Educating and Organizing

By Mike Miller

O rganizing is teaching. Not the academic type, which mostly consists of stuffing data into people’s ears. Organizing
is teaching which rests on people’s life experiences: drawing them out, developing trust, disrupting old percep-
tions of reality, developing group solidarity, taking action, building confidence for continued action, and creating
a foundation for continual questioning of the status quo. This means of education is primarily in the action. It
becomes liberating only if the person develops the discipline to rigorously reflect on that action. We have to own
the questions in this educational process. Our curiosity must be the engine that drives us from action to reflection
to more action followed by reflection.

The organizer’s story is told in Richard Harmon’s The questions Harmon raises are more pertinent to
classic essay, “Making An Offer We Can’t Refuse.” developing an actual campaign of action: What is the
Harmon directed Saul Alinsky’s organizing project in problem? How many other people feel the same way?
Buffalo, New York in the mid-1960s. Harmon has What precisely do we want? Who do we see to get
the advantage of working in an organization that is in things changed? How many of us should go to see 31
action. Action creates the teachable moments when them? Who will be the spokespersons? Are we
people find that the world is not the way it is depict- willing to caucus? What is the timetable for the
ed in civics text books. Such situations of cognitive response? Where and when is the evaluation session?
dissonance are the best opportunities for education. (He recommends, right after the meeting.)
Most organizers, unfortunately, do not do much Organizing has often been criticized for focusing
meaningful teaching. But good organizers do, and on winning rather than on educating. But such criti-
they pay attention to the writings of Myles Horton cism is misguided. When large numbers of people
and Paolo Freire. win, it is educating. To teach people who are
oppressed or discriminated against that they can, by
Educators vs. Organizers democratically developed collective action, fight and
The difference between educators and organizers is win, is the central liberating lesson of organizing. A
obvious when we compare Harmon’s essay with edu- lost struggle, especially when experienced by people
cator Nina Wallerstein’s “Problem-Posing Education: who have been persuaded to give up watching TV to
Freire’s Method for Transformation” in Freire and Ira join their community in doing something, only rein-
Shor’s, Freire for the Classroom. Wallerstein has the forces the pervasive belief that “you can’t fight the
student describe or name a problem, then define it powers that be.”
along with associated feelings, relate it to their own
experience, then generalize it to understand why the Two Pitfalls of Organizing
problem exists and who benefits from its existence. Firstly, the lessons of organizing do not inherently
Finally, students discuss strategies for solutions and lead to an understanding of the larger social structure
how to implement them. But such an approach is not and the necessity to fundamentally change it. That
enough for people to gain the experience of building kind of understanding emerges more out of reflection,
and using democratic people power. analysis, and discussion, as advocated by Horton and

Race, Poverty & the Environment | Fall 2007

 Organizing as Educating

Freire. Therefore, it is vitally important that educa- The strategy for achieving fundamental change in
tion should go on if organizing is to do more than the United States is to build autonomous, deeply
give one more group a slightly larger piece of a rooted, broadly based, people power organizations
shrinking economic or public services pie, or substi- that can act locally and work together in larger politi-
tute one set of oppressors for another. People need to: cal and economic arenas. Good examples of this are in
1. Discuss values—their own and those of their adver- some of the work in the Alinsky tradition, the best
saries. Often, these are fundamentally different. organizing in the Deep South civil rights movement
2. Examine alternative visions of how cities, regions, of the early-to-mid 1960s, and the best workplace
countries, and economies could be organized. organizing throughout American history. At their
3. Learn the workings and history of the political, best, these movements included efforts to change
economic, and social power structure within which major institutions, promoted mutual aid and self-
we live. help, and made education, reflection and training key
4. Study those who sought to bring the country dimensions of organizational life.
closer to its democratic promise in social move- In organizing, people act and talk collectively;
ments of the past. that’s how they learn. They learn both how systems
5. Structure their own organizations to embody dem- work and, by reflecting on their action, they connect
ocratic principles. deeply shared values with action. This kind of reflec-
Secondly, people know too well the nature of power tion is a ‘time-out’ from what is immediately facing
in America today and either withdraw in the face of the organization; it is done in both labor and reli-
what appear to be insurmountable obstacles, or become gious education. The educator has a certain luxury
part of politically correct groups—right on some issues that is not available to the organizer because the
but powerless to do anything about others. The educa- latter’s emphasis is on building democratic power,
32 tor, Horton included, tends to view the steps of power- while the former’s is to understand what that means.
building as co-optation. “Reform within the [school- There used to be a healthy tension between labor
ing] system reinforced the system, or was co-opted by educators and labor’s top leaders and organizers that,
[it]. Reformers didn’t change the system, they made it unfortunately, does not seem to exist anymore.
more palatable and justified it...” he concludes.
Freire amends that view by saying: “Trying to co- Democratic Movements
opt is a kind of struggle on behalf of those who have The difference between democratically constituted
power to do so. It’s a tactic; it’s a moment of the movements and organizations which come “from
struggle... (I)n order for you not to be co-opted [or] below,” versus government, foundation, and corporate-
…be out of the possibility of some power wanting to designed “nonprofits” or “citizen participation compo-
co-opt you, it’s necessary that you do nothing.” nents” is that the former are independent, raising their
core budgets from member dues and grassroots fund-
Reform vs. Revolution raisers. Their scope of action isn’t constrained by the
All significant organizing efforts and social move- terms of a grant or other externally-defined guidelines,
ments face the problem of how to win immediate vic- regulations, or legislation. They are only limited by
tories, while at the same time expanding their power, the First Amendment guarantees of the Constitution
so they can address more recalcitrant problems in and the decisions of their members. They can enter
society. The reform versus revolution distinction does into alliances, add new issue concerns, and otherwise
not provide guidance in formally democratic societies act as their members decide. Rather than looking for
where the rights of free speech, assembly, and petition “niches” in which they can distinguish themselves
to the government exist along with competitive elec- from others, they look for opportunities to unite with
tions. A third choice is needed—encompassing both, others to build broader people power.
fundamental change and something other than the Leaders and organizers of independent organiza-
immediate violent overthrow of a government. tions work to aggregate political resources because

