Monday, December 22, 2014

Evolutionary Revolution

For thirty years, I affirmed a “radical” activism and rejected “liberal” piecemeal reform. Then, one day, while listening to some recordings of speeches by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., one comment struck me like a lightning bolt. Dr. King’s point was simple: movements need to focus on winnable demands. I concluded that we radicals had been wrong when we attacked Dr. King for compromising.

Mahatma Gandhi, who influenced Dr. King profoundly, adopted a similar approach. He called it  “evolutionary revolution.” This visionary pragmatism acknowledges the value of short-term reforms that improve the quality of life for people who have been oppressed -- as part of an ongoing, never-ending process that can eventually lead to the fundamental restructuring of our entire society. This evolution involves change in our way of thinking: a change of paradigm.

This perspective is not “either/or.” It integrates both liberal reform and radical transformation. It balances the short-term and the long-term, giving equal importance to each. Gandhi and King were neither radical nor liberal. They were both.

In biology, species are defined by their ability to reproduce themselves through interbreeding. Over time, biological evolution produces new species that become so different they can no longer breed with their predecessor species.

In a similar way, human societies evolve in ways that constitute a “revolution,” or transformation -- a sudden, fundamental change in how we live, work, or govern ourselves. These transformations produce societies that are so different they feel “new.” They change the composition, structure, outward form, and appearance of a society.

Transformation, however, can also be taken to mean “to change (something) completely.” The butterfly emerging from the caterpillar is commonly used as a metaphor for this type of change. This definition of transformation is dangerous.

New species remain similar to other species within the same genus, including their predecessors. They are distinct, but they are not totally different.

Sustainable revolutions do not create new societies (or individuals) that differ from their predecessor as much as butterflies differ from caterpillars. That metaphor suggests change that is total, complete, not lacking anything, having all necessary parts, not limited in any way, not requiring more work, entirely done or completed, fully carried out, absolute, perfect.

This attitude is prone to totalitarianism, black-and-white thinking that demonizes opponents and attempts to use physical force to impose its will.

When we speak of transformation, we need to avoid language that implies “total” change. Individually, when we are “reborn,” we may feel like a new person, but we are not completely new. When we transform a community, it may look new, but it is not totally new. Transformation does not destroy. It builds on what preceded.

Gandhi and King were more than willing to compromise. Reconciliation and community were their ultimate goals. They saw revolution as a never-ending process. For them, “shut it down” was not a goal in and of itself -- a reactive outrage against an injustice that would somehow spontaneously lead to revolution. Rather, such actions were part of a calculated, proactive strategy for specific improvements in living conditions.

Their long-term vision was the beloved community. Their short-terms objectives were, respectively, independence and desegregation.

We need to update their vision by articulating it in contemporary language, and unite behind concrete, winnable demands concerning public policy that help us steadily transform our global society. To be winnable, demands must be measurable. It needs to be clear when we have achieved our objective. Movements build momentum with victories.

As I see it, the primary shift our society needs today is to move away from a selfish commitment to climbing the social ladder to a commitment to the common good of the entire Earth Community -- the entire human family and all life. And we need to achieve that vision by democratizing our entire society with new public policies that establish new structures.

This transformation would discourage both selfishness and self-sacrifice. It would affirm that we can both love ourselves and love others. It would not reject ambition, the desire for economic security, and getting promoted to further one’s career. Rather, it affirms a balance between both self-interest and the common good, solidarity rather than isolation.

What specific reforms can best help us achieve that vision is another question. The list of demands forwarded by Ferguson Action  in response to the death of Michael Brown is suggestive. For instance, with regard to the use of deadly force by police, they call for “the development of best practices…, [including] the development of specific use of force standards … [and] a Department of Justice review trigger when continued excessive use of force occurs.”

When an officer feels threatened by someone who is 8-10 feet away, can the use of deadly force be justified? Aren’t there other options?

Thus far, most of the Black Lives Matter demonstrations are primarily a cultural phenomenon that enhances awareness of important realities, as did Occupy. Hopefully consensus behind specific demands will soon help that movement develop into an effective political force.

Briefly blocking traffic and shutting down business gains publicity. But if that tactic becomes used more widely without a focus on winnable goals, it will backfire as resentment builds. Potential supporters want to know: what do the protestors want and how do they plan to get it?

Rejecting the need for incremental reforms is divisive and undermines unity. One correspondent, for example, recently told me:

The policy making process .. has rarely done anything good for [the marginalized]. ...It has been curtailed, crippled, and suppressed into ineffectiveness. I do not think that we make sustainable progress with piecemeal policy change. What ever policy changes that are done to make liberal amendments to the current system are not sustainable because the whole structure and foundation is riddled. The whole house is burning; integration with that won't get it.

Alas, however, in the foreseeable future, integration is inevitable. We cannot escape so long as our society does not completely collapse. That catastrophe may happen eventually, and we need to prepare for it as best we can. But to wish for it or try to help precipitate it would be morally irresponsible, due to the greatly increased suffering that would result.

In the late 1960s, we demanded “no more business as usual” and tried to achieve our goals by inflicting widespread inconvenience. Our primary accomplishment was the Reagan Revolution.

I would prefer to learn from those mistakes and push for specific reforms that steadily lead to the transformation of our global society into a compassionate Earth Community dedicated to preserving and enriching all life.

9 comments:

  1. From Ted Chasinski:

    I wholeheartedly agree with this, Wade. A lot of talk about "revolution" is usually just empty rhetoric. Plus, from an organizing point of view, if people don't see concrete results, the activists will just drift away.

