After the Victory: Engaging Obama Volunteers

Politics & Society N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 8 W W W. T I K K U N . O R G T I K K U N 15 T ens of thousands of young people worked tirelessly for Barack Obama, and they deserve major credit for his historic victory . Not since George McGovern in 1972 has a presidential candidacy been so identified with the young. Obama’s racially diverse campaign mobilized many more young supporters, even though, due to the earlier primary schedule, it required a longer time commitment than McGovern’s. Obama defied the conventional wisdom that downplayedyoungpeople’sinterestinpolitics,rejectingthenotionthatyoungpeoplearetoo preoccupiedwithpersonalissuestoengageinanationalcampaign. ButnowwhathappenstothesethousandsofyoungObamafellows,volunteers,andcampaign staffers? Electing Barack Obama was only the beginning, and many of these young people are eager to continue working for change. Moreover, their participation in the struggles ahead is critical for implementing a new vision for the nation. Members of victorious campaignsoftenwanttokeepthecommitmentandspiritoftogethernessgoing;thisistruer thaneverwithBarackObama’shistoriccampaign. Labor union members, environmentalists, faith-based activists, and those whose good works are carried out through community groups have organizational vehicles for continuingtheirwork ;manyofObama’syoungsupportersdonot.Thismeansthataneworganization ,likelyconnectedtothosewhocoordinatedObama’sgrassrootsfieldcampaign,mustbe createdtoaccommodatethishugeinfluxofpotentialfull-timeactivists. Thisorganizationwouldperformtwocriticaltasks.First,itwouldprovidetheorganizing support for the Obama administration’s main initiatives on alternative energy, health care, laborrights,education,andemployment.Second,throughthedoor-to-doorcanvassingthat broughtBarackObamaelectoralsuccess,theseorganizerswouldbuildsupportforanewvision for America, one that transcends specific legislation and instead addresses a new set of Randy Shaw is the author of the newly released book Beyond the Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st Century (University of California Press). He can be reached at randy@thclinic.org. AP PHOTO/LM OTERO After the Victory: Engaging Obama Volunteers by Randy Shaw Barack Obama with volunteers in Austin, TX, February 23, 2007. Politics_3.qxd:Politics 11/5/08 1:35 PM Page 15 16 T I K K U N W W W. T I K K U N . O R G N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 8 valuesbasedonsharingandcompassionratherthanthe“greedisgood”principlethathas dominatedthenationallandscapefornearlythirtyyears. The organization would be entirely distinct from President Obama, and would not be under his control. Led by those who were energized by Obama’s campaign, the organization would seek societal transformations in line with the agenda that he espoused on the campaigntrail.ThisindependentorganizationwouldalsohelpkeepObamaaccountable. Recall that last July, thousands of Obama activists used the campaign’s own social networkingtoolstoprotesthisreversalontelecomimmunityforwiretapping ,forcinghimto defendhisactionstothem,eventhoughhedidnotaccedetotheirwishes. Obamahasfrequently stated that he welcomes strong pressure from the grass roots to keep his agenda on track, and this new organization would enable activists to counteract pressure on the newpresidentfromlessprogressiveconstituencies. AneworganizationthatisspunofffromthesuccessfulObamacampaignwouldbegin with a large group of activists with demonstrated organizing skills and a commitment to workforthegreatergood.Theadvantageoftransitioningexistingstafftoaneworganization , ratherthan starting entirely from scratch, cannot be underestimated. This would be true even absent the series of crises facing the country; in the current climate, advancing theprojectofsocialtransformationatthestartof2009isimperative. The UFW Model ThefoundersofthisneworganizationmaywanttomodelitaftertheUnited Farmworkers of America (UFW) of the 1960s and 1970s. Begun by a young Chicano organizernamedCesarChavezin1962 ,theUFW’scapacitytoenlisttalentedyoungactivists in socially meaningful work on a long-term basis remains unmatched. Among the astonishingarrayofyoungtalentattractedtotheUFWwasthenowlegendaryDoloresHuerta ; EliseoMedina,whoisnowexecutivevicepresidentofSEIU;StephenLerner,thefounder of Justice for Janitors; Fred Ross Jr., whose Neighbor to Neighbor coffee boycott in the 1980s helped end El Salvador’s civil war; Marshall Ganz, who helped develop the “Camp Obama” organizing model; and Jessica Govea, a key leader in the UFW’s battle against pesticides. These are but a few of the many UFW activists who have spent decades workingforjustice . IthinktherewerethreecrucialfactorsthatenabledtheUFWtoattract,train,andsustainsuchtalent : 1. TheUFWbuiltcommunity.OneofthemostdistinctivefeaturesoftheUFWwasthat it provided more than an activist experience: It offered volunteers a sense of community . UFW activists entered into a network of close relationships that approximated family.Manylivedin“boycotthouses,”collectivehouseholdsinlow-incomecommunitiesthroughoutthecountryforthoseworkingonthegrapeorlettuceboycotts . TheUFWprovidedasenseofcommonspiritandapervasivefeelingofonenessthat feworganizationsachieve.Asaresult,theUFWcreatedsuchstrongbondsamongvolunteers that many continued working together in progressive movements decades later. True, the pay received by UFW volunteers was not the best—they received a stipend of $5 plus room and board for working over 100 hours per week—but there werefewcomplaints.UFWvolunteersbecamepartofanationalmovementforsocial and economic justice, and obtained a sense of community often lost in large-scale movements. 2. TheUFWinstilledatransformativeconsciousness.TheUFWtookpeoplewithlittle or no activist experience and transformed them into lifelong workers for justice. This occurred because the...