Race, Poverty & the Environment | Fall 2007

they understand that the solutions to neighborhood
problems do not lie principally with City Hall, but
with the private/corporate sector and with state,
regional, and national levels of government. They
often develop relationships of mutual interest with
other community organizations, thus going beyond
the parochialism of a local neighborhood, and end up
meeting and working with people of different racial
and ethnic backgrounds. They also are free to work lesson of the long march through the institutions.
on any issues affecting the quality of life of their Formally democratic organizations are a necessary,
members—whether it is cooperating with unions or though not sufficient condition for true democratiza-
challenging corporations on healthcare. In stark con- tion. Too often these organizations come to replicate
trast, government-sponsored neighborhood associa- the values, leadership forms, and structures of the
tions, foundation, and corporate-funded nonprofits dominant culture. To build an alternative vision
typically fight over how the pie is divided—not requires that we begin at the base of society—in the
about how big it is, who pays for it, or who shapes it. neighborhoods, congregations, and workplaces where
“Participation” that is limited by externally most people live.
defined funding, guidelines or legislation directs dis- We need a broader vision that combines democratic
content into manageable channels. It is about gover- control of the economy with a pluralist society in
nance or administration. It may have legitimate pur- which power is held by independent associations, not
poses—as, for example, a parent advisory committee concentrated within government. Organizers need to
at a school where the principal listens. But it is not think about how to make corporate power directly
capable of altering the relations of power—only inde- accountable to the local communities, to break up the 33
pendent “people power” organizations can do that. great concentrations of wealth, and to develop a decen-
Although independent organizations may some- tralized and sustainable way of economic life.
times reach agreements that are not entirely satisfac- Such an enterprise will need the contributions of
tory, they do so with the idea that they will return at people like Myles Horton and Paulo Freire—people
a later day in greater strength and demand more— not preoccupied by the daily pressures of organization
more justice, more equality. building, but who can challenge the organizers to
fully reach the democratic potential that is in their
Settling for a Place at the Table vs. People’s Power work. It is difficult for community and labor organiz-
As the old civil rights movement song put it, ers to generate the proposals for structural change
“freedom is a constant struggle.” One of organizing’s that we need today. Their job is to create the public
lessons is that conflict and negotiation go hand-in- space where ideas can be seriously discussed and new
hand. They are not opposites. Conflict gets you to the directions agreed and acted upon. ■
table where negotiation takes place. New proposals The educators will contribute to creating alternative
are made at the table as you seek greater justice. programs and structures; the organizers will strategize
Photo: UFCW and allies
When those new proposals are rejected because they with the people on how to build the power to mean- at the U.S. Social
Forum march to a
more deeply challenge entrenched power and wealth, ingfully struggle for these alternatives. I believe that Publix store to ask
there is a need for people power action—more con- contemporary work-, neighborhood-, faith-, interest- them to stop carrying
Smithfield meat,
flict. Organizations that “settle” simply for a place at and identity-based independent organizing will make a July, 2007.
the table have been co-opted in the negative sense. major contribution to our getting to where we want to
Organizations that use a position at the table to go if they root their work in the best of the small “d” © 2007
demand greater justice have learned the fundamental democratic tradition and biblical shalom values. ■ Brooke Anderson

Mike Miller is the founding director of the San Francisco-based ORGANIZE Training Center. This article was dapted from 'Organizing and
Education”, Social Policy, Fall, 1993. The full text is available from Mike Miller, MikeOTC@aol.com.

Race, Poverty & the Environment | Fall 2007

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