"The Game" and other good reads from Religion Dispatches

Latest good reads, having discovered http://www.religiondispatches.org/

Excerpt from the book review "Why David Sometimes Wins: What We Must Learn From Cesar Chavez" by Frederick Clarkson:

Chavez compelled his top leaders and organizers to participate in Synanon’s fiercely confrontational encounter group technique he called “the game.” Ganz describes it as “an intensely political kind of group therapy. In emotionally aggressive sessions with 10-15 persons, participants verbally attacked each other to air problems” for periods of one to three hours.

Ganz concludes, “Chavez transformed UFW deliberations into a controlled, exclusive and judgmental process in which one’s loyalty was constantly on the line.” Chavez sought to make “the game” as central to the practice of the union as it was to Synanon. In the Spring of 1978, Chavez required 200 staffers to travel as much as five hours to attend weekly sessions.

The UFW degenerated into a “community of unpaid cadres, loyal to a single leader, governed by groupthink rituals, and enjoying the apparent efficiency of unquestioning obedience.” Ganz continues, “It’s unclear how Chavez hoped to reconcile Dederich’s vision with that of a democratically accountable union organized to represent workers—especially when the UFW thrived on diversity, contentiousness and creativity. In fact, he could not.”

In a sustained frenzy of political paranoia, Chavez fired or drove out the committed veterans who had brought the UFW so far. Control became concentrated in the hands of Chavez family members and dependents.

In short, Chavez “scrapped the strategic capacity that the UFW had taken years to develop,” and the UFW stopped organizing and “moved into the kind of advocacy, services provision and public policy work that other nonprofits had done for years.” Even after Chavez’s death in 1993, the UFW never regained its capacity for organizing. At its height, the UFW had 70,000 workers under contract; today that number is no more than 5,000 and the UFW serves mostly as a hub of a network of nonprofit agencies.

Ganz does not explain why Chavez came unglued or how Dederich came into his life and was able to wield such influence in the union. But in telling the truth about the matter, Ganz plants a red flag on the problem for those who come later. This is important in part because what happened with the UFW in many ways epitomizes what we saw in the 1970s, when many religious, political, business, and psychotherapy cults employing similar techniques wreaked havoc in the culture. Some of this continues to this day, including programs modeled on Synanon, and it remains a dark social and political undercurrent that most of us choose not to see, let alone address.

Other articles of interest and excerpts:

Women of Opus Dei Explain “True Feminism” By Kate Childs Graham

"In fact, these women are trying to suggest that what seems like sexism isn’t really that at all."

Lies, Intimidation, and the Insurance Industry: The Republicans Have Lost Their Minds By Frank Schaeffer

There is no daylight between the Republican Party, the health-care insurance industry, far right leaders like Dick Armey, the legion of insurance lobbyists, and now, a small army of thugs. All we're missing is actual uniforms, otherwise we now have a full blown American version of the Nazi Brownshirts.

No, I don't believe that these people are about to take over the country. No, the sky is not falling. But the Republican Party is. It is now profoundly anti-American.

Far-Right Evangelicals And The Campaign Against Obama
By Frank Schaeffer

Far-right evangelicals don’t see America as just another country, but as a battleground and springboard for world conquest in the name of Christ. In that the evangelical left and right agree: from Wallis to Dobson, they all believe that God is on their side; they may differ on precise issues but they all believe in some form of American exceptionalism.

The reason for this is that intellectually lazy political players of the kind who lead the evangelical movement crave power, or to be close to power, just like the people who run C Street. These are the same folks who have been putting together the so-called National Prayer Breakfast; they are the “professional Christian” hangers-on running around Washington DC putting together Bible studies and all the rest.

If they were just interested in serving Jesus they would be called to places like Peoria or the East Village once in a while. But they’re really only interested in being close to power; without having to do the hard work to actually run for electoral office or get boring bureaucratic jobs inside the government. The radical religious right are the ultimate camp followers. They’re latching onto government for a free ride while decrying it. They want to overthrow the present order from the inside in the name of God.

Sotomayor, Evangelicals, and Racism
By Michael J. Altman

Far-right evangelicals don’t see America as just another country, but as a battleground and springboard for world conquest in the name of Christ. In that the evangelical left and right agree: from Wallis to Dobson, they all believe that God is on their side; they may differ on precise issues but they all believe in some form of American exceptionalism.

The reason for this is that intellectually lazy political players of the kind who lead the evangelical movement crave power, or to be close to power, just like the people who run C Street. These are the same folks who have been putting together the so-called National Prayer Breakfast; they are the “professional Christian” hangers-on running around Washington DC putting together Bible studies and all the rest.

If they were just interested in serving Jesus they would be called to places like Peoria or the East Village once in a while. But they’re really only interested in being close to power; without having to do the hard work to actually run for electoral office or get boring bureaucratic jobs inside the government. The radical religious right are the ultimate camp followers. They’re latching onto government for a free ride while decrying it. They want to overthrow the present order from the inside in the name of God.