Changes

==The Alinsky Method==

==The Alinsky Method==

For Alinsky, organizing is the process of highlighting whatever he believed to be wrong and convincing people they can actually do something about it. The two are linked. If people feel they don’t have the power to change a situation, they stop thinking about it.

For Alinsky, organizing is the process of highlighting whatever he believed to be wrong and convincing people they can actually do something about it. The two are linked. If people feel they don't have the power to change a situation, they stop thinking about it.

According to Alinsky, the organizer — ''especially a paid organizer from outside'' — must first overcome suspicion and establish credibility. Next the organizer must begin the task of agitating: rubbing resentments, fanning hostilities, and searching out controversy. This is necessary to get people to participate. An organizer has to attack apathy and disturb the prevailing patterns of complacent community life where people have simply come to accept a situation. Alinsky would say, “The first step in community organization is community disorganization.”

According to Alinsky, the organizer — ''especially a paid organizer from outside'' — must first overcome suspicion and establish credibility. Next the organizer must begin the task of agitating: rubbing resentments, fanning hostilities, and searching out controversy. This is necessary to get people to participate. An organizer has to attack apathy and disturb the prevailing patterns of complacent community life where people have simply come to accept a situation. Alinsky would say, “The first step in community organization is community disorganization.”

* Rule 4: ''Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules.'' “You can kill them with this, for they can no more obey their own rules than the Christian church can live up to Christianity.”

* Rule 4: ''Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules.'' “You can kill them with this, for they can no more obey their own rules than the Christian church can live up to Christianity.”

* Rule 5: ''Ridicule is man's most potent weapon.'' It’s hard to counterattack ridicule, and it infuriates the opposition, which then reacts to your advantage.

* Rule 5: ''Ridicule is man's most potent weapon.'' It's hard to counterattack ridicule, and it infuriates the opposition, which then reacts to your advantage.

* Rule 6: ''A good tactic is one that your people enjoy.'' “If your people aren’t having a ball doing it, there is something very wrong with the tactic.”

* Rule 6: ''A good tactic is one that your people enjoy.'' “If your people aren’t having a ball doing it, there is something very wrong with the tactic.”

* Rule 8: ''Keep the pressure on.'' Use different tactics and actions and use all events of the period for your purpose. “The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition. It is this that will cause the opposition to react to your advantage.”

* Rule 8: ''Keep the pressure on.'' Use different tactics and actions and use all events of the period for your purpose. “The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition. It is this that will cause the opposition to react to your advantage.”

* Rule 9: ''The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.'' When Alinsky leaked word that large numbers of poor people were going to tie up the washrooms of O’Hare Airport, Chicago city authorities quickly agreed to act on a longstanding commitment to a ghetto organization. They imagined the mayhem as thousands of passengers poured off airplanes to discover every washroom occupied. Then they imagined the international embarrassment and the damage to the city’s reputation.

* Rule 9: ''The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.'' When Alinsky leaked word that large numbers of poor people were going to tie up the washrooms of O’Hare Airport, Chicago city authorities quickly agreed to act on a longstanding commitment to a ghetto organization. They imagined the mayhem as thousands of passengers poured off airplanes to discover every washroom occupied. Then they imagined the international embarrassment and the damage to the city's reputation.

* Rule 10: ''The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition.''  Unceasing pressure results in reactions that are essential for the success of the community organizer's campaign.

* Rule 10: ''The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition.''  Unceasing pressure results in reactions that are essential for the success of the community organizer's campaign.

* Rule 12: ''The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.'' Avoid being trapped by an opponent or an interviewer who says, “Okay, what would you do?”

* Rule 12: ''The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.'' Avoid being trapped by an opponent or an interviewer who says, “Okay, what would you do?”

* Rule 13: ''Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.'' Don’t try to attack abstract corporations or bureaucracies. Identify a responsible individual. Ignore attempts to shift or spread the blame.

* Rule 13: ''Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.'' Don't try to attack abstract corporations or bureaucracies. Identify a responsible individual. Ignore attempts to shift or spread the blame.

'''According to Alinsky, the main job of the organizer is to bait an opponent into reacting. “The enemy properly goaded and guided in his reaction will be your major strength.” ''' <ref>[http://www.geocities.com/WallStreet/8925/alinsky.htm STRATEGIC PUBLIC RELATIONS; Alinsky's Rules for Radicals]</ref>

'''According to Alinsky, the main job of the organizer is to bait an opponent into reacting. “The enemy properly goaded and guided in his reaction will be your major strength.” ''' <ref>[http://www.geocities.com/WallStreet/8925/alinsky.htm STRATEGIC PUBLIC RELATIONS; Alinsky's Rules for Radicals]</ref>