Is Boone Ready?
Is Boone a conducive environment for working towards radical community sustainability?
Have I been seeing Boone for what it is, or what I want it to be?
All these questions and more came up during a conversation with a friend the other night. Yes, organizations here fail because of a lack of community, but is it really possible to forge a community in a place where at least half the population is transient, and that segment of the population is mandated to grow by the North Carolina state government?
ASU, the source of the transient population, has the town at its mercy by the decree of the state. They don’t want or need to cooperate with the town that has to put up with tailgaters, house parties and impossible parking. It follows that if a group working towards community sustainability, in spite of rather than with the help of ASU, really wanted to work towards creating a balance of power and a mutually beneficial relationship between ASU and the Town of Boone, they would have to go up against the state of North Carolina, not just Boone officials.
Boone is a college town, and it seems that it will only be more so in the future.
Once I let go of the absolute moral and ethical correctness of staying in Boone no matter what, all of a sudden my horizons exploded with shimmery light and soaring eagles… I can go anywhere… and not feel guilty for leaving Boone behind! I finally understood why so many people leave Boone for “bigger” places with “more opportunity”… it’s because there are bigger places with more opportunity. Lots of them. Places where the kinds of radical community sustainability projects I want to pursue are actually a viable possibility, and may actually already be going on. There are radical community collectives all over this country making beautifully liberating, lasting change in their communities.
Don’t get me wrong; I love Boone. I have never been in any other place where you can go to the town council meeting and talk to your representatives and actually be heard, and not only heard but listened to. There are many opportunities for community organizing in Boone that would be impossible in most other places. The overall mentality of the town is surprisingly progressive, and the abundance of natural resources make Boone perfect for agricultural and food independence projects.
Bit is this the place for projects sincerely dedicated to radical community sustainability?
Monday, March 23, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Outline!
i. Intro
a. What is the problem?
i. Neoliberal Kist Globalization
1. Definition of
2. History of
3. Fracturing of social fabric (or maintaining & widening fractures)
4. Individualism/ identity
5. Capital concentrates- unequal distribution of resources
6. Oppression/ Injustice (social and environmental)
7. State maintenance of Kist power
ii. Fractured communities
1. Define community
2. Restate why Kism fractures communities
3. Why are communities important? Why should we defend them?
4. Community as direct action against Kist domination
5. Define Radical Community Organizing
ii. Radical Community Organizing
a. Goals of Organizing
i. To foster sustainable community/ resist and pose a threat to Kist oppression
ii. Solidarity with other communities in resistance
iii. Grassroots/ popular movement
iv. Give people the opportunity to participate in “decentralized, collective, and cooperative forms of organization.” (Knoche 289)
v. Increasing community agency/ control over every aspect of their lives, increasing “local self-reliance” (Knoche, 291)
vi. Mending the fractured “Social Fabric” of the community
b. Criteria for success?
c. Picking Issues?
d. Operation- “For organizations committed to the long-term process of radical social change, the way they operate is more important than any short-term victories that might be realized.” (p.298)
i. Bottom- up organizing structure, direction from below- “Decentralize as much as possible” (Knoche 299)
ii. “Have a political analysis and provide political education” (Knoche 298)
iii. independence from govt. , corporations, or NGOs
iv. “Reach out to avoid isolation, but keep the focus local.” (Knoche, 300)
v. counterculture (challenge hegemony of Kism)
vi. avoid outsourcing
e. Tactics
i. Direct action- “We must defy the rules of the system that fails to meet our needs.” (Knoche, 303)
ii. Collective/ cooperative action
iii. Decide on clear, measurable goals/ demands
iv. “address different targets simultaneously” (Knoche, 304) . “Globalization has complicated the question of targets immensely. Institutions that adversely affect local communities are more and more likely to be large, with tentacles extending nationally and globally.” (p.305)
v. “avoid legal tactics” (Knoche, 306) . “Our legal system is set up to protect the interests of private property. Using it to fight those interests is obviously problematic.” (p.307)
vi. “have fun” (Knoche, 307) the experience of liberation and joy are foundational to defining success
III. Boone
i. What is a Boone?
ii. How is Boone fractured?
1. ASU vs. Town
2. Students vs. citizens
3. Student organizing vs. community groups
4. Developers vs. Residents
5. Affluent center of town vs. impoverished outskirts
iii. History of community organizing in Boone & surrounding area
1. Cove Creek Sustainability… (Boyer)
2. Rise Up Community Collective (interview Elizabeth!)
3. Mountain Keepers
4. Our Collective/ Reading Group
5. Current Town Council
6. Restate why Boone needs Radical Community Organizing
iv. Is Radical community sustainability possible in Boone, a place where at least half the population is transient?
v. If not, what are the alternatives?
