Rhetoric for radicals pdf

He is a long-time anti-racism, youth justice, prison abolition, hip hop, animal, disability, and Earth liberation activist and has published over fifty scholarly articles and book chapters and sixteen books.

New to this edition are attention to Black Lives Matter, the transgender community, social media environments, globalization, and environmental activism.

Simultaneously challenging and accessible, Activism and Rhetoric: Theories and Contexts for Political Engagement is a must-read for students and scholars who are interested in or actively engaged in rhetoric, composition, political communication, and social justice. Author : Christina R. The theories of social movements and counterpublics are related, but distinct. Social movement theories tend to be concerned with enacting policy and legislative changes. Scholars flying this flag have concentrated on the organization and language for example, rallies and speeches that are meant to enact social change.

Counterpublic theory, on the other hand, focuses less on policy changes and more on the unequal distribution of power and resources among different protest groups, which is sometimes synonymous with subordinated identity groups such as race, gender, sexuality, and class. Nonetheless, contributors argue that in recent years the distinctions between these two methods have become less evident.

By putting the literatures of the two theories in conversation with one another, these scholars seek to promote and imagine social change outside the typical binaries. Author : Michael Filimowicz Publisher: Routledge ISBN: Category: Computers Page: View: Read Now » As a part of an extensive exploration, Reimagining Communication: Action investigates the practical implications of communication as a cultural industry, media ecology, and a complex social activity integral to all domains of life.

The Reimagining Communication series develops a new information architecture for the field of communications studies, grounded in its interdisciplinary origins and looking ahead to emerging trends as researchers take into account new media technologies and their impacts on society and culture.

The diverse and comprehensive body of contributions in this unique interdisciplinary resource explore communication as a form of action within a mix of social, cultural, political, and economic contexts. They emphasize the continuously expanding horizons of the field by engaging with the latest trends in practical inquiry within communication studies. Reflecting on the truly diverse implications of communicative processes and representations, Reimagining Communication: Action covers key practical developments of concern to the field.

Shopping Cart. We want to direct you to the right website. Please tell us where you live. This is a one-time message unless you reset your location. View Cart. Publisher: New Society Publishers Pub. Keep walking toward better realities, and one day we will change the world!

Rhetoric for Radicals is about changing the world. This may seem simplistic, but I will argue otherwise. Communication is the basis of the world and the basis of human reality. Subtracting communication from our lives leaves only cold, hard, disconnected things; facts without feeling; a world devoid of human life. But we do have communication and we do have a world — a world worth fight- ing over and changing for the better. As we change our communica- tion, we change our world. But to do this we need to be smart and strategic; we need to think about our languages, statements, styles, actions, and overall communicative effects.

This involves rhetoric. For now, we can define rhetoric as conscientiously crafted commu- nication for the achievement of social and political ends. This may seem basic enough, but it is actually very complex. We often think of communication as a basic exchange of information.

Two people talk to one another, exchange information and then go about their business. Every ac- tion involves multiple modes of communication. All the participants must communicate in order to coordinate the action. The action then communicates outward to whoever will watch and listen. The action could be geared toward a very specific audience or created for the whole world.

In either case, there is an intended audience. The purpose, loca- tion, message and intended effect have been debated and discussed. Communication is present in every phase of this action. The police will most likely dis- rupt and disperse the action. Some activists will get free and others will be arrested. During the interaction, you and the officer try to control the sit- uation by carefully choosing your words.

You refer to yourself as an activist, civil disobedient, radical, and even revolutionary while he calls you a criminal. He refers to himself as a server and protector of the law while you call him a Robo Cop or Storm Trooper.

He then gets upset and fires back, calling you clueless and ignorant. Everyone knows this already, at least intuitively. This example is awfully mild, of course. Real life situations are often intense, chaotic, vicious and even violent. We yell, shout and sling expletives back and forth. At a later point you and the arresting officer might take turns talking and listening to each other.

He wants to make the arrest in his professional role instead of as a real person. You, too, might remain silent, but for different reasons. But on another level, silence can express your resistance. Your silence is suddenly loud, persuasive, strategically powerful and very communicative. Body language and nonverbal communication are also major factors here. You could go completely limp and lay there utterly uncooperative, forcing them to carry you away. In either case you are communicating refusal.

This power reversal is an act of your embodied com- munication. Other activists, either those from across the street or those still engaged in the action, begin cheering. Thirty, forty, maybe sixty activists sit there, hands cuffed behind their backs. You are free and fighting, even in your precarious state of arrest.

There will be other fights and eventually you will win. This extended example highlights some basic structures of rhetoric. For instance, there is always a communicator, an audi- ence, a message and a surrounding situation. Sometimes you are the communicator, other times you are the audience member.

