Organizing & Campaigns
Power, Strategy + Tactics
Base Building & Leadership Development
Movement Building & Political Education
Wild Card
100
The process of building organizations of people with similar interests who use their collective power to win immediate improvements in people's lives and alter the relations of power.
What is organizing?
100
This means, simply, “to be able” to shape our lives and the world around us. It is not good or bad. It is how you use it and toward what end.
What is power?
100
The enemy of collectivism. Fueled by liberalism and rampant in our movements today, developing leaders with a strong political analysis helps us fight this.
What is individualism?
100
Some characteristics include that they are collective in nature, not bound by rules or single methods, include a mixture of organization and spontaneity, have an identity and some coordination usually from one or more organizations, though they are not tied to those organizations and include masses of people with a shared vision .
What is a movement?
100
A good organizer should be able to identify these, which show up in both our personal lives as well as our organizations and campaigns. Some need to be resolved immediately, while others may just need to be acknowledged.
What are contradictions?
200
Taking individual action to bring about change in society.
What is activism?
200
Actions taken as part of a campaign that should be aligned with a broader strategy and direct engage your target. They often build upon one another, or escalate.
What are Tactics?
200
This is made up of the people in the constituency who are engaged with our organization in some concrete way.
What is our base?
200
Field Marshal for the Black Panther Party, Marxist theoretician and political prisoner who wrote the books Soledad Brother and Blood In My Eye.
Who is George Jackson?
200
These containers or formations were created to be a tax shelter for the wealthy and quell dissent.
What are nonprofits?
300
The theory of organizing that includes transforming systems while also transforming the consciousness of the people being organized, as well as the consciousness of the organizer.
What is transformative organizing?
300
The individual who has the power to give us what we want. It’s important we understand their interests so we can develop specific strategies, craft specific messaging and negotiate based upon this understanding.
What is your target?
300
This is critical to developing the leadership of ourselves and others. Being open to it ourselves and offering it to others in structured ways can help us combat liberalism.
What is evaluation (or feedback, criticism, assessment)
300
Two ways, identified by Antonio Gramsci, that the state gets people to buy into its hegemony and maintain capitalism. (Police and prisons are a function of one.)
What is consent and coercion?
300
Rooting assessments in this kind of analysis, rather than idealism, ensures we’re making accurate assessments for our campaigns about the conditions on the ground and how much power we have, rather than what we hope or want to be true.
What is materialism?
400
A sustained, time-bound effort at winning a specific demand or goal. A good one builds the base, develops leaders, builds power and lays the foundation for future wins.
What is a campaign?
400
An exercise or tool used to give us an accurate understanding of the political landscape to inform our strategies. It can also help us assess our own political power, which is critical to our strategy.
What is a power map?
400
The two qualities organizers should be looking for in identifying leadership potential within our membership, often identified through a Leadership Matrix?
What is “high will (or commitment) and high skill (capacity)”?
400
Often called “Scientific Socialism,” it is a process of understanding various political, economic and social forces and the changing relations and tensions /contradictions that exist between them in order to better understand the world around us.
What is Marxism.
400
Who booed John Legend at a concert?
Who is Hiram
500
An exercise or tool that helps us stay grounded in the daily lived experience of our members, provides an opportunity for political education on root causes and helps us identify specific issues ripe for campaigns.
What is a Problem Tree?
500
The overall plan to win a campaign. It usually consists of much smaller actions, or tactics, taken in coordination with one another.
What is your strategy?
500
The process by which organizations build collective power over time by regularly recruiting, orienting and training new members from the constituency.
What is base building?
500
In order to achieve this, the roots of both white supremacy and capitalism must also be eradicated.
What is abolition?
500
How many mums did Jade actually have during her homecoming?
What is 3