New Orleans     

I’m delighted:  what a win!  A real bridge being built for crossing the digital divide with affordable internet access for the poor!   Let’s get all of our members, head start clients, free lunch eligible folks in our schools, and people in the community signed up and ready to go, first on Comcast, then on Cox, Times-Warner, and get the rest on board, too!

It turned out we had Local 100 members in Comcast service areas throughout Houston and Harris County, Little Rock, and Shreveport.  Even better we also represented workers in the Head Start programs in all three of those locations and throughout the schools in Houston.   Funny thing though, no one seemed to have heard of the program hardly.  It was virtually impossible to go through the maze of the system and get an application.  When our people asked for applications some were asked to pay for credit checks, which were not part of the program.  One of our members was asked to pay a deposit to be able to qualify.  If you didn’t call the right number, Comcast tried to “up sell” over the $9.95.  It would take two to four weeks to get an application, if one arrived at all.  If you were a tenant you had to prove that you were not someone who rented the apartment years ago and to do so, you had to go downtown to only one place, despite more than a dozen Comcast offices in the city in the case of Houston.  This was not a bridge over the digital divide; this was a false front on a new and higher wall blocking access to the poor.  Oh, and it turned out this really wasn’t about the poor or the unemployed or seniors or any of these groups, but only for families with school age or Head Start children who qualified for free school lunches.  Sigh.

Comcast is big in Philly.  An internet search on the program showed a lot of smiling faces and well known folks touting the importance of this Comcast initiative.  Calling friends and organizers in Philadelphia though produced the same head scratching response.  On first blush they had not heard of the program either.  Action United, a membership organization of low and moderate income families, had trouble finding any members or staff that knew much about this Comcast special on the internet.  They did a phone survey of 500 people and their worst fears were confirmed.  Few knew.  Even fewer had gotten on.   We found the same story in Little Rock.  One of our organizers knew about the program, because some of his children were solicited in their school, but not all of his children.

We reached out for Comcast.  No response in most places.  We reached out for the FCC, and most of the response was to forward the correspondence to Washington, D.C. and more recently to ask if they could forward our concerns to Comcast itself.

Action United, representing our entire coalition of organizations, including A Community Voice in Louisiana and Arkansas Community Organizations in Little Rock, met with the company.

• How many were enrolled?   No answer.  Not sure they knew.
• What are the goals for enrollment?  None and we don’t know yet was the answer.
• What is the real outreach?  They printed more than a million flyers and mailers touting the program.  Where did they go?  How were they supervised?  What were the results?  Anything more active?  Pretty much a lot of shrugging and excuses and whatevers.
• How about the problems around the country?  Hmmm.  No answers here either, though they seemed to say, it was all right to “up sell,” if someone called the “regular” Comcast numbers rather than the “special” “Internet Essentials” number.  Was this a “bait and switch?”

It was a dog-and-pony show rather than a really serious meeting about delivering internet access to lower income families.  They did promise to get back to us later in January, so perhaps they will begin to really commit to delivering access.

In Little Rock this week members of United Labor Unions Local 100 and Arkansas Community Organizations raised the issue with Comcast, but, weirdly, the head of Comcast tried to deny he had even received the certified letter.  Hardly matters, the problem remain the same.  He agreed to meet with us in Little Rock.  We’ll see if he follows through.

The FCC also called Houston, Philly, and Little Rock asking if they could forward our letters to them about problems with Comcast’s internet access program.  I’m not sure if this is a form of the FCC washing their hands of the problem or a signal to Comcast to live up to its promises, rather than its public relations?

Seems clear that thus far this program is mainly window dressing and feel-good-PR, so we seem to have little choice but to help families who are trying to get access to this program to file FCC complaints that so far it is nothing but deceptive advertising.  We have the Xeroxes burning in all of the cities that are part of this collaboration now so as we find more families denied or unable to apply or eligible and caught in the Comcast maze and bureaucracy, they can fill out an FCC complaint and move this up the chain.

Depending on the response, we will begin talking to local city officials about the questionable conduct of Comcast on this vital program.

