sorry, just saw this.

Yes. For an injustice committed on 1, 10, 100 or 1 million–it is worth fighting, Taz. Thank you for underscoring the importance of organizing within any community–large or small–with a sharp eye towards those enclaves of people, those industries of workers, those smaller fiefdoms of workingclass women & men, whose voices otherwise would go unheard.

To highlight a very recent example which hardly directly relates to labor, unions, or other traditional paradigms within which organizing occurs: if you’ve followed the Padilla case, you’ll know that a U.S. citizen (no different than you or I or the next non-U.S. citizen, for that matter) was detained by the U.S. government in 2004. No reason was given, no bail offered, no access to a lawyer. Just detained. Now. The 5th amendment to the U.S. Constitution states in plain writing that “no person shall be . . . deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” Its not legalese. Its not complicated. And yet, somewhere in its covert administrative annals, the Administration blatantly violated one of the very esteemed constitutional rights about which it otherwise so gallantly beams. Justice Stevens himself conceded that, “at stake in this case is nothing less than the essence of a free society.”

And yet, 24 hours ago, the Supreme Court ruled that Padilla’s appeal was worthless. That this so-called “enemy combatant,” later moved to Miami where he [finally] faced criminal charges, posited an appeal that had since become “pointless.” Pointless? Since when did it become pointless to grant an American citizen, or any “person” for that matter, due process? If today you stab me, tomorrow I charge you, and by Thursday the wound has stopped bleeding, has it become pointless for justice to be served? In good judicial form & political measure, Breyer, Souter & Ginsburg argued that the case ought be heard anyway. Instead, at the mercy of the war-mongering and cowardly administration, the Court rejected Padilla’s appeal.

Back to bengali’s query:

Just out of interesting, by ‘organizing’ do you mean like forming a union? i.e. a worker’s union?

Yes. Taz is referring to that type of organizing. And the Padilla example is another example of why its important to organize. The power (and necessity) of bringing issues like this to light, of mobilizing people & organizations around those issues, of filing amicus briefs with the Supreme Court–whatever the task may be. Organizing isn’t just important; its critical. Movements happen because people organize–in communities, on schoolgrounds, in countries. Organizing is important because, detaining a U.S. citizen for three years without filing charges against him–a blatantly illegal act–not only makes a fool of our democratic & legal systems, it shames humankind. To the extent we hope to combat that, we organize.

So we organize. Because the voices of dissent, of justice, of freedom and of true democracy, otherwise go unheard. Because underdogs aren’t always given the front page, the ear of the White House Press Secretary, the mic. We organize because we find strength in numbers, because collective bargaining (under the traditional model of labor law) has long been one of civil rights’ strongest weapons against an otherwise hegemonic, politically imbalanced society. Because there ain’t no power like the power of the people (and the power of the people don’t stop).

Longest comment ever posted (sorry; got carried away)?

Nah, just learning to rant like an academic.

by ‘organizing’ do you mean like forming a union? i.e. a worker’s union?

Not really- though it is one form of organizing. I see it more as getting a group of people together to push for any type of a cause. i.e. to me, almost everyone is an organizer, even SM.

Thanks for the link Suhail.

Try this link(it shd somehow get you through the backdoor) and here’s the slideshow. Let me know if you still can’t get past.

BTW, enjoying your blogs!

Just out of interesting, by ‘organizing’ do you mean like forming a union? i.e. a worker’s union?