The Activist

I. The 2008 Republican National Convention approaches. With irony that is characteristic of anti-authoritarian organizing style, the “RNC Welcoming Committee” has already begun mobilizing for a mass convergence in St. Paul. What is the status of mass convergence organizing strategies? What have we learned from previous mobilizations such as the WTO protests in Seattle, the IMF/Worldbank protests in D.C., the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, and the FTAA protests in Miami? What, as democratic socialists, can we offer in terms of analysis of these events? Finally, how involved should YDS be in the actual mobilization? It would be impossible to answer all of these questions once and for all, for one, because YDS, generally speaking, insists on the autonomy of our general membership, that is, the idea that our affiliated chapters and organizing committees are free to decide for themselves how to manage their politics. This post is simply intended to get the conversation going by offering a few thoughts on how we may begin to approach a very real movement among a demographic—young, smart, invested leftists—which YDS has traditionally had heavy stakes in organizing.

II. My sense is that democratic socialists have always had a somewhat uneasy relationship with mass convergence organizing strategies. Is it even accurate to describe mass convergence organizing as a strategy? Democratic socialist politics are driven by a desire for purposefulness and pragmatism. To me, that has always meant that we think very carefully about the organizing practices we engage in. Too many well-intentioned (usually privileged) young leftists do not consider organizing from the perspective of strategy, perhaps because the stakes are low for them. The key to organizing from the perspective of strategy is to have a solid power analysis. That our organizing practices should depend upon an analysis of power is perhaps the touchstone of democratic socialist politics—from the early days of Eugene Debs to the more recent work of Michael Harrington, Cornel West, and Barbara Ehrenreich. Organizing without a power analysis is to beat to a fast track of irrelevance, burnout, and wasted resources. Our historically significant leaders, and also our hard-working chapter activists, have demonstrated time and again that it is incumbent to engage in activism where power takes place and therefore at the site of possibility for change, for difference. In this sense, we have always insisted on a visionary critique of capitalism—which we understand as a common source of planetary misery—and pragmatic approaches to working within (and often enough against) the actually existing systems, institutions, and policies that shore up the status quo. As Daraka Larimore-Hall has argued, democratic socialists place emphasis on working for change to “alter the balance of power within society and bring things under more democratic control, [which] differentiates us from liberals who wish only to use the state to make mitigate, or lessen, the negative effects of capitalism.” Unlike liberals, in other words, we have an explicit ideological agenda that quite literally depends on an analysis of the interconnection of systems of oppression. Too, unlike some (and only some) anti-authoritarian-oriented groups, we do not shy away from getting our hands dirty in the often mucky waters of electoral politics, policy-making, and representative procedural arrangements…if those sites are effective places to mobilize for effective change—which brings us back to mass convergences.

III. If there is a specific political strategy involved in mass convergences, it is unclear to me what it is. In some sense, I think we have something to learn from this. I’ll attempt an explanation.

It has been argued, I think somewhat persuasively, that mass convergences offer a glimpse of what a more democratic and egalitarian world might be like. I admit that I have been moved, deeply moved, by the sense of goodwill and solidarity among convergence attendees. I admire the spontaneous production of practices of resistance and ways of being together that emerge out of convergence organizing. I permit myself to participate in direct action with affinity groups and find the kaleidoscope of divergent modes of protest imaginative, thought-provoking, poetic, and powerful. There is a sense in which new modes of collective being are indeed made, at least, imaginable, through the deployment of practices of resistance and solidarity. The general theoretical term that Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri (2000) have used to describe this type of collective is “multitude.” Unlike “the people,” which are constituted in a discourse of rights, positive law, and moral responsibility, the multitude refers to the ontological force of the coming together of inventive practices of resistance and affirmation through things like the general strike, non-statist/non-capitalist cooperation, and mass convergences. I admit to being taken in by the idea of the multitude, perhaps as a reaction to the identity-oriented politics of the New Left (which have not spared democratic socialism, by the way) that influenced my own coming of political age.

