Alinskyian Organizing and Activism – II: The IAF

As my mother used to say, “One swallow doth not a summer make.” It’s all very well to give an example of one Alinskyian local – or, more to the point, one regional engaged in inappropriate political activism, but unfair to draw too broad a generalization from it. Perhaps the aggressive, progressive political mischief of Representative Loretta Sanchez, the California PICO, and the California Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) networks was an anomaly. [See: “The Shenanigans of Alinskyian Organizing,” Spero News, 8-25-09]

The only way to ascertain the truth of our thesis – that the faith-based Alinskyian organizing networks are highly political and of a scandalously different fundamental perspective than many of the religious bodies among its membership – is to examine other examples. To that end, let’s visit another IAF local in Massachusetts.
Greater Boston Interfaith Organization (GBIO) claims to have 70 institutional members [www.gbio.org/aboutus.html - though it actually only lists 59(www.gbio.org/maint/members.pdf)], most of which are churches and synagogues. Healthcare is an important issue for the group. “GBIO and the Affordable Care Today Coalition have played a critical role in making health care reform in Massachusetts a reality,” the GBIO website states. “We will continue to make sure that this historic reform is implemented fairly and completely.”

The “historic reform” under discussion is the Massachusetts Health Reform Law that GBIO fought to implement and it has several interesting components. One is that family planning services are universally provided throughout the state. [Families USA Report, “Massachusetts Health Reform of 2006,” pp 6-7]

“Family planning” is catch-all phrase that, at a minimum refers to contraception – many forms of which are abortifacient – and often includes abortion “services.” Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas, says, “The Massachusetts model [of universal health care provision] has been a total disaster. It’s been a disaster from a financial standpoint, [and is] about to bankrupt that state….It gives people the opportunity to have an abortion for a $50 co-pay, so that’s all that a human life is worth now in Massachusetts - $50.” [Steven Ertelt, “Mike Huckabee Calls Barack Obama Most Pro-Abortion President in History,” Life News, 8-6-09]

Yet this is what the GBIO – including its Catholic members – has proudly promoted. “[T]he push for the new law and the debate over its implementation have provided a chance to prove that religious groups can be marshaled behind liberal issues at a time when faith is more commonly associated with conservative social causes, such as the campaign against same-sex marriage. ‘It’s a tremendous story about the power of the pews to organize for justice — and particularly, the Jewish pews,’ said Rabbi Jonah Pesner, who helped head the interfaith coalition [GBIO] from his post as a religious leader of Temple Israel, a Reform synagogue in Boston. Pesner recently assumed leadership of the Union for Reform Judaism’s new Just Congregations initiative, which aims to replicate the successes achieved in Boston.” [Jennifer Siegel, “Religious Liberals Take Lead in Massachusetts Health Debate, The Jewish Daily Forward, July 21, 2006]

This “power of the pews to organize” rests in the hands of the organizers. “Hamilton and Pesner, of Temple Israel in Boston, are leaders of the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization, which has used moral suasion to become an influential force in Beacon Hill’s healthcare debate. Inside the velvet glove, though, is a real threat: If legislators don't pass a healthcare bill to their liking, the group and its allies will push a 2006 ballot measure that would force the state to cover everybody. Backers of the ballot effort have collected more than 112,000 signatures.” [Scott S. Greenberger, “Interfaith leaders invoke morality in healthcare debate, Boston Globe, 12-29-05]

In the words of one enamored blogger, “Forget about the symbolic politics on the religious right and the religious left for a minute. Here’s a story about a local coalition of religious organizations that crosses denominational, theological, and political lines and that is exerting real political pressure on the Massachusetts legislature to bring healthcare to more people.” [Philocrites, “’Coalition of compassion’ has clout on Beacon Hill,” 1-4-06, www.philocrites.com/archives/002445.html]

“Exerting real political pressure” makes GBIO a real political organization with a real political agenda. The Jewish Daily Forward article quoted above described a speech of then-Illinois Democratic Senator Barack Obama “at a conference of the liberal religious group Call to Renewal. Obama chastised fellow Democrats for failing to ‘acknowledge the power of faith in the lives of the American people’ and insisted that the party compete for the support of religiously observant Americans. He also called for liberals to moderate their opposition to faith-based initiatives and to some expressions of religion in public life….’I cannot overplay the extent to which the Obama speech is still on people’s minds,’ said Mik Moore, director of communications of the anti-poverty organization Jewish Funds for Justice.”

Real progressive political pressure, leveraged with the support of religious bodies, while vitiating their core moral values…now that’s Alinskyian organizing for you.

Stephanie Block is the editor of the New Mexico-based Los Pequenos and is a founder of the Catholic Media Coalition.