Sometimes you send messages, other times you respond to messages. Your political desires push and pull you towards different goals and actions. And this process unfolds through languages, ac- tions, gestures and even collective vibrations. All of this is the do- main of rhetoric. The example also highlights the interchange between activists and society at large. Activists are full-time communicators standing on public stages and broadcasting messages. Each action contributes to the wider world, and the particular message of each action cre- ates a slightly different effect.

You might kick and scream, but you might also walk and sing or talk and negotiate. Each of these choices carries a different message and a different effect. Most activists real- ize this already, which explains why activists debate the look and feel of direct actions, discuss particular slogans and chants, and choose certain symbols. You want to ad- dress these things rhetorically, which will improve your radicalism.

It will help you appeal to wider publics, help you create more effective messages and actions and help you create forms of activism suitable for the twenty-first century. Many radical activists do not consider themselves militants or direct actionists in any way, shape or form.

My own desires are influenced by my activism, which began in the spring of with the global justice movement. Something hit me in that moment and I suddenly realized that I needed to be out there in the world, trying to change things for the better. I started doing activist work soon after.

I have organized, facilitated and led various work- shops on communication, rhetoric and radical theory at activist con- ferences, local bookstores and community free spaces. This experience was life changing. Seeing the Bolivarian Revolution in process made me believe that revolution is both possible and necessary. Such experiences, coupled with my academic trainings and teachings in communication stud- ies, have motivated me to write a handbook for radical activists and organizers.

This book is different from other how-to manuals. Plenty of great books already tackle the strategic ins-and-outs of hands-on or- ganizing and activism. But Rhetoric for Radicals is different. It approaches activism as a rhe- torical issue and argues that effective radicalism must involve sound rhetorical practice.

Most if not all of us are aware of this to a certain degree. But this book asks us to go beyond mere awareness and actu- ally approach activism as a rhetorical labor.

Rhetoric for Radicals is not completely alone in this call. But there are some key differences. Lakoff is writing for liberal Dem- ocrats while I am writing for radicals.

To that end, I invite you to become a radical rhetorician capa- ble of manifesting alternative worlds of communicative experience. This logic is less about what you say and do and more about rhetori- cally crafting what you say and do. I firmly believe that we can say whatever we want. But the trick is finding the right words, the right tone, the right approach, the right rhetoric. I am not asking you to put up a false front.

I would never en- dorse such a thing. We obviously want the opposite; im- proving our rhetorical communication can only help us. And just as our activism changes with the times, so too must our rhetorical con- siderations and responses.

Rhetoric for Radicals ad- dresses those challenges by providing guidelines, insights, theories, tools, and suggestions for twenty-first century activists. This brings up an important question. What do I mean by twenty-first century activism? I have two partial answers. The first is historical and the second is intuitive. Like I said above, the global justice movement was my entry into activism.

While I love and appreciate all that I have learned from that movement, its time has passed. Take, for instance, the famous Battle of Seattle.

That historical event occurred at the very end of and marked not the beginning but definitely a flourishing of the global justice movement. Mass mobilizations, di- rect actions, participatory democracies, horizontal communities and feelings of urgency spread like wildfire. Then something happened: September 11, A US anti-war movement soon emerged.

That movement has been effective at times. For instance, on February 15, , some- where between 10 and 30 million people across the world expressed their outrage against a possible invasion of Iraq. And just before the war began hundreds of thousands of people were committing direct actions throughout the US.

This was impressive and inspiring, but generally speaking, the anti-war movement has been too concerned with the slow process of lobbying politicians who were responsible for the war. We continue to organize and participate in mass mobilizations, counter summits, no-border camps, world social forums, transnational alliances, cross- cultural solidarities, and all kinds of globally networked actions and movements.

Its time, however exciting it was, is gone. We are thus forced to move forward even as we search for new themes, names, identities, slogans, languages and rhetorics. This book is written during this im- passe. And my vision may be influenced more by a creative imagination than a concrete analysis.

Imagination helps us surpass moments of impasse and times of indecision. Imagination helps us think be- yond the old, stale, crusty thoughts of a decadent society. Imagina- tion helps us dream and desire. My own imagination draws me to the nature of this book: issues of communication and rhetoric.

Twenty- first century activists are — or will become — the rhetors of the fu- ture. We will translate ideas into actions and communicate visions into realities. We will create worlds so common that we are all in- cluded and worlds so unique that we are all inspired.

We have already glimpsed precedents of the twenty-first cen- tury. The Zapatistas are a prime example. Their uprising was a rhetorical phenomenon. They used the emerging media of the day to create tangible images of their inclusive, non-ideological politics: Zapatismo. The Internet became a revolutionary tool and the word became a weapon. They created a political perception. The Zapatistas invited us to participate in this ongