Prophet of Power to the People: Saul Alinksy
Watching this video on Saul Alinksy I thought was very inspiring!
Alinsky was a well educated man who recieved college degree during great depression. But it was his passion for justice that made him one of the big names in social advocacy. After college he studied
gang behavior from the inside and recognizing criminal behavior as symptom of poverty. This shifted his interest to the working class and he worked the streets in Chicago to learn about the working poor. He wanted to form an organization of workers to make a democracy and give rights to workers who at the time had been through pay cuts and no workmens rights. He worked with the poor to form an alliance between church, workers and businessmen to fight for these desired rights. After much community organizing and rallies, the Armour company recognized the union! After this Saul went on to create many campaigns and organizations such as Back of the Yards and T.W.O and continued a passion for social justice and macro work throughout his life and all over the United States.
Alinsky was a well educated man who recieved college degree during great depression. But it was his passion for justice that made him one of the big names in social advocacy. After college he studied
gang behavior from the inside and recognizing criminal behavior as symptom of poverty. This shifted his interest to the working class and he worked the streets in Chicago to learn about the working poor. He wanted to form an organization of workers to make a democracy and give rights to workers who at the time had been through pay cuts and no workmens rights. He worked with the poor to form an alliance between church, workers and businessmen to fight for these desired rights. After much community organizing and rallies, the Armour company recognized the union! After this Saul went on to create many campaigns and organizations such as Back of the Yards and T.W.O and continued a passion for social justice and macro work throughout his life and all over the United States.Saul's most famous campaigns include:
Back of the Yards: Neighborhood Council.
-Turning a neighborhood slum into community organization advocationg for rights and helping the people of the Chicago neighborhoods. Supplying meals to poor children as well as welfare to struggling neighbors.
Labor Unions
- intensly organized through churches and workers, advocated for the rights of laborers and eventually recognized by Armour Company
T.W.O.
- Civil rights movement advocacy in Chicago
In all of these Saul kept all the same principles and theories which focused on using the community to advocate for the rights of themselves. Using large numbers of people to work together and make a difference.
Some of my favorite Saul Alinsky Quotes:
"becomes a contest of power: those who have money and those who have people. we have nothing but people"
"we are people and damnit you're going to listen to us!"
Some of my favorite Saul Alinsky Quotes:
"becomes a contest of power: those who have money and those who have people. we have nothing but people"
"we are people and damnit you're going to listen to us!"
I thought this documentary was inspiring and well done. Although I do feel it moved a little fast through important movements and parts of Saul's work, I enjoyed watching a wide span of his work. I have never really had a truly Macro focused social worker whose work I could admire before. We have people in history who are said to start Macro practice, but regardless I feel Saul Alinsky was the first all macro social worker. His example and genuine care for people inspired me for macro work and social work in general. By viewing this documentary you can see his genuine passion for social justice and how he has inspired other people to continue his message on and work for community advocacy. It teaches me that we don't have to be the driving force behind macro and community organizations, we just have to be the spark that lights the driving force.
I also found an article and in reading a lot of people who find similarities between Alinsky and our president Barack Obama, check it out!:
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