Mass ‘Resignation’ Thwarts Progressive Change
This article by Megan Wade was published on the Program on Corporations, Law and Democracy’s (POCLAD) website in September of 2009.
A brief commentary by Community Rights US Media Team member Curt Hubatch: I just ran across and read this short article from 2009. This could be an asset to any individual or citizen group looking to remove roadblocks in how to organize in their community. I think looking at the successes of past people’s movements, like the author suggests, is a piece of the puzzle in getting what we want in our communities.
“In Americas mass resignation represents a public manifestation of a private loss, a decline in what people think they have a political right to aspire to – in essence, a decline of individual political self-respect on the parts of millions of people.” –Lawrence Goodwyn, The Populist Moment
Do you ever wonder why everyone around you isn’t screaming in outrage? How do they go on with their lives as though the earth isn’t burning, as though wars are not being waged across the globe, as though people’s lives aren’t harmed by mass injustices every day?
I encounter such frustrations frequently, from those justifying their own lack of participation as well as energetic organizers facing harsh realities. The majority of people have no interest in joining a movement for truly democratic change, an apathy central to our current social and political climate. There is, as Lawrence Goodwyn put it, a form of “mass resignation” in America. Such resignations are not new, however, and those of us exasperated with the general public (and often our family members, neighbors, and friends) would do well to quit sighing and ask ourselves how past organizers challenged that resignation and inspired dedicated action among once passive fellow citizens. MORE…