• • • DRAWING t • THE ,CIRCLE WIDER proof, in supplanting the power of monolithic institutions to stifle their creativity. Simple things, like community energy audit teams and conservation remodelling, farmers markets and comm~nity based credit unions, need to be seeded in . every locality. If these things can take root, th<m perhaps our , more elaborate visions of biotechnics and planetary consci_ousness will follow. I doubt if it will happen the other way around. Why We Nt!ed One Another This uneasiness at reaching out is n.ot unique to the appropriate technology network. People in many of the other movements for social change have constantly reasoned or been manipulated to believe that they cannot rely upon one another, or.the larger public, lest they lose track of their constituencies·and wander too far afield. And when struggling groups with slim resources are isolated from one another, the larger movement for sodal change is rendered less effective. This has 'been an historical problem in this country. No one wastes much time anymore arguing that the major problems of the day are not interconnected. Western industrial societies are waking up ~o _the wh.oleness of the•~ilemma. If change groups could begin to act on the undeniable connectedness of the solutions-not to mention that of all people-their effectiveness would increase markedly. We might finally rise to the challenge. Individually, it means seeing the validity of each person's perspective on the problem a:nd the ways in which they try to respond to it. Societally, it means picking up the historical threads of cooperation and giving rise to a new tradition of social consensus. Politically, coalition-building is a major ~tep in that c;lirection-a sJifficult but worthy goal. Fortunately, it seems of· late there have been new efforts among change groups of many motivations to push strongly _for more coal,itioning. The times might not have it any,other way : in the squeeze of critical issues- finite resources, corporate statism, unemploymentmany activists fin.cl th.at they have been pushed onto common ground. Like concentric circles, consumerists, environmentalists,.minorities are starting to see the convergence of their priorities into the seed of a shared agenda. In the last year we have seen that common ground better defined, especially in that kingpin bf issu~s, energy. -Groups with less-than-good relations have reached out to support e~ch bther on specific causes: anti-nuclear groups plugging for labor law and utility rate reform; progressive unions hacking Sun Day; national urbap interests tying jobs and hope for poor people·to soft energy path strategies. Special working coalitions, research groups and far-flung networking of information have emerged February-March 1979 RAIN Page 15 . I bope you all don't mind' this sermonette. A'lot of it can be traced back to my own personal experience, and my puzzle~ ment with those who keep trying to divide the whole into smaller B.,ieces, who always tell us we can 't do or be more'than one thing at one time. I see a little bit of everyone else in • myself, and there's always something around the corner I've never even known. Hence, my thoughts on the tas.k that lies ahead. Hope we can keep you posted_•on the good developments that are ~tarting to come to our attention_. - SA ,by Steven Ames I - within and without the energy nexus,, bringing the problems and the solutions closer together. These are powerful models to build on. • Beyond activists and coalition-builders, there are other connections happe.ning,on the open market of politics that hint of an even more basic shift in the American conscious- . ness. These connections are stretching the old labels of radical and conservative to the max, as people's perceptions of their self-interest readjust to changing circumstances. Forget the ·much-hyped and exploited taxpayers' revolts-there have been more interesting responses _on the part of dyed-in-wool conservatives: like the rejection of the Sl'.lndesert nuclear plant by the voters of conservative Kern Cou11ty in Califor_nia, or the militant campaign of rural people in Minnesota arid New York to block the construction of environmentally ruinous power lines. Such actions would have been unpredictable five years ago. These folks are reaching for 1 the platform that spares them their communities and economic~base. That their tactics and allies may be on the other side of a political fence seems to be secondary. 1 , . ' Many. liberals an1d left-liberals, on the other hand, are now ·shifting in vaguely analogous patterns, as they realize that the .liberal corporate s.tate can only deliver the goods by crippling its own best objectives: social equality comes at the expense of personal freedom-:-or vice versa; prosperity has a price tag of inflation-even war. Thus many are deserting the attitude that the system need only be fine-tuned; they are the mainstay of much of an increasingly assertive public interest moveme_nt. At the same time, many are beginning to acknowledge the ·attractiveness of conservative virtues, such as a sense of family and community, traditions, and the need for vastly _simpler lifestyles. A decade,ago, _such people would have been considered an anomaly. Such kinds of convergence of politics and values signal a balancing momentum in a society where people who might otherwise be cooperating ·together have been kept poles,apart by any number of contrived or manipulable differences. It is not yet a major force in the larger system, but may portend how quickly and positively our focus can change when other options arou.nd us are closing down. This social balancing needs to be explored-we need to find some kind of unity-in our diversity. Those of us already committed to some kind of change work can boost that momentum by working through _ our own networks to shape a larger movement that has the , power of cooperation in its roots, which is not afraid to move out into the larger wo.rld. Let's look for the connections which seem the most difficult to forge and see what consensus we can build. People who are caught in the dilemma need the good hope this kind of model will provide. D
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