Thinking System from the Grassroots

Where capitalism fails to meet the needs of people, spaces are created for activists to organize alternatives that fulfill needs by empowering individuals and communities. In New York City, activists have worked to create community centers, create community supported agriculture and have struggled to create a city that meets the needs of the poor and working class. Simultaneously, activists have localized national organizing against war and militarism in order to create a more peaceful society. Such political activities work to address the immediate needs of people, but also contain alternate world-views within them, thereby challenging the larger anti-ideological trend of Saul Alinsky influenced community organizing. This panel will bring together multiple generations of activists who have engaged in radical grassroots organizing in order to discuss how they have attempted to employ larger theoretical frameworks. Panelists will address questions such as, how does theory influence the type of organizing they do and the tactics they use? What are the advantages and limitations of working within a theoretical framework when doing community organizing?