Overnight we reached other potential partners in Knoxville, Tennessee and Springfield, Massachusetts where Comcast is also the cable company and internet provider.  Looks like we should start making a longer list of where Comcast operates to see if it is really following through anywhere.

We need to start talking to Cox and Time-Warner in other cities to make sure they understand what we have learned in the last several months.

Comcast has one heckuva advertising department, but when it comes to internet access to the poor, they may have run a game on the FCC, because this is NOT a model program.

More than forty Occupy NOLA folks, friends, and others attracted to the dialogue poured into the Fair Grinds Common Space for the meeting. A good cup of coffee and a warm scone or coffee was a long way from the damp, chill of the Plaza campsites. Theoretically it should have been a welcome change to actually hear one another as well, but listening to the meeting that might have not been an advantage in some ways, because what might often seem a difficult consensus process in the best of times was easily contentious. For the exact reasons part of the ACORN culture had always been to ban Robert’s Rules of Order to prevent empowering an elite that could weaponize the procedural tools to control a meeting, the Occupy NOLA discussions were caught in the tensions between “facilitators” whose expertise was reportedly the “consensus” procedures, but who kept sparring back and forth for command of the crowd and the agenda. Those parts of the meeting weren’t pretty to watch, but for the most part the Occupy veterans would argue that was either part and parcel of the process or simply the way sausage needs to be made, despite the frustrations voiced repeatedly in the debates and later in the “soapbox.”

At the same time there were parts of the meeting that were surprisingly robust. A hearty delegation from Baton Rouge visited and reported on their progress, which might not have involved an encampment but did involve a written list of demands, making them unique in that respect, as well as what sounded a lot like a legislative agenda. They also brought news of other Occupy groups in Lafayette and around Louisiana, which was also fascinating. One of the OccupyBR folks whispered to me at the back of the room that “they didn’t work like this,” which I assume means that the process involves a learning curve that’s pretty steep.

The most exciting local report involved Occupy Lots. More explanation and reports indicated that there were somewhere near 20 folks many from other Occupy uprooted encampments around the country that were camping on a vacant lot next to a homeowner in the 7th ward and helping her make improvements on the property. News cameras were there earlier in the day. Other reports focused on reasserting their role in the community with something around Martin Luther King Day and other events.

Nonetheless, listening closely to the whole meeting, it was hard to escape the conclusion that as committed as many were, they were groping for a plan for the future. There was no consensus on that question, and really very little debate or discussion. Several people raised the issue during the “soapbox” session, which allows open mic griping that everyone can easily ignore. In fact most people left the room during that section to visit elsewhere in the coffeehouse.

As an organizer, I would venture to predict that there is a hard debate coming between occupants committed to a program and plan going forward and occupants committed to the process and trusting that something will emerge. Logically one would think that this sort of thing simply works itself out, but after listening to a 45 minute debate of sorts as they struggled to decide where to meet again twixt and tween the Plaza and our Fair Grinds Common Space, I wondered if that was possible or the group would simply split into various Occupy this and that’s without being able to sustain the Occupy core.

One advantage of dialogues that is past argument, is that when they work as well as this one, it gets you thinking!

New Orleans              

In the current fight in New York City an oft cited study that buttresses the case for coupling public investment in private development with living wage improvements on such projects was written by T. William Lester and our old friend and comrade, Ken Jacobs from the University of California at Berkeley’s Center for Labor Research and Education.  The study, “Creating Good Jobs in Our Communities:  How Higher Wage Standards Affect Economic Development and Employment,” put together a list of cities that had enacted “business assistance living wage” ordinances and created a database to compare them to a similar set of cities to determine in a unique way whether or not cities had hurt their growth and job development with such policy initiatives.  The cities  had a good dose of California in them, not surprisingly, but also included a good smattering from around the rest of the country, making the work truly national in scope.

The results contained good news for all of us who have advocated and organized for such policies to be enacted in our cities:

“Economic development wage standards are one tool that a city can use to create jobs of greater quality. We have compared two sets of cities in order to assess the effectiveness of such laws—those with enforced business assistance living wage laws and those without—and found that there is no loss in the number of jobs due to the living wage requirement. It appears that, even during hard times, economic development wage standards are an effective tool for increasing wages in a city without sacrificing the number of jobs.”

