Date and Time:
Saturday, October 31, 9:25AM-9:45AM (Boulevard room, Hilton Chicago)
Presenter: Benjamin Day, Healthcare-NOW!
Notes from Conference Participants:
how’s everyone doing – setting the stage – how do SM win – how do we build a winning SM – not an easy question to answer – easier to answer how campaigns win – SM really diff from campaigns – campaigns are centrally coordinated – here lots of orgs and communities – more like herding cats than running a campaign – campaigns have limited time line – SM over many generations – (What happens in the states will depend on environmental factors) – being effective depends on what stage you are at. Answer different questions – Movement Action Planning
MAP – Modeling stages of successful social movements – effective at different stages. Most activists in most SM think that they are losing all the time even when they are not – This is just never going to happen – heaven – ask god if we are ever going to have SP – God – yes but not in my life time – Having real hope is different –
Go through more relevant parts – Doing Democracy Bill Moyers –
Sketch out – as you move through the stages – win support among pop that status quo is not acceptable – some movements spend all time on this – at the end – how to change.
Take off stage – trigger event – large actions – rally’s civil disobedience – exposes problems to public – very rarely does this lead to victory. Often causes perception of failure – people think that is the whole SM and the only way to win is to get back to that – but that is not the only important part of winning – following that – Majority building stage – majority public opinion – slow process of social transformation – day in and day out organizing efforts – large number of volunteers – Does this sound familiar to anyone – people feel like that’s not movement building – but that’s actually equally or more important – we have to learn to value that type of organizing – we are not bad at that – we should be really proud that we have this infrastructure that keeps going – when we become more successful at this opposition kicks in
Crisis Management – opposition creates ways to hold off SP HC – ACA is this in a way – look at the costs that Dems had to pay for ACA – god forbid we get a repub cong and pres- they will pay for programs too. UHC is a coopt value that stands for lots of different things.
Success stage – 3 ways to win – dramatic show down – very rare – Voting Rights Act – Quiet show down – power holders pass and take credit for it – Attrition – win in other ways – nuclear power plants no longer build – in only on does the movement get credit – hard to maintain sense of help.
Black Lives matter – most imp. SM happening right now – public opinion poll – jail due to something else not discrimination (2013) same for job discrimination – majority people feel there is equity – BLM – at earlier stage than we are – universal recognition that HC system is broken – later stage of process – we have come a long way – SM in Take Off stage have a longer way to go – closer to finish line than other.
Occupy movement – moved country toward knowledge of economic Inequality – opened door for candidates to run on inequality platform – but also further behind than SP movement is – we are actually in a very good place, should be proud of where we are and what we have done. Majority support for SP, active GR orgs across the country , several states close to end game fights.
Slideshows, Photos, and Video:
Full slideshow of "Movement Action Planning for Single-Payer Activists":