Alinksy’s rules for radicals applied to pastoralist development

I

Any number of radical proposals have been made for addressing problems of the globe’s rangelands, including: the end of capitalism, the redistribution of livestock, and reparations.

In an important sense, though, these are not be radical enough. I have in mind the “twelve rules for radicals” of the late organizer, Saul Alinsky, two in particular being:

RULE 3: “Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy.” Look for ways to increase insecurity, anxiety, and uncertainty. (This happens all the time. Watch how many organizations under attack are blind-sided by seemingly irrelevant arguments that they are then forced to address.)

RULE 4: “Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.” If the rule is that every letter gets a reply, send 30,000 letters. You can kill them with this because no one can possibly obey all of their own rules.

https://sliwainsights.com/saul-alinskys-12-rules-for-radicals/

II

By extension, use the logic of capitalism to benefit rangelands and pastoralists, e.g.:

1. Start with the EU’s Emission Trading System for CO₂ emission credits. Imagine member/non-member states and companies are now able to enter the ETS to buy credits directed to offsetting GHG emissions in dryland localities committed to transitioning to more environmentally friendly production systems and livelihoods based in or around livestock.

2. Start with the European COVID-19 initiative, NextGenerationEU (issuance of joint debt by EU member states to fund pandemic recovery). Imagine employee support schemes under this or some such initiative, with one aim being to augment remittances of resident migrants back to dryland household members and communities.

3. Imagine other EU-financed schemes to improve the greening of EU localities now heavily resident with dryland migrants (e.g. subsidies to EU residents for more sustainable lifestyles in the EU). In this case, a “greening of rangelalnd households” takes place where EU member states support EU-resident migrants, thereby indirectly supporting their dryland households of origin..

The aim, again, is not to dismiss other radical proposals, but to find opportunities to exploit all twelve of Alinsky’s rules for radicals.