Biografi lambang kerep dadi salah siji saka rong kategori. Ing tangan siji, padha bisa dadi laudatory, ing sawetara kasus ngowahi subyek menyang wong suci. Ing mburi ngelawan, padha bisa cenderung kanggo ngomong-kabeh bêsik, ing sawetara kasus ngarahake kanggo mbubrah subyek. Apa ndadekake Arsonist Sosial Amerika: Fred Ross lan Grassroots Organizing in the Twentieth Century, biografi anyar Gabriel Thompson saka organizer komunitas legendaris, mboten umum iku presents akun banget imbang saka urip lan karya salah siji saka organizers progresif utomo ing abad kaping 20, nalika ing wektu sing padha nawakake pemahaman banget migunani ing seni lan pakaryan organisasi progresif.
Ing pirang-pirang aspek, urip Ross minangka crita babagan bagean penting saka gerakan progresif ing California. Dheweke dadi umur politik nalika taun 1930-an; nyakseni perjuangan buruh tani gedhe ing jaman sing kedadeyan sawise deportasi massal Chicanos lan Mexicans ing taun 1930-an sing digandhengake karo istilah, "Los Repatriados," ketemu awake dhewe ngadhepi karo dipenjara wong Jepang. -Amerika ing kamp konsentrasi nalika Perang Donya II lan munculé alon nanging mantep minangka organizer lan teori ing Organisasi Layanan Komunitas (lan mengko, United Farm Workers).
Although Ross and legendary organizer Saul Alinsky were quite close, and Ross actually worked for Alinsky for a period of time, Ross departed from his mentor in two important respects. First, central to Alinsky’s approach to organizing was the notion of building an organization of organizations. Through the Industrial Areas Foundation, locally-based coalitions were put together, frequently rooted in the religious community. This aimed to guarantee some level of credibility for the organizing effort. But Ross disagreed: He believed in the need to create new community-based organizations that were unencumbered by older leaderships who he frequently believed to be too passive or otherwise obstructive.
Bentenane liyane yaiku Ross ngakoni pentinge gerakan Chicano ing California lan disiapake kanggo melu perjuangan sing sawetara panitia, sing dipengaruhi dening Alinsky, bakal nyimpulake banget. Organisasi Layanan Komunitas, sing dibantu kanggo mbangun, didhasarake ing gerakan Chicano, sanajan mbukak kanggo wong liya. Iku perang nglawan kebrutalan polisi sing diarahake menyang Chicanos lan nyoba mbangun kekuwatan politik Chicano ing Los Angeles.
Although Ross did not present himself as a person of the Left (probably in part due to the Cold War persecution of leftists), his inclinations were clearly toward the Left. He mostly refused to engage in the sort of red-baiting that was common from the 1940s to the 1960s, even among many progressives.
Kasunyatan iki ndadekake aku ngaso. Aku wis kritis banget marang Alinsky lan wong-wong sing ngetutake dheweke de-ideologizing of organizing: an approach that suggests that it is almost unimportant what one organizes around; it is the act of organizing itself that raises the political consciousness of those engaged, and raises it in a progressive direction. This de-ideologizing by many of Alinsky’s followers made its way into the ranks of organized labor, particularly in the 1980s and 1990s and played a counter-productive role in efforts at labor renewal.
Ross sing diterangake dening Thompson katon minangka karakter sing rada beda. Ing sisih siji, ora ana perhatian marang ideologi lan pendidikan politik kiwa ing organisasi sing ditindakake. Ing pangertèn kasebut, ana konsistensi karo Alinsky. Ing wektu sing padha, pendekatan Ross, kaya sing dituduhake dening macem-macem perjuangan sing ditindakake, katon luwih mirip karo "kiwa evolusioner", sing liwat macem-macem bentuk pengorganisasian progresif, kita mesthi bakal entuk jinis transformasi sing dibutuhake. minangka masyarakat-ora perlu ideologi sing luwih gedhe.
Pendekatan kasebut nyingkiri pentinge tujuan strategis sing ana ing gerakan, adhedhasar visi politik sing luwih gedhe. Nanging, iki katon minangka bedane antarane Ross lan Alinsky sing dibayangi dening kekancan sing cedhak sajrone pirang-pirang taun.
Aspek liyane saka perawatan Thompson sing aku ngormati utamané revolved watara pitakonan saka kulawarga. Urip kulawarga Ross umume tragis. Boten namung kalih kekawinipun lajeng pegatan. Nanging, pendekatan Ross menyang pangatur urip yaiku kanggo ngorganisir sadurunge kabeh.
At one point in history such an approach would have been considered noble, if not heroic. Yet, in reading about his ignoring his two wives, and spending limited amounts of time with his children (with the notable exception of Fred Ross, Jr. who followed in his father’s footsteps as an organizer), what was striking was both Ross’ sexism and his blindness to the multi-dimensional side to living the life of an organizer. The sexism was especially ironic because Ross made reaching women a priority in his organizing.
In Ross’ era, it was frequently accepted that men could go off and save the world and the women should take care of the home front. We should be careful about judging a past period based on the norms of our current era. Yet one can conclude that, first, there were alternative courses even during that era, and, second, that the cost, not only to Ross’s two wives and children but to Ross himself, were severe.
In social movements there are intense pressures on organizers—paid and unpaid—to put everything else aside in the name of the cause. There are circumstances where that is necessary, if not unavoidable. I am reminded of a South African activist, Nimrod Sejake, who was exiled due to his anti-apartheid work, spending years in Ireland, the result being his missing out on years in the lives of his children. One cannot second-guess such a decision, made under extreme conditions. Yet the decision came at great cost. His family was very divided over whether his sacrifice had been worth it, a very tragic legacy for a person who committed so much for a greater cause.
