DemDaily: Missionary for a Movement

organizer

noun  \  or·ga·niz·er  \  ˈȯr-gə-ˌnī-zər
1.  a person who organizes
                                                                      Webster

2.  A person who arranges an event or activity, 'the organizers of the demonstration'. Administrator, manager, chairman, chairwoman, chairperson, chair, head, chief, boss, principal, leader, governor, president, premier.  Oxford

3.  A missionary for a movement, a living adjective in motion.  DemList

An Organizer

* is committed to a vision of how things might be different and provides a successful pathway to change.
* learns his skills through conviction, patience, persistence and teamwork.

* accepts knowing an issue is not the same as knowing how to organize around it.
* sets the pace for dependability, dedication, execution and accountability.
* speaks to the culture and language of the people he is trying to reach.

* builds organizations by providing leadership and a roadmap for growth.

* provides answers, but seeks new solutions.
* teaches people how to become activists, and activists how to become organizers.
* inspires, trains and develops new leaders from within the rank and file.
* knows solidarity is only as strong as those who instill it.
* at his best, is a master of detail, strategy, mobilization, and timing.
* at heart, is a part of a community, and an advocate for its people and their cause.
* earns his reputation from the respect of those whom he is entrusted to lead
* knows that with one conversation and one vote you can effect change.

                              In loving memory of Paul Booth 1943-2018

                    Friend, Family, Organizer, Leader of Social Change

"We are in this together. We will fight it together. And we will win it together."

An Organizer's Message

"We will need to win and deepen the support of a majority of Americans over and over again and sustain it all the way until November 2018. The strategy for a political revolution has three parts. My wife insists that I never try to make more than three points.

First, movements need wins. They need victories that are tangible and material. Symbolic ones will not suffice.

Second, movements need to be the instrument of those wins. They need to taste them to feel the change that they make. Improvements handed down from above will not suffice.

And finally, movements must shift the balance of power. They need to make structural changes in the political system increasing their power. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did, and it never will is what Frederick Douglass said. So commencing with this election, and as robust a win as it may produce, whatever that is, we have to make those demands.

We have to organize for them. We have to knock on doors for them. We have to march on Washington for them. We have to vote for them. We have to get others to vote for them. We have to lobby for them, and when they're legislated, we need to go to work implementing them, defending them and showing America by all of that, that together, Americans can solve problems, can share the wealth and opportunity and make a better future.

I think there is a path forward, and I'm happy to have had 50 years building up to getting there ..."

-- Paul Booth, October 27, 2016, Swarthmore College (Alumnae Speaker)

Links
Paul Booth's Speech at the 2016 Democratic Convention
The Midwest Academy: Learn About Organizing
In Memoriam

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