Community Organizers and Social Transformation

Dr Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela are globally renowned community organizers who will forever be honored by the history books.  Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen model http://muhammadyunus.org/ will also go down in history as shattering the century old paradigm that claims poor people cannot get themselves out of poverty and that it takes lots of money to make money.

So now we get to a community organizer who was ridiculed and yet has become the first African-American (in all meanings of the term) President of the US – a global leader.  On the face of it, this is the social barrier that has been broken: proving that equality is honored just as it is stated in the Constitution.

However, like all social transformations, at a deeper and much more subtle level, the change Barack Obama has made in us all is a lot more powerful:

(1) To quote his book “The Audacity of Hope” – for 150yrs many have been longing to see the day when those of African descent are treated the same as those of Caucasian descent.  The fact that it has happened to someone who came from a mixed heritage, single mother, and limited financial resources is even more inspiring.  Since Tuesday I hear a change in tones and statements from: “nothing I do will ever matter or make a difference” TO “if I work hard, apply myself, develop a plan and stick to it I can accomplish anything I want to do.”

(2) The power of collective action – from the first day of his campaign, Obama challenged everyone by saying (not a literal quote) “if you believe in the same ideas that I do, work with me, work with your neighbors, work with your friends and we will bring about change.”  Such a simple concept – let’s talk to each other and work together in order to create the world we want to see around us!  Fundraising standards and techniques for a US Presidential election have been changed.  I anxiously await the mind blowing changes that will come during Obama’s presidency not because of new government policies or big government but because individuals take his call to heart and continue to remain mobilized and actively engaged in their communities.  Like my father said to me not in a demanding but rather in an encouraging way: “Obama has become President, what will you do to change your world?”

(3) Young and Old can work together – throughout the campaign you had those who are seasoned and with experience working alongside those who are young and inexperienced.  A confluence of ideas and of actions all towards a shared vision and goal.  Each generation learning from the other and leveraging the strengths that each has to offer.  All this creating an amazing and unstoppable synergy which led to unprecedented election results.

Let the GOP (Grand Old Party) AND all of us who have witnessed this NEVER question the power of Community Organizers and self-empowerment again!

At the end of election night, as the whole world watched, Obama asked: what will those who come 100 yrs from now be able to say and accomplish?

I would say the foreseeable answer is a world without war, without poverty, without oppression, and, where humans and nature live in harmonious balance on a flourishing planet.  What we cannot foresee should be 10X or 100X more awesome than this!! 

Ohhh, to be able to live long enough to enjoy living through that history as it gets made…..

- Titania Guerrera (November 8, 2008)