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Radical Resistance in Conservative Times: New Asian American Organizations in the 1990s
By Diane C. Fujino and Kye Leung
Part 7 of 16
For example, ARC calls its statement a "Ten-Point Platform," after the BPP and IWK; by contrast, ACTION, ALF, and API FORCE use the more generalized language of "Principles of Unity." But in most ways, ARC's practice does not appear any more revolutionary than the other groups. It is our contention that underlying these expressed differences, the ideologies--and especially the practice--of these five groups are actually quite similar.
Changing Social Realities
When activists talk about changing social realities, they think of change at two levels. At one level, activists work to challenge oppressive institutions and systems in order to improve the quality of people's lives. At another level, activists themselves get transformed as they participate in the collective struggle for justice. Through the grassroots movement, activists learn organizing and leadership skills, sharpen their political analyses, expand their knowledge base, and significantly, grow in their ability to interact with people in humane ways while striving to build the new social relationships needed in a non-capitalist society. Change at either level is no easy task. But these new groups have attempted to create social change at both levels.
At the societal level, API FORCE works to challenge institutional power through the legal and political systems. After the passage of 1996 Welfare Reform Bill, which affected low-income Asian Americans, API FORCE embarked on a long-term campaign for economic and social justice. As part of this, they organized to re-elect Tom Ammiano, an openly gay, White progressive community activist, to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Here API FORCE differs from liberal groups in its criticism of both the Democrats and Republicans, between whom API FORCE sees few differences. As a progressive-to-radical grassroots organization, API FORCE does not view electoral politics as their main political strategy or ultimate goal, but advocates that "electoral politics, as in everything we do, should be used as a tool to build a stronger, more unified left and progressive movement. API FORCE's support for Ammiano was part of an overall strategy to gain economic justice based on Ammiano's strong support of programs providing food, affordable housing, and living wages to the poor. As API FORCE wrote in their 1998 newsletter: "Organizing around issues, rather than individuals, will help give more focus to broader concerns of social justice and change. However, it is not enough to simply push for yes or no votes. Without also bringing left and progressive ideas into electoral organizing, a strong grassroots base will not be sustainable after election day. ,8 After getting a politician committed to food, housing, and wages elected as President of the Board of Supervisors, API FORCE moved into Phase II of its economic justice campaign: Getting a food stamp program written into the 2000 budget.
API FORCE members gained much organizing experience through the Ammiano, campaign. By reaching out to people on the streets, they learned how to communicate with people--what to say, what language to use, and to whom to speak: "The people who responded most to what we had to say about affordable housing and food stamps were mothers shopping with their children, the elderly and young adults struggling to pay the rent. We gained the most support from these kinds of folks, talking with them about issues that affect all of our lives."' They also faced sharp criticism for supporting Ammiano over less progressive Asian American candidates. But this struggle exposed the politics of different groups and API FORCE discovered who their political allies were.
Like API FORCE, ASIAN! also worked through the grassroots electoral process to organize against Proposition 209, the anti-affirmative action initiative passed by California voters in 1996.