But look, I don’t think anyone needs to understand postmodern philosophies of sovereignty in order to get the point about multitude. There is a very strong sense in which participating in any kind of action against the forces of exploitation and oppression permit a certain intersection of creative energies that reveal, at the level of experience, a feeling of the power of invention and care for others associated with the concept of the multitude. New practices of resistance and collective association emerge out of mass convergences in ways that challenge our emphasis on strategy. It would be impossible to predict, for example, the long-term effects of building networks of activist groups, across the globe, to fight in the streets for a more democratic world. In the semi-chaotic realm of global communication technologies the very idea of a “long-term” strategy is a bit like forecasting next year’s weather.

In a very real sense, I think that democratic socialists have lessons to learn about the ever-flowing lines of invention and creative practices of resistance at play in mass convergence style organizing in order to adapt to a part of the real movement of the energies of resistance to global capital. We have to admit that we don’t have the strategy today to defeat capitalism tomorrow. Therefore it is incumbent upon us to organize with allies in order to be part of the real movement towards a world beyond capitalism—outside of which, it would be impossible to even imagine how things could be different. And yet, we must also insist on our irreplaceable role in developing and defending strategic political intervention. We must, insist on organizing mass convergence AND organizing in local communities on specific issues AND organizing workers AND spreading democracy where we find ourselves in everyday life. I have long ago given up on dialectical thought and do not see any contradictions here but rather different modes, each of which may be called upon as reservoirs of potentially important political resources as circumstances demand.

IV. Here’s the catch: if democracy looks like a bunch of white male faces self-righteously proclaiming moral superiority over our union brothers and sisters in the St. Paul police department, we have a serious problem. The profound whiteness of mass convergences has been noted, and I think, inadequately dealt with by the anti-authoritarian left in the U.S. Clearly a privileged demographic has been largely responsible for organizing the mass convergence mobilizations and I am not sure why anyone is surprised that they often end up looking like the same. The point is this: I want no multitude if it looks like the white college student activist ghetto…just bigger. Furthermore, we must constantly put the hardest question to anti-capitalist activists: do our organizing practices contribute to a re-composition of the productive forces (e.g. workers) of the world? As socialists, we must insist on an articulation between the politics of an anti-capitalist left and our working brothers and sisters (especially those in leadership positions in business unions). I see a very fruitful conversation between, say for example, the Young Democratic Socialists, the Industrial Workers of the World, and the AFL (all of which map onto each other at some level).

…And this is where we come in. By all means, I would suggest that democratic socialists involve themselves in the planning and organizing stages of mass convergences. Rather than play armchair quarterback and blame the convergences for not being diverse enough after the fact, why not become involved directly and provide a tenacious and thorough-going critical analysis of the politics of privilege as they play out in the early stages of organizing? For example, it might be useful to help provide language for “points of unity” with initiatives toward diversification and principled coalitional outreach. Rather than bemoan the fact that mass convergences aren’t actually going to hit the nerve centers of global capitalism where it hurts (as if we ever have), why not work, as we always have done, to build new kinds of networks among our general membership and other organizing institutions—particularly those institutions such as unions, LGBTQ allies, people without papers, and others that are traditionally (if not ironically) marginalized in radical left campus-oriented activist circles? Finally, along with the analytic and political suggestion above, there is much other work to be done that we may make a meaningful contribution to.

V. Some pragmatic suggestions to get started:

–Fact Finding. Gathering information is going to be crucial to understanding how to deploy action in and around the convention center. For example, rather than mounting a mass protest at the police line guarding the center, why not organize around a model of dispersed action that has no specific center but rather a fluctuating system of creative resistances targeting media hotspots, convention hotels, sponsors, places where delegates will be other than the convention, etc. This type of action has the benefit of requiring no central leadership or specific criteria for participation. Based on some very preliminary research, here are some facts that I think will be useful to those interested in making this type of resistance party.

