[Dialogue] Visionary Organizing

[Sandra Rafos]

I can't resist adding news of the occupy movement here in Toronto.  I've been part of their organizing group and it has been an interesting journey!  

The leadership has included the Awaken the Dreamer facilitators, an old ICA guardian, and the occupy group---- which now is called the Unify Movement.  We still get bad press but more groups are supporting the movement.  The Quaker's supply meeting space and my Unitarian Universalist Church have helped in many ways.  It will be interesting to see what happens this summer!  I'll keep you posted.

Sent from Sandy's iPad


On 2012-06-09, at 1:51 PM, LAURELCG at aol.com wrote:

> 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 Occupy 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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