This work builds on the path breaking work done by Dr. Robert Pollin of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst that had established in Los Angeles and later, working with ACORN in both New Orleans and Florida, that the any adverse impacts were at worst negligible, and at best wildly positive.  Walmart ran from ACORN’s big-box proposed ordinance in Chicago in 2006 which would have coupled business assistance with their development and pulled up stakes in Sarasota, Florida when we won an ordinance requiring living wages on such developments in that city, but these studies seem to conclusively argue that they simply left money on the table, rather than allowing cities to develop in equitable and sustainable fashion.

With the first hints emerging that we may be coming out of the recession, we need to dust off all of these reports and initiatives and move more aggressively to reassert these agendas in North American cities and around the

New Orleans              

We went by the General Assembly to hear the news Tuesday night.  The 40 or so folks left were sitting or lying on a small mound of grass in the Plaza listening to the legal team report on the judge’s decision, which, predictably, was grim and go.  In a short order Judge Lance Africk simply wrote with no elaboration that “…the Court finds that plaintiffs have not carried their burden of establishing a substantial likelihood of success on the merits….”  Mark Gonzales, one of the volunteer lawyers, told them plainly that more detail from the Judge was not going to provide better news.

There was concern about goods and property lost by the police’s illegal eviction and whether there would be any compensation.

There were offers of new locations.  Empty lots in the lower 9^th ward, still devastated and 80% vacant since Katrina, was one suggestion.  Another speaker suggested an Episcopal Church that seemed to be closing on Canal Street.  People drifted around the meeting.  Others listened carefully.  There was calm.  Two people had decided to be arrested at 10 PM when the police were scheduled.  Some would watch from across the street and down the block as witnesses.

This was dénouement.   Ground conceded.  Point long made.  Future uncertain.

  New Orleans              

Graeber is an anthropologist and Thomas Meaney in a Times tongue-in-cheek-in-eyeball essay argues that the book essentially tracks the time line from when debts moved from moral obligations to fast buck hustles underlying everything from subprime lending to Wall Street shenanigans.  Supposedly, Graeber “imagines a world where such liabilities might be forgiven altogether.”  Speaking for many, it just can’t get her fast enough for me!  Occupy that, banker man!

Unfortunately for Graeber’s argument, it seems that the strong foundation of an atavistic moral commitment to repay debts continues to be the foundation of a multi-billion dollar collection agency enterprise subcontracting the heat and harassment from the sterling reputations of big banks and credit card companies to prey on the families and relatives of the dearly departed to try and pinch them for their last pennies to resolve debts left by the dead.  An excellent article by Jessica Silver-Greenberg in the Wall Street Journal not long ago went into chilly detail discussing the tactics and strategies of the debt collectors in wearing down folks until they made payments on the deceased debts, even when they were under no obligation to do so! 

Unless the debt was jointly held, like a co-signed note or a joint mortgage, they own your ass, but only until the last breath at which point you are free at last.  The collectors try to con and connive until they squeeze something past that last puff to get their money.  Amazingly, some end up paying for the same reasons that Graeber argues our distant forbearers did thousands of years ago, because it seemed moral.

Now that interest rates, fake charges, and bait-and-switch rule too much of the credit industry, the morality has leeched out of the entire enterprise, so good people should let the debts lie and the dead rest without a penny of guilt or remorse.

A pretty good example can be found in the piece on Power in the Movement by Alex C.  The graphic gives a clear image below:

 The piece though is a little harder to put your arms around.   First, Alex argues that “we must shed the invincibility complex.”  Since he’s arguing that we must admit the ability to err, that seems beyond dispute, though perhaps unusual that it is the first consideration in looking at power within a movement.  The second point went like this:

Second, a thought model may come in handy. We can view

the goal of social justice as necessarily passing through a

Feng Shui of Power with flows shaped by human action and

intentionality. With this paradigm we can proactively push

the movement to a place where all feel empowered and not

left out. Concretely, radicals must make use of “tracing”—

i.e. recognizing power and tracing it back to its origins—

to build a cartography of power. With that knowledge we

can actively shape the conditions for it to flow harmoniously

throughout all occupiers and society.

