Jay Mandle: SUPPORTING STUDENT ACTIVISM
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There has been a noticeable drop-off this year in progressive
campus organizing. Part of this simply is the predictable return to
more normal levels following the intense excitement generated by the
Obama campaign in 2008. But there is more to it than that. Foundations
and donors have curtailed their funding for progressive student
political organizations. In The Nation magazine\'s \special youth
issue\ of November 23, 2009, Matt Singer of the Bus Foundation writes
that during the last year the youth sector has experienced \a lack of
external support from the progressive movement\ and that \any model
predicated on foundation and major-donor backing was in trouble
heading into 2009.\
Kristina Rizga summarizes the situation when she reports that youth
organizers who, inspired by the Obama campaign, \anticipated increased
funding from donors and foundations...\ but now feel \as if they\'re
sitting on a bus that\'s out of service. As markets crashed, already
meager funding pools got even smaller.\
Singer himself suggests a solution to the problem which, though
attractive, is certainly unrealistic. He wants student organizations
to be self-financing. He writes, \The path to strength is to develop
grassroots fundraising models for making youth organizations supported
the way organized labor is - by millions of individual members who see
reason to contribute.\
Unfortunately such a self-financed student movement is unlikely to
develop. The problem is that the analogy with unions does not work.
Union members not only are income earners but also receive financial
benefits as a result of their union membership. Dues to student
organizations would, on the contrary, provide no such compensating
financial benefit. Donations would act solely as a drain on the meager
financial resources of young people, who not only earn low levels of
income but are increasingly in debt because of ever-rising college
tuition and fees. Student dues would be at best sufficient only to run
shoe-string operations, and certainly not substantial enough to create
a meaningful political voice.
For many years the political Right has generously funded conservative
youth leadership and training. The financing of Left youth
organizations, of course, cannot be expected to match those levels.
There are in general more wealthy individuals and corporations willing
to underwrite right-wing organizations than progressive ones. But even
so - and not withstanding the financial crisis - a great deal of money
continues to support liberal causes. That progressive student
organizations are accorded such a low priority, receiving very little
of this money, reflects a serious political misjudgment by liberal
funders.
In the first place, if the first year of the Obama Administration
reveals anything it is that no matter how progressive the President
might be, he needs constantly to feel pressure from his core
supporters. The voices of the political Center and Right are constant.
On issue after issue, ranging from the fate of the public option in
health care reform to the future of our military involvement in
Afghanistan, centrist and conservative voices have drowned out those
most responsible for Obama\'s election. What is tragic is that young
people, especially those who played such a critical role in energizing
Obama\'s campaign, are not actively providing a counter-thrust to the
conservative tide. But they cannot do so without the resources needed
to mobilize large numbers. Jessy Tolkan of the Energy Action Coalition
reports that during the election \we found ourselves one of the most
coveted constituencies around.\ But considered a \safe base...we are
now ... left wondering how that position is impacting our ability to
ensure that our issues and our agenda are met.\
Perhaps even more important than the foregone opportunity that the
failure to support progressive young people represents for the
present, is what it portends for the future. It is deeply debilitating
to the task of strengthening Left politics over the long run. The
political habit of activism is an acquired trait. When engaged in at a
young age, that habit persists. But if not, life will offer many
gratifying alternatives which will crowd out political involvement. A
progressive politics can only succeed if it mobilizes large numbers of
young people today. There simply is no other way to be certain that,
as this generation ages, there will be enough activists to secure a
more just society.
It takes a lot of people to overcome the power of wealth. And it
takes money to organize people. Furthermore, that money has to be
spent even though there may be a limited immediate payoff. Funding
student activism today has to be thought of, at least in part, as an
investment in the future. Political organizing of any kind requires a
long time horizon, and that is particularly true when dealing with
students. Unless progressive funders make a significant investment in
young people today, the potential for a resurgent politics of justice
and equality will be irrevocably lost.
This news story was reported by Huffington Post 4 minutes ago
* Read the full article at Huffington Post:
http://bit.ly/515UGQ
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