Street roots
March 2, 2012
Whe our allies are not like us
BY ROBIN HAHNEL
if those engaged can find ways to discuss
and overcome differences can reform
campaigns turn into transformative
movements. We do want to change people’s
minds. Moreover, the most opportune time
to do so is when we are actively engaged as
allies. Therefore, we should never hesitate
to speak our mind, and insist that others
respect our right to do so. In particular, we
should never accept gag orders from allies,
no matter how important they may be in the
campaign of the moment. However, while
there will be some who come into
movements willing to accept us as
“teachers,” most will not. Consequently,
treating allies with whom we do not always
see eye-to-eye as if they were our students is
discussing demands, strategies, and tactics
to avert climate change, we will often
disagree with allies who have different
interests and goals, and want to limit and
shape the struggle in ways we do not.
Moreover, in broad coalitions we will
often not get our way. In coalitions who gets
things more their way is usually determined
by who brings more to a struggle. When we
are out voted we should be prepared to
“suck it up” and go along with the majority.
Of course when the majority agrees with us
and a coalition ally tries to use its greater
financial, or even organizational strength to
get its way, we should be in the forefront of
those screaming bloody murder about how
this is not the democratic way we all
supposedly believe things should be settled.
And sometimes we should be prepared to
leave a coalition if the majority insist on
some course of action we find unacceptable.
But the main point is we should not be
surprised when others disagree with us, and
we should not waste time and energy getting
bitter or grumbling when this happens.
Our road is a long and hard road. We will
engage in many struggles along the way.
Allies in one struggle at one juncture in the
road will not always be allies in later
struggles. On the other hand, those who are
not with us today may well be with us
tomorrow. Over the next few years a great
deal depends on how quickly U.S. leftists
mature regarding our attitudes and working
relations with allies who do not agree with
us: Will the Occupy Movement prove
capable of attracting new participants who
have long been hostile to the Left? Will the
environmental and labor movements prove
capable not only of working with each other,
but also with giant corporations with
business interests in clean energy and
energy conservation. Just as Internet
n o t only a rro g a n t b u t c o u n te rp ro d u c tiv e . We
c e n so rsh ip w ould n o t have b e e n b e a te n back
must learn how to discuss and overcome
differences treating allies as equals.
(3) Be prepared for inevitable “partings of
the way.” When the issue changes from
fighting to put a price on carbon emissions
and secure government funding for a
massive Green New Deal, to fighting for
better wages and more worker control, most
corporations in the solar power and wind
turbine industries will no longer be
marching with us. And even while we are
in January without a powerful assist from
Google, climate change will not be
prevented before it is too late without the
active support of major corporations willing
to oppose the fossil fuel lobby. Getting
ourselves tied up in psychological knots over
who we find marching beside us is
unproductive and unnecessary. The U.S.
Left needs to grow up — and the sooner the
better!
C O N T R IB U T IN G C O L U M N IS T
n the recent fight against Stop Online
Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act, avid
believers in the right of free speech who
view the Internet as an antidote to the
corporate-owned media found themselves in
an alliance with some of the largest and
most powerful corporations in the world.
Moreover, it was apparent that Google,
Facebook, Twitter, et al, provided the critical
clout needed to turn
the tide of battle and
deliver a remarkable
Robin Hahnel is a
victory.
political activist and
Last year, leftists
visiting professor o f
participating in
economics at
occupations in
Portland State
University. He is a
hundreds of cities
co-creator o f the post
across the country in
capitalist economic
solidarity with Occupy
model known as
Wall Street discovered
participatory
that many expressing
economics, along with
themselves in the
Z Magazine editor
General Assemblies
Michael Albert. He is
had, shall we say, less
also Professor
than perfectly
Emeritus at
politically correct
American University
positions on many
in Washington, D .C .
issues. Some were not
die-hard anti
imperialists. Some
were not committed anti-racists. Some were
not fully feminist. Some were unaware how
much the Patriot Act threatens cherished
freedoms. Some even exhibited a somewhat
hostile attitude toward the labor and
environmental movements.
What is surprising is how often U.S.
leftists seem caught off guard whenever this
happens. After all, we on the Left in the
U.S. are painfully aware that we are still,
unfortunately, a minority — even here in
Portlandia! So why should we be surprised
to find others who do not think like us when
we venture outside our own little world?
Moreover, this has been going on from time
immemorial. Leftists are almost always in a
minority whenever we participate in mass
movements and reform struggles.
