Politics and Mobilizer Training; The Role of Politics in Community Empowerment by Phil Bartle, PhD Principles behind the Methods Principles behind your appearing apolitical while mobilizing Politics: What we usually know as "politics" focuses on two dimensions of culture: (1) the distribution and use of power, and (2) ideological values about what is wanted. Both of these are important to the mobilizer. Because the mobilization of communities as a technique of empowering them is, in itself, a political process, politics in its ordinary meaning can be very troublesome to that process. This document explains why that is so, and suggests some general strategy considerations to assist you in developing your own mobilization strategy to ensure that "politics" does not defeat your purpose. Partisan Politics: Political process is not a choice; it is a dimension of culture and therefore present wherever there is culture (society). The forms that the allocation and practice of power take, like political institutions and practices, may differ from society to society, but there is always a political dimension. Although political parties (elected or otherwise) are found in most societies, there may be other institutions for allocating power, and for expressing it. Within any society, different levels (national, regional, community, institution) may have very different forms and practices. When an individual or a party wields power, that power provides some benefits or perquisites which can easily lead to temptations and addiction (to power). This known tendency is expressed in the proverb (cliché) "Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely." However it may be expressed, there is a temptation for people in power to take unfair, even illegal, advantage of being in power, and there is a tendency for those in power to want to hang on to that power. As explained in the "Five Factors of Poverty," corruption (dishonesty) is one of the important causes of the continuation of poverty as a social problem. The desires for maintaining and misusing power, therefore, are among the factors contributing to poverty. Corruption fertilises poverty. It is not necessarily among the historical causes of poverty, but it maintains, sustains and supports poverty, and must be removed if poverty is to be eliminated. If politics generates corruption, then it generates poverty. The Political Dimensions of Empowerment: Empowerment of poor and marginalized communities, the removal (not alleviation) of poverty -- these are immensely political goals. There are many persons with vested interests who do not want these to happen because they benefit from the overall structure remaining as it is. It is a huge, global struggle. It involves two cultural dimensions, power and values (ideology). If your work as a mobilizer is to be effective, it will result in a revolutionary political change, the removal of poverty. It is not an easy job, and it will be much thwarted if it gets mixed up in partisan politics. Think! If poverty is removed, then there will not be the global schism of rich versus poor. That has huge political ramifications. Obviously there will be many rich and powerful groups and individuals who will not wish to see such a result, and have vested interests in stopping your work. These vested interests may disguise themselves by the more bland concept, "resistance to change," or even "preservation of ulture." The work of a mobilizer -- the empowerment of low income communities, the democratisation of decision making, the removal of poverty -- have important political consequences. The Reputation of a Mobilizer: A bad reputation hinders your work. A good reputation is your major asset. Elsewhere in these pages, you will see that you must learn local values and customs, and avoid doing things that alienate you from community members. This is important, for example, in your behaviour and attitudes towards sexual activity. Equally important, it refers to your political image. A political reputation puts you into a box; it hinders your movements; reduces your options. Once people have decided that you support or belong to a particular political party, they have labelled you, put you in an identification box. They will then pay less attention to you, judge your further actions as belonging to that box, trivialise important moves you make, and reduce your effectiveness as a mobilizer. It is better to have them unsure of where your political alliances lay; they will pay more attention to you (by being kept guessing) and will be more likely to hear your message of community empowerment. To be effective, the mobilizer must work hard to avoid being identified with any political party, movement, ideology, or label. A Matter of Strategy: One element of politics, especially prevalent in countries characterised by representational democracy, is the public clarification of political values. In practice, speeches by politicians tend to be similar to preaching by pastors. As explained in the mobilization training modules, preaching is not a good method for use by mobilizers. A mobilizer should avoid preaching, whether it is on religious or political values. Preaching hinders empowerment. The training on these pages can not dictate your strategy to you. It can only provide you with skills, methods and principles for you to design your own personal mobilization strategy. There are also some negative consequences even of being closely associated with politicians. See Politicians. When you walk through the farmyard of politics, watch where you put your feet. You might step in something that you would rather avoid. The Techniques of Mobilization: Think about social change for a moment. Development is social change; so is community empowerment. In sociology, we learn that change in any one of the six dimensions of society and culture will soon lead to changes in all the other five dimensions. Just to remind us of the six dimensions of culture and society: Worldview Values Interaction Power Economy Technology In the nineteenth century, Marx suggested that the bottom two changed independently, and caused changes