1. Student organizing, building student power
2. Alternative/ independent publications (Magpie)
3. Education about Radical Community Sustainability and why it is needed, so others can go on to other communities and act/ organize
4. Involvement in local govt.
a. What is the problem?
i. Neoliberal Kist Globalization
1. Definition of
2. History of
3. Fracturing of social fabric (or maintaining & widening fractures)
4. Individualism/ identity
5. Capital concentrates- unequal distribution of resources
6. Oppression/ Injustice (social and environmental)
7. State maintenance of Kist power
ii. Fractured communities
1. Define community
2. Restate why Kism fractures communities
3. Why are communities important? Why should we defend them?
4. Community as direct action against Kist domination
5. Define Radical Community Organizing
ii. Radical Community Organizing
a. Goals of Organizing
i. To foster sustainable community/ resist and pose a threat to Kist oppression
ii. Solidarity with other communities in resistance
iii. Grassroots/ popular movement
iv. Give people the opportunity to participate in “decentralized, collective, and cooperative forms of organization.” (Knoche 289)
v. Increasing community agency/ control over every aspect of their lives, increasing “local self-reliance” (Knoche, 291)
vi. Mending the fractured “Social Fabric” of the community
b. Criteria for success?
c. Picking Issues?
d. Operation- “For organizations committed to the long-term process of radical social change, the way they operate is more important than any short-term victories that might be realized.” (p.298)
i. Bottom- up organizing structure, direction from below- “Decentralize as much as possible” (Knoche 299)
ii. “Have a political analysis and provide political education” (Knoche 298)
iii. independence from govt. , corporations, or NGOs
iv. “Reach out to avoid isolation, but keep the focus local.” (Knoche, 300)
v. counterculture (challenge hegemony of Kism)
vi. avoid outsourcing
e. Tactics
i. Direct action- “We must defy the rules of the system that fails to meet our needs.” (Knoche, 303)
ii. Collective/ cooperative action
iii. Decide on clear, measurable goals/ demands
iv. “address different targets simultaneously” (Knoche, 304) . “Globalization has complicated the question of targets immensely. Institutions that adversely affect local communities are more and more likely to be large, with tentacles extending nationally and globally.” (p.305)
v. “avoid legal tactics” (Knoche, 306) . “Our legal system is set up to protect the interests of private property. Using it to fight those interests is obviously problematic.” (p.307)
vi. “have fun” (Knoche, 307) the experience of liberation and joy are foundational to defining success
III. Boone
i. What is a Boone?
ii. How is Boone fractured?
1. ASU vs. Town
2. Students vs. citizens
3. Student organizing vs. community groups
4. Developers vs. Residents
5. Affluent center of town vs. impoverished outskirts
iii. History of community organizing in Boone & surrounding area
1. Cove Creek Sustainability… (Boyer)
2. Rise Up Community Collective (interview Elizabeth!)
3. Mountain Keepers
4. Our Collective/ Reading Group
5. Current Town Council
6. Restate why Boone needs Radical Community Organizing
iv. Is Radical community sustainability possible in Boone, a place where at least half the population is transient?
v. If not, what are the alternatives?
1. Student organizing, building student power
2. Alternative/ independent publications (Magpie)
3. Education about Radical Community Sustainability and why it is needed, so others can go on to other communities and act/ organize
4. Involvement in local govt.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Second Meeting... Failure?
No one else from the first meeting showed up. Our only other attendee was a wonderful person I happened upon, and who seems genuinely interested, though they left after a cup of coffee, and we decided to postpone the meeting until a later date.
A deep, depressing resignation and frustration set in. Where were all the people who just last week sounded so dedicated and interested? (It was Taco Tuesday and our friend's birthday at the Boone Saloon). They are the most radical, creative, motivated people I know in Boone, and somehow they all found a reason not to come.
Is our approach wrong... are we going about this the wrong way? We want to operate on consensus, and the consensus of the others in the group was not to meet.
Perhaps I am over reacting, and it was just a fluke that no one else showed up. It is hard to not get frustrated, but we never thought this would be easy.
I understand that it is easy to forget that the majority of the world is somewhere else starving to death and watching as their own children die unnecesarily after leading a short and desperate life. That happens other places, what do we have to do with that?
Just because we "do no harm" does not cleanse our hands of the blood of the millions who die so that we can afford to simply do no harm.
Does it take desperation for peple to come together and act? How bad will it have to get before Americans will realize that their liberation is necessarily tied up in the liberation of the "other"?
I don't want to see it get any worse, but I am sure it will. We are hurdling fast into uncertain and desperate times. I just hope we have enough tools and know-how by then to survive and create another world where we can truly count on one another.
A deep, depressing resignation and frustration set in. Where were all the people who just last week sounded so dedicated and interested? (It was Taco Tuesday and our friend's birthday at the Boone Saloon). They are the most radical, creative, motivated people I know in Boone, and somehow they all found a reason not to come.
Is our approach wrong... are we going about this the wrong way? We want to operate on consensus, and the consensus of the others in the group was not to meet.
Perhaps I am over reacting, and it was just a fluke that no one else showed up. It is hard to not get frustrated, but we never thought this would be easy.
I understand that it is easy to forget that the majority of the world is somewhere else starving to death and watching as their own children die unnecesarily after leading a short and desperate life. That happens other places, what do we have to do with that?
Just because we "do no harm" does not cleanse our hands of the blood of the millions who die so that we can afford to simply do no harm.
Does it take desperation for peple to come together and act? How bad will it have to get before Americans will realize that their liberation is necessarily tied up in the liberation of the "other"?
I don't want to see it get any worse, but I am sure it will. We are hurdling fast into uncertain and desperate times. I just hope we have enough tools and know-how by then to survive and create another world where we can truly count on one another.
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