Fundamentals of Organizing

Today George is reflecting on what he has learned over the course of this season. Between the impacts of COVID on the US and the racial justice reckoning that is so deeply intertwined with the disproportionate impact of COVID on Black and Brown Americans, George is feeling challenged and hopeful for a better future. This is the biggest moment to advance justice for Black Lives in America in a generation and it has the potential to be a long and transformative moment in American life. Everyone can be an organizer and everyone is organizable. Let's get to it.

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Welcome to The Next Move. In The Next Move, we’re talking about building the future we want out of this moment of darkness. Our host, George Goehl is one of the nation’s leading progressive organizers. Since COVID-19 hit, George found there was no shortage of people who could tell him just how screwed we are. But he wanted to talk with people focused on solutions and action. Across the eight-episode series, George Goehl will interview eight experts on transforming our social contract to build the future we want. This podcast will describe the society we want to build out of the wreckage -- and map out how we’ll build it together.

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Huge rallies and worldwide platforms can be transformational, not only for the causes we believe in but for participants themselves. But how do we get there? For Jess Morales Rocketto, Civic Engagement Director at the National Domestic Workers Alliance and Executive Director of Care in Action, it starts with the basics of community organizing: knowing organizing is about power; listening to people describe the material conditions of their lives; embracing that everyone has a role to play; and building the funnel to get more people involved. Most of all, it’s about believing that we will win.

You can find Jess at @JessLivMo and learn more at peoplesaction.org/nextmove.

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If organizing starts with deep listening, and is sustained by enduring relationships, how do organizers stay the course? Miya Yoshitani, Executive Director of Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN) and long at the vanguard of the environmental justice movement, talks with George about the importance of articulating what we fight for. They also discuss showing up authentically as an organizer; and what it means to light a fire within -- rather than under -- communities whose voices have often gone unheard.

You can learn more about Miya Yoshitani's work at peoplesaction.org/nextmove.

Miya is on twitter @miya_yosh.

People’s Action is a national network of 40 state and local grassroots, power-building organizations united in fighting for justice.

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In this special bonus story of The Fundamentals of Community Organizing audiobook, George Goehl shares why “Having A Practice” is essential to being a good organizer.

The Fundamentals of Community Organizing is George Goehl’s bedrock principles of organizing — the modern organizer’s bible, much as Shel Trapp’s Basics of Organizing was for George 30 years ago. Use these fundamentals to hone your craft and become a more effective organizer. The book is available for sale on fundamentalsoforganizing.org, and now, available for listening as an audiobook in this special offering of the podcast. Listen and re-listen to your most necessary fundamentals as many times as you need.

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