    Didn't Saul Alinsky say something similar to what you wrote here? That in order to build a movement, people have to see some successes?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good to hear. Thanks. Yes, Alinsky did say people need to see some success. But he was weak on long-term vision, I believe.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Wade,

    Thanks for your end-of-year philosophical perspective on social change. Very perceptive, in my humble opinion. I agree entirely with your central formula for transformation: pursue winnable incremental objectives, leading up to achieving your long-term goal. I disagree, however, with your characterization of those incremental objectives:
    We need to update their vision by articulating it in contemporary language, and unite behind concrete, winnable demands concerning public policy that help us steadily transform our global society. To be winnable, demands must be measurable. It needs to be clear when we have achieved our objective. Movements build momentum with victories.

    For numerous reasons, which I won’t go into now, pursuing changes in public policy is no longer a viable path. Indeed, the state is the player that is most proficient at such techniques, the player that mobilizes movements, ribbon-colored and otherwise, domestically and internationally, online and in the streets.

    I suggest that we need to go directly for community itself, and that our incremental steps need to be in terms of community-building, and the viral spreading of community-building. I’d like to hear your thoughts on this perspective:
    http://cyberjournal.org/Documents/BuildingTheNew.html

    which is part of a larger perspective:
    http://cyberjournal.org/creating-change.html

    best wishes,
    richard

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Incremental changes such as increasing the minimum wage are clearly viable. To oppose such improvements in others' living conditions is cruel and morally irresponsible.

      Delete
    2. From Richard:
      The thing is Wade that the tide of incremental changes is going very much against us. Yes we might be able to build a sand castle, and hold back the tide for a while in some area or another, but that won’t stop the tide.

      Delete
    3. Your metaphor reaffirms your claim that any such reforms are worthless, which as I said is wrong, cruel, and morally irresponsible. To assert that the tide will wipe out any such castles is arrogant. The future cannot be predicted that precisely.

      Delete
  4. Hi, Wade,

    In reading how your attitude has changed with respect to the desirable pace of social change, I think you strike a very apt analogy in comparing the evolutionary--rather than revolutionary--change you now favor to the model of biological evolution and the very gradual changes in plant and animal species that ensue through the process of natural selection. In this process, every generation of plants or creatures embodies variations that are advantageous for survival and procreation in the hosting environment. In time, the “selected” variations in a given species can lead to the emergence of an entirely new species that is better--even optimally--suited to its environment.

    Dr. King, whom you mention, demonstrates the success of such an evolutionary process as it applies to social change. Despite his enduring dedication to peaceful, and therefore slow—progressive, rather than radical—advances in the civil rights and social dignity of American blacks, for which he was belittled by the likes of Malcolm X and Stokely Carmichael, the movement he led, based on an appeal to moral conscience, ultimately succeeded in ending institutional Jim Crow in the South.

    It's undoubtedly true that King’s marches and the spin-off demonstrations they spawned failed to soften hearts that had been culturally hardened by prejudice. It also seems plain that racial hatred has continued to be passed on to many in succeeding generations. What is indisputable, however, is that the marches did in time pressure the government to pass laws that gave blacks the right to vote, to have equal access to public facilities, and to eat in any restaurant or sleep in any hotel of their choice at which they could pay their way. In the same way, public pressure ultimately brought an end to the war in Vietnam, though it had little effect in changing America’s imperial ambitions or diminishing the “undue influence” of the military/industrial complex. In the broad scheme of things, the changes wrought by the civil rights and anti-war demonstrations of the Sixties were not transformational, but only steps to an end. Yet, those steps, in addition to their important ad hoc effects, serve as checkpoints on the road to progress. In future debates on issues of social justice and international peace, they will have the continuing effect of broadening the scope of debate.

    I think you’re very much on target, Wade, to compare the right pace of social change to the process of biological evolution. Small changes in various activities can accumulate over time until they reach a critical mass. At that stage in biological evolution, they produce irreversible new species of plants and animals. As for their effect on human progress, we can hope that a critical mass of small changes can at some point make justice and peaceful conflict resolution the irreversible norms of our dealings with other humans at the individual, social, and international levels. What we need to do to get to that point is precisely what Dr. King did: continually organize with the many others who also believe in these norms and, in various forms, join with them to urge those in power to take the next legislative steps to bring them closer to reality. The history of the Sixties shows that demonstrations for specific reforms or policies that are morally right can attract more and more supporters and, in the end, force legislators to enforce them by new laws or actions. By following the same course in our day, we can keep the ball moving toward the ultimate transformative end of a more just and peaceful society and world.



    Best,

    Bob Anschuetz

    ReplyDelete
  5. From Bernie Weiner:

    [[ hi, wade. important insights. thanks.
    [[ thought you might want to check out this old essay from 2010: “The Sounds of Silence: Reactions to Political Despair” (>>http://www.crisispapers.org/essays10w/silence.htm<<. it ends with the following:
    [[ My answer, as it always is when dealing with political funks, is to prepare for revolution while fighting for attainable, probably small victories. Democracy is not a spectator sport; it involves pain, rejection, endless struggle, two steps forward and one step back, two steps backward and one step forward, etc. etc.


    Action can be an effective antidote for despair. Working on behalf of others leads to more care and appreciation of one's own life-direction. The confusion of depression is a ripe time to build, to explore, to be more creative about our approaches. And above all, to organize, Organize, ORGANIZE so that when the tectonic political plates finally start to shift, the Movement is in place and ready to act.


    Copyright 2010 by Bernard Weiner

    ReplyDelete