The following article was sent to us by none other than UrbanRat, one of the Windsor blog-o-spheres most active participants.  His reprinted words of wisdom here are a wonderful lesson for those of us too young to remember Saul Alinsky, as well as those of us lacking the time necessary to read every newspaper on the continent!

Thanks for the blog, UrbanRat.  Keep those words of wisdom coming!

Resolutions; What David Hume wants for Toronto should be what we want for Windsor!

Hume’s modest proposals (full article here):

Term limits for city councillors: It’s wonderful that so many local politicians want to serve the city for as long as they draw breath, but perhaps in the interests of fresh blood…

Planning with teeth: Hire more planners – which the city promised to do earlier this year – and give the planning department teeth…

Extra density for design excellence: We’ve never really looked at the idea of rewarding development on the basis of sheer architectural quality…

End the tyranny of engineers: Engineers may be necessary, but must they be a necessary evil? Organizations such as the TTC, run by engineers, are notorious for ignoring the most important part of their operation – the paying customer…

Another round of SuperBuild: Heading into what promises to be the worst recession in decades, the time is right for the federal and provincial governments to relaunch another infrastructure funding program. Much has been said already on the matter, but now’s the time to get down to details…

An end to civic timidity: Toronto councillors love to talk the talk but when it comes to the walking part, they start to mince…

A federal government that’s not afraid of cities: Perhaps because he fled to Calgary, Prime Minister Stephen Harper lost awareness and has little understanding of Canada’s urban dimension.

Bicycle Lanes and Pedestrian Districts: Toronto’s fear of bipedal transportation is legendary at this point. The way the city carries on, you’d think it was run by the Canadian Automobile Association. What are we so scared of? It seems to have something to do with getting out of your car.

Road Tolls: No, not everyone will embrace this one but how else can we bring ourselves into line with the environmental realities of the age and pay for all the public transit we haven’t built in the last few decades?

The one I really like above is: An end to civic timidity!  I think that Scaledown, International Metropolis, Windsor City Blog, Schnurr’s Soundoff and the other great blogs of Windsor, even though they are the leaders in speaking out, must resolve to get even more citizens involved in action and acting for this city. Our mayor is not the only voice of this city, nor should he be the only voice of city council, this is where most of city council is derelict in their duty to their electorate, in cowering/deferring before the mayor.

And that brings me back to a 1970’s classic of Psych 101: Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinksy (there is a copy in the University of Windsor’s Leddy Library but not Windsor Public Library)

Alinsky wrote in the book’s prologue:

“What I have to say in this book is not the arrogance of unsolicited advice. It is the experience and counsel that so many young people have questioned me about through all-night sessions on hundreds of campuses in America. It is for those young radicals who are committed to the fight, committed to life.” In the first chapter, opening paragraph Alinsky writes, “What follows is for those who want to change the world from what it is to what they believe it should be. The Prince was written by Machiavelli for the Haves on how to hold power. Rules for Radicals is written for the Have-Nots on how to take it away”.[1]

Outlining his strategy in organizing Alinksy writes:

“There’s another reason for working inside the system. Dostoevski said that taking a new step is what people fear most. Any revolutionary change must be preceded by a passive, affirmative, non-challenging attitude toward change among the mass of our people. They must feel so frustrated, so defeated, so lost, so futureless in the prevailing system that they are willing to let go of the past and change the future. This acceptance is the reformation essential to any revolution. To bring on this reformation requires that the organizer work inside the system, among not only the middle class but the 40 per cent of American families - more than seventy million people - whose income range from $5,000 to $10,000 a year [in 1971]. They cannot be dismissed by labeling them blue collar or hard hat. They will not continue to be relatively passive and slightly challenging. If we fail to communicate with them, if we don’t encourage them to form alliances with us, they will move to the right. Maybe they will anyway, but let’s not let it happen by default.”

The Rules for Radicals:

1. Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.

2. Never go outside the experience of your people. When an action is outside the experience of the people, the result is confusion, fear, and retreat.

3. Wherever possible go outside of the experience of the enemy. Here you want to cause confusion, fear, and retreat.

4. Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules. You can kill them with this, for they can no more obey their own rules than the Christian church can live up to Christianity.

For Brendan: 5. The fourth rule carries within it the fifth rule: Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. It is almost impossible to counterattack ridicule. Also it infuriates the opposition, who then react to your advantage opposition must be singled out as the target and “frozen.”

6. A good tactic is one that your people enjoy. If your people are not having a ball doing it, there is something very wrong with the tactic.

7. A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag. Man can sustain militant interest in any issue for only a limited time, after which it becomes a ritualistic commitment.

8. Keep the pressure on, with different tactics and actions, and utilize all events of the period for your purpose.

9. The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.

10. The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition.

11. If you push a negative hard and deep enough it will break through into its counterside; this is based on the principle that every positive has its
negative.

12. The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative. You cannot risk being trapped by the enemy in his suddenly agreeing with your demand and saying “You’re right – we don’t know what to do about this issue. Now you tell us.”

13. Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it. In conflict tactics there are certain rules that the organizer should always regard as universalities. One is that the opposition must be singled out as the target and “frozen.” By this I mean that in a complex, interrelated, urban society, it becomes increasingly difficult to single out who is to blame for any particular evil. There is a constant, and somewhat legitimate, passing of the buck. The target is always trying to shift responsibility to get out of being the target.

Alinksy states ”Power goes to two poles: to those who’ve got money and those who’ve got people”

And what the blogs such as Scaledown et al can do is to get the people, rally them, organize them and then pick the targets.

From an old radical, Happy New Year!

Tags: guest blogger