Guest post from Mark Kimbrell, Southeast organizer for Focus the Nation energy town halls
Three weeks ago at the Capital Climate Action, one chant continued to give me goose bumps: ”The people united will never be defeated.” Over the last few years, I have heard this chant at multiple protests and direct actions opposing the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, the immigration crack downs, and polluting industries. What makes it so applicable to all progressive movements is the truth it expresses. For a movement to be successful at changing the structure of society, it must incorporate the different voices of the population and unify them. The climate movement, which encompasses so many others, must continue to take this lesson to heart. We are mobilizing around an issue that has the ability to incorporate every population, and almost every progressive social movement from anti-war to women’s rights to social justice. What an advantage!
As we move closer to the April congressional recess we are learning exactly what the chant exemplifies: an essential component of this movement is collaboration and coalition building. Individuals, groups, and diverse constituencies must come together over the common cause of a clean and just energy future. By doing this, we amplify our voice, legitimize our message, and give a voice to those who have not had one in the past. This is especially important for congressional engagement.
A congressperson is more likely to heed the call for clean and just energy solutions if it comes from a diverse collective of his or her constituency. Congress is willing and happy to ignore social movements, including the environmental movement of the past. But if we are able to convince them that a large population of their districts and states are making the same ask, it will be close to impossible for them to say no to our demands. If they do, then we will have built the networks and infrastructure to mobilize and disrupt, on an unprecedented level, the very institutions that continue to ignore our voices.
We are seeing this model of collaboration on different scales throughout the Focus the Nation Town Hall campaign, and we are confident that it will increase the campaign’s success. In Boca Raton, Florida, students and faculty from Florida Atlantic University, Lynn University, and Palm Beach Community College are uniting, for the first time, to engage their political leadership on clean energy solutions and green jobs. In New Orleans, women leaders, faith groups, social justice advocates, and Gulf Coast community members are partnering to demand climate justice from Louisiana to Copenhagen. In Hawaii, the entire island chain is uniting around clean energy as UH Manoa, UHWO, UH Kapiolani Community College, UH Hilo, Hawaii Community College, Leeward Community College and Windward Community College come together for a carbon neutral town hall. In both Portland and Corvallis Oregon, universities are teaming with local high schools, diverse communities, and sustainable businesses to help Oregon lead the way to a new green energy economy. Each partnership is different and unique to its region, but they are all organizing under the umbrella of the climate movement.
Find a Focus the Nation event near you and help bring your community’s different voices and movements to that event. Use the Focus the Nation events as a vehicle to recruit partnerships and build momentum in your backyard. Utilize the lessons and examples of the campaign to start building new coalitions and partnerships in your sector of the climate movement and in your community. Make April 18th the birth of a new paradigm in this movement; one of collaboration, coalition, and partnership. Remember, “The people united can never be defeated!”
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