« Conflicts Within Islam Will Shape the Future | Main | Go Green,Think Globally, Act Locally »
Lobbying for Peace and Justice: The Nonprofit Way
It's that time of year again: Arts Advocacy Day. This year thirty three students, two alums, and six dance educators are part of the entourage of dancers speaking to members of Congress.
Last year, at Arts Advocacy Day
As I prepare these wide-eyed students for what will be a life-changing experience for some of them, I've been reflecting on the whole lobbying-advocacy influence continuum. Here is my conclusion:
It works. It may be the most effective means of making Congress accountable.
Back in 1997, when I took one student to the event, I too was overwhelmed by the multiple tasks of making it to appointments, staying on message, worrying that I would blow it for all the artists of the nation. Back then, the National Endowment for the Arts was still under attack for giving money to edgy artists who challenged the status quo. My student and I met the issue head-on in the office of Rep. Roscoe Bartlett(R-MD). He told us the federal government had no business supporting the arts.
Over the years, what was nerve-wracking and occasionally confrontational became merely challenging and often, fun. I never returned to Rep. Bartlett's office, for example, without solid numbers on the economic impact of the arts on his district. My own ability to hone the points of argument, to cite the facts calmly, and to offer compelling stories (my students tell their own: theirs are better than mine and they have the added benefit of innocent credibility) has increased. I know how to summarize the record of the Member we are visiting prior to the visit, to suggest which stories might work better, to put constituents front and center, and to make sure we deliver the *ask* and say thank you.
Each year, the reception is warmer, the students increasingly effective, and the results slightly better. Each year, we go in with higher stakes. And we meet the level of expectation.
I contrast this ongoing experience with my hit-and-run work with the peace and justice movement. I'm not saying that the Code Pink women or United for Peace and Justice could operate as the artists do at all; for one thing, Americans for the Arts is a fairly well-funded and staffed organization and they plan a year out for the one day on the Hill. Contrast that with the nightly meetings at the Code Pink house with whomever has shown up that week, the need to educate the volunteers quickly, and the penchant for creative and theatrical messaging that is missing from the actual performing artists.
I am saying that showing up works, and showing up regularly works better. Showing up regularly and messaging clearly works really really well.
The K Street "canyon 'o' lobbyists" know this. The relationships between Members and their staffers and the representatives of large evil industries are well-honed and fed and watered with a great deal of money. Even though Congress has shaken a hypocritical finger at the actual direct gifting, there are ways to provide for nurturing those relationships with expensive rewards. But to my mind it is not the rewards that matter here. It's the access.
Consider the difference between one of my earnest 22-year-olds telling a staffer the story of attending college and getting scholarship money because of a NEA-sponsored after-school program that kept her off the streets and gave her self-esteem and nurtured her creative voice versus someone passing on the whispered promises of profits for an industry if the Member, sitting next to the whisperer on a private plane would co-sponsor HR ___.
No really, consider that. Imagine you are the Member. My student and the whisperer are really asking for the same thing -- co-sponsorship or new and better protections for an industry. It's just that my student is asking for something for the greater good beyond the industry itself whereas the whisperer is asking for something for the greater good of profit-makers.
When the peace and justice advocates show up, they are asking for something for the greater good of all mankind, of course. And that's critically important. But just showing up and making a point is not enough. It does not address the pots of money being spent to get closer to Members, to build relationships with them, and to share the goodies. The peace story does not get told the way the profit story gets told.
Here is what we have to do:
1. Come to Washington. Stay for a week.
2. Make appointments with Congressional offices. Show up with a presentation -- five minutes, max. Make it personal and real.
3.Ask them to co-sponsor, vote, initiate, whatever you like.
4. Say thank you.
5. Follow up a week later -- ask the person you spoke with what happened.
6. Send another person from your district to do the same thing the next week. And the week after that. Etc.
7. Invite your Members to speak locally when s/he is back in the district. Give them cookies and punch. Ask about their families. Give your regards to the staffer you met with.
8. Do it all again in a few months.
This is a long-haul solution but really not as difficult as raising millions of dollars to start a lobbying effort. It just takes intelligence and practice and a modicum of organization.
What do you think?
Just wondering what friends are doing today, to relax and enjoy their leisure - and I find out
watching depressing documentaries like "America - From Fascism to Freedom"
listening to radio - Seymour Hirsch, Scott Ritter - on Iran
I've got links if you want 'em.
