The lotus growing out of the mud.  Photo credit: Sun Jiao [wikimedia commons]

José Bravo, Executive Director of JTA, has a special message to all of our allies in labor and environmental justice movements. We find ourselves in a moment like no other, when historical challenges such as racism and inequality are worsening, and new dangers like authoritarianism are rushing rapidly toward us. José says:

Please remember that, contrary to appearances, the supporters of this takeover to dismantle democracy are still a small minority. Dictator types won over voters by appealing to emotions and promising personal benefits. But they’re already fracturing and flailing, because those promises are based on a bunch of lies and deception, and now even those who voted for them are beginning to see their real agenda in action. It’s the weakness and concessions of the Democratic Party, the market mechanisms and corporate subsidies and austerity policies, that make voters declare, “Any change is better than staying on this same path, even if we’re turning closer to the cliff.” Our movements need to seize the opportunity that’s hidden in this crisis. We too need to appeal to emotions and promise personal benefits, promises we can keep because we’re telling the truth. We need to keep our eyes on the prize, not lose our focus to media-blitz misdirections that put us on the back foot. There’s a unique window open right now, but it will close in two years when the public gets overwhelmed by election distraction once again. Now is the time to go hard pushing a radical narrative – real change and accountability – the people are looking for a new way forward, so let’s give it to them.

Nobody needs to “empower” us. All our people need to recognize that we already have power. Power together, power in creativity, power in strategy.

Every grassroots organizer striving to improve their community or their workplace needs to unify. And as we do that, we need to bring in more folks too, even those who don’t yet believe in collective solidarity. Nobody needs to “empower” us. All our people need to recognize that we already have power. Power together, power in creativity, power in strategy. We need to overcome feelings of isolation. We need to communicate. Start with those who are anxious to the point where they don’t know what to do. Remind them – and yourselves – that our peoples have lived through the toughest times, by building movements and standing up for each other. We need to remember our power built through generations of survival against oppression, and project that power into our fight for future generations. See the success stories, and inspire the world with them.

We need to demonstrate real solutions to the problems felt every day by families. We need system change, but we also need realism; we don’t need “pie-in-the-sky” utopias, we need initiatives that benefit workers and communities right now, while also opening up pathways to continue improving environments and opportunities so that we can progressively expand our power and escalate our ambitions. We’ve always said, “Another world is possible,” but that’s meant different things. To some it means access to food, to some it means safety and security, to some it means freedom of movement… Today we need to ask, “What is it that we all want? What is achievable right now? And how can small wins build momentum for future success?” Of course we need long-range goals, and we need mid-range goals. But in this crucial moment we need lots of short-range goals, because people need to see movement, they need to be motivated to stay engaged.

When we’re at the leading edge of grassroots movements, we have no alternative but to make something out of nothing. Our scrappy tenacity demonstrates our power together, and the power within each of us.

We must emphasize communication. We must communicate across our campaigns. We must collaborate on strong joint messaging that expands our collective imagination and pushes our shared demands. We must help folks understand the tactics of propaganda, so they can understand how their enemies operate. Between and beyond our movements, we must agree to clear actionable objectives and effective strategies. Once we know our common threats and our common goals, then we need to go on offense. Get out there, talk to folks, gather diverse perspectives, find out what resonates, make our own media, educate and agitate and organize, stick to our principles and our vision but don’t forget to fight for those small wins right now – folks need to see those wins to keep their spirits up – and remember always that we do have power, especially when we speak the truth. We have the moral authority to move forward in unison. Show models of resilience and resistance that can be replicated, and then begin building locally appropriate versions of those, in every community and industry.

Environmental justice community groups hardest hit by cumulative harms, as well as those brave workers organizing to start new unions, offer an important lesson. When we’re at the leading edge of grassroots movements, we have no alternative but to make something out of nothing. Our scrappy tenacity demonstrates our power together, and the power within each of us. I remember when we used to sell tamales and raffle tickets to fund our campaigns. Even now, because JTA never compromises our principled stance shoulder-to-shoulder with frontline workers and fenceline communities, many mainstream green groups, top-down trade unions, and big funders have tried to shut us out. We’ve become inspirational leaders in the movement for a just transition because of this, not in spite of it. Philanthropies and government agencies absolutely should be giving more to the groups that are doing good work. But if they don’t come through for us, we must not despair and we must not quit.

Sometimes we find ourselves in a place where we need to struggle in order to feel hope, we need to constrict our hope to merely surviving this dire emergency. But we find power there too.

We are the lotus flower rising up from the muck. We’re in a situation that’s probably bound to get worse – that’s the muck, the rot in our politics and the decadence in our economy. But it’s only natural for dying things to decompose, and beautiful new creations will bloom out of that compost. When the world feels bleak, spend some time with nature and remember that life is always striving for success, always struggling so hard, never giving up hope.

My colleague Dr. Fernando Tormos-Aponte spoke of “critical hope.” There are many kinds of hope. We have uncertain hopes, utopian hopes, personal hopes, collective hopes, abstract hope in general (maybe better called “faith”)… sometimes we find ourselves in a place where we need to struggle in order to feel hope, we need to constrict our hope to merely surviving this dire emergency. But we find power there too, because we see the need to organize, to depend on our families, neighbors, co-workers and comrades, and to take responsibility for our communities, to be creative and daring, to rise into our full potential as change-makers and leaders. Good leaders inspire by stepping to the front and taking risks. Calculated, realistic risks that pursue achievable wins, but risks nonetheless. We wade into the muck so that we can grow into that beautiful lotus flower; we cultivate seeds of new worlds with courage and love.