Issue: Organizational Development

Integrated, year-round community organizing is necessary to create people-powered political representation in the Midwest. Midwestern state economies have destabilized, and this has caused shifting politics, such as formerly Democratic or swing states now voting mostly for Republicans. This report dispels multiple myths about Midwestern politics, such as: some states swung irreversibly to the right; Midwest states can be won either by engaging only people of color, or by frantically chasing white Obama/Trump voters; retail politics can work in the Midwest by “treating” white voters with messages about the economy and Black voters with messages about race, while ignoring Native, Latino, AAPI, and other voters; and we can win Presidential, US Senate, or Gubernatorial races by dumping billions of dollars into paid advertisements each cycle, rather than building the human capacity to lead and govern. This report argues for intentionally, consistently organizing people into membership organizations, unions, and community institutions in order to move constituencies of people into political action and create political homes. Overall, this report argues for “state ecosystems” of democratically accountable movement groups to engage in electoral politics.

Our understanding of social movements is shaped by the images we see of them, and there are some key ways to create the images we need to win. A cohesive visual strategy translates disconnected technical skills from visual storytelling crafts into a plan to meet our movements goals. It brings together graphic design, printmaking, illustration, puppetry, theater, photography, set design, digital content, and more. A successful visual strategy does three specific things: contests public and media assumptions about who you are and what is possible; creates unity in your base though increasing access, commitment, resiliency, wellbeing; and maximizes your threat to power by swaying how much power your targets think you have. This resource includes one 90-minute recorded presentation and accompanying PDF slides of the presentation. These also include practical how-to exercises for movements building visual strategies, from what specific visual tools to use, how and when to employ them, and more.

When I joined the climate movement in 2013, fossil fuel divestment campaigns were surging across the country on college and university campuses. At the time, I was a student and compelled by the narrative of stigmatizing the fossil fuel industry and taking away its social license to operate. The vision that captured my imagination of what is possible centered on people and building a world where everyone can live a dignified life.
The foundation of this vision embodies roots from the environmental justice movement. From Native people’s resistance of colonization to Latinx farmworkers’ determination for safe workplace conditions to Black and brown communities demands for basic human rights: clean air and water; organizing for what people deserve has always been the pathway for how we win.
So what does it take to do the necessary and bold work of multiracial, cross-class organizing in the climate movement?
The Lab recently engaged in dialogue on this question at Celebrating Our Community Power. Over 80 members joined in and learned from one another. Below, we highlight the most relevant insights that came out of the discussion and recommendations for how you can apply them to your work.