Karen,
This sounds like a great plan. I have concerns about many of us being able to come to DC for a week, although I'm pretty sure most of us would like to. The same thing that prevents many of us from coming to a march, or to a JK celebration, or some other fun thing, will be multiplied by coming to DC for a week.
Family responsibilities and jobs trump the ability to do what we'd like to do, which would be to join you in DC.
I'm not trying to be negative, or critical in any way. Just stating the part of it that wouldn't work for me.
Certainly those of us who don't have the luxury of time away could work on the planning.
Thanks for being such a proactive thinker, Karen.
Here's a quote for you:
"War is a coward's escape from the problems of peace."
Thomas Mann
I don't want anyone to feel guilty about not being able to come to DC for a week. But I do want anyone who CAN come to DC for a week to do it. I just got an email from Medea B. and she is coming back tomorrow as well. Should pick things up around here ;)
My point in the thread header is that actually making a concerted effort to lobby effectively could work. If anyone feels like experimenting with the thesis, let me know.
And in reply to the discussion about impeachment on the previous thread:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rohuQRlii2o
Off topic of this thread, but not off some topics discussed on the previous one:
I was researching a little bit about Barack Obama since a fundie told me they had heard that Obama was a practicing Muslim. Seems the Smear Machine has already started with the emails and Faux Snooze reports aimed at religious conservatives.
I checked it out first with Snopes:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/muslim.asp
Then I just "used the googles" to search for any information about Obama regarding his ideology.
I found the following....
~snip
"For some time now, there has been plenty of talk among pundits and pollsters that the political divide in this country has fallen sharply along religious lines. Indeed, the single biggest "gap" in party affiliation among white Americans today is not between men and women, or those who reside in so-called Red States and those who reside in Blue, but between those who attend church regularly and those who don't.
Conservative leaders have been all too happy to exploit this gap, consistently reminding evangelical Christians that Democrats disrespect their values and dislike their Church, while suggesting to the rest of the country that religious Americans care only about issues like abortion and gay marriage; school prayer and intelligent design.
Democrats, for the most part, have taken the bait. At best, we may try to avoid the conversation about religious values altogether, fearful of offending anyone and claiming that - regardless of our personal beliefs - constitutional principles tie our hands. At worst, there are some liberals who dismiss religion in the public square as inherently irrational or intolerant, insisting on a caricature of religious Americans that paints them as fanatical, or thinking that the very word "Christian" describes one's political opponents, not people of faith."
~more...
http://tinyurl.com/gbmyn
DiAnne,
I am home for the evening with a big pot of Chili cooking. Has been snowing outside off and on for the past three days. Looks like alot of people must be inside today as it's storming across the country. Looks like you have had some rain and the storm that just went past us is on it's way to the East Coast (still).
CBS' '60 Minutes' is on now and their big story is about Appeal for Redress and the active troops' dissension on the matter of the Iraq war. And Mike Wallace will be interviewing the ever-self-serving Bill O'Reilly (woo and/or hoo).
More on impeachment:
Otherwise, there'd have never been a break in at the Watergate. There was no reason for a break in- all the polls and in fact the final election results showed that Nixon would win outright in the '72 elections, and by a large margin. I suspect there are some who will say that isn't so, but it's just historical fact. The popular vote margin in that election was the largest margin in the history of all prior elections. Check out the history books. But Dick Cheney has no insecurity at all- he's the most frightening personality of all, a man who has no doubt about anything. And if impeached, he not only will believe that he
@@@@@@@@
Threatening impeachment maybe the only tool that Congress has to stop the war in Iraq.
Congress is trying various other methods - rescinding the authorization of force, tying the president's hands with deployment restrictions and the dreaded cutting off of military funding.
I disagree with your assessment of Cheney - he is similar to Nixon (even being in the White House post-Nixon) in his idea of a grand, imperial executive branch (like Nixon's notion) with little or no oversight of Congress, in his secretiveness, in his disdain for the press and the American people. In addition he and Nixon had this madness for power. Further and unlike Nixon, Cheney knew he could never be elected president, so the next best thing for Cheney is to be president by proxy.
This is extremely dangerous for the nation - as we have all seen. Cheney is not held accountable, not even by the weak, titular President Bush. Cheney basically does and says whatever he feels like - with no consultation (or clearance) with Bush, the CIA, the State Department, the Justice Department and certainly not with Congress.
And in reply to the discussion about impeachment on the previous thread:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rohuQRlii2o
Posted by: karen at February 25, 2007 05:17 PM
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
This video has been removed - because of TOS violation.
Karen
It is not inconceivable that I can come to DC for a week. It's just a matter of when.
