Saul Alinsky, the great Community Organizer

[naturegirl]

Looks like Obama is following "Rules for Radical" paragraph by paragraph. Alinsky was the father of Community Organizing, Obama learned his tactics well. He practiced them for years in Chicago, it worked so well he thought bringing it to Washington was the only way.

<snip>

1) One's concern with the ethics of means and ends varies inversely with one's personal interest in the issue, and one's distance from the scene of conflict (Alinsky 1972: 26). Saul Alinsky was critical of those who criticized the morality of actions they were not involved in, were dispassionate about or were not touched by. For him, the further people are away from the conflict, the more they fuss over the moral delicacies. Furthermore, such moralising and distancing denies one’s own culpability. He agreed with Peck that the demonizing of and moralising about the soldiers in the Mai Lai Massacre in the Vietnam War (where soldiers massacred 400 civilians) was hypocritical. For Alinsky the questions were how do people got to the point of committing atrocities, how people were socialised into the army, its cultures of responsibility, who becomes a soldier and ultimately why the war was being fought. Sadly such concerns are still relevant today.

2) The judgement of the ethics of means is dependent upon the political position of those sitting in judgement (Alinsky 1972: 26-9).

Our cause had to be all shining justice, allied with the angels; theirs had to be all evil, tied to the Devil; in no war has the enemy or the cause ever been gray. (Alinsky 1972: 3)

<snip>
Tactics for radicals

The bulk of the rest of Rules for Radicals is concerned with tactics, which he sometimes also refers to as the rules of power politics. I will expand on each in turn. I will also give examples from Mark Thomas, a UK-based socialist comedian who I think uses these techniques in his show.

1) Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have (Alinsky 1972: 127). In the book he says that if one has mass support, one should flaunt it, if one does not one should make a lot of noise, if one cannot make a big noise, make a big stink. Mark Thomas uses this technique frequently. When complaining about the tube privatization he formed a band of famous names and asked them to perform on the tube singing protest songs about it.

2) Never go outside the experience of your people (Alinsky 1972: 127). Mark Thomas makes extensive use of such techniques as getting the public to ring up their elected representatives or have mass letter writing campaigns. He will also put familiar mechanisms to other uses. When complaining about the use of organophosphates he put up yellow appeals for witness signs to draw attention to the public. When investigating Crown immunity to murder, when a person was run over by an army Landrover he put up tiredness kills signs all over the front of the army base.

3) Wherever possible go outside of the experience of the enemy (Alinsky 1972: 127). Mark Thomas would continually try and dumbfound people. When complaining about the building of a dam that was to displace 15,000 people in Turkey he built an ice sculpture of a dam in front on the headquarters of the company building it.

4) Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules (Alinsky 1972: 128). This is one of Mark Thomas’s favorite tactics. He found out that people who inherited expensive paintings could avoid inheritance tax by allowing the public to have access to the painting. He got the public to ring up numerous people who had done this and request to see the paintings. When they refused, or refused everyone he managed to get the law changed.

5) Ridicule is man's most potent weapon (Alinsky 1972: 128). Mark Thomas was complaining about the exporting of guns to Iran, where the government had claimed that they did not know the pipes were going to be used for that purpose because they had been put down as something else for export terms, despite the fact that they could not have been used for that purpose. He protested by painting a tank pink, put a plastic ice-cream cone on the top of it and tried to export it as an ice cream van.

Lots more here if you're interested:
saul alinsky, community organizing and rules for radicals

 

[blastoff]

Agree 100%. Except it should be properly defined as community agitating, not organizing.

 

[Avatar4321]

I cant understand why anyone wants to follow mob tactics in a book dedicated to the devil. it's just screaming evil.

 

[occupied]

The democracy haters count on the people to follow rules they break everyday.

 

[naturegirl]

The democracy haters count on the people to follow rules they break everyday.

Yea we all should follow these rules, right?? Obama's doing such a great job, his followers are cheering him on.

Here are the 12 rules for radicals, just for you.

RULE 1: “Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have.” Power is derived from two main sources – money and people. “Have-Nots” must build power from flesh and blood.

RULE 2: “Never go outside the expertise of your people.” It results in confusion, fear and retreat. Feeling secure adds to the backbone of anyone.

