2006-08-06
futuristics | affeccting change
Written 11 nov 1993 for a presentation at an Abuse Survivor's "Speakback" held in Waterbury, CT |
Some Thoughts on Making Productive Social Change
Affecting Social Change is much more than mouthing slogans or sound bites | It can mean devoting hours - days - years - spending time with those who are reluctant and unwilling to hear the truths of others; years to work at changing existing social policy or considering other ways of living ||
Yet making the fundametal changes in the values that underlie oppressive social policies require interacting with those who oppose us | This must be done before we get to the voting booth, before we get to legislative committee hearings or public forums | We need to get our points across and to affect change in board rooms and private offices; in juvenile and adult corrections, mental health, the courts, in educational, cultural, legislative and personal spheres ~ whereever decisions affecting all our lives are made regularly and daily ~ and we need to do this now!
We must infiltrate the meeting places of adversaries and decision makers who oppose eliminating social injustices | We must insist upon and make impact by directly negotiating policy change [or in protecting good policies and practices], laws and directions for the future | Once there, being heard, we have to make our points clearly enough to be effective advocates for change | Now, affecting change doesn't necessarily make for chit chat or small talk at parties | You won't be making friends with those you meet and
confront at policy plannings or while negotiating change, nor will your own friends necessarily want to know about the details of your efforts ||
Even if we cannot immediately make changes to oppressive social policies or practices, our mere presence in some of these meeting places can prevent additional harmful policies from being implemented | Also ~ remember to stay in touch with others who know what you say to be true, and to refresh and replenish yourself from behind-the-scenes battles rather than burn yourself out | Stay healthy to battle successfully ||
JOURNAL EXCERPTS Written 20 apr 1994 in my print journal vol # 28 |
FEAR of the future, combined with an Apocalypic interpretation of events, can be a dangerous union | Mix into this brew the posturing exclamations of demagogues and proponents of social control via scapegoating and blame-pointing, and the foundation of tyranny is well on the way to being solid | This assumes, of course, that no firmly established counter-movements are present or recognized | And for some, this is the collective psychological state we find ourselves in at the moment ||
WE could dismiss the impact of all of this easily; say that throughout human history people have gotten irrational and weird when the millenium arrives | But to dismiss the effect of this kind of collective psychosis is a foolhardy action | IN EUROPE, in the 900s [years, not phone chat lines] historians now recognize this period as an intellectual and spiritual Dark Age | Moreover, in dismissing similar lines of reasoning {well, rationalizing is more like it] that occur in our own times, we open wider the door to the same things occurring to us, now ||
Since the opposite arguement is to wholeheartedly endorse the "End of the World" / Battle of Armageddon belief, this doesn't seem a productive alternative either | No, what we need to do is to recognize that severe and negative consequences of past human actions can and will occur [indeed, they are already occuring] but that these violent upheavals shall pass as well | That belief being a "given," the next course of action need to be to prepare for the rebuilding of Civilization ||
Making productive use of past and existing technologies, tools and knowledge are among the necessities in planning and preparing for opening a new Millenium | Certainly there will be catastrophic conditions and situations with which we must work [again... there already are] but we do not prepare ourselves for them by being shocked into inactivity ||
We must instead forge ahead, make the decision to work at developing solutions for social, psychic, technolocial, environmental and spiritual problems |
We may not always make the best decisions, but the alternative of making NO decisions, of taking NO action, is not a viable option |
Some Thoughts on Making Productive Social Change
Affecting Social Change is much more than mouthing slogans or sound bites | It can mean devoting hours - days - years - spending time with those who are reluctant and unwilling to hear the truths of others; years to work at changing existing social policy or considering other ways of living ||
Yet making the fundametal changes in the values that underlie oppressive social policies require interacting with those who oppose us | This must be done before we get to the voting booth, before we get to legislative committee hearings or public forums | We need to get our points across and to affect change in board rooms and private offices; in juvenile and adult corrections, mental health, the courts, in educational, cultural, legislative and personal spheres ~ whereever decisions affecting all our lives are made regularly and daily ~ and we need to do this now!
We must infiltrate the meeting places of adversaries and decision makers who oppose eliminating social injustices | We must insist upon and make impact by directly negotiating policy change [or in protecting good policies and practices], laws and directions for the future | Once there, being heard, we have to make our points clearly enough to be effective advocates for change | Now, affecting change doesn't necessarily make for chit chat or small talk at parties | You won't be making friends with those you meet and
confront at policy plannings or while negotiating change, nor will your own friends necessarily want to know about the details of your efforts ||Even if we cannot immediately make changes to oppressive social policies or practices, our mere presence in some of these meeting places can prevent additional harmful policies from being implemented | Also ~ remember to stay in touch with others who know what you say to be true, and to refresh and replenish yourself from behind-the-scenes battles rather than burn yourself out | Stay healthy to battle successfully ||
JOURNAL EXCERPTS Written 20 apr 1994 in my print journal vol # 28 |
FEAR of the future, combined with an Apocalypic interpretation of events, can be a dangerous union | Mix into this brew the posturing exclamations of demagogues and proponents of social control via scapegoating and blame-pointing, and the foundation of tyranny is well on the way to being solid | This assumes, of course, that no firmly established counter-movements are present or recognized | And for some, this is the collective psychological state we find ourselves in at the moment ||
WE could dismiss the impact of all of this easily; say that throughout human history people have gotten irrational and weird when the millenium arrives | But to dismiss the effect of this kind of collective psychosis is a foolhardy action | IN EUROPE, in the 900s [years, not phone chat lines] historians now recognize this period as an intellectual and spiritual Dark Age | Moreover, in dismissing similar lines of reasoning {well, rationalizing is more like it] that occur in our own times, we open wider the door to the same things occurring to us, now ||
Since the opposite arguement is to wholeheartedly endorse the "End of the World" / Battle of Armageddon belief, this doesn't seem a productive alternative either | No, what we need to do is to recognize that severe and negative consequences of past human actions can and will occur [indeed, they are already occuring] but that these violent upheavals shall pass as well | That belief being a "given," the next course of action need to be to prepare for the rebuilding of Civilization ||
Making productive use of past and existing technologies, tools and knowledge are among the necessities in planning and preparing for opening a new Millenium | Certainly there will be catastrophic conditions and situations with which we must work [again... there already are] but we do not prepare ourselves for them by being shocked into inactivity ||
We must instead forge ahead, make the decision to work at developing solutions for social, psychic, technolocial, environmental and spiritual problems |
We may not always make the best decisions, but the alternative of making NO decisions, of taking NO action, is not a viable option |
NOTE: I've posted this before, but it has been over a year ago. I know I have some new readers and, besides, the time seemed right to re-post this commentary |
Labels: essays, futuristics, organizing, social change, will brady
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