Truth Shall Prevail
This morning my mom was definitely snowed in & it promised to snow all day. She had plenty of provisions laid in though. Chili sounds like a great plan! Hot cocoa too. We don't have the extreme temperatures but the cloudiness never ends.
Posted by: Truth Shall Prevail at February 25, 2007 06:33 PM
How convenient that the false Muslim rumor on Obama was started by two corrupt immigrants who claim to be Christians.
Next time I find an Australian or Korean Christian on the same flight as me, I WILL demand that he be taken off the plane. They are the true menaces that destroy American freedoms.
Posted by: Truth Shall Prevail at February 25, 2007 06:33 PM
Liberal Christians are in very short supply, especially in Confucianism-tainted Asian communities around here.
I had to give up Christianity as a result, because the only interpretation I could come up with was a mean, judgmental, paternalistic male God who has tons of wrath on his creations. There is no other take on Christianity that is accepted around me.
I have to say that I feel very liberated and enlightened to think and live outside that framework.
DiAnne,
It was still snowing an hour ago when I checked outside.
We had a mild winter, but I've had enough of it already. I am ready for Spring. February always sucks up here. By March I am climbing the walls!
Ally,
Hmmm. I'll have to look at that Snopes article again. I must have brushed over the part that told who started the rumor.
Perhaps Guantanamo could prove to be a useful residence for the war criminals of our nations.
Hicks' US military trial 'a war crime'
February 26, 2007 - 11:03AM
Former Family Court chief justice Alastair Nicholson says the prime minister, foreign minister and attorney-general could be charged with war crimes for insisting David Hicks face trial before a US military commission.
Mr Nicholson said the commission was not a properly constituted court and it could not deliver a fair trial to the terrorist suspect.
He said war crimes legislation clearly made that an offence on the basis that kangaroo courts should not be established to try a regime's enemies.
"We are saying it is strongly arguable that they have broken the law because to counsel or procure a person who is entitled to protection of the Geneva convention as Hicks is, a trial of such a person before an illegal tribunal is clearly an offence against the international criminal court statute," he told ABC radio.
"It is also an offence in Australian law."
Mr Nicholson said that constituted a war crime.
Cont. .....
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/hicks-us-military-trial-a-war-crime/2007/02/26/1172338514194.html
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/02/25/al-gore-takes-home-the-statue/
Al Gore Takes Home the Statue!
Melissa Ethridge also won an Oscar for best song to go with An Inconvenient Truth.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/02/25/dissension-in-the-ranks-soldiers-speak-out/
Dissension in the Ranks: Soldiers Speak Out
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/02/25/olbermann-profiled-on-cbs/
Olbermann Profiled On CBS
http://www.uclick.com/client/wpc/nq/
Non Sequitur
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/24/AR2007022401420.html
Murtha Stumbles on Iraq Funding Curbs
Democrats Were Ill-Prepared for Unplanned Disclosure, Republican Attacks
{{{Huh??? Don't the Dems read these things before firing off their mouths and agreeing with neoCons who also have apparently not read Murtha's plan before opposing it without reading it???}}}
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/24/AR2007022401040.html
Marked for Duty
Navy Pursues Dolphin, Sea Lion Patrols in Puget Sound
Next time I find an Australian or Korean Christian on the same flight as me, I WILL demand that he be taken off the plane. They are the true menaces that destroy American freedoms.
Posted by: Ally McRepuke at February 25, 2007 08:52 PM
Ally, I've been away for a while and am wondering what you meant by this. I haven't heard or read news for the entire 10 days absence, so I need some catch-up.
BAGRAM AIR FORCE BASE, Afghanistan - Vice President Dick Cheney made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Monday for talks with President Hamid Karzai on how to guard against an anticipated spring offensive by the Taliban.
Cheney arrived at Bagram Air Force Base after a previously unannounced stop in Islamabad where he met with President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan.
The United States is bolstering its troop presence in Afghanistan by 3,200 to help repel fierce spring fighting predicted by the United States and NATO after the bloodiest year since the Taliban was ousted by U.S.-led forces in 2001.
The New York Times reported Monday that President Bush had decided to send an unusually tough message to Musharraf, warning him that the newly Democratic Congress could cut aid to his country unless his forces became far more aggressive in hunting down operatives with al-Qaida.
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17340265/
Yeah, the democrats might actually expect something like "accountability" for the money being spent.
