[Dialogue] Visionary Organizing

[LAURELCG at aol.com]

Bill and Gordon,
 
Thank you both for your exciting work and for this sharing. 
 
Blessings,
Jann McGuire 
 
 
In a message dated 6/8/2012 8:22:39 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,  
bparker175 at cox.net writes:

 
Gordon, et al,
 

Very interesting. I knew Robin was in the area  but the thought he might be 
in your church never occurred to me. Suzanne  taught both of Robin's 
children in the second grade and Robin's church has  been a part of the founding 
core of our local effort called VOICE (Voices  Organized In Civic Engagement) 
organized by the Industrial Areas Foundation  (Sol Alinsky's group out of 
Chicago). This is the local component of a larger  effort to get at the 
systemic issues facing the social process called the  Human Community Network.
 

Other faces of this Human Community Network  include creating at OCU a 
College of the 21st Century which complements the  academic curriculum and 
teaching with something like a methods and pedagogy  curriculum designed to 
prepare grads to step into the emerging generation of  progressive leadership and 
take charge of systemic model building and change  regardless of their 
specific areas of study.
 

Also, for moving our culture toward a culture of  peace we are focused on 
the interfaith community moving to a common  understanding of life, common 
action of care and responsibility, and a new  level of honoring the various 
expressions of the faith  traditions.
 

We are going to have a major organizing effort to  create many study group 
of Eboo Patel's book ACTS OF FAITH and his  work with the Interfaith Youth 
Core in preparation of his coming to OKC in the  Fall of 2013. This will set 
the stage for a major development in Oklahoma that  has never before been 
considered.
 

It seems our methods experience through the years  were dramatic rehearsals 
for what we now have on our hands. The Occupy  movement is symptomatic of 
the collective mood but it resides below the  conscious thought of those who 
are enslaved to an isolated individualized  culture, corrupted capitalism, 
and political impotence. The 99% and 1% image  has changed how people think 
about our situation whether they are interested  in Occupy or not.
 

I think we should be far more pro-active with  that network as far as our 
methods are concerned. We also need to be watchful  about connections. The Oc
cupy movement almost connected with the old, tired,  beaten up unions here 
in OKC but something happened and it did not work. We  need to figure out 
what happened. That worker connection is crucial, as is  connecting with the 
youth's lucidity and disgust with the social process.  


As Marjorie Kelly said in her book THE DIVINE  RIGHT OF CAPITAL, the people 
with the power are the workers and the  consumers, contrary to all 
appearences otherwise and this is true politically  as well. She calls for a 
cleaning out of capitalism the corruption within it  we generally assume has always 
been there. It can be clean up! She is also  coming to OKC when we get 
around to preparing for it. She has another book  just out this month called 
OWNING OUT FUTURE, which is the plan for  how to do it.
 

Take care and go for it,
 

Bill


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