Tag: tools
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What not to do: 100 things to avoid when trying to build a movement for radical change
DO NOT: forget to say please and thank you neglect to welcome newcomers be overly protective about ideas you hope to spread pretend you can make big changes without building broad alliances give the finger to your allies heckle Civil Rights leaders tell a black person that voting doesn’t matter tell anyone that voting doesn’t…
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How to pitch news outlets to cover your action
Download this post as a printable PDF To pitch a reporter or assignment editor about an action or event you’re planning is to call them up—typically after sending them a news release—and attempt to persuade them that they should come out (or send a reporter) and cover what you’re doing. A good pitch call is…
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#OWS: We are ALL leaders!
Download this post as a printable PDF What is the difference between saying none of us is a leader and saying all of us are leaders? At first glance these two phrases may seem like two ways of saying essentially the same thing. We believe in organizing in a way that is more horizontal than…
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#OccupyWallStreet & the Political Identity Paradox
Download this post as a printable PDF Strong group identity is essential for social movements. There can be no serious social movement—the kind that challenges the powerful and privileged—without a correspondingly serious group identity that encourages a core of members to contribute an exceptional level of commitment, sacrifice and heroics over the course of prolonged…
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#OWS: Welcome Visitors & Plug In New Participants
Download this post as a printable PDF Three Tips for Plugging People In Bringing in new participants and volunteers is essential to an occupation-or any group or organization-that wants to grow in size and capacity. The momentum of the Occupy Wall Street movement has quickly attracted a lot of people to occupations across the United…
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Occupy Tactic Star
Download this post as a printable PDF Occupation of a space is itself a tactic. It is an action intended to help us build momentum and to move us a step closer toward our goals. And it’s been wildly successful so far! But an ongoing occupation of space is also more than a tactic. An…
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The Tactic Star (a tool for planning and evaluating tactics)
The “tactic star” is a tool we developed a few years ago. We wanted to repost it here on the new site. Click here to download it as a worksheet (PDF). Choosing or inventing a successful tactic often involves some intuition and guesswork — and always risk. But the more we study our contexts, the…
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Orienting New Members & Volunteers to a Local Group
Three Tips for Plugging People In Bringing in new members or volunteers is essential to any local group that wants to grow in size and capacity. However, attracting or recruiting new people to your group is only the first step. Getting them to stick around can be a much bigger challenge! The good news is…
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Building a Successful Antiwar Movement
Four years ago today (January 27, 2007), United for Peace & Justice organized a mass protest in Washington DC to end the Iraq War. In the three weeks leading up to the event we were rushing to get our first publication—Building a Successful Antiwar Movement—to the printer in time to distribute at the rally. Jonathan…
Jonathan Matthew Smucker 