by Dean Briggs
There are so many issues and actions being planned these days – how do you decide what’s a priority?
- A climate standout in my hometown?
- A Stop the Coup rally in Boston?
- Calls to our senators about a federal appointment?
- Visiting state legislators’ offices about a key bill?
What are the most important issues for Indivisibles this week? What are the best action strategies?
The Coordinated Action Dispatches Team
This week, Indivisible Mass Coalition (IMC) is rolling out a new effort to provide guidance to members about actions. It’s called the Coordinated Action Dispatches Team, or CAD for short. A group of experienced Indivisible activists from local groups and statewide teams across Massachusetts are meeting weekly to review the various actions, consider priorities, and make recommendations about the highest priorities for action. Each Saturday the IMC newsletter, Mass Action, will publish the top three recommended actions they encourage members to take.
This effort is being spearheaded by EB Freed, creator of the Western Massachusetts-based Substack Freedom Writers. CAD membership includes activists from the IMC Coordinating Board, Swing Blue Alliance, and the Feminist Action, Racial Justice and Equity, Tech, and Communications teams.
The CAD Team will be responsible for:
- Building greater capacity within IMC, enabling us to coordinate with national/ federal legislative experts such as Common Cause and the ACLU.
- Evaluating and prioritizing which bills, issues, and actions will have the greatest impact, based on criteria approved by the IMC Coordinating Board. These actions will take a wide range of forms, such as contacting your elected officials, submitting letters to newspapers, promoting boycotts, and attending protests.
- Creating concise “Action Sheets/Tool Kits” containing instructions on how to contact your elected officials.
- Collecting feedback on actions taken, responses received from elected officials, and goals achieved.
The Coordinated Action Strategy
The CAD Team strategy is to focus on specific “impact points” using tactics that will gain the most leverage from an action. For example, letters to this decision-maker versus postcards to constituents? Phone-calling campaigns versus rallies outside offices?
Of course, IMC activists and local groups are free to choose their own actions — such as those addressing local issues — in addition to those recommended by the CAD Team. But experience has shown that the best results come from coordinated, focused action rather than fragmented activity. That’s why IMC is encouraging members to watch for recommended actions in the Saturday Mass Action newsletter each week and to pursue those first over other actions. If you miss or don’t receive the newsletter, you can find it posted online here.
To submit recommended actions to the CAD Team, follow this link.
Dean Briggs is a member of the IMC Communications Team, and Indivisible Boros and Beyond.