RULE 3: “Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy.” Look for ways to increase insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty.

RULE 4: “Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.” If the rule is that every letter gets a reply, send 30,000 letters. You can kill them with this because no one can possibly obey all of their own rules.

RULE 5: “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.” There is no defense. It’s irrational. It’s infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions.

RULE 6: “A good tactic is one your people enjoy.” They’ll keep doing it without urging and come back to do more. They’re doing their thing, and will even suggest better ones.

RULE 7: “A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.” Don’t become old news.

RULE 8: “Keep the pressure on. Never let up.” Keep trying new things to keep the opposition off balance. As the opposition masters one approach, hit them from the flank with something new.

RULE 9: “The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.” Imagination and ego can dream up many more consequences than any activist.

RULE 10: “If you push a negative hard enough, it will push through and become a positive.” Violence from the other side can win the public to your side because the public sympathizes with the underdog.

RULE 11: “The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.” Never let the enemy score points because you’re caught without a solution to the problem.

RULE 12: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions.

 

[occupied]

The democracy haters count on the people to follow rules they break everyday.

Yea we all should follow these rules, right?? Obama's doing such a great job, his followers are cheering him on.

Here are the 12 rules for radicals, just for you.

RULE 1: “Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have.” Power is derived from two main sources – money and people. “Have-Nots” must build power from flesh and blood.

RULE 2: “Never go outside the expertise of your people.” It results in confusion, fear and retreat. Feeling secure adds to the backbone of anyone.

RULE 3: “Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy.” Look for ways to increase insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty.

RULE 4: “Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.” If the rule is that every letter gets a reply, send 30,000 letters. You can kill them with this because no one can possibly obey all of their own rules.

RULE 5: “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.” There is no defense. It’s irrational. It’s infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions.

RULE 6: “A good tactic is one your people enjoy.” They’ll keep doing it without urging and come back to do more. They’re doing their thing, and will even suggest better ones.

RULE 7: “A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.” Don’t become old news.

RULE 8: “Keep the pressure on. Never let up.” Keep trying new things to keep the opposition off balance. As the opposition masters one approach, hit them from the flank with something new.

RULE 9: “The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.” Imagination and ego can dream up many more consequences than any activist.

RULE 10: “If you push a negative hard enough, it will push through and become a positive.” Violence from the other side can win the public to your side because the public sympathizes with the underdog.

RULE 11: “The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.” Never let the enemy score points because you’re caught without a solution to the problem.

RULE 12: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions.

Yes, when you are fighting the powers that be you do not succeed by being a wuss when the powers are prepared to do anything to silence you. If Americans were not so scared to act up we would be better off.

 

[konradv]

IMO, it seems the TP and their Congressional allies have studied him well. He's not just for lefties anymore!

 

[occupied]

IMO, it seems the TP and their Congressional allies have studied him well. He's not just for lefties anymore!

This is correct, although they added a rule: "When you get the offer to sell out, do it".

 

[Avatar4321]

The democracy haters count on the people to follow rules they break everyday.

The Republic haters count on lawbreakers to further their power grabs.

 

[naturegirl]

Yea, Saul Alinsky is a good one to follow.........every step, every action by the Obamavider is one of Alinsky's.

Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins -- or which is which), the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom -- Lucifer.

-- Saul Alinsky

 

[Avatar4321]

Yes, when you are fighting the powers that be you do not succeed by being a wuss when the powers are prepared to do anything to silence you. If Americans were not so scared to act up we would be better off.

American's arent afraid to act up. We just dont want death and destruction like you do.

 

[occupied]

The democracy haters count on the people to follow rules they break everyday.

The Republic haters count on lawbreakers to further their power grabs.

You almost sound like you like having unaccountable, untouchable leaders who use the rule of law and a militarized police force to keep the rabble in their place. If challenging an unjust power structure is against the law then our freedom is already gone.

 

[Sallow]

What bad things did ol' Saul Alinsky actually do? Like let me give you an example.

Ted Nugent, conservative hero, slept with girls as young as 13. He then adopted a 17 year girl he couldn't marry..to have sex with her. For 2 weeks he urinated and defecated in his pants when called to serve in the armed forces. The stink was so bad..they didn't take him.

