MARSHALL GANZ - Public Narrative - Key to Successful Organizing from the Free Forum with Terrence McNally, Episode 623. (I use Snipd for my podcasts.)
This episode was a reissue of an interview of Marshall Ganz from 2012, during the Obama-Romney campaign season. There are so many amazing tidbits in it, I have to share. Snipd allows one to highlight bits of podcasts to save and review for later, so here are the bits I think most useful.
The Paradox of Powerlessness: Powerlessness often leads people to seek help from those in power, but true change only occurs when individuals with the problem become the drivers of change. This paradox can be resolved by understanding the difference between resources and power. Communities may lack power but not necessarily lack resources. By coming together and utilizing their available resources collectively, even seemingly powerless communities can generate power and drive significant change. The Montgomery Bus Boycott exemplifies this concept, where individuals leveraged their resource of collective action to shift the power dynamics in their favor. This example underscores the importance of resourcefulness in empowering communities to overcome powerlessness and enact meaningful change. (I think we also saw this in 2018 with the wildcat teachers’ strikes in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Oklahoma.)
The Importance of Strategy and The Power of Interdependence: The importance of strategy lies in the ability to turn existing resources into desired outcomes, thereby enabling individuals to achieve their goals. Through various examples such as the black church in the South, Sleeping Car Porters Union, black fraternal organizations, and farm worker movements, the connection between developing leadership, fostering community, and building power for change becomes evident. These experiences emphasize the significance of strategy in creating meaningful and impactful transformations. Strategy involves turning what we have into what we need to achieve our goals. Power is a relationship based on the balance of interests and resources. Understanding interdependence allows for the identification of points where influence can be exerted, as demonstrated by Gandhi's insight that systems rely on the cooperation of both the exploited and exploiters.
The Five Smooth Stones of David and Goliath: The story of David and Goliath also highlights the importance of outrage at injustice and standing up against oppression, rather than relying on traditional feasibility studies or advice to avoid trouble. “David takes on the fight, not because he's had a feasibility study of the Phoenix Giants at McKinsey. He takes on the fight because he's outraged at the injustice. And everybody else tells him to shut up and not make trouble.”
The Transformational Model of Obama's Presidential Campaign: American politics is historically designed to inhibit change through checks and balances. Social movements, like the great awakening of the 1830s and 40s, interact with political parties to transform them and impact public policy. The conservative movement, civil rights movement, and labor movement have shown this pattern. Obama's presidential campaign initially followed a transformational model involving social movements but shifted to a transactional model of governing during his presidency.
The Wish of Conflict Aversion: “It wasn't only a shift from transformation to transaction, but to a passivity of leadership That was just remarkable.” Some may wish for a Rodney King theory of politics where dialogue alone can solve differences, but democracy thrives on contention. Democracy functions through holding power accountable via competitive elections and parties with challenging positions, emphasizing the importance of engaging in and embracing conflict to avoid being overpowered by opposing views.
The Patsy of Democracy: Democracy functions on contention through competitive elections, parties, and holding power accountable. The belief in resolving differences through dialogue without real contention is not effective in democracy. Avoiding contention can result in losing power to the opposing side. The misconception of bipartisanship in the electorate versus Congress was highlighted as a key misunderstanding, showing the need for a clear understanding of how democracy operates in a competitive manner.
[This is giving me a little PTSD. We all watched the train wreck in slow motion as the Obama administration made concession after concession to people clearly not acting in good faith on health care, the stimulus package, you name it, there was no piece of legislation of which the GOP made bad faith requests and delivered no votes.]
The Importance of Compromise: Compromise and negotiation are tactics, not goals in themselves. When compromise is viewed as an end rather than a means to achieve valued purposes, the actual ends become unclear, leading to a loss of perspective. If conflict is challenging, focusing on compromise as a goal might seem convenient, but it may obscure the true objectives and make the process seem more significant than the outcomes.
The Tea Party and Occupy: Tea Party and Occupy both emerged from anxiety, with the former driven by fear and the latter by hope. Occupy's success in reshaping the discourse highlighted the Democrats' reluctance to address economic and political inequality, a key challenge. The movement exposed the fear within the Democratic leadership to address these issues, which Occupy boldly confronted, leading to a paradigm shift in acknowledging and addressing economic disparities.
The Role of Narrative in Leadership: Narrative plays a crucial role in leadership as it helps individuals make choices in uncertain situations by accessing moral and emotional resources through stories. Families, cultures, and religions use narratives to teach individuals how to act and make decisions in the world. Leadership revolves around three main aspects: the questions of 'why me?', 'who are you?', and 'can't this wait?'. The essence of leadership is in the self-other action nexus, emphasizing the importance of understanding oneself and others in taking timely actions.
The Power of Stories and Narratives: Stories and narratives play a crucial role in inspiring action and facilitating conversations. However, to drive real change, it is essential to combine stories with structured leadership, strategy, and tactics. Stories have the power to engage people emotionally, but without a strategic approach and clear actions, stories alone are not sufficient. Addressing the challenges of acquiring skills, strategic resource utilization, and finding courage is key to transforming power and driving meaningful change. “The challenge… to the hands, the head, and the heart. I mean, to the hands, it's like, how do I get the skills I need? To the head, it's how do I use my resources in a strategic way, and to the heart, it's how do I find the courage? The story can address the heart part, but the strategic part and the action part are critical. I mean, the whole idea is to exercise, to access and transform power. That's what it's all about.”