TMB Stories: Wade Hudson

[Wade Hudson]

In the Appendix to "Out of the Spiritual Closet: Organizers
Transforming the Practice of Social Justice,” the authors invite
organizers to submit their own stories concerning how they “have
connected their inner work to more impactful collective work and
social change,” especially with regard to: “What has been keeping us
stuck? What is the new way? How do we move forward?” Following is my
story.

After being immersed as a foot soldier in the many movements of the
1960s and having studied political science, psychology, and theology,
in 1968 I dedicated my life to organizing “communities of faith, love,
and action.” For the next 20 years, I initiated or co-founded a lumber
of local projects, including the New Seminary Movement, Alternative
Futures Community, Men’s Weekends, Network Against Psychiatric
Assault, Muni Coalition, Bay Area Transit Coalition, District Eleven
Residents Association, Bay Area Committee for Alternatives to
Psychiatry, South of Market Food Coop, Aarti Housing Coop, Tenderloin
Jobs Coalition, Tenderloin Self-help Center, and 509 Cultural Center/
Luggage Store Gallery.

These early local efforts were focused on building alternative,
democratic institutions that would attract people who would be
inclined to act together politically from time to time because they
shared core values. The hope was that by meeting unmet needs, evermore
people would form strong connections and eventually join with other
like-minded individuals to effect fundamental changes nationwide.

During these years, I was also deeply involved in many other projects
such as the United Front Against Fascism, Madness Network News, San
Francisco Community Congress, Other Avenues Community Food Store,
Radical Psychiatry, Vanguard Foundation Community Board, and San
Francisco Mental Health Advisory Board. To sustain myself financially,
I hustled money from foundations and worked for non-profits.

In 1988, after living and working in the low-income Tenderloin
neighborhood for several years, I concluded that these local efforts
were being swamped by a tide of human misery created by national
economic policies, decided to target those policies directly, shifted
to a national focus, and initiated the Solutions to Poverty Workshop,
Campaign Against Poverty, Economic Security Project, and San Francisco
Progressive Challenge, while working part-time as a cab driver. I also
served on the national board for the Alliance for Democracy and self-
published Economic Security for All: How to End Poverty in the United
States.

By 2004, I became frustrated with these efforts, decided to step back
to re-evaluate my/our approach, and convened the Strategy Workshop,
which explored how the progressive movement might be more effective. I
also served on the Iraq Peace Team, volunteered for the Obama for
President campaign, edited the Progressive Resource Catalog, and self-
published Global Transformation: Strategy for Action.

In 2009, inspired by the Charter for Compassion, I initiated the
Charter for Compassion Network. In early 2010, Roma Guy and I began
planning the Sept. 12 Compassionate Politics Workshop.

On reflection, looking back at my original commitment to faith, love,
and action, I believe my biggest subsequent mistake was to focus too
heavily on action. Partly out of desperation, I neglected faith and
love. I became too impatient, goal-oriented, and concerned about quick
“victories.” My commitment to faith and love remained largely
implicit.

My unconscious assumption was that faith and love would take care of
themselves. In terms of faith, I assumed that if fellow activists
shared a concern about a specific issue, they would do so out of
shared values. So I felt no need to agree on, clarify, and deepen an
underlying, written worldview. In terms of love, I assumed that
sufficient supportive friendships would develop naturally,
spontaneously.

This desperate emphasis on action resulted in four inter-related
afflictions: vanguardism, intellectualism, negativity, and
divisiveness. These conditions are not unique to me, but rather are
common in the progressive movement.

My vanguardism consisted of the arrogant, elitist assumption that
leadership involves mobilizing others to do what the leader or leaders
want them to do. “Followers” are assumed to be essentially inferior
and largely reduced to instruments. Sharing feelings, democratic
participation, and open-ended mutual support are excluded. Power
trips, jockeying for position, and manipulating others with rewards
(including recognition) become commonplace.

My intellectualism consisted of an excessive concern about political
correctness, the fine points of policy distinctions, and mechanistic
analyses concerning strategies and tactics. This approach is focused
on the external world.

My negativity was rooted in anger. I was motivated excessively by my
outrage at injustices that were inflicted on others and myself – and
perhaps a largely unconscious metaphysical revolt about the nature of
life itself.

My divisiveness involved scapegoating “enemies,” attempting to blame
the “elites,” reinforcing the supposed left-right continuum, and
assuming that “radical” approaches are superior to “liberal”
approaches.

Now I have come out of my compassion closet and concluded that I want
to make explicit what was implicit in my previous efforts. Our social
system inflicts such overwhelming multi-faceted misery we need a
network of compassionate communities whose members make an intentional
effort to serve the common good of the entire human family, correct
injustice, transform our culture, and undo much of our conditioning.

In terms of “faith,” we need to express our worldview in writing,
affirm it, and modify it as needed over time. In terms of “love,” we
need to make an explicit commitment to ongoing self-improvement and
mutual support. In terms of “action,” we need to commit to do what we
can to improve public policies by engaging in regular political
action.

Many of us including myself who have adopted this approach consider
our path to be “spiritual.” But many who avoid that term hold
basically the same beliefs, have basically the same inner experiences,
and engage in basically the same behaviors. The language varies, but
the pre-verbal realities are similar. So I find it more inclusive to
affirm more universal language like “holistic transformation” or
“compassionate politics,” though I remain very open to discussion on
the matter.

These convictions lead me to conclude that one way forward is to
encourage the formation of small support groups consisting of
individuals who endorse a written worldview, pledge to engage
regularly in self-improvement and political action, and meet together
regularly to pause, reflect, and support one another in their efforts.
Ideally, these support groups would affiliate with one another and
occasionally gather in larger settings to share ideas and energy.

Such groups could form within an existing organization, like a church,
labor union, or community-based organization. Or individuals from
various organizations and unaffiliated individuals could form a
support group of this sort. The members of such groups could engage in
political action jointly or individually. These groups would not
necessarily need to engage in conflict resolution or problem solving.
Members may or may not agree to keep their comments confidential.

Endorsing a brief, written worldview seems important because it
provides a focus for a shared, deeper sense of community. The Charter
for Compassion Network’s “Our Core Convictions” illustrates the kind
of affirmation that makes sense to me.

Setting aside special time to report on self-improvement efforts seems
important because doing so on a regular basis can serve as a
discipline to remind people to focus on such efforts. Moreover, doing
so with trusted individuals beyond one’s most intimate circle can be
liberating and a source of new ideas and information. As Van Jones
once said, “we need to be more confessional and less pro-fessional.”

A network of such support groups could foster the undoing of unhealthy
social conditioning, which is essential to the growth of a positive,
life-affirming, joyous grassroots justice movement that would attract
and inspire people currently on the sidelines.

More broadly, we need to replace the old, traditional notion of
leadership with collaborative leadership. Even within hierarchical
organizations, democratic teams can operate fruitfully.

We also need to learn how to share feelings effectively (including how
to make judgments without being judgmental), how to set aside our
anger after using it to highlight issues (so we can better attract
people with contagious joy), develop a holistic understanding of our
social system that precisely assigns responsibility (including our
own) rather than scapegoating, and appreciate the strengths of other
points of view (including those of so-called “conservatives”).