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| Organizing |
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System
Meetings
“Systems don’t solve problems
because they have different social, political, or economic interests or
some combination of these. … Prior to the meeting, the organizer has
likely led the group through a consideration of options available to it if
it doesn’t get satisfaction in the meeting. Among the options are direct
action of some kind, or perhaps alternative courses of direct action. When
these options were first presented, those who thought the system didn’t
know or was incompetent may have looked upon them with disdain. By the end
of the meeting, they will look upon them very differently. …
After
some point in a typical meeting with an adversary, if it becomes clear
that a positive response is not forthcoming, the group is going to have to
end the meeting. They are going to have to turn the ‘maybe,’ or mush,
into a ‘no.’ Something important happens in the thirty minutes between
when the meeting starts and when the group’s spokesperson or someone on
the negotiating team assigned to this specific task says something like,
‘Mr. X, we are going to assume by your lack of a clear response to us
that you are saying “no.” Thank you for your time, we are
leaving.’” (103-5)
At
the Table
Blame
the System
Frederick
Douglass
A
COMMUNITY ORGANIZER'S TALE by Mike Miller, Berkeley:Heyday Books, 2009.
CSCO believes this is the best book on organizing. Miller has been with
CSCO for many years.
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CSCO, P.O. Box 60123, Dayton, OH 45406; email: