The mission of the Grassroots Organizing Working Group. (GROW) is...
To facilitate coordination and communication between local Green Party organizers and groups; and to provide resources for collaboration, skill sharing, and training in order to promote the strategic growth and diversity of the Green Party of California.Given the two views of what we need to win elections that were posted by Patrick and Peter to the Elections 2008 thread, what should GROW be doing to help us achieve our goals. It seems to me that there is a lot of energy to organize protest around hot, in the new, right now issues but little energy to do the long range, back office, step by step, often thankless work of organizing to build the party and win elections.
Maybe, before commenting, readers could check the GROW activity by following the link above. Has GROW been doing the right thing all along?
5 comments:
I haven't given GROW too much thought, so I don't have too much to contribute here, other than to say, "Keep the 'Green Focus'" coming! Send out new ones often! And translate 'em into Spanish! Please, for God's sake, we need GP Spanish-language literature that is CURRENT and SPECIFIC and TOPICAL (as the 'Green Focus' pages tend to be)... not just general flyers listing the 10 Key Values translated into Spanish, which tends to be the nature of the GP's few Spanish-language lit pieces.
I'd also like to comment, briefly, about something you wrote:
"It seems to me that there is a lot of energy to organize protest around hot, in the new, right now issues but little energy to do the long range, back office, step by step, often thankless work of organizing to build the party and win elections."
When it comes to building a base (which, imo, is how you win elections), I don't think anything is more important than siezing on hot, in the new, right now issues. Going back to Alinsky (sorry, I just think "Rules for Radicals" is gold for the GP): "Organizations are built on issues that are specific, immediate and realizable." Too often, the GP tries to organize around issues that are none of the three. Not specific. Not immediate. Not realizable. That's an inefficient use of our limited resources, and hamstrings base-bulding.
And hey, as long as ideas are being tossed out, lemme just throw out another here... is there any way to, well, make Green Focus more "tabloid-y"? With articles and photos and headlines designed to rake some muck, inflame some passions, and drag out some controversy, rather than just soberly laying out the GP's good intentions and noble ideals? Or, rather than messing with the Green Focus, we leave it as it is and start up a parallel Green tabloid with a more bare-knuckled, gut-level muckraking mission.
It might get more readers. Or, if nothing else, it might just be plain 'ol fun.
Patrick Meighan
Los Angeles Greens
Okay, one other idea. Maybe GROW should try starting some *local* GP (or unofficial, GP-friendly) blogs, devoted to local issues for California's most important localities.
Lord knows LA really needs one. Most of the popular local-issue political blogs down here in LA tend to be kinda-lefty (LA Voice), center-left (LA Observed), or hard right wing (Mayor Sam's Sister City). There's no GP presence on any of 'em, whatsoever.
Bob Morris's PoliZeros is certainly GP friendly, and it's updated frequently, but the content is almost all national and internationl in focus. Next to no local content.
It may be time for LA to have a GP (or, again, unofficially GP-friendly) blog that deals exclusively with local issues from a GP perspective, and is updated frequently enough (read: daily) to be worthy of being part of a progressive Angelo websurfer's ritual morning blogcheck.
Ditto the above for San Francisco, Sacto, and wherever else GROW thinks a blog would be of use.
So there's my idea.
Okay, I'll shut up now.
Patrick Meighan
Los Angeles Greens
Yeah, good idea Patrick.
Did you know Michael Rochmes has a GP blog? Up until last Nov. he was posting several times a month. He covers local, state and national party. http://greeninlosangeles.blogspot.com/
Greenlagirl.com is a very active blog and good source for all things green, movement that is, not party, but as I've told some of ya'll before--too bad she's a Dem.
Sigh, it seems green issues are hot, more palatable and unthreatening, than the
Green Party.
Yes, we have tried to convert her and I invited her to speak at one of our LA Greens meetings.
cheers,
Lisa
Patrick,
I forwarded your idea on Green Focus to the editor, and we would do it if we could raise revenue in some fashion. Printing and distributing costs money. Would you react badly to ads for green busineses as a source of revenue?
"Would you react badly to ads for green busineses as a source of revenue?"
Personally, I wouldn't, no. That's just my own opinion, though. Others may disagree.
Patrick Meighan
Los Angeles Greens
Post a Comment