The power of organizing, the threat of war
“Community organizing is building democratic civil society in Europe. In an era of intersecting and intensifying crises, it is a proven counterweight to the rise of reactionary forces and an essential ingredient for movements seeking to expand their social base and build the power to win.”
(Opening paragraph of The Power of Organizing, a new study published by the European Community Organizing Network, ECON)
EDITOR’S NOTE: When we planned the event, it was nearly impossible to imagine that just days before the public launch of our new study on the practice of community organizing a new era of conflict and authoritarianism would be on the march in Europe. Knowing what we know today, those words above, from the first page of The Power of Organizing: Stories of Community Organizing Campaigns from Across Europe, carry an even greater level of urgency than before.
On February 25, 2022 almost sixty organizers, academics and funders gathered for the official release of the study with the news of war in Europe freshly sounding in our ears. The following is an abbreviated summary of the discussion that took place at the study release event. It has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Marina Tota, ECON Network Coordinator: Marina Tota, ECON Network Coordinator: We are meeting today in a time in which Europe is under threat on different fronts and affected by multiple intersecting crisis: climate change, rising inequality and antidemocratic forces. Just these days, the news of the military attack from Russia to Ukraine and threats of war have already taken several lives pushed thousands to flee the country in search for safety. We condemn the military attack from Russia and stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine and support their right to live freely and safely in their sovereign state.
It is in moments of crisis, people tend to fall in a state of fear. When this happens, we have a choice on whether we let that fear take over us or respond by transforming fear into hope, moving from isolation to solidarity and let our actions be guided by love and a vision for a better world. We hope this event will show how we can use community organizing to build the power to counter anti-democratic forces.
“It is in moments of crisis, people tend to fall in a state of fear. When this happens, we have a choice on whether we let that fear take over us or respond by transforming fear into hope, moving from isolation to solidarity and let our actions be guided by love and a vision for a better world.
Bernadett Sebály, Research Coordinator: I want to start by providing a brief overview of the study; the how and why, and what it says about the state of organizing in Europe. Three years ago we organized an event in Berlin in which we talked about why organizing is relevant in the face of autocratization and the rise of the far right. But it is even more so true with the war in Ukraine and we need to show why we need to bring people into that conversation.
At the event in Berlin we had a lot of questions about why organizing is different, what impact it has, and how we can scale. With organizers from across countries we eventually formulated 3 goals:
1. Evaluate the changing landscape. Organizing has gone through changes in last 20 years, and has experienced an interesting shift from the vision of Saul Alinsky. We wanted to look at a framework which helped us make sense of this change.
2. Look at what works. We wanted to understand what works and the blockages we experience in our practice.
3. Build an evidence base. We wanted to look at the history of organizing in Europe and understand the victories in our own political context.
“To those who first encounter organizing, the concept of power is key and fundamentally different to other approaches. As organizers, we emphasize the power of the people — we make the participation of ordinary people powerful and possible.”
We chose to carry out this project using a participatory action research process, or PAR. In PAR, research is not solely the jurisdiction of academics. We empowered organizers themselves to be the researchers. They were the ones who decided which organizing campaigns to look into, and the process gave them the chance to sit down and reflect on those campaigns. And of course, the ultimate goal in PAR is to turn the lessons learned into action. So we also focused on how the research findings could be built into our practice.
To those who first encounter organizing, the concept of power is key and fundamentally different from other approaches. As organizers, we emphasize the power of the people — we make the participation of ordinary people powerful and possible.
In the study we share the framework of Three Faces of Power, which is adapted from the British political and social scientist Steven Lukes. It is a framework in which people power is the “first face of power,” and it is fundamental to a movement. But this people power is backed up by a wider alignment of organizations and supporters. These strategic alliances represent the “second face of power.” And finally, we also need a powerful narrative that communicates a worldview that resonates with all no matter what group a person belongs to. This is the “third face of power.”
In the study there are ten stories of how organizing plays out, in particular in countries sliding down the slope toward autocratization. We show the transformative impact of organizing on society and civic culture. We look at the role of the organizer in encouraging groups to coordinate. We look at what disciplined organizing looks like in a national campaign. And we think about the power we are building in terms of the political context.
“In the study….[w]e look at what disciplined organizing organizing looks like in a national campaign. And we think about the power we are building in terms of the political context.”
Gáspár Bendegúz Tikász, Organizer/Researcher (Hungary): Through this research I had the chance to dig in and see what happened in some campaigns I had watched from the outside. The life of the campaign is a wave sometimes up and sometimes down. It is difficult to keep people inside the campaign when there are silent parts of the campaign’s life cycle. What I found is that these campaigns were a piece of art. One person I interviewed said the organizer on the campaign was the conductor of the activist orchestra. They were able to keep together the different groups and approaches along with the various interventions to keep the people engaged in the work together. When something important happened they were able to pull everyone together.
