Top Ten Ways To Kill A Citizen Movement

By Byron Kennard

As a veteran community organizer, I know a lot about how to start citizen
movements, but only recently did it occur to me that I probably know just
as much about how to bump them off. All I have to do is count my
battle-scars and recall how I got most of them. If my experience is any
guide, far more people are driven out of citizen movements by their own
dear brothers and sisters in the cause than by all the shenannigans of the
enemy put together.

Here's how it works. Suppose you want to kill a citizen movement and you
come to me for expert advice. I would suggest first that you join it and
then proceed to follow these ten basic, simple rules, any one of which will
drain the vitality out of a movement faster than you can say Ronald Reagan.

1. Forget your origins

Citizen movements for social change nearly always originate in humble,
obscure, or disreputable circumstances. Think of the Wobblies, the early
labor organizers, who were jailed, deported, or even massacred for their
opposition to industrial abuses. Think of Rosa Parks refusing to take a
seat in the back of the bus. Think of the bra-burners who endured derision
and scorn to help launch the feminist movement, or of the housewives who
chained themselves to trees rather than allow the trees to be bulldozed.
Later on, when the movement is off the ground and running, these origins
become embarrassing to the careerists who have latched onto it in search of
gold and glory. At this point it becomes necessary to rewrite history in
order to drop the identity of the movement's founders down the memory hole.

It is said that revolutions eat their fathers. Citizen movements do
something rather worse: they forget their mothers. The revolutionary who
gets beheaded is at least memorialized by history, but you can plow through
most history books without finding a clue to the identity of the small
bands of volunteer activists -- usually women, in my experience -- who
initiate needed social change.

2. Put experts in the driver's seat

Volunteers and generalists may have been good enough to organize the
movement, but they aren't good enough to run it. So when the money starts
to come in, it's time to kick the volunteers and generalists out and to
hire "qualified" persons, preferably someone with a Ph.D. in physics,
economics, or an Ivy League law degree. (Please note: It is extremely
important that such persons be untainted by any direct experience in
community organizing. If you have a plethora of applicants, it may be
necessary to employ this test. Put each of the applicants into a paper
sack. Only those who cannot organize their way out of it will be eligible
for employment.)

3. Get serious about your work

I mean, real serious. Work too hard. Put in extremely long hours. Practice
looking grim and depressed. If possible, grow morbid. When you have
mastered all this, persist in calling your colleagues' attention to the
fact of your martyrdom. Broadly hint that if they were as serious as you,
they would emulate your example. If this doesn't make them feel
sufficiently bad, you might want to go a step further and physically maim
yourself. For example, you might shoot yourself in the foot. Screaming in
pain, you then demand that your colleagues drop whatever they are doing and

rush to aid and comfort you as you suffer from this needless and
self-inflicted wound.

4. Motivate others by applying guilt

If a group is working to save endangered species, attack it for its
insensitivity to the poor. If they are working to help the poor, attack
them for their insensitivity to endangered species. Whatever you do, stick
them in a no-win situation. Once they perceive that their work is futile,
they will, of course, redouble their efforts.

5. Adopt impossibly high and rigid standards of personal conduct, not only
for yourself, but for others, too.

Human frailty has no place in a citizen movement. Whenever it rears its
ugly head, you must be prepared to smash it to smithereens. Even slight
deviations from your standards must not escape punishment. If, for example,
you catch a nutrition activist eating a hot-dog in a fast-food restaurant,
condemn him on the spot for the Judas he is (neglecting, of course, to
mention that you popped in to buy a pack of cigarettes).

6.Talk a lot about the need to cooperate and to share, but for heaven's
sake, don't actually do it.

What you should actually do is attempt to dominate all proceedings through
the force of your intellect and personality. However, should you encounter
other persons who are foolish enough really to cooperate and share, by all
means, take them for everything they're worth.

7. Get yourself into a dither and stay there

Become over-excited. Remember, the end of the world is coming and we
haven't got much time. Thus, to demonstrate dedication, everybody should
run about like a chicken with its head cut off. If some people in the
movement are striving to work calmly and deliberately, making them agitated
and anxious should become your priority task.

8. Whatever you do, never share any credit.

Look, it's perfectly clear that the whole thing was your idea in the first
place. And nobody, living or dead, contributed anything to you. So why
should you share the credit? If, through some miscarriage of justice, other
people in the movement begin receiving credit, try to grab it from them. Or
try spreading the word that they don't really deserve it. If these
techniques don't work, fly into a sick rage and kick nearby objects or
people. (Please note: Regrettably, there's no guarantee that these
techniques will actually divert recognition away from others and toward
yourself. However, such techniques are almost certain to detract from what
pride and joy the recognition might give those receiving it. This is a
small pleasure to be sure, but by this time you will have learned not to
sneeze at small things.

9. Remember that intensity of commitment is best measured by the amount of
incivility you display.

Here again, little things mean a lot. For example, you should never be on
time to meetings. But when you do arrive, be sure to get interrupted by
telephone calls at least once every five minutes. The rest of the time
should be consumed by your talking as loudly as possible in accusatory
tones. The thrust of your comments should never vary. Again and again you
must make clear that both the truth and the democratic process will be
endangered unless you get your way. Throw a wild card into each agenda and
insist that old questions which have previously been resolved be re-opened.
Having made these comments, leave the meeting early without helping to
clean up the coffee cups or put the room in order. Now these are fine
points, I know, but if you are going to kill off a social movement, you
might as well do it in style.

10. Lastly, you must avoid doing any real work for the movement, while
creating the widespread impression that you are giving your all.

Scrupulous fulfillment of these ten rules will demand all your time and
energy, so none will be left to fulfill any duties to the movement. But
don't let this stop you from assuming as much responsibility as you can
get. Insist on being part of everything. If possible, try to be put in
charge. Then take care not to deliver on any of your commitments. Should
others have the gall to point out the discrepancy between your

responsibility and your performance, observe in hushed and sorrowful tones
how painful and demoralizing this is to you, especially after all you've
done. Then nail them to the wall by asking the key question: Don't they
realize that we've all got to stick together?

Byron Kennard, founder and Executive Director of the Center for Small Business and the Environment, is a long time advocate of both the environment and of small-scale enterprise.