If you set out on a sea voyage without knowing how to get where you are going and how to deal with troubles on the way, you are not going to get there and will probably end up in big trouble. If you set out to do some sort of citizen activism, especially in poverty issues like incomes and housing, and are not focussed on a goal, and do not know how to deal with the trouble you will encounter, you will also end up nowhere.
Here are the seven 'C's of poverty issues activism, and how to navigate them. This is important because in a democracy everybody should be an active citizen, and there is no reason why anyone should be poor. Except a lack of democracy.
The seven 'C's are; creeps, crazies, criminals, cadres, cause pimps, compromisers, and cops.
Some people will already think I am being rude. They might as well quit reading here, and go be 'active' in a gardening club or something like that. They have nothing to offer political activist groups. They will waste people's time and money and probably get people in trouble as well.
If you are doing anything to reduce poverty and injustice, you will be reacted against. There is poverty and injustice because there are people who benefit from it and do not care about other people. So if you are terrified that somebody might not like you for what you are doing, find something else to do.
Fighting poverty and injustice is like going on a sailing voyage; it can be dangerous. It is dangerous to do with people who are not suitable collaborators, who have unresolved problems. It is safe and very satisfying when you have an adequate crew who all know how to pull together.
C1- Creeps. Sometimes called trolls. Whenever a group comes together without formal rules, especially something which is seen as being broadly against authority, some people will assume that, or test whether, the norms of behavior apply.
The world is full of people looking for a playground for anti-social behavior. The creep is just somebody who gets a kick out of causing trouble. The solution is to simply not respond to attempts to get you going, and show him or her the door.
C2-Crazies. The world is also full of people with unresolved mental problems, or who have serious mind circuit problems. The true crazy refuses to accept that there is something wrong with him, not with the world around her. Generally, they think the world is slighting them and sometimes they become violent.
Quite often, they think they are 'the beautiful mind' with the beautiful solution to every problem. They never understand what the problem is. It is usually hopeless to try to show them that their ideas do not work. In the end, if you want to get on with your own work and your own realistic ideas, you have to stop wasting your time and show them the door.
C3- Criminals. Non profit or informal groups with a little money are a wonderful honey pot for scammers, if the people involved do not know how to deal with bullying and manipulation tactics. Con artists are very good at taking people in, and you should not be too depressed if you lose a little money to one.
You should be more embarrassed if you let one completely take you over, which often happens. You have to know who you are dealing with, but that is easier said than done. Political groups generally refuse to cooperate or communicate with each other.
Ripoff artists often leave a trail of victims behind because the previous victims cannot admit they have been ripped. Often they do not even see it as a rip off, just as a 'power struggle'. Of course, criminals can be violent as well.
It is hard to be forewarned about the criminal. If you are going to handle money, you have to be a little tough minded. The best defense is to not seek serious funding until you have a well tested crew.
C4- Cadres. Often called 'Comrades', but the political network which a cadre is by definition a part of need not be Marxist or anarchist. There are true believer networks from all across the political spectrum. However, some of the more marginal groups are noted for their very aggressive efforts to co-opt any group where they see an opportunity. They will be contemptuous of anyone who is not 'them' and have an 'end justifies the means' mentality. Dangerous.
One well established electoral party is especially noted for deluding themselves that they 'own' all 'left/pregressive' issues. They try to coopt every social action group around and integrate them into its election machine. For any social action group, there is no benefit in allying with any political party or network.
C5- Cause Pimps. Sometimes also called 'Poverty Pimps' or 'Careerists' or 'social police'. These are people who want to create a job or income for themselves by 'owning' a particular issue.
Often they act as though someone told them they own the franchise on a particular issue for a particular area. They will treat anyone trying to do anything on their own initiative in these areas as invading their turf and threatening their revenue sources. Often people will be harassed until they turn the results of their work over to the Cause Pimp, and let him or her take the credit.
Cause pimps are usually well protected politically. Maintaining a network of cause pimps is a very good way to politically neutralize society, hence "social police". Any time a real community group tries to get off the ground, the local Cause Pimp is right in there trying to disrupt it and choke off sources of funding and support.
They will do things like create a phony tenant or neighborhood association to confuse people about which is the real thing. A common tactic is to call meetings at the same time as the real association calls theirs. If that fails they will try to infiltrate their own people into the real group in order to disrupt by some of the methods given above.
C6-Compromisers. Sometimes also called 'conflict resolvers' or 'conciliators' or "can't we all just get along?" types. A good word for a common type of compromiser is a 'cover'. Without the cover provided by the compromiser, none of the other 'C's would have any effect.
Thus, often the compromiser is knowingly working with other disruptors. They may have been coopted into this, or agreed in advance with other disruptors to collude in a strategy for disruption. Or they may be merely trying to be on both 'sides' of the conflict at once.
Often compromisers do not see themselves as being a cover. They are naturally cowardly or incorrectly socialized to think that conflict should never happen. Expecting progress without some degree of conflict is like expecting motion without friction. People who cannot bear to engage in conflict are of no use to an activist group, or usually to themselves in their personal lives.
Serious conflicts are always about something. They are not "different people seeing things differently". Someone is trying to get something they do not deserve. Attempting to find a compromise between the aggressor and the victim, as though that is an end in itself, usually intensifies the conflict.
The way a conflict is settled is when everyone has only what they deserve and those who will not accept that are defaulted from further participation. When human societies begin to operate on this principle, life will be much better.
C-7. Cops. Police everywhere have a long reputation for trying to disrupt left groups, even those who have no interest in illegal or violent activities. The inclination of police to harass legitimate poverty issues groups depends on the political groups in power. In Toronto at present they seem a bit reined in from this sort of behavior.
Sometimes actual police 'officers' will try to penetrate legitimate groups. More often they will remotely 'gather intelligence' about a group. But they always have plenty of informers willing to get involved in groups to spy on and disrupt them.
These kinds of people are easy to spot. The same faces keep turning up again and again when a previously useful group becomes "dysfunctional". You simply ask them how they live, if they seem to have no job and spend all their time on political activity.
The methods 'undercovers' use are so similar that there is obviously a common training system. People who think for themselves and can spot manipulation are the first people to be attacked. This is the critical moment; if the target is not rallied to, the group is usually finished.
Really vicious psychological methods can be used. Especially, they use a person's opposite sex against him or her. A female will be hit on sexually by a male who will usually have a female accomplice to give him cover. A male will be accused of some sort of violence against a female stooge who usually has a large and aggressive male cover working with her.
But again, all this goes nowhere when it is applied against a group of at least three or four people with an adequate intelligence and emotional maturity. This brings us back to...
The eighth C; the Collaborator. This is someone with Character and Competence who has a Common Cause with you. He or she is someone who works with you instead of trying to work you.
When a few of these 'C's get together, they can sail to where they want to go. The other 'C's cannot impede them. It is really that simple.
Until you have some serious Collaborators, do what you can on your own or find something else to work at. Do not become one of these sorry people who wreck themselves by thinking they have to work with whoever is already 'there', as though an issue is a 'turf' to be seized and guarded.
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