themselves for physical and mental self care. It matters. And if in order to accommodate what I deem the essentials to my schedule I use takeout or frozen ravioli or something…..I’m making the command decision that right now, I value that meeting, or that class, or that social activity (either mine, my daughter’s or both) more than I value home cooking. And I value home cooking a lot.

I thought about snarkily commenting: “what would it take to get more USians to eat home cooking? Get them all a wife.” You know? Because really—if I could cut a couple things out of my schedule it would be the schlepping my daughter around to places, the errand-running, and home maintenance (I’d also ditch the thyroid problems if I could). Then I would have no scutwork, just the meaningful stuff.

But that’s the problem. The whole “why aren’t you cooking” question is framed as an individual problem, when the causes are systemic and affect everyone. The real solutions aren’t in some intricate dance of advance planning and time management in the kitchen. The real solutions are collective, not individual.