some points for summing up
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Kosta Harlan
Mar 24, 2008, 3:31:45 PM3/24/08
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Hey all,
I wanted to put a few points out there before the call tonight:
1. I think we can say the protests were a huge success! A lot of planning, hard work, and dedication paid off. 51 SDS chapters (58% of the total) signed on to our call to action and held protests, with at least 87 schools taking action this week. We got a good amount of national press and recognition from various left/progressive outlets (most notably, MichaelMoore.com which sent us thousands of visitors in traffic in the space of 3 days).
2. It's a really big accomplishment to get 51 SDS chapters united behind a simple statement of intention and dedication to act. Doesn't seem like it would be that difficult, but it is when there is no clear channel for doing so. Not having a structure to facilitate information sharing was a definite hindrance and is a good argument for establishing a simple, transparent, accountable method of sharing information and contacting SDSers.
3. It's unfortunate that out of political sectarianism – not based on the politics of the call to action, or what was being organized, but on *who* was involved in organizing – some SDSers deliberately boycotted this call to action, urged others participating in the working group to drop out, and asked other chapters not to sign on to the call to action or get involved. This is a serious issue that should be addressed and resolved as it is really damaging to an organization's ability to build trust and unity within its ranks.
4. The people who actively contributed to the working group probably total around 20, but at various points there were as few as three people on a conference call and as many as a dozen. Not having more people from different regions (most organizers were from the South) actively play a part in shaping the message, doing press work, doing outreach and publicity, slowed our progress. If a national campaign or action is undertaken again, it's important that early on, there are a good number of folks in each region committed to building for it. In terms of the discussion in SDS right now on our organizational needs, a national office would make a lot of sense for this kind of work.
5. We surpassed the number of schools that protested last year (84) but not by much. For the most part this is a reflection of where the movement is at and we should try to better understand what we can do to build up a larger student and antiwar movement.
Talk to you all tonight,
Kosta
I wanted to put a few points out there before the call tonight:
1. I think we can say the protests were a huge success! A lot of planning, hard work, and dedication paid off. 51 SDS chapters (58% of the total) signed on to our call to action and held protests, with at least 87 schools taking action this week. We got a good amount of national press and recognition from various left/progressive outlets (most notably, MichaelMoore.com which sent us thousands of visitors in traffic in the space of 3 days).
2. It's a really big accomplishment to get 51 SDS chapters united behind a simple statement of intention and dedication to act. Doesn't seem like it would be that difficult, but it is when there is no clear channel for doing so. Not having a structure to facilitate information sharing was a definite hindrance and is a good argument for establishing a simple, transparent, accountable method of sharing information and contacting SDSers.
3. It's unfortunate that out of political sectarianism – not based on the politics of the call to action, or what was being organized, but on *who* was involved in organizing – some SDSers deliberately boycotted this call to action, urged others participating in the working group to drop out, and asked other chapters not to sign on to the call to action or get involved. This is a serious issue that should be addressed and resolved as it is really damaging to an organization's ability to build trust and unity within its ranks.
4. The people who actively contributed to the working group probably total around 20, but at various points there were as few as three people on a conference call and as many as a dozen. Not having more people from different regions (most organizers were from the South) actively play a part in shaping the message, doing press work, doing outreach and publicity, slowed our progress. If a national campaign or action is undertaken again, it's important that early on, there are a good number of folks in each region committed to building for it. In terms of the discussion in SDS right now on our organizational needs, a national office would make a lot of sense for this kind of work.
5. We surpassed the number of schools that protested last year (84) but not by much. For the most part this is a reflection of where the movement is at and we should try to better understand what we can do to build up a larger student and antiwar movement.
Talk to you all tonight,
Kosta
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