“Counterpower” by Tim Gee – Pt 10: One-stop link to previous posts in this series, and more

No 388 Posted by fw, January 19, 2012

In this series of posts, the goal has been to introduce readers to some of the key ideas in Tim Gee’s book, Counterpower: Making Change Happen. Selected excerpts in these posts have provided just a small sample of the wellspring of invaluable knowledge, information and practical tips for anyone involved in social action campaigning.

This post sets out to –

1)      List the 9 chapters in the book as a further teaser, if any be needed, to tempt activists to consider purchasing Gee’s invaluable handbook. In particular, it would be an important addition to the libraries of Occupy Movements, wherever they set up camp;

2)      List the seven pertinent questions Gee poses in his Conclusion;

3)      Provide a one-stop link to the previous ten posts in this series; and finally

4)      Mention that although this is the last post in this series, it is certainly not the last time I will draw on Gee’s book as a resource for Counterpower ideas.

Table of Contents of Tim Gee’s Counterpower: Making Change Happen

Introduction

1. How Counterpower helps movements win
2. How India won its Independence
3. How governments respond to Counterpower
4. How the Vietnam War was stopped
5. How apartheid was ended in South Africa
6. How the vote was won in Britain
7. How movements resist corporate power
8. How the Egyptians overthrew their president
9. Conclusion: making change happen

List of the 7 questions Gee poses in his Concluding chapter

For a week after the March 26, 2011 half-million people march in London to protest proposed government spending cuts, the blogosphere, in Gee’s words, “exploded with debate.” Gee captured the essence of the debate in these 7 key questions about social movement campaigning –

1. Are ‘insider’ (advocates for reform) or ‘outsider’ (advocates for revolution) methods more effective?
2. Do demonstrations work?
3. How do we decide which tactics to use?
4. Must our actions be acceptable to the mainstream media?
5. When is it right to escalate?
6. Do the ends justify the means?
7. Does campaigning make a difference?

List of Counterpower posts on my blog, in chronological order

• Can past social movements inform current campaigns? Absolutely, says Tim Gee in “Counterpower: Making Change Happen”
• “Counterpower” by Tim Gee — Pt 1: Activists, improve your campaigns with Counterpower”
• “Counterpower” by Tim Gee — Pt 2: How Idea Counterpower helps movements win
• “Counterpower” by Tim Gee — Pt 3: How Economic Counterpower helps movements win
• “Counterpower” by Tim Gee — Pt 4: How Physical Counterpower helps movements win
• “Counterpower” by Tim Gee — Pt 5: Use Counterpower to make it too costly for opposing elites to ignore
• “Counterpower” by Tim Gee — Pt 6: Four stages of a Counterpower movement: Definition and importance
• “Counterpower” by Tim Gee – Pt 7: How governments thwart action on climate change
• “Counterpower” by Tim Gee – Pt 8: How governments crushed the anti-war movement of The Great War
• “Counterpower” by Tim Gee – Pt 9: How Thatcher destroyed Britain’s National Union of Mineworkers
• “Counterpower” by Tim Gee – Pt 10: One-stop link to previous posts in this series, and more (This post)

That’s it for now. Watch for future posts deriving from Gee’s excellent handbook for activists: Counterpower: Making Change Happen.

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