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Everyone knows about the tremendous impact the Occupy movement has had on the national conversation on inequality. But many Occupies have been equally instrumental in bringing about major change in their own communities and making a real difference in local issues.
The examples are abundant. Across the country, Occupations have saved homes from foreclosure, challenged corrupt municipal officials, and stood up to unfair ordinances and local laws — and the list goes on and on.
However, as the organizers of these actions will tell you, to successfully organize local activism, it is critical to effectively research the issue ahead of time to identify pressure points, supporters and opponents and figure out how to craft your message for real, local change. For this reason, we will be sharing tactics and strategies for researching these types of issues at tonight’s Occupy Supply webinar.
We’re pleased to invite you to join our free online talk “Identify, Investigate, Occupy: Researching Stakeholders for Local Activism” with ACORN founder Wade Rathke, former Occupy Buffalo member and FDL Director of Operations Samantha Colon and Occupy Monterey member Colin Gallagher.
Tonight’s panel will begin with a presentation by Samantha Colon, former protester with Occupy Buffalo and the newest member of the Firedoglake staff. Sam will be talking about the steps to identifying stakeholders in local issues — answering the important questions of who stands to benefit and who stands to be hurt by a particular action? Sam’s work with Occupy Buffalo helped make that Occupation one of the most effective in the nation for local activism.
We’ll also be joined by Wade Rathke, the founder of ACORN, who will talk about the ways in which Occupations can build coalition support with other local groups, which is often necessary for effective community organizing.
Finally we will hear from Occupy Monterey’s Colin Gallagher, who will share his experiences with local activism and discuss the tools available to occupations so that they can learn more about what is happening in their communities.
The presentation portion of our webinar will be recorded for everyone, but we will not record the Q&A portion so that people may speak freely.
As always, tonight’s discussion is open to the public – occupier, activist or supporter.
I hope you can join us on the webinar TONIGHT, 4/4 at 8pm Eastern.
2 Comments
If you were on our Online Organizing webinar, this will be a great follow-up that covers local, community activism and coalition building. Hope to talk to you all tonight!
It was an excellent primer and drew some clear lines and eminently reasonable criteria for engagement with various “others.” I particularly liked the reminder about situational alliances and borrowing power: you can date and play the field and not get married. But you need to have a firm grip on who you are and what you’re getting into and why before you get involved. Perfectly sensible.
Some of the people tugging and pulling on Occupies intend to appropriate the energy and the manpower. I’ve seen that, altho the attempt I’m familiar with appears not to be successful–mostly because most of the people associated with the group haven’t yet decided what they want to do. Their inability to settle on any particular course of action makes them a poor target for re-direction.