Lessons learned from ACORN

After ACORN was assaulted by the radical right in this country, and destroyed; there are some lessons to be learned here.

One is that any large organization working on behalf of the people will half inherently less money than a multinational corporation.  All things considered, this makes it a very large target to be hit upon.  Large targets are much easier to hit with legal attacks, and lobbying efforts.

ACORN didn't have the funds to hire an army of lobbyists and lawyers.  They didn't stand a chance against the Koch-funded GOP war chest.  They had barely enough to meet their main missions: neighborhood safety, low costs housing, voter registration, and affordable health care (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_of_Community_Organizations_for_Reform_Now).

So, their inherent weakness was being such a large, undefended target (legally speaking).  All it took was on Breitbart attack, and the GOP was all over that.

So, from this lesson here, our next model of community action must be just the opposite:  Small.  This works well in only one model I've seen:  Guerrilla Warfare.

Now, I'm NOT talking about actually going to war.  War doesn't solve a damned thing, usually.  But, we can take the tactics of guerrilla warfare, and apply them to community action.

Small, decentralized, and infinitely flexible lends itself well to any organization that has minimal funds, yet is a very powerful force when motivated towards a goal.  Even when working towards multiple goals sharing the same foundation principles.

An example of a non-violent, guerrilla group is the internet group known as "Anonymous"(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_(group))  This group uses anonymity combined with self-organization to accomplish huge goals, to wit they have been very successful with many of them.

Now, Anonymous works in the cyber arena, one arena in which the people have the most power.  This is demonstrated as above where a group of world citizens converge on a single aim, and accomplish it.  Anonymous has also during at least one of their "projects" (Chanology), branched off into what they call "irl", and what we call "In real life" activities.  They organized a world-wide protest of over 9000 people to protest the Church of Scientology (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Scientology).

So, we can take lessons from what they've accomplished, and apply them to democratic movements.  The only toolkit required is a place to organize.  Internet forums, Facebook, Twitter, et al.  Anonymity served Anonymous' purposes well, since ideas that came to the surface were voted down or up based on their merits, not on who it was.  This has benefits, since there are no "leaders" of the movement to take down.

So, in a self-organized flash mob of local cells all working towards one goal, there is never a single "head" to take out.  No organization to de-fund.  No organization to sue.  Infiltration of the group would gain nothing, since the group organizes more or less openly on the internet.

This is what the new "era" of community action needs to be:  Small, decentralized, local cells.  Maybe of a neighborhood, or city regional area (ie, Riverside/Black Rock; Elmwood Village/Allentown; Iron Island; et al).  These would be unable to be "attacked" by conservative groups like the Koch Brothers, or Breitbart's little gang of scumbags.

Now, get out there an organize!  Comment here for ideas you may have, or looking for ideas on how to get started organizing these groups!