Recent Comments
Tag Archives: newbies
Goldfish, water, meeting-regulars and anxiety
People who are regular attenders of a group’s meetings, and who regularly hang out with a lot of the other people in the group (or attend sub-meetings on other dates!) will – presumably – not feel any of the following … Continue reading
Posted in activism, competence
Tagged meetings, movement-building, newbies, social movements
1 Comment
Building a moveme… “network of networks”…
In deference to my wise friends Vera and Tony, who are very VERY skeptical about movements (with just cause, it must be said) I will witter about networks rather than use the “m word.” So, I am going to leave … Continue reading
Posted in activism, competence
Tagged meetings, movement-building, newbies, social movements
1 Comment
Movement building and the war of attrition…
This is something that was written almost ten years ago. Just before 911, in fact. EF! and the War of Attrition* *Attrition (mil) tactic of exhausting an enemy before attacking decisively Assuming we want EF! to get grow, we need … Continue reading
Organisers are like gold fish in water
… they can’t see what’s all around them. They have forgotten (if indeed they ever knew) what it is like to be a genuine newbie, having walked into a room of people they don’t know. There’s no “selection pressure” on … Continue reading
The Final Flouncedown
That’s it. I’m done. No more political/campaign meetings for me for a long long time. Until they’re engaging, energising and coherent/transparent, I’m withholding my consent. (I am sure they’ll struggle on in my absence…) The straws have been congealing into … Continue reading
Posted in activism, competence
Tagged decruitment, meetings, movement-building, newbies, smugosphere, social movements
7 Comments
What is GLOW?
Attention Conservation Notice: This is a first draft of a section of my impending book on social movements and the Task(s) ahead. Comments very very welcome… On one level, “G.L.O.W.” is another shoddy acronym, this one invented at a time … Continue reading
Posted in activism, competence
Tagged ego-fodder, movement-building, newbies, smugosphere, social movements, strategy
Leave a comment
From top-down to participatory: a funny thing could have happened on the way to the forum
Attention Conservation Notice: This post is a sequel to a somewhat robust critique of a climate meeting (which called itself a “forum”) held yesterday. I thought it was a tragically missed opportunity to gather information from people, to generate ideas … Continue reading
Posted in activism, climate, competence
Tagged ego-fodder, meetings, movement-building, newbies, social movements
2 Comments
Decruit me some more
I wrote recently about decruitment, and a what stops coming newbies coming back [loads of useful comments after it!]. And other smarter people than me have written about “the activity meeting” and “the agenda-less meeting.” Here are 11 commandments… Do … Continue reading
Decruitment: sarcasm and social niceties
Two little incidents this week. Went to a public meeting organised by a group that surely wants to believe itself welcoming and accessible. There was no written info about the group available, not even its website address. The only thing … Continue reading
Posted in activism, internet culture
Tagged decruitment, movement-building, newbies, sarcasm, social movements
9 Comments
Newbie’s experience of meetings
So, what’s it like for a new person, who doesn’t know anyone, coming into a ‘business meeting’ (as distinct from a ‘public informational’ meeting) of a campaigning group? Well, I don’t know. The video below is just speculation, based on … Continue reading
dwighttowers.wordpress.com 