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Fighting for Hope

Organizing to Realize Our Dreams

Joan Newman-Kuyek



The cheapening of the meaning of ‘community’ reflects a destruction of human relationships. As economic development- free-enterprise style- has progressed, its corollary has been the pillage not only of natural resources but of natural relationships. Fighting For Hope begins with an analysis of these forces and the ways in which resistance against them has been managed and suppressed. Activists in Canada have experienced dismal setbacks, unexpected victories and carefully planned successes. This book finds the common threads and weaves them into a guidebook for anyone who cares about social change.

Starting from the experiences of ordinary people, the author looks at how ‘scientific management,’ in the form of political systems, educational systems, and communication systems, all work to diminish the power and ability of Canadians to determine their own futures. In Fighting For Hope there are sections on building the core group, structuring it, creating a vision, raising money, choosing strategies. There are descriptions (with examples) of various kinds of community organizing activity from popular education, to civil disobedience, to alternative investment funds.

Throughout, the book is infused with an understanding of how hard it is to keep a group together and motivated, but the message is clear. Even at this moment in history, when so many are struggling, Fighting For Hope shows that the best efforts of ordinary people to build a better life can be expanded and woven together to create a world where they do not have to fear for their children’s future.

Table of Contents

Preface

PART I: The Bars of the Prison

  1. The Bogey-Man
  2. Destruction of Community in Canada
  3. Violence and Fear
  4. Management of Information and Communication
  5. Packaging Dissent
  6. The Workplace
  7. Religion and Culture

PART II: Fighting For Hope

  1. Creating a Culture of Hope
  2. Working Together
  3. Reclaiming Economics
  4. Repossessing Political Power

PART III: Doing Analysis: Thinking Like an Organizer

  1. The Exercises

PART IV: Conclusion

  1. Get Real or Get Lost

Resources

Joan Newman Kuyek is the author of The Phone Book: Working at Bell Canada, and A Handbook for Economic Justice Work, and has been a community organizer for over 20 years.

COMMUNITY STUDIES

221 pages

Paperback ISBN: 0-921689-86-1 $17.99
Hardcover ISBN: 0-921689-87-X $46.99
L.C. No. 90-83629

Prices are in Canadian dollars in Canada and in US dollars elsewhere

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