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Radical Resistance in Conservative Times: New Asian American Organizations in the 1990s
By Diane C. Fujino and Kye Leung
Part 11 of 16
Within ASIAN!, a conscious decision was made to be opposed to systemic oppression without advocating a replacement system such as socialism because few students are politically ready to join a socialist group. This decision has proven correct for work on their particular college campus where radical organizing is sparse. But as members develop politically, they begin to ask the same questions posed above by Fred Ho. And ASIAN!'s ideology is unable to provide the answers. Likewise, the lack of ideological clarity is a major reason why the ALF has had difficulty moving forward, and also helps to explain the retention problems within ACTION. API FORCE's lack of ideological clarity seems to present less of a problem, possibly because as the least radical of the five groups, API FORCE members struggle less over radical alternatives. Within ARC, a struggle over ideology six months ago resulted in the group embracing a more radical politic and in driving out half of the membership. Though it is too early to assess the impact of this change, ARC members do believe that a smaller group of committed radicals will create more effective social change than a larger group of liberals.
To increase ideological clarity and radicalize its members, ARC and ASIAN! have implemented regular political education studies into its meetings. ARC has weekly study groups in which veteran activists guide the group in grasping Marxism, Leninism, and Mao Zedong Thought. In addition to its public forums, ASIAN! has political study sessions once a month during the academic year and more rigorous studies during the summer. ASIAN! also requires that new members attend a series of study sessions to became familiarized with ASIAN!'s politics. ACTION implements its political education primarily through its leadership training, where readings introduce members to race, class, and gender issues. Eventually, at the end of the training, members are introduced to basic Maoist readings such as "On Practice" and "On Contradiction" that help guide their practice. ALF and API FORCE gain political education through their public forums.
Despite their shortcomings, these groups have been able to conscienitize their members and, to varying degrees, their communities. They have also made some concrete changes to better their communities. And in the process of working to create change, the members have learned organizing skiffs and gained self-confidence, acquired some ideological training, and have tried to grow as human beings and as political activists. What is commendable is that these activists, mostly in their twenties, have been struggling to effect social change despite the conservativeness of the times and the vacuum of revolutionary leadership.
Organizational Structure
The organizational structure of the five groups resembles that of the mass-based organizations of the 1960s and 70s more than that of Asian American cadre formations of a generation ago. Today's Asian American radical groups are structured to allow flexibility--so members can be involved according to their time availability, commitment, or desire. It seems the groups need to be flexible in order to retain their membership. If they demanded higher discipline-including giving high priority to the group's work, active participation in planning activities, attendance at all or most meetings, and demands for a revolutionary consciousness and practice-many members would leave. Certainly, there are multiracial or predominantly )White revolutionary groups that require high levels of discipline, but no such revolutionary Asian American group exists today. Among today's radical groups, there are two main forms for organizing: The smaller groups operate on collective leadership and the larger groups have a more delineated structure.