It depends. Not American, so my answers are probably going to be different.
Among wealthier people, definitely the ingrained propaganda and culture. Stuff like the red scare is definitely real among these people. Anti union propaganda as well, thinking that they can be friends with the boss and management and get a better deal, etc. To be "fair", it's probably "worked" for them for most of their lives, and they don't want to lose their first class seat on a crashing aeroplane.
Among poorer people, definitely the threat of direct violence being taken against them if they strike or speak out. Rubber bullets from the police at protests, political assassinations, industry stuff ("mafia" is probably the closest thing to an American version of what I'm describing), etc. The struggle is still very violent in that regard. Marikana massacre wasn't that long ago.
There's not much you can do against mafia like organisations in the informal sector to be honest.
Otherwise, you've got to focus on the battles you can win. No matter how small. Even if it's just getting someone to join a union. Or to attend a strike. Or just even providing food and water to striking workers. I'm definitely not a huge activist or anything, so I'm probably not the best person to ask.
Inconsistency in attendance. Our core always-there people are relatively few in number, but our meetings can sometimes triple that number, which can make planning the agenda difficult. So we keep getting waves of people interested, but our retention is garbage
why do you think some people end up participating consistently and others not ever managing to get really engaged that way with organizing? idk if its just that some have more time than others
I’m sure a certain amount of it is some having more time than others. It may also be that we already dedicate a fair amount of work to the project and taking the extra time to recruit and making our process more friendly to newcomers has proved intensive work.
A lot of groups I’ve been a part of, not just leftist ones, have a core group of doers who simultaneously enjoy the work but are also only engaging in it because they know the project would fail without them. A kind of “no one else will do it” attitude. They’ll complain about the burden but then opt to take time away from other things even when it’s not strictly necessary they’re there. I’m not sure if it’s a healthy dynamic for leadership, but it seems common
yes this sounds familiar to me too, both w others ive seen in leadership positions and my own work as well. a lot of people tend to shy away from wanting to do stuff like take on leadership responsibilities though I wonder how to work to encourage people to do that? we also tend to have a problem with people not engaging in any substantive self crit either, so sometimes when people do things wrong they arent too eager I think to learn and reflect on it maybe to improve work? maybe lots of little cultural problems in regards to just even how we just relate to one another
Im curious, what do yall do organizing wise? What do you feel the main impediments are that youve noticed in your organizing work?
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It depends. Not American, so my answers are probably going to be different.
Among wealthier people, definitely the ingrained propaganda and culture. Stuff like the red scare is definitely real among these people. Anti union propaganda as well, thinking that they can be friends with the boss and management and get a better deal, etc. To be "fair", it's probably "worked" for them for most of their lives, and they don't want to lose their first class seat on a crashing aeroplane.
Among poorer people, definitely the threat of direct violence being taken against them if they strike or speak out. Rubber bullets from the police at protests, political assassinations, industry stuff ("mafia" is probably the closest thing to an American version of what I'm describing), etc. The struggle is still very violent in that regard. Marikana massacre wasn't that long ago.
What do you think is the best option organizing wise that's to be done about that then?
There's not much you can do against mafia like organisations in the informal sector to be honest.
Otherwise, you've got to focus on the battles you can win. No matter how small. Even if it's just getting someone to join a union. Or to attend a strike. Or just even providing food and water to striking workers. I'm definitely not a huge activist or anything, so I'm probably not the best person to ask.
Inconsistency in attendance. Our core always-there people are relatively few in number, but our meetings can sometimes triple that number, which can make planning the agenda difficult. So we keep getting waves of people interested, but our retention is garbage
why do you think some people end up participating consistently and others not ever managing to get really engaged that way with organizing? idk if its just that some have more time than others
I’m sure a certain amount of it is some having more time than others. It may also be that we already dedicate a fair amount of work to the project and taking the extra time to recruit and making our process more friendly to newcomers has proved intensive work.
A lot of groups I’ve been a part of, not just leftist ones, have a core group of doers who simultaneously enjoy the work but are also only engaging in it because they know the project would fail without them. A kind of “no one else will do it” attitude. They’ll complain about the burden but then opt to take time away from other things even when it’s not strictly necessary they’re there. I’m not sure if it’s a healthy dynamic for leadership, but it seems common
yes this sounds familiar to me too, both w others ive seen in leadership positions and my own work as well. a lot of people tend to shy away from wanting to do stuff like take on leadership responsibilities though I wonder how to work to encourage people to do that? we also tend to have a problem with people not engaging in any substantive self crit either, so sometimes when people do things wrong they arent too eager I think to learn and reflect on it maybe to improve work? maybe lots of little cultural problems in regards to just even how we just relate to one another
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