Last Call for the Gravey Train
Military’s mental health system stressed
Many soldiers not getting needed help, psychologists say
WASHINGTON - Many Iraq war soldiers, veterans and their families are not getting needed psychological help because a stressed military’s mental health system is overwhelmed and understaffed, a task force of psychologists found.
The panel’s 67-page report calls for the immediate strengthening of the military mental health system. It cites a 40 percent vacancy rate in active duty psychologists in the Army and Navy, resources diverted from family counselors and a weak transition for veterans leaving the military.
The findings were released Sunday by the American Psychological Association.
-snip-
One of the major problems is that four out of 10 “active duty licensed clinical psychologist” slots in the Army and Navy are not filled, a problem worsened by the dire need to send mental health experts into war zones, the report said.
That high vacancy rate has several side effects. One is that the psychologists left are overwhelmed, the report said. It found that one-third of Army mental health personnel reported “high burn out” and 27 percent reported “low motivation for their work.”
Because of the shortage, there are even fewer stateside therapists to help families of those deployed and to help returning soldiers readjust, the report found.
Hoffman, the pediatric psychologist, said she’s seen children regress on toilet training, have severe headaches, stomach pains, and suffer in school because of the stress of having a parent deployed.
And for soldiers and veterans returning home, only 10 to 20 percent of the military’s mental health experts are trained to help those with post-traumatic stress disorder, the report found.
“I know guys that are waiting for appointments,” said Russell Terry, chief executive officer of the Iraq War Veterans Organization. “I know guys who are dealing with doctors who have no concept of PTSD.”
Terry was on the phone with an Iraq war veteran last year when the vet killed himself.
Report co-chair Michelle Sherman, a psychologist at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Oklahoma City, said the military and VA are “working very hard to meet the needs” of those returning from Iraq.
At VA headquarters, Antonette Zeiss, deputy chief consultant in the agency’s office of mental health services, said the report “misses the mark by quite a way.” She said her agency didn’t have “an opportunity to present data (to the panel) about what the VA is really doing.”
‘The system is broken’
Sherman said the panel did seek data from the VA, but when asked if the agency provided information to the psychologists’ panel, she said: “I’m not supposed to answer that question.”
Zeiss said the VA has been increasing spending on mental health services yearly, opening new centers and hiring more psychological professionals.
“We have the strongest mental health system in the country and we are making it stronger,” she said.
But veterans groups disagree.
“The system as it exists today ignores the readjustment needs specific to Iraq and Afghanistan service members,” Veterans for America President Bobby Muller said in a statement. “We have to stop throwing money at a problem that requires a complete overhaul. The system is broken.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17337403/
Jesselyn Radack has written another diary at kos if you'd like to take a look.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/2/26/53311/8340
Looks like Libby trial may end up in mistrial. Unbelievable.
Nope, looks like they'll continue with only 11 jurors. Per CNN:
A federal judge has dismissed a juror in the case against former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby; the trial will continue with 11 jurors.
Monkey
Cheney flew from Singapore to the UAE today... just to 'chat.'
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/830309.html
Flyover permission from Gulf states in order to hit Iran?
Just received this cheery news:
All-
I thought I’d briefly draw your attention to some of the NCLB-inspired barriers to arts instruction in schools. Declining school day time for arts instruction (and other non-reported or -tested subjects) has been attributed by several of my field contacts to the Reading First program, which requires a large amount of reading instruction time for low-achievers.
The below legislation proposes more such interventions.
-John
-MORE READING LEGISLATION
Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) announced that he and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) will introduce legislation called the Striving Readers Act to ensure that students in grades four through twelve who are struggling to read and write at grade level receive literacy interventions.
http://sessions.senate.gov/pressapp/record.cfm?id=269567
So I replied:
literacy interventions.
I am really going to have to think about that one.
Forced to listen to Winnie the Pooh endlessly?
Will we be putting a pile of Tom, Betty, and Susan books (see now you know my age!) on their desks and doing sensory deprivation until they get through them all?
Personally, I'd like to force Jeff Sessions to read through the torture reports from the Center for Constitutional Rights and take a test on them....standardized, of course.
Feeling quite grumpy today,
Karen
Dick, Jane, Sally, Spot, Puff
Posted by: woz at February 26, 2007 06:44 AM
Hi woz, here are the two who spread that Obama rumor:
InSight Magazine = published by Washington Times, owned by Korean immigrant and Christian cult leader, Reverend Sun Myung Moon (AKA how to corrupt American democracy with just $3 billion in your pocket).
Fox News = Australian immigrant Rupert Murdoch (you know that already).
I won't boot you off the plane, don't worry. :)