I’m not clear reading that piece that I have much of an idea of where to go next in thinking about power within the movement?  Alex then lays out a basic one-two-three on power analysis mapping research which is once again inarguable.

On the other hand the piece by “Rira” entitled “Matrix as the Core Element” is an excellent analysis of the importance Occupiers ascribe to place and space, the General Assembly (which many in Tidal argue as their primary contribution to movement thinking and work), and other issues.

Enough said.  If you are interested in how the Occupy Movement is beginning to lay down its process and thinking on theory and strategy, “Tidal” is worth a look.  If you can’t find it, send me an email, and I’ll send you a copy of the PDF.

 New Orleans              

One of the dangers of organizing work is that sometimes the tactic can swallow the strategy, and this seems to have happened in DC.  The news was all about 60 to 70 arrests for this and that and a lot of attention was paid to the street blocking and traffic delays as folks tried to gum up the works.

The press may have thought that this was all Occupy all the way, which speaks to the power and impact of a legitimate movement and the savvy of SEIU and others to attach themselves to something with traction, but seeing the following quote from one of the arrestees was labor all the way:

“K Street is the place to be if you’re going to stop the moneybags who are corrupting our government,” said Jim Sessions, 75, a Methodist minister from Tennessee who was arrested Wednesday. He and eight others from Texas, Massachusetts and Washington state had linked arms across K and 16th streets and refused to move.

I couldn’t help smiling seeing my old friend and comrade (and Labor Neighbor Training and Research Center board member!), Rev. Jim Sessions, whose history and credentials within the labor movement and many other progressive causes is blue ribbon all the way from his time supporting the Pittston Strike to his directorship of the Highlander Center and then his efforts to build the Union Community Fund for the AFL-CIO until returning to Knoxville, taking one for the team and staying on message.  Nonetheless this was all run as Occupy.

Another article looked extensively at whether or not the street blockings and arrests advanced the 99% cause or not, which is always the argument when message gets consumed in the tactics.  Given that this was really the hard paws of labor sending a message to the Capitol, I hope the message was not lost on the White House, even if it is likely to end up as hours of debate before the Occupy DC general assembly in coming days.

No question we took a shot.  Just unclear if it came within a mile of the real targets.

 Little Rock     

          Good things grow in the hardscrabble of Little Rock.  Things like ACORN and perhaps things like Occupy Little Rock, because there’s a chance this could be one of the last encampments or plantons still standing when all is said and done.  Whether through a stroke of luck, good organizing, or just the special magical access of Little Rock, the Occupy folks had made a deal with the police chief.  If they moved from the grounds of the Clinton Presidential Library to some open space behind the post office where the old Downtowner Motel used to stand, then they were welcome to stay.  Even though I arrived in the night and rain, the Occupy encampment looked orderly and well laid out to me.  There was a police fence around the property so that you could only enter through the front (4^th Street) entrance.  Which is not to say that people were relaxed and that this was just a camporee, because when I approached through the rain and stopped to take a picture of this large, well lit, domed tent before jumping into the Occupy world, two or three folks met me at the door as if I might be looking for trouble and asked for the password.

The tent was warm and inviting and fairly easily seated 20 or so between the various chairs and couches although there were 25 folks were .  A young, red headed fire cracker ran the meeting as tightly and smoothly as just about any organizer or leader I’ve ever seen handle a meeting, and effectively proved that consensus could be welded into shape easily in a meeting this size (keeping in mind there were reports of huge difficulties and endless meetings around the country when 2 or 300 people are involved).   The GA marched through the business, the bulk of which had to do with getting an agreement to spend a couple of dollars for propane fuel or reimburse folks for out of pocket supplies for action preparations or one thing and another.  The Plumbers’ Union and the AFL-CIO had been supplying the gas.  Outsiders would have been surprised to hear the conversations in the GA about where they could get flags for the Army, Marines, Navy, etc since so many of them were veterans and wanted to fly their flags outside.  There was also a long conversation about how they were sewing revolutionary war Continental Army uniforms for a “winter soldier” action that would take place in a couple of weeks.

