principles for community action

with the occupy movement nearing its 2 month hold, and images of occupy cal include policy brutality and intimidation, it's made me think on and reflect on these "principles for community action" that I developed specifically for anti-trafficking work. I do see many of these principles translating into principles that can be applied anywhere and everywhere for any social issue:

1. Tell the Truth: Instead of dispelling myths, let's talk about the truths.
2. Desensationalize: Don't make an issue what it's not.
3. Use a Language of Liberation: reclaim the vocabulary used to describe the people who experience injustice
4. Tell the Truth...again...Tell Stories of Freedom: Survivors of any experience need models for living outside of a previously harmful experience. don't just talk about the horrors one has overcome but take a social worker's strengths based approach and talk about the stories of success. AND, don't make success so idyllic. Living in freedom can be hard.
5. Use Pedastals for Statues, not Survivors: Enough said? Survivors and the people who overcome sever hardships are regular people too. Putting them on pedastals separates them from you and they have already experienced that separation and alienation from their perpetrator/oppressor.
6. Leave a Legacy: How are you going to sustain yourself? Survivors/the oppressed cannot be the fuel for do-gooders who are not sure why they are in this work. You need to be motivated by your own purpose.
7. Peace is in the Pain: Allow people to express pain AND anger about what has happened. If we grieve and express our anger, we can work to achieve what is possible, instead of try to undo/redo/revenge what has already past.

More on each of these later! I'm literally falling asleep while typing!