So go on..

 

[freedombecki]

Agree 100%. Except it should be properly defined as community agitating, not organizing.

Bingo!

Agitating people who are regular people is the primetime of Obama's term so far. How unfortunate for our nation that the first Black President would come in with a crowbar to divide and not mortar to unite. He needs to be ousted, and I don't know what we're going to do about the aftermath, except to continue on telling the truth about the seamy side of "community organization," the euphemism for senseless abuse of other Americans and rioting rather than bargaining to make gains. The shoving stuff down people's throat business got out of control his first two years in office with Pelosi and Reid implementing bizarro world legislation that would agitate an entire nation and polarize it to the point of almost no return.

And I'm a little angry the Democrats would target the middle class to agitate, and I'd say any mouthings they made about transparency were a smokescreen for the backroom cheating they had planned for taking this nation's treasury and financial sector and destroying what the 9/11 crazies didn't achieve.

It's funny how by creating a huge pile of money people would go apeshit to get at it.

Maybe that's why the founders advised levying no more taxes than it would take to defend the nation.

 

[Sallow]

Yes, when you are fighting the powers that be you do not succeed by being a wuss when the powers are prepared to do anything to silence you. If Americans were not so scared to act up we would be better off.

American's arent afraid to act up. We just dont want death and destruction like you do.

You mean like G. Gordon Liddy? An admitted killer and watergate burglar? Who's also another Conservative hero?

How about Darrell Issa. A car thief and firebug.

Good role models..you betcha.

 

[freedombecki]

What bad things did ol' Saul Alinsky actually do? Like let me give you an example.

Ted Nugent, conservative hero, slept with girls as young as 13. He then adopted a 17 year girl he couldn't marry..to have sex with her. For 2 weeks he urinated and defecated in his pants when called to serve in the armed forces. The stink was so bad..they didn't take him.

So go on..

Ted who?

 

[Sallow]

Here's the man being demonized:

Saul David Alinsky (January 30, 1909 &#8211; June 12, 1972) was an American community organizer and writer. He is generally considered to be the founder of modern community organizing, and has been compared to Thomas Paine as being "one of the great American leaders of the nonsocialist left."[4] He is often noted for his book Rules for Radicals.

In the course of nearly four decades of political organizing, Alinsky received much criticism, but also gained praise from many public figures. His organizing skills were focused on improving the living conditions of poor communities across North America. In the 1950s, he began turning his attention to improving conditions of the African-American ghettos, beginning with Chicago's and later traveling to other ghettos in California, Michigan, New York City, and a dozen other "trouble spots".

His ideas were later adapted by some U.S. college students and other young organizers in the late 1960s and formed part of their strategies for organizing on campus and beyond.[5] Time magazine once wrote that "American democracy is being altered by Alinsky's ideas," and conservative author William F. Buckley said he was "very close to being an organizational genius."[4]

Saul Alinsky - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[jillian]

What bad things did ol' Saul Alinsky actually do? Like let me give you an example.

Ted Nugent, conservative hero, slept with girls as young as 13. He then adopted a 17 year girl he couldn't marry..to have sex with her. For 2 weeks he urinated and defecated in his pants when called to serve in the armed forces. The stink was so bad..they didn't take him.

So go on..

none of them even know WHAT alinsky said or what he did.

they also clearly don't care that it's the right that perfected the use of his community organizing strategies.

but then again, they'd have to actually read something to know that.

 

[Sallow]

What bad things did ol' Saul Alinsky actually do? Like let me give you an example.

Ted Nugent, conservative hero, slept with girls as young as 13. He then adopted a 17 year girl he couldn't marry..to have sex with her. For 2 weeks he urinated and defecated in his pants when called to serve in the armed forces. The stink was so bad..they didn't take him.

So go on..

Ted who?

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vy8RIiTyhMI]Ted Nugent goes OFF on Obama in California - YouTube[/ame]

 

[naturegirl]

In case you're wondering the quote I posted from Alinsky is the dedication in his book, "Rules for Radicals". The man was a Satanist, but, it's all good.

Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins -- or which is which), the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom -- Lucifer.

-- Saul Alinsky

Saul Alinsky Dedicated His Book To Satan | Sweetness & Light