Kanggo Ross, Nanging, idea saka organizer prioritizing ngatur ndhuwur kabeh-kalebu kulawarga siji-munggah menyang tingkat prinsip. Iki ora mung babagan apa sing bisa dipeksa ditindakake ing kahanan sing luar biasa, nanging apa sing kudu disiapake dening panitia ing meh kabeh titik. Ing kasus Ross, iki kalebu ora nggatekake bojone sajrone wektu penting nalika dheweke pulih saka polio.
The failure to recognize the need for a balance of family and a life committed to social justice inevitably led to dysfunctions in the way that Ross thought and operated. The movement became everything, and this meant, at certain key moments—as we would see when Ross worked with Cesar Chavez—a willingness to turn a blind eye to terrible, abusive practices carried out in the name of the movement. Ross failed to question the actions of someone who, even more than Ross, believed that he was putting the movement before everything else.
Thompson also offers an insightful and emotionally challenging look at the development of the United Farm Workers of America. Cesar Chavez, the legendary founding President of the union, was someone who Ross mentored. Over the years their relationship evolved, such that Ross came to not only admire Chavez, but to see him as the leader who could transform American society. This evolution took very tragic consequences when Chavez himself evolved into a leader filled with paranoia, anti-communism, and quite possibly, some level of anti-Semitism, as Randy Shaw recounts in Ngluwihi Lapangan: Cesar Chavez, UFW, lan Perjuangan kanggo Keadilan ing Abad kaping 21.
Ross witnessed firsthand the deterioration of the UFW, including the purges carried out against outstanding leaders and activists, such as the purging of two great leading figures in the UFW, Marshal Ganz and Eliseo Medina (the latter going on to become Secretary-Treasurer of SEIU), or the manipulation of a key vote at the UFW convention that led to the departure of many UFW activists, feeling betrayed. Yet he said nothing. Thompson proposes that Ross might have been one of the few people who could have successfully challenged Chavez as he descended into Tartarus, taking with him a union that in so many ways pointed in the direction necessary for broader U.S. labor renewal.
Thompson ora mung nyritakake crita sing apik banget, nanging uga, ing wektu-wektu penting ing buku kasebut, nemtokake pelajaran tartamtu kanggo para panitia, nggambar saka urip lan karya Ross. Dheweke ora nggawe editorial babagan apa dheweke, ing saben kasus, setuju karo Ross, nanging pelajaran kasebut jelas. Salah sawijining conto, sing kacathet ing ndhuwur, yaiku kesadaran Ross manawa wanita umume dadi panitia sing paling apik, lan yen pengin entuk proyek sing penting, kudu menang wanita. Nanging, ora cetha, nganti Ross ngakoni yen menang wanita ora mung menang ing upaya pangorganisasian awal, nanging mesthekake yen dheweke duwe peran kepemimpinan sing lengkap sajrone proses pambangunan lan urip organisasi.
Ross, tambahan, dipun promosiaken pemanggih miwiti saka ngendi wong, banjur obah wong maju, truism kanggo ngatur apa sing langganan Alinsky utawa Mao Zedong. Buku kasebut nyathet pirang-pirang pelajaran tambahan sing digambarake Ross saka pengalamane dhewe lan miturut teorine, kanthi macem-macem derajat.
Ross ora pracaya ing konsep "burnout". Panjenenganipun pitados bilih organizer punika salah siji organizer utawa wis nyerah lan dropped metu. Nalika maca babagan iki, aku kelingan crita sing misuwur babagan kedadeyan sing nglibatake Jenderal George S. Patton — nalika Perang Donya II — ing ngendi dheweke nyerang prajurit sing nandhang kesel perang (kedadeyan sing didramatisasi ing penggambaran jenderal George C. Scott sing luar biasa. ing Patton).
In both Ross and Patton’s case, there was a misreading of human beings. These were not simply examples of macho, whether applied to organizing or to war. It was a failure to understand how human beings cope with pressure and particularly over extended periods of time. Organizers do burnout. Some of them leave the movement entirely; others return full swing after a certain period; and others ‘renegotiate’ their relationship to the movement on different terms.
Kanca apikku mundur saka jabatan pimpinan ing serikat pekerja lokal. Aku takon apa dheweke nindakake iki. Wangsulane: "Amarga kulawargaku. Aku ngerti nèk kahanan terus kaya sing dikarepké, aku ora bakal dadi bagéan saka urip anak-anakku sing wis gedhé lan ora bakal dadi pasangan sing apik kanggo bojoku.”
Ross might have described such an approach as what we used to call “half-stepping,” evidence of someone who wasn’t fully committed to the movement. I would look at it as more of an adjustment to the simple fact that involvement in the movement is a marathon. This is a long-distance race during which time one’s speed may vary or breathing may change. But one never loses sight of the final goal. Failing to appreciate the multi-dimensionality to the life of an organizer guarantees that instead of building and reinforcing organizers, we produce Blade Runner-type replicants or androids who may, at first glance, appear to be human, but have actually lost their souls.
In many respects, this is what appears to have happened to Ross. Yes, he was without question great and dedicated. But in failing to appreciate the marathon nature of our journey and the need for balance, he began losing pieces of the humanity for which he had actually been fighting for most of his life.
Gabriel Thompson wis diprodhuksi salah siji saka buku paling panginten-provoking ing ngatur lan mengaruhi owah-owahan sosial sing aku wis maca ing sawetara wektu. Nalika nyritakake crita urip Fred Ross, Thompson wis wani nyurung amplop babagan perkara sing luwih disenengi dening akeh progresif.
ZNetwork didanai mung liwat loman para pamaca.
Nyumbang