The SWOP crew returned safe and sound from 3 days in Las Vegas, Nevada on Sunday. We attended the Pushback Network’s 2nd National Convening, “Pushing Back, Moving Forward”. A group of 10 staff, board, and members came together with the SAGE Council to represent the New Mexico Pushback State Alliance. We taught, learned, shared, and strategized with other community organizers from around the country.
What brings us together as a Network is that we know that building true political power for our communities means continuing to organize our communities around the issues that most affect their lives AND strategically engaging in the current political/electoral system. This means that we all have a commitment to politically conscious base building and broad-based civic engagement campaigns.
Leadership development, while always a central part of our organizing work, has expanded to include candidate development. One way to be a leader in your community is to be their representative in the government. A key discussion during the convening was how to develop our members as candidates, and then what to do if they win: bringing community governance to an anti-community government.
The original story can be found on the SWOPblogger.
