Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 15:17:17 -0400
Subject: Fwd: A16 = white?


I'm forwarding a really interesting response by Njoki Njoroge Njehu (an
organizer at A16) to a recent ColorLines article about the lack of
people of color at A16. The folks on the Left Business Observer list
have been having a heated discussion about A16 and I've been slogging it
out in defense of consensus decision-making and the general anarchist
methods used at A16 and in Seattle. Quite a few of the Leftists and
Marxists on that list are saying that the decentralized, egalitarian
methods used at those actions should be scrapped in favor of "democratic
centralism." Several people have attacked consensus decision-making as
being a form of anarcho-masturbation which keeps things disorganized,
fosters the creation of unaccountable leadership cliques, and alienates
people of color and working class adults.

Chuck0

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: A16 = white?
Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 12:40:27 -0400
From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood-AT-panix.com>
Reply-To: lbo-talk-AT-lists.panix.com
To: lbo-talk <lbo-talk-AT-lists.panix.com>

[I asked Njoki Njoroge Njehu, the director of the U.S. 50 Years Is 
Enough campaign, to comment on the ColorLines piece, and the 
subsequent commentary here. Here's her response. By the way, Njoki is 
neither white nor American - she's Kenyan.]

I started a response to Colin Rajah, but I didn't finish it yet, I 
have to go out of country for two weeks and I am a little STRESSED 
OUT!!! I'm going to try to finish it on my flight and hopefully will 
find a way to email it out and posted on a couple lists.

A couple of points though:

(i) We end up expending lots of energy responding and being 
bean-counters to prove that there was effort and resources put 
towards outreach to people of color;

(ii) Yes, there were few of us "People of Color", and the article and 
the 'discussions' are being very successful in "disappearing" us. And 
I for one greatly resent this! Any one who knows me, I am sure also 
knows that I/50 Years Is Enough (and we were not alone in this) went 
to great extent to ensure diversities (race, class, gender, 
geography, etc.) Of course we could have done BETTER!

(iii) I am also tired of observers, who have ONLY a glimpse of what 
it took and involved to organize the April Mobilization, being 
armchair activists/pundits who comment on many aspects that they have 
little to no appreciation and/or knowledge about;

(iv) The Mobilization for Global Justice (MGJ) struggled with 
diversity, local, and outreach issues, with varying levels of 
success, but made real good faith effort to mobilize and integrate 
local, working & poor peoples, and people of color issues in our 
work. From presentations and fora at Howard University, University of 
the District of Columbia, and University of Maryland (I spoke at 
several of them); events at African-American Churches (I spoke at 3); 
press conference for Latino and African-American media and of course 
they were invited and some were part of the MGJ's launching press 
conference, etc. etc;

(v) The only MGJ paid staff person (African-American woman) was an 
organizer hired to do outreach to communities of color;

(vi) 50 Years struggled to raise money to ensure the participation of 
colleagues from the Global South (total of 9), ACT-UP Philly, Just 
Act youth of color, Kesington Welfare Rights Union Activists, and the 
Miami Workers Center - race, gender, regional, and class diversity 
was very much on our minds; and I could go on!

Unless we end up some other place beyond where those "white people" 
who were involved feel guilty for being white (!) - its happening in 
all sorts of places - this is a harmful, unproductive, and 
destructive endeavor! One of the most enlightened response to this 
came from Courtland Milloy (sp?), an African-American (I think) 
columnist for the Washington Post, who stated something along the 
line that it was refreshing to see young, white middle-class kids 
fighting for something that was not self-beneficial. There are many 
wonderful things to be said about the April Mobilization, including 
it wasn't just the 25 of us who were there in April 1999. It was us 
and over 25,000 other activists! This is no small point, the best 
we'd ever done on IMF/WB issues was a couple thousand.

And lastly, for me the question is to my sisters and brothers of 
color. Where were you on April 16th?!

There is much to be said about this, but this I think is a productive 
response... We must continue to struggle on this and other issues. To 
paraphrase an old saying by Mandela, Its no Easy walk to Global 
Justice. I just hope and wish our colleagues would be constructive!