in the top four. Later Max Veber said that the top two changed and caused changes in the bottom four. Today we know that social change is much more complex, but that changes in any of them cause changes in all the others. Generally, if you are interested in introducing changes into a society (or community) it is easier to introduce changes in the technological dimension. For most people, changes in technology appear to be more innocent than changes in values, beliefs, or patterns of interacting. That is why, in training new mobilizers, or as a mobilizer explaining your purpose and method to community members, it is wisest to emphasise that you are introducing new techniques. Techniques belong to the technological dimension of culture and society. Do not advertise that you are interested in the demise of poverty; that implies values that people might fear. The techniques are part of the arsenal on the war against poverty. Mobilization techniques. Avoid theory; emphasise technique. Conclusion: While it is useful for you to understand the principles behind the techniques of mobilizing communities to empower them, including the political principles, it is important for you not to preach those principles, or even to make their discussion any part of your public work. While empowerment is a macro political process and has important political consequences, it is important, as a matter of strategy for your work as a mobilizer, to avoid being associated with any overt politics. If you copy any text from this site, please link it back to http://www.scn.org/cmp/ Updated: 2003 May 12 ====================================================================== Dear Lules, You wrote to say that I avoided politics, at least in the modules. I do, sorta. I have thought about this a lot, and wish to write it down so as to sort it out. Pardon me if I appear to ramble; I think that this will eventually result in a document, perhaps for the emp- module. My explaining it to you will help me to clarify my thoughts. I am politically active here in my own country, but I have followed a very strict rule for the last forty years, absolutely no political involvement in the countries where I have worked. Here I am a member of our Socialist Party, which is disguised by the name of "New Democratic Party" in Canada. Currently the NDP, after 14 years in power in my province, BC, lost all its seats except two in the provincial legislature, and was replaced by the misnamed "Liberal" party which is financed and directed by big corporate business. The party now in power for the last year has been rapidly removing all the social security nets and institutions fought by Labour and disadvantaged people over the last fifty years. It is frightening to witness. The NDP lost the election drastically because of its mismanagement, poor decision making, naïve underestimating their enemies, and aggrandisement. The populace voted in the liberals in order to improve management, and was shocked to discover that they have voted for a party of the far right. There are noisy public demonstrations daily by labour, government labour unions, disabled, teachers, doctors, seniors and so on. The Premier could not care less; he acts as if he does not care if he is elected in the next election, as if he has had a big payoff by big business and will retire to live off it. My wife is very angry, because the programme that brings back kids who could not cope with school, to an alternative school programme ? She organizes the breakfasts and lunches for them ? will end with the ending of the current school year in June. My political analysis tends to be a derivative of things said by Karl Marx. Not word for word; he died in 1888, and many things have changed since then; many things learned. Back to the site. No I do not overtly make politically statements on CMP; the whole site itself is one huge political statement. It shows how to fight for the poor and oppressed. They will not end poverty by complaining and whining about historical causes of poverty such as slavery, racism, colonialism, and discrimination. Preaching and haranguing just irritate the rich and comfortable, and do nothing to convert the already converted. They can fight poverty and oppression, however, by getting empowered. Self reliant. For the young comfortable middle class who have nothing to legitimately fight for, they need to read Lau Tsu, not to stoop to help the poor (charity), but to join them on their own grounds. Of course I will not end poverty by becoming poor myself. My training material is my contribution, a series of methods and approaches learned over the last forty years. Unfortunately, poverty breeds the five factors of poverty; all five. But I rant a lot about dishonesty, and I am especially dismayed at corruption, especially about governmental corruption; my biggest enemy. "Know thy enemy!" Poverty breeds dishonesty; look at the large amount of looting during riots and disasters; the looters do not see it as theft, but as their opportunity. That corruption perpetuates poverty, and the very perpetrators like to redirect the attention of the people by complaining about the previous party in power, the colonial period, or other convenient scapegoats. You note that I do not exhort the virtues of Che Guevera, Castro, or others. I feel that if I do, the message will be accepted by those who do not need it, and my larger message will miss those for whom it is intended. I put my site, and its revolutionary goals, into an armour of apolitical technical advice. Rather like a wolf in sheep's clothing. I once took a ten day silent retreat to learn Vipassna Buddhist meditation techniques. It was all described as pure technique, and applicable to anyone no matter of what religious beliefs (even atheists like me). By the end of the ten days, I started to see what they meant. It was a set of techniques to reach "enlightenment." But what is enlightenment? That was an eye-opener! The final goal of all the techniques of the CSMED/MPFC web site is nothing short of world revolution. Justice for the poor. Sound far fetched? It probably is. It is my life's work, however.