3E — Building Power

CHANGE! A Guide to Teaching Social Action

Chapter 3E: Building Power: Student Recruitment & Alliances (p. 79-84)

Three Types of Power

This chapter discusses how there are three types of power (i.e., power over, power with, power for, p. 44-45) and how they manifest in three ways (organized people, organized money, and organized violence, p. 47). Listen to Scott’s definition of power.

How to Build Power

Once the students understand what is power, it is important to explore with them how to get power. If they don't like the world as it is, it is because their ideas do not have enough power behind them, and that they will have to gain power in order to change the world. Listen to Scott’s explanation of how to build power.

Recruitment of Students

Students do many Campaign Activities to build power. As was said previously, Scott would post these Campaign Activities on the course Mural Board and listed them in a “box” in order to track the students’ progress in real time (see below under Case Study). Below are the questions that Scott put in that box, but are now presented in the form of the Campaign Implementation Worksheet (p. 5). If you are using Mural Board, or another visual workplace for team collaboration, you might consider posting the worksheet there.

Campaign Implementation Worksheet.docx33.9 KiB

Tabling and Organizational Rap

Two important Campaign Activities for Building Power are tabling and creating an organizational rap. Scott’s recommendation is on the day the students read about Building Power, that afternoon or following day, they start tabling! Scott would keep two fold-up tables in his office, and instruct the Department staff to open up my office when the students asked for a table, so that it was always easy for the students to get a table. Students would then go to places where there are a lot of students, generally near the Student Union or a major walkway.

Start tabling no later than the end of the first third of the class! Scott would have his students start tabling the first day after they read about Building Power. Tabling is a game-changer for students, as it changes the dynamic of the class. Students begin to see that this is a REAL campaign, and they become much more engaged with their campaign after they start tabling. Here is an example of tabling; click here to see more examples. notice that the students makes signs for when they table, and have a sign up sheet (see below) and fliers.

As part of tabling, the students should create a signup sheet. This way, they can track the interested students who provide their contact information. The students should follow up with these possible recruits a few days after they sign up, and invite them to their next meeting and/or event. Below is an example of a signup sheet created by SJSU students.

Another important Campaign Activity for Building Power is the student creation of the organizational rap. An “org rap” is a 1-2 minute pitch that explains the who, what, why of a campaign. It is kept short because most professors will give a student 1-2 minutes to make a short presentation at the beginning of a class. Again, as with tabling, it is recommended that you start having the students develop an organizational rap by the end of the first third of the class. Generally, by Class 10 or 11 (out of 30 classes), Scott would have one student give their org rap at the beginning of the class.

For the organizational rap, each student group should come up with a uniform statement, but afterwards the students will want to add their own specific language to make it theirs. The org rap should feel natural and comfortable, and by adding their own words and flair, it will make it more their own, and they will be more comfortable saying it. At the same time, they want to stay on message, so they should not change the basic themes and ideas. The rap should not be longer than two minutes or 120 seconds.

The below guidelines highlight eight points students will want to make, so it can be called an “8 in 120”. As stated in CHANGE (student guide) on page 54, the organizational rap should include:

1. An introduction of who you are and what your group is doing (e.g., Hi, I am Leila from CAFÉ J, and we are working on raising the minimum wage from $8 to $10).

2. A question about your issue that raises interest (e.g., How many of you make minimum wage?). Sometimes you might want to start with a question, and then introduce who you are.

3. A statement about your past accomplishments (e.g., CAFÉ J has built a large coalition with non-profits and labor and faith groups to pass our ballot initiative in November).

4. Information about the issue to politically educate (e.g., Did you know that rent in San Jose is $1,600, and that if you work full-time at a minimum-wage job, you make only $1,300, not even enough to cover your rent, let alone your food, transportation, and other needs?).

5. A proposed solution (e.g., CAFÉ J proposes to increase the minimum wage by $2 in order to help over 40,000 San Jose workers, including some of you, to pay for the basics like food, clothing, and school).

6. Ask them to do something (e.g., Can you come to today’s rally at noon in front of the Chamber of Commerce, which is the leader of the opposition to raise the minimum wage?).

7. Ask them to attend your next meeting or an upcoming event (e.g., CAFÉ J meets every Tuesday night at 7 pm in the 4th floor lounge of the MLK Library. Can you come?).

8. Give them your contact information (email and phone number). If you are speaking to a group, pass around a sign-up sheet to sign. If you are speaking to an individual, ask them to fill out your sign-up sheet.

Fliers

Another important Campaign Activity is the creation of a flier. Students enjoy creating their fliers! Again, it make them feel connected to their campaigns, as the fliers are a public demonstration of their group’s values and commitment. Fliers should be colorful, but should not have too many words! Of course, they should have their demands and target on the flier.

Below is an example of a flier from an SJSU student campaign:

Click here to see examples of SJSU student fliers and here to see student campaign fliers from the past several years from the USA, Canada, Germany, and UK. Please click on the individual campaigns to see the full fliers.

Building Allies

Students need to reach back out to the folks who they interviewed as part of the Stakeholder Interviews, as well as other campus and community organizations interested in their campaign issue, to see if they are interested in becoming allies with the students. It is always powerful to have have the head of community-based organization be connected to the students. By having campus and community allies be in support of the students, builds power. Below is an image of Jeff Moore, President of the NAACP of San Jose/Silicon Valley, speaking at an event hosted by the student campaign, Solar for All.

Building Knowledge Leads to More Power

To conclude the chapter on Building Power, it is powerful to end with this quote by Stephen Biko, a South African freedom fighter who was murdered while in jail during apartheid:

The quote reminds the student that there is a battle for the minds of the marginalized, and that critical thinking, which is the foundation of higher education, can lead to our individual and collective liberation. Here is Scott discussing how “Knowledge is Power”.

As always, Scott would have his students explore the topics of the chapter by completing a portfolio. Here is Portfolio #4, and an example of a student response.

‣

Portfolio #4 Student Response

Questions

What part of how students “build power” did you find the most interesting?
What might you use from this book and CHANGE! A Student Guide to Social Action, as well as other sources, to explain power?
What other ways might you teach building power?

Case Study

The Students for Filipino Farmworkers campaign developed the following plan for building power (as posted on the class Mural Board in the “box” that Scott created).