at a meeting tonight we were about to end with a farmworker clap when we got derailed by added administrative issues and then no one wanted to clap. There's a hostility to the UFW clap in GSOC which, coming from the Yale fight and from Unite HERE, where pretty much every meeting i was ever in ended with one, i find it frustrating. I don't know if the hostility comes from some sort of resistance to a percieved drinking of the proverbial koolaid supposedly exemplified by accelerated synchronous handclaps, or if there's a feeling that somehow we'd be missapropriating the legacy of Cesar Chavez, but I want to briefly argue here for said clap as a useful way to end meetings.
GSOC folks don't like cheerleading. They don't like being told that we're winning when it appears that things are more dire. Enthusiasm and energy sometimes get criticized for short-sightedness and/or evidence of stuff like white privilege, anti-intellectualism, and/or an inability to address some serious concerns in an effective way. I'm sympathetic to all of these critiques except for the anti-intellectualism one, which i in part find insulting and which the smarter, organizer part of me, assuming such a part indeed exists, thinks we need to take as a challenge to thing about and articulate what's at stake in our fight and what we are fighting for in better ways than we have thus far.
I don't see the handclap as a fascist gesture, an imposition of groupthink or an assertion of an artificial and false optimism. I see it as a way of committing ourselves to eachother once more as we end every meeting, of forcing ourselves to think about what happens in such meetings and what has to happen in terms of the struggle we're in, as a gesture of solidarity with other struggles and social movements, and because, from a very problematic formalist standpoint, they are a good way to bring meetings to a visible, audible, tactile end and move forward with on the ground organizing, a reminder that we don't actually win through meeting, but by all the work that happens in part in between the meetings, in the departments, on the streets, etc.
More on this later, maybe. Now it's back to Doreen Massey's For Space and then on to Wolfgang Schivelbusch's The Railway Journey.
But first, I want to open this question up to readers, particularly those involved in movement organizing or who've been in meetings where the farmworker handclap has been utilized. How do you feel about its efficacy? What does it do, or not do for you?
I like the clap, Zach. Except when I'm really tired, and I get a little sarcastic, if one can clap sarcastically.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I've just been reading the blog for a while, and have been reminded of just how many ups and downs we've been through. Nice to have the record.
Oh, on can definitely clap sarcastically, a la Heather Chandler in Heathers after Veronica refuses to knock out Betty's balll when they're playing croquet. That's some sarcastic clapping. After I read your comment, Asad, I went back and reread a bunch of old posts and was kind of floored by how long the strike has lasted (140 days today) and how much as happened. I'm glad this blog has helped document and analyze these events and this struggle. There are some things I wish i'd done differently, and there are also some posts I'm really happy about.
ReplyDeleteThe power of the farmworker clap is that it IS the movimiento. We all start out in different places, clapping at our own tempo. Some are super enthusiastic, others are half-hearted, others afraid or dismissive. But the act of clapping brings us together, and by listening to eachother, we find a pulse that is always growing, always moving forward. And as that clap grows stronger and faster, until it's frenetic, that's when we know we're united. That's when we know we're winning.
ReplyDeleteWe may be in different places before and after meetings, we may disagree on tactics, but we always must remember that we are united in the same struggle. The farmworker clap is one way of doing that. It's been incredibly powerful for me, because it's symbolic and sonic representation of exactly what we're doing, it connects me back to other struggles and past movimientos, and it also helps to break up tension and release energy in a positive way at the end of our time together.
So, that's my two cents from the Chicanita. Que viva la union! Juntos venceremos !!!
I think any group that, as a group, finds the farmworker clap meaningful should do it. That may (or may not) include the UFW, or Ivy League undergraduates.
ReplyDeleteHere's some ways I think it shouldn't be done:
- by default
- sarcastically
- in a perfunctory manner.
Those are worse than not doing it at all, and then you're just substituting sonic consensus for actual consensus. If you've ever done the clap extra fast so you can get out of a room full of people frustrating you to death, you know what I mean.
Also, by the way, the clap doesn't actually end meetings -- like everything else, it finishes, then everyone gets up (or doesn't) and starts talking with eachother about what happens next, privately deciding to diverge from the group plan...etc.
I don't know that there exists an efficient and uplifting way to end a meeting that would actually work for everyone.
I was actually thinking about some things along these lines a couple of weeks ago after watching an episode of Battlestar Galactica where Edward James Olmos's character ends a mass meeting with a farmworker clap. It was interesting to watch, because the context was not the one in which I'm accustomed to encountering the clap--it was a military setting, a very hierarchical event, etc. But at the same time, it was very comforting to be immediately able to latch onto what the characters were feeling because they were using a familiar, but somewhat rare, gesture. (The show actually uses a whole bunch of things like this--the refrain "So say we all!" at the end of meetings, for example. It's also incredibly pro-union; the most ethical people are the ones associated with unions or support for unions, but I digress.)That's why I like it as a way to wrap things up or get people to pay attention, or whatever: to me, the farmworker clap is kind of a universal language. It connects those of us who use it to different struggles from different times and different places. It's a common language, and it's a way of--even if you don't have anything to say in the meeting--of joining in the whole.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit, I always thought it was a bit silly when we did it at Yale. It seemed forced, and yes, somewhat like appropriating the legacy of the UFW. I remember one particular instance when we were sitting on the Woodbridge steps for some reason--maybe a SAS thing my sophomore year--and we did it as we were leaving. It just seemed really forced--it would have been more natural to have cheered in a more "Yalie" way. Not only would that have seemed more natural to me, I think it would have been a better way to reach out to others.
ReplyDeleteC'est triste a dire, mais je ne pense que l'on puisse vainere sans les drapeaux rouges et noirs. Mais il faut detruire - apres.
ReplyDelete- Thomas
Thomas, I don't speak french. What can't one do without a red and black flag? And what do i have to destroy afterwards?
ReplyDeleteIt's basically how I feel about the clapping...
ReplyDelete"Unfortunately, I don't think that we can win without the red and black flags. But they must be destroyed afterwards."
Hey, I've been meaning to leave a fresh comment for awhile.
ReplyDeletePoint one - You guys are rockstars, keep fighting. I can tell you for a fact that GSOC is a regular topic of conversation in the grad locals at Michigan and Illinois.
Point two - Somehow, and I don't have any idea how this happened, I avoided encountering (with understanding) the farmworker clap until a few weeks ago. I was absolutely blown away, but it's obviously true that some folks become disillusioned with it after awhile. I think that the way to address this starts with what you're doing here -- talk about the clap and the role that it plays in the movement.
So here's a for instance. Say that you've got a membership meeting going, people get angry, discipline breaks down. Perfect farmworker clap moment, but after the clap is done the moderator has to talk about how the clap reminds of us of our solidarity and then re-open the discussion that had broken down.