One counterproductive response is for
leftists to denounce allies we dislike,
explaining why they are “politically
incorrect” and untrustworthy on many
issues. In effect, leftists too often feel
compelled to denounce all who are not “us.”
I
By Alec Dunn
This response is no doubt self-soothing
since it strokes our own egos. Unfortunately,
it is not only sanctimonious, it is guaranteed
to perpetuate our isolation.
A second counterproductive response is
to assume that all who participate in any
struggle we are also involved in do so for
the same reasons we do. Leftists who
respond in this way assume, in effect, that
all our allies in a struggle have miraculously
become “us.” This response is not only
naïve, it leads people to drop out when they
are disillusioned by what they experience as
betrayal.
What is needed instead is a more mature
— la m almost tempted to say Machiavellian
— response:
(1) W elcom e allies, an d d o n ’t look gift
horses in the mouth. We need more people
and more organizational muscle — both to
win battles today and to win the long war
ahead. Any behavior on our part that is off
putting to those who do not yet agree with
us on some issue carries a heavy cost.
(2) Acknowledge differences and seek
productive ways to discuss them. A good
place to start is to review what has brought
us and our allies together. But this is not to
say that differences should be ignored. Only
We can turn this house of cards into a real home
BY ALISON MCINTOSH
C O N T R IB U T IN G C O L U M N IS T
The Housing
Alliance brings
together advocates,
local governments,
housing authorities,
community
development
corporations,
environmentalists,
service providers,
business interests and
all others dedicated to
increasing the
resources available to
meet our housing
needs to support a
common statewide
legislative and policy
agenda. Alison
McIntosh is a Policy
Manager with
Neighborhood
Partnerships.
his month has been hard, with the
Oregon State Legislature dealing with
both a difficult budget and
complicated policy issues in an election
year. The Legislature has acted in several
significant ways to protect our communities
and prioritize people’s needs, and the end
result isn’t as bad as we feared it might be.
Many last minute items are still in
process in Salem, and unfortunately some
critically important work may be left
undone. The budget, however, is widely
considered as of today to be a done deal and
while not as bad as we feared the news is
still not good for those Oregonians most
affected by the recession. Our safety net in
Oregon feels much like a house of cards - it
can provide some basic assistance to some
people that need it, but it cannot adequately
provide safety and meet basic needs for
everyone. And for those with ongoing and
significant needs, it may fail altogether.
Programs that provide emergency rent
assistance and funding for shelters across
the state (Emergency Housing Assistance
and the State Homeless Assistance
Program) experienced additional cuts of 3.5
percent. While this may seem like a small
cut, these resources were already
inadequate. Too many of our neighbors and
T
families in need of rent assistance will be
turned away from help. Programs to protect
children and families continue to erode
through additional cuts to the Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF,
program. The impact of the cuts will be that
those who have left TANF for work but need
to return to the program may be asked to
wait longer to return, and there were cuts to
the portion of the program serving
immigrants and refugees. People leaving
TANF for work will also no longer receive a
small subsidy designed to help them sustain
their new employment. In slightly better
news, many of the programs protecting
seniors and people with disabilities were
protected for now from further cuts.
While the state budget has huge impacts
on our lives as Oregonians, we also are
affected by federal and local budgets. These
budgets all help to build, or erode the house
that protects us in good times and bad. It
seems like this news is getting worse as well
— federal cuts proposed to housing
assistance; local cuts proposed to transit
services; and agencies and churches that
seek to help are operating beyond capacity.
How much longer can we hold together this
house of cards?
While I know the cuts to local, state and
federal budgets will continue to deeply and
negatively affect Oregonians across the
state, I believe it’s safe to hope the state
budget will not get worse. It’s time to start
thinking and working toward rebuilding a
better future — one that isn’t a house of
cards.
It’s time to see our state as a place of
opportunity for everyone, one with strong
communities where we pull together to
overcome hardship and protect those most
vulnerable among us. It’s time to commit to
the idea that we live in a society where we
are all in it together, where our fates are
linked and we rise and fall as one.
If we believe these things, then we can
begin to rebuild our house of cards into one
with real walls, doors and a roof. One with
strong supports for people who need it, one
with a roof over everyone’s heads, and one
with clear pathways to opportunity.
How do we get there from here? First,
let’s remember that the representatives and
senators who make these decisions in the
state legislature are our elected officials.
We ask them to do the hard work of
balancing the budget and making choices —
so let’s get involved. Let’s thank them for
their hard work and sit down to talk about
what we would like our state to look like in
the future. Let’s start a dialogue about how
we transform the house of cards we have
into the real house that we want.