Revolution or Rebellion

Revolution requires organizing on a very frequent basis so that the people invested can develop and improve programs specific to their population that can provide services the community needs. An example might be creating a fitness program for youth in order to combat health problems specific to the neighborhood. Another example, might be establishing a Sunday Meal program where families pool money to produce one healthy meal per week for all families to allow space for fellowship and community dialogue. It follows this logic that while organizing is important for frequent strategizing and reflection on programming, mobilizations are important to demonstrate/showcase, to both the community itself and outside bodies, the strength of the community. Mobilizations take the form of one-time events while organizing is an ongoing process.

Rebellions on the other hand are spontaneous acts of dissatisfaction operated by a group of disgruntled people without any ends in mind besides expression of rage.

These ideas are important to be familiar with because as any advocating is to be done there must be simultaneous organizing and mobilizing in order to prevent rebellions. Rebellions are counter-productive to producing strong and prideful communities. As soon as a group of people begin organizing and see the skills they possess in action there is an immediate surge of pride in their personal and collective works. Therefore, work done to build relationships, sustainable programming, and one-time events must be seen as the means for pride returning to depressed communities suffering from chronic illness both physical and mental. Rebellions produce repression on the part of authorities. If not inspired to organized following organized repression there is no chance for change. A cycle of violence and repression will continue indefinitely.

Criteria for Productive Meetings

Any organizing must be done effectively. Too often organizers will gather people together and produce a waste of time and energy that only detracts from the movement for struggle and progress. When I visit a meeting of organized people I look and listen for a few key aspects to prove they are and will continue to be productive in their organizing. I look for an agenda (a planned outline of work to do) because without one we have no target to push for. I look for engagement from the membership because the membership is the engine of the organization. I look for reflection because struggle/work cannot be built upon without reflection on successes and challenges. And I look for delegation from leadership to build the capacity of the membership. Such delegation must be given in order to encourage those interested to organize and build on their specific skill set. Meeting these targets will help to produce effective meetings and hopefully strong organizations.