Public Powers for the Commonweal: A Challenge to Faith-Based Organizing
If we are going to give power to the philosophers, the Prince, the elected, or to the party central committee, we have to explain why. In the case of restoring power to the people, no such argument is required. An explanation may be required of why such a situation will be safe, efficient, lasting, or a source of wise decisions, but not why it is legitimate. Radical democracy is legitimacy itself. —C. Douglas Lummis
A doorknocker's guide to canvassing
* © The Youth Project, originally published in Community Jobs, 4(1):18-19 (February 1981) under my former English name, Mike Silver, and reprinted with permission. You say you answered an ad for an “activist,” went to the interview and got hired as a canvasser for a local organization? Your job, you were told, would be to go door-to-door soliciting donations and support for the organization. Now you’re having second thoughts—feeling a bit anxious, wondering what’s going to happen. Maybe you’re already thinking about some of the questions for firstday canvassers: Do I really want this kind of job, even if I believe in the issue? How long will it take to learn the ropes? Will I be able to make the “quota”? And so on. Well, if it is your first day, it may be some relief to know that most new canvassers get hooked by the job’s excitement and the camaraderie, and by the chance to learn new skills. And many are successful with virtually no prior training or experience. Your questions will begin to be answered as you spend your first day on the job as an observer, going into the field with a regular crew and observing the field manager or other trainer. For the first three hours of the shift, from about four until seven o’clock, you’ll walk with, watch, and listen to a veteran canvasser. With the two of you role-playing, you’ll practice the organization’s regular pitch several times to warm up. Then for about a half-hour you’ll alternate doors, doing your first canvassing under supervision. Between doors the trainer will give feedback and answer your questions. For the last hour of the evening, from eight to nine, you’ll have a small piece of territory to work on your own. For most people, personal contact with door-todoor solicitors is all from the other side, that is, we’ve been opening doors rather than knocking on them. We typically have a number of popular biases about canvassing and canvassers. We tend to think that being canvassed means being interrupted, annoyed or ripped off, and that door-to-door solicitors are the dregs of the work force. The reality is quite different. Most social change canvassers are well educated and deeply committed to what they’re doing, and canvassers play an important role in building strong organizations and movements.
Cultural constraints on the delivery of HIV/AIDS prevention in Ireland.
HIV appeared in Ireland following an opiate epidemic in the early 1980s. Initially, however, the gay community mounted the only response to the spread of the virus while the implementation of early actions by the government was hampered by the constructions of the disease within Irish society. This paper considers the influence of the religious hierarchy in both the development of AIDS policy and in the shaping of public perceptions of the disease and those affected. A qualitative methodology is used to examine the role of such cultural constraints in an evaluation of the social context within which the prevention of HIV infection occurs. Three key issues pertinent to the policy context in Ireland are explored in depth. These are the role of the Catholic Church, the influences on health education programmes, particularly information giving, and the development of services and other interventions. These findings are discussed within the social and political contexts in which health policy is formulated.