VISION FOR ACTIVIST DIALOGUE PROJECT:
ASSUMPTIONS

The Best Way To Change Soviety Is Through Social Movements.
Some people advocate top-down change, but I prefer bottom-up change because (a) powerholders have a vested interest against changes that promote democracy and cost them their privilege, so the degree of change will be very limited, (b) social movements enable the people who will benefit to participate in making it happen, and that participation is itself essential to stable democracy.

Social Movements Vary In Values As Well As Size.
Some movements only focus on themselves, while others press for changes that benefit others as well. Some movements replicate within them unjust patterns without challenge, while other movements support transformation in relationships among the participants. Some movements have limited, superficial goals and others have deeper goals. Some movements want to make the change by themselves, and others want to spread democracy at the same time and build collaboration and coalition with others. Some movements care mainly about self-expression and other movements suppress self-expression and focus on gaining concrete changes. The values of a movement influence its capacity for growth as a movement, and also its ability to gain allies and make a bigger difference.

People Can Influence Social Movements By Work On Their Cultures.
Fatalism or determinism is useless. Culture is created by people and a movement's culture can be changed. Authoritarians can become more democratic. Whites can become less racist. Changing the culture of a social movement is a splendid challenge requiring many approaches, and such pro-activity serves democracy and makes more likely that the movement will change the world.

What Opens A Social Movement To Change Is Teachable Moments.
Cultures seek to maintain equilibrium, just as an individual's worldview usually resists change. Just as an individual will occasionally let down their defenses and consider a different point of view, cultures will do this. Those occasional moments of openness are called teachable moments. It's a waste of time to try to get people to change at other times; they just resist. Not only is it a waste of time, but it reinforces a bad attitude in the person trying to catalyze the change; the bad attitude is called self-righteousness. "There, now, I've tried and that man is clinging to homophobia as much as ever. It just shows how superior I am since I know the truth and he doesn't."

Teachable Moments Show Up Through Drama, Contradictions.
Russian peasants assemble in St. Petersburg to present a petition to the czar who they believe wants to take good care of them; instead the cossacks attack and the square is smeared with blood. A teachable moment, and the great insurrection of 1905 begins.

An adult believes she respects children, and in a moment of great irritation smacks one. A teachable moment.

The universe is generous with teachable moments. No one with a broad vision of liberation has to wait long to find a teachable moment, on some aspect or other of oppression. There's no need to force one's vision on others in the way of the urgent teacher with a scripted curriculum. Paying attention is sufficient.

R2K: A Teachable Moment Regarding The Generational Divide.
I personally saw racism in the movement, and sexism, and tons of classism (the most obvious to me personally was how much unaware classism drove activist decisions). However, the most glaring source of disunity in the movement culture as a whole was the divide between the generations.

-The older people are naive about what really goes down in this city, they want to be nice instead of being effective, they lack courage, they allowed this societal mess to get to this point so now we the young people have to clean it up, they are authoritarian, racist, sexist, etc., they have been corrupted by connecting with powerholders over the years, they have no radical vision and don't respect it in others, they are arrogant and believe they have the right to teach us even though they didn't accomplish anything themselves, they only care about bourgeois ethics instead of kicking ass in order to get something done, they've fallen for the fetishism of property that prevails under capitalism and imagine that they can be worthy allies to us when they didn't even stand up for themselves against the system.

-The young people are discovering what the system is like and kidding themselves into believing they are the first to know, they create an isolated subculture and then are surprised that their self-marginalization leaves them quite vulnerable to repression, they live out the stereotypes of rebellious youth through their arrogance and disrespect and then are surprised that they are perceived merely as rebellious youth rather than being taken seriously as carriers of an important message, they don't know anything about how movements in the U.S. have reduced the impact of repression, and so, spurning the lessons of history, allow their fear to drive them into isolation and contraction, they are spoiled and privileged youngsters who couldn't relate to genuinely oppressed people if they wanted to, which they don't.