|
A little over twenty years ago now, I was astounded to hear Nelson Mandela had been released from prison. Although I had been a small part of a very large movement that had (as one of its several aims) his release, I had never really expected him to be out of prison
Lesson 1. One does not know in advance what is possible and what is not possible: one can only try and see
By the time of Mandela's release, I had done anti-apartheid work, sometimes off-and-on now-and-then, and sometimes with prolonged and dedicated fervor, for about fifteen years. I was a late-comer to the movement: I regularly encountered folk who had first done anti-apartheid work before I was even born
Lesson 2. Major social change is not the work of a single day or a single year: it requires time, perhaps more time than one would like to imagine
In its heyday, the anti-apartheid movement was a large international movement. Anti-apartheid students in the US shared ideas and coordinated some actions across multiple campus. Speakers from the African National Congress were available for travel. A number of unions cooperated, realizing the untoward effect that exploiting cheap labor had on their members. There were good sources of information available from domestic organizations and abroad, though we had to rely on surface mail
Lesson 3. Mass movements are possible, and they can be effective
Many of the people involved were recruited and educated one at a time. A group, that I worked with, carried projectors around and showed films to groups, sometimes as small as four or five people, for several years, before we reached a critical mass. I once spent a few hours one evening discussing apartheid with a student who I thought was full of rightwing nonsense -- but a few days later, he switched sides and became one of the best anti-apartheid activists I knew
Lesson 4. Political movements are built from actual individual people; and if you want them on your side, you must take each of them seriously
Convincing non-involved folk required that the activists themselves be well-informed. People are inundated by bullshit, and they can frequently smell it a mile away. Winning people over required folk to be straight-up and educated about the issue
Lesson 5. Learn ten times as much about your issue as you think you need to know and don't try to bullshit the public
The South African ruling class had a definite interest in maintaining apartheid, and it spent time and money pushing its views. Conservative politicians in the US picked up its themes, and mass media in the US echoed. So many Americans primarily heard the prepackaged soundbites: "South Africa is a bulwark against communism in Africa," or "the blacks are a collection of various tribal groups traditionally at war with each other"
Lesson 6. There's always powerful propaganda on behalf of the status quo
To confront this propaganda, the anti-apartheid movement had to have facts at its fingertips and a useful analysis of the facts. The image of South Africa's majority population as a loose collection of primitive violent tribal savages, for example, completely ignored the fact that South Africa was a modern industrial state, which had created a worker class based on skin-color, had stripped the workers of almost all civil and economic rights, and had forced workers to compete with each other in a race to the bottom by creating a large impoverished population and banishing it to outlying areas. These supposedly primitive violent tribal savages were in fact the very people who did most of the industrial labor
Lesson 7. Counter propaganda with actual facts and an illuminating analysis of the facts
In discussing the issues with people, we often found that they had strong opinions based on unsupported ideas they had. But it was not always immediately clear where their ideas came from, and sometimes it took a while to figure out how to respond accurately
Lesson 8. You can't know what people actually think without talking to them: they may not know what's going on, but their ideas aren't necessarily what you think they are
Unfortunately, people in privileged positions often seemed to be as ignorant as the general public
Lesson 9. Reporters and congressmen don't necessarily know more than you do: it's your job to educate them
When we set out to do the work of educating the public, we learned lots about ourselves: for example, we're really good at squabbling with each other
Lesson 10. Don't waste time on philosophical debates and other opportunities for pointless argument: keep the discussion focused on concrete matters
We also learned we're very good at pissing each other off. To be honest, Person-Who-Shall-Forever-Remain-Nameless, I really coulda strangled ya when ya managed to push in front of the cameras to ramble on about a buncha your off-topic personal views when we finally managed after lots of hard work to get local TV to cover our event
Lesson 11. Political movements are sometimes like Thanksgiving dinner when Weird Old Uncle John shows up and freaks everybody out. The folk are fambly, and ya'll remember that ya love em all, mebbe a week or so from now, after ya finally cool down
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