When I asked later, they reported that people had been unceasingly generous and every day something showed up by way of money or donations or supplies or whatever.  On a raising of hands about half of the folks were “residential” and the other half with jobs or families or both came and went between their houses and the encampment.  The Occupy Little Rock group was diverse in its own way.  There were young and old, veteran activists and young, grungy “travelers,” a young couple with their sleeping child, a couple in Cartharts and some in khakis, and generally nothing out of the ordinary.

When I spoke, folks were excited to have someone with a deep connection to ACORN.  They enjoyed my report that the Local 100 United Labor Unions board had passed a solidarity resolution for them and the other Occupy forces in our cities.  They listened politely about ACORN International’s work in the megaslums.

The questions though were more interesting.  Some were Little Rock “inside baseball” types, with one guy wanting to know where his monthly bank draft dues payment was going if ACORN had gone out of business and another wanting to know if everything was good between our old radio station KABF and the ACORN successor organization:  I was clueless.  The more interesting questions had to do with advice they sought on whether or not they should incorporate and “form an LLC [limited liability corporation]” which caught me by surprise, though it was good to hear that they were thinking down the road.  They asked for advice, and I offered it for what it was worth, essentially lobbying them to start thinking about how to use the encampment as a symbol, prepare for the future, ally their program to others, and build their base.

The Occupy Little Rock folks were good people trying to do great things here.  In a couple of months they could be among the last folks still firmly established in a planton.   I urged them to prepare themselves then to speak for the entire movement.  It would be a serious political and organizing error to not take them all very seriously.  From my time in the cold and rain with them, I would trust them to do a good job of it.

The Saints won handily without my help.  I may have a cold to take home with me now, but at least I know I went where I was needed.

            New Orleans              

Having been in Cairo several months ago with the delegation from the Organizers’ Forum (www.organizersforum.org), it was impossible not to feel while we were there and in the weeks that followed the profound disappointment of so many of the activists and the increasing likelihood that the revolution’s aims might be lost even though changes would be felt for the future.  The message to the military when we were there was inchoate and spoke more to the divisiveness of the protesters in the emerging politics, than to folks with their “eyes on the grape,” as we used to say.

The push that finally began days ago in Cairo, as doubts continued to increase that the military was angling for a permanent role in running the country and being dilatory in the discussions of any real transfer of power to parliamentary and democratic rule, was led by the much maligned Muslim Brotherhood.  Organizational discipline once again trumped social networking and political jockeying for power.  The Brotherhood poured tens of thousands into the square and their commitment and discipline was deep enough to withstand the military attack and hold Tahrir Square, bringing tens of other thousands to fill the space in escalating protest and resistance.

It is now the military that is forced to blink and retreat.  With the announcement that the civilian puppet cabinet as offered to resign the military reads the writing on the wall:  they either compromise or stand the chance of being institutionally crippled in the future.  Heads will roll!  One protester quoted in the Times pointed out the final realization of the irony that the military was thanked last January for not shooting the protesters as being the same as “thanking your wife for not sleeping with other men.”  Correctly, one should have the right of a citizen to not expect your nation’s  military to shoot you.  The military seems to have forgotten this as well in these strange times.

David Kirkpatrick of the Times, who has been an  excellent source on some much of this, paints the Brotherhood  as “reeling from the swift collapse of the military’s authority” in fear of there being a delay in the elections.  This is a tactical hiccup in the face of a potential victory.  There seems little doubt that the Muslim Brotherhood has not been immeasurably strengthened in recent days.  In fact it seems clear if the revolution in fact is finally won that the protesters of all stripes will owe a huge debt of gratitude and grudging respect.

We found a consensus that in elections the Muslim Brotherhood would be big winners, but a realpolitick assessment that they were too smart not to understand the lessons of the revolution and the lack of interest of the Egyptian people in suddenly living in a rigid theocracy.  The Brotherhood is now incurring huge debts for saving the revolution, but hopefully they will not make the mistake the military made in January of ignoring how important the revolution is to all of the Egyptian people.