In terms of my own practice, I now work on national coalitions and campaigns with the Civil College Foundation and I learned that even the biggest coalition depends on the local people — you need strong local networks with strong local leaders.
“I learned that even the biggest coalition depends on the local people — you need strong local networks with strong local leaders.”
Alexandru Palas, Organizer/Researcher (Romania): I studied a campaign I used to be very involved with when I worked at a different organization. In my research I saw how neighborhood organizing eventually joined a city-wide coalition as they gained experience. This was a recurring theme.
I would like to highlight another aspect of organizing that also came out in my research. It is emotionally taxing work. I researched that people were fighting for years to preserve the communities they are in. Because it is so personal success or failure tends to affect you more strongly. For me it was really a healing experience to be able to come back to this work after a few years and be able to look at the big picture without all that emotional baggage. That is what I recommend for any community organizer. It is hard to do, but look back at you work and document your stories.
“…it was really a healing experience to be able to come back to this work after a few years and be able to look at the big picture without all that emotional baggage. That is what I recommend for any community organizer. It is hard to do, but look back at you work and document your stories.”
Iwona Nowac, Project Coordinator (Poland): I started applying community organizing in 2013 in Katowice and it was mainly neighborhood organizing. But we started applying our knowledge to issue-based organizing such as climate change and women’s issues, which is why we focused our research on these things. What we observed in the Common Thing Foundation, and from leaders of emerging social movements that we talked to, is that community organizing can meet their needs, but we can experience some challenges along the way.
In our team’s research we saw how organizing can bring people with different worldviews together. We can get them to work together on common issues. In our climate work, which we wrote about in the study, we had a strong feminist leader working with a leader with strong Catholic values. Thanks to the organizing, and despite strong ideological differences, they found common ground around the climate which is important to them.
“In our climate work, which we wrote about in the study, we had a strong feminist leader working with a leader with strong Catholic values. Thanks to the organizing, and despite strong ideological differences, they found common ground.”
Maroš Chmelík, Organizer/Researcher (Slovakia): Our organization has been known for over 20 years for using community organizing as the core of how we bring people together. Many people, myself included, never really thought about how important this was. With this research I wanted to make the link between that local work and larger movement building.
“With this research I wanted to make the link between that local work [our organization had done] and larger movement building.”
For many years, our organization was planting seeds and building relationships. Sometimes it might take months or years but you need to work on the ground so that people trust you and based on the values you share. And then people will be there with you.
So for years we were working with local leaders on issues like dog poop on the street and preserving green areas, and all of a sudden we found ourselves at the center of a movement of people wanting to fight against extremism when a leader of the neo-Nazi party was elected as governor of our region. When this happened, we contacted people from the past who were connected to our work and who saw the results of our local organizing. This became the foundation of our local movement against extremism between 2013 and 2017. After we won the first fight, this work never stopped.
“In many of these countries [featured in the study] we fight every day to protect remnants of democracy. We act in democratic enclaves and work so that democratic practices will overrule autocratic practices.”
Bernadett Sebály: It is a very difficult environment in which we organize in Central and Southeast Europe and it is important we take this into consideration. In this region organizers work on their own and they have to fulfill the role of strategist, campaign coordinator, media officer, organizer — there is no big team standing behind the organizer. In many of these countries we fight every day to protect remnants of democracy. We act in democratic enclaves and work so that democratic practices will overrule autocratic practices.
Insights from the discussion on the study
The event created a space for participants also to discuss about community organizing and how the findings of this research could be applied to their work. Some of the key insights that emerged from the group discussion were:
- This study is a necessary contribution to documenting the history of community organizing in Europe with cases that exemplify how community organizing has been used and contextualized in Eastern Europe, and the impact it has had.
- The study could be used as a tool for education and training of community organizers with examples that show “how to do” organizing and “how not to do it” in relation to different contexts and gives an historical perspective on the timeframes needed to see changes through community organizing.
- The study provided insights for donors on ways to adjust grant-making programs to enable effective funding of long-term community organizing processes.
- The study sparked reflection on re-imagining what communities can be, and what they can do by moving from being disorganized to organized. And how community organizing can play a role in movement building.
- The study could be expanded with more case studies from other countries and a broader and deeper analysis linking the cases to the state of democracy in Europe.
To share your reflection, feedback, ideas on the study, you’re welcome to contact the European Community Organizing Network at organizing.europe@gmail.com.
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