• The group responsible for much of the organizing against the RNC is called the RNC Welcoming Committee. They may be found at this location: http://www.rncwelcomingcommittee.org/ . A calendar of events and contact information is listed on this site. Maps of the convention area may also be accessed from this page.
• Dates of the convention: Monday, September 1 through Thursday, September 4, 2008 (City of St. Paul Official Site http://www.stpaul.gov/convention/#).
• Convention Site: Xcel Energy Center (City of St. Paul).
• Media Headquarters: RiverCentre Convention Center (City of St. Paul).
• Hotel rooms to be occupied: 20,000 clustered in downtown Saint Paul, downtown Minneapolis and Bloomington (City of St. Paul).
• Events: All over Minneapolis Saint Paul metropolitan area (City of St. Paul).
• Number of guests: 45,000 (City of St. Paul).
• Members of the international news media 15,000

–Communications. Our tradition and sensitivity to principled coalition work suggests to me that we may be quite able to work on establishing communication between democratic socialists, anti-authoritarian groups, and community organizing institutions and unions.

A. For example, it has recently come to my attention that the St. Paul PD has asked local unions to not support any mass convergence activities. Let us take them at their word. Clearly, this may be the strongest threat to the security operations at the convention: a composition of forces of resistance that includes actually existing organized workers. I strongly urge YDSers (particularly those with dual memberships) to actively defend the freedom of unions from political coercion by municipal authorities. I encourage democratic socialists to actively promote the need for a grassroots and worker led response to republican plutocracy and to make arguments for the need for union support and leadership in mass movements for change.

B. Almost all republican candidates advocated torture (“advanced interrogation techniques”) in the last national debate. We must reach out to the Minneapolis-based Center for Victims of Torture http://www.cvt.org/main.php . They operate a “healing center” in St. Paul that provides relief services and assistance to global victims of torture. They provide services to a network of constituencies that absolutely should be involved in organizing resistance to the RNC.

C. We may also host debates, teach-ins, online discussions, and develop online networks linking activists in different areas up with each other. For example, on my blog http://democraticgunslinger.blogspot.com/ I have begun a free-for-all space for activists to discuss the significance and consequences of mass convergence organizing. We need more of these types of exchanges that work around communication technologies oriented toward profit making.

–Resource Allocation. There is a strong DSA chapter in the twin cities that may be able to provide resources toward the RNC convergence. I imagine that things like paper for posters, places to crash, maybe food, etc., would be manageable requests if we are able to make them early. Let’s get on this one. I am happy to help out as I am on location.

–Procedure. As democratic socialists, we are interested in expanding democracy beyond the vitiated U.S. electoral system. For us, this means much more than adopting consensus-based model of democratic decision making at our chapter meetings. On the contrary, being democratic means addressing working folks where they are on their own terms. Being democratic means building a progressive majority among the constituencies that hold the power to make structural changes to our society. Nothing less. I imagine that we could do well to hold our anti-authoritarian comrades—and, no doubt, our own—feet to the fire when it comes to the democratic part of democratic socialism.

My analysis is too brief (despite itself) and the recommendations for positive action are only perhaps first steps in developing our relationship to mass convergence models of organizing. I deeply appreciate constructive criticisms, suggestions, comments, and arguments as we move closer to the RNC.

Center for Victims of Torture webpage. Accessed 5/23/07 at http://www.cvt.org/main.php .

Hall, D. (2002). A Democratic Socialist Appeal to Anarchists. A-Infos. Accessed 5/22/07 at http://www.ainfos.ca/02/oct/ainfos00190.html

Hardt, M. & Negri, A. (2000). Empire. Harvard: University Press.

RNC Welcoming Committee webpage. Accessed 5/22/07 at
http:www.rncwelcoming committee.org .

St. Paul city webpage. Accessed 5/22/07 at http://www.stpaul.gov/convention/# .