Dear ROPnet,
Since the election, rural Oregonians have been linking up across the state in our Meeting the Moment Zoom Gatherings to develop shared analysis, build joint strategies, and deepen our relationships and connections across the ROP network. ROP is bigger and stronger than ever, and we know we’re going to need each other in the months and years to come. More than 90 long-time leaders and brand-new faces participated in our November 25th Zoom strategy session from 28 Oregon counties. Folks brought brilliant examples of how they are preparing to defend their immigrant and trans and queer neighbors, along with others who will be most affected.
What’s below? More Zooms are coming, meeting the desires for both structured and unstructured space. Register here for one or all of them and read on for more details.
Here are some highlights from our last gathering…
We’ve been loving this article by Daniel Hunter from Waging Nonviolence: “10 Ways to be prepared and grounded now that Trump has won.” You can read Hunter’s article here, or listen to Scot Nakagawa interview Daniel Hunter on his podcast here.
On the call, we talked through the 10 ways with the brilliant Sandy Chung, Director of ACLU of Oregon:
- Trust yourself
- Find others who you trust
- Grieve
- Release that which you cannot change
- Find your path
- Do not obey in advance, do not self-censor
- Re-orient your political map
- Get real about power
- Handle fear, make violence rebound
- Envision a positive future
Watch the recording of that lively conversation here!
One of the things folks really resonated with from that conversation was this story about toppling the Serbian dictator, Slobodan Milosevic, in 2000:
The problem for the regime was that the local police were doing the arresting. It’s not some special unit. If you have to do a sweep and arrest everybody around the country, you have to rely on the local police. And so the local police are arresting people who — when they get arrested — don’t fight back. This is something we practiced as a response. [We had our people say] “We respect what you’re doing. We’re not going to fight back. We understand that it’s not your choice to arrest us. You were forced by the regime, and you would rather go after criminals, not after students. We understand and we don’t hold a grudge.”
That little sentence that was shared with the police officer during an arrest had a devastating effect on them. Their morale was in shatters. They didn’t know what was going on because they never encountered this before. [They were used to arresting people who] would fight back. So all of a sudden the police officers started calling in sick. They didn’t want to come to work. The regime freaked out, but we didn’t know that at the time.
– Excerpt from “Overcoming despair and apathy to win democracy,” another Waging Nonviolence article that Daniel Hunter references in “10 ways to prepared and grounded now that Trump has won.”
In #5: Find your path, there are four pathways laid out as a way to locate the work you are doing in the larger strategies of resisting authoritarians
The ROP network has been building locally and statewide in these four pathways for over three decades now. As we face a political reality that is so frightening and difficult to make sense of, this shared pathways framework has been a really useful tool. No one has to act in all the pathways! Find what fills your cup and aligns with the skills you already have. We will be digging into each of these four pathways in upcoming statewide Zoom gatherings!
You can watch the entire Zoom recording (except for the regional break-out room conversations) here.
What’s coming next…
On the last Zoom gathering, we asked everyone to take a minute to fill out this survey as a way for the ROP network to weigh in on what kinds of gathering spaces and trainings are needed for the coming months.
The biggest takeaway was that you all are eager for support in local action planning! The good news is, that is the bread and butter of ROP. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at any moment to set up a time to meet with an ROP organizer who can support you in finding a group, forming a group, strengthening an existing group, or building an action plan along with your group. Reply to this email to start the conversation!
Why all this talk about groups?
Human Dignity Groups (volunteer-run, self-directed local folks working together on the issues that matter most in their communities) have been the foundation of ROP since 1992 when the first 30 Human Dignity Groups met at the first Rural Caucus and Strategy Session. Joining with others around shared goals is how we build enough people power to influence decision-makers and create changes in our communities that affect our everyday lives. Beyond the numbers, groups also help build safety and ensure we can sustain the work by sharing the load of leadership and action.
Along with one-on-one support from an ROP organizer, we’re also going to be experimenting with something new: Organizing Office Hours! Office hours will be happening monthly in 2025 and will be an opportunity to drop in and talk with ROP staff and other organizers around the state to work out particular sticking points in your work.
Reasons you might come to Organizing Office Hours:
- Get to know your ROP staff organizer
- Bring a specific question you want to ask
- You aren’t sure where to start and want support in figuring that out
- To meet other folks around the state and swap ideas with them directly
We also heard that having more statewide Zoom gatherings as touchpoints to build shared analysis, strategize together, and bolster your local work feels really essential right now. We know that there are some specific kinds of training that y’all are hungry for, particularly deportation/community defense and de-escalation and safety planning.
Given all this amazing feedback, here’s the virtual gathering plan for every other Monday, starting on January 13th. You can learn more about the plan for each gathering and register here for one or all of the Zooms.
And here’s what to expect from that first gathering of 2025:
Protect People
Monday, January 13th from 6-7:30 PM PST
Rural Oregon is getting in formation to protect immigrants, the bodily autonomy of trans people and women, and any of our neighbors whose basic rights and freedom come under attack! We are preparing for Trump’s Inauguration and the first 100 days of his presidency, building groups for safety and power, growing our numbers to meet growing authoritarianism, and sharing skills and strategies to meet the moment. Our ability to protect people starts with having a strong and healthy group, so let’s build those skills together.
Warmly,
Sidra and the ROP Team
