I posted this as a note a few months ago on my Facebook page, but I feel like it applies more to what we're going through right now in Wisconsin. We just finished collecting over one million signatures to recall 1% Walker, and this is only step one of a very long, difficult process. Solidarity and unity are more important now than ever before:
The definition of solidarity from dictionary.com:
sol·i·dar·i·ty
1. union or fellowship arising from common responsibilities and interests, as between members of a group or between classes, peoples, etc.: to promote solidarity among union members.
2. community of feelings, purposes, etc.
3. community of responsibilities and interests.
Synonyms
1. unity, cooperation, community. 2. unanimity.
The definition of unity:
u·ni·ty
1 .the state of being one; oneness.
2. a whole or totality as combining all its parts into one.
3. the state or fact of being united or combined into one, as of the parts of a whole; unification.
4. absence of diversity; unvaried or uniform character.
5. oneness of mind, feeling, etc., as among a number of persons; concord, harmony, or agreement.
Solidarity. Unity.
I wish people would take these two words more seriously. Especially right now, in Wisconsin. We're all fighting against the same thing: Walker and the other republicans who are coprorate tools and puppets for ALEC. They don't care about us. All they care about is furthering their own agenda, even if it means decimating education, health care, and workers' rights.
So WE need to come together and show SOLIDARITY and UNITY with each other. That means putting aside our petty little differences. That means working with people from different ogranizations, even if those organizations don't have the same views as yours. That means supporting people who you normally wouldn't show support for.
Everybody has their own views. Everybody has their own way of protesting. And everybody helps out in whatever way they can. People need to realize this, and peope need to learn to accept this. We are all just small pieces of a much larger picture. If you tell people to stop doing what they're doing, and force them to do what YOU think is right, then parts of the picture will be missing. So we need to allow all of those tiny little pieces to fall into place if we want the picture to come out clear.
Let me put this in a more simple way: Some people are good at talking on the phone or knocking on doors, so they help out with recalls or campaigns. Some people are good at speaking to large crowds, so they speak at rallies and get people pumped up about the recall or campaign (or whatever else it may be). Some people are good at organizing, so they put together the rallies. Some people feel the need to take it a step further and participate in civil disobedience which gets people's attention and makes them realize that something big is actually happening. And some people do a little bit of everything.
So, instead of criticizing people who don't do what YOU are doing, you should appreciate them for doing what THEY think they need to do. We can't have everybody phonebanking. We can't have everybody knocking on doors. We can't have everybody speaking at rallies. We can't have everybody organizing rallies. And we can't have everybody getting arrested for civil disobedience.
We need to support each other and appreciate the effort that everybody is putting into OUR movement, whether you agree with it or not. We need to stop thinking as individuals and start thinking as a united force working together towards the same goal.
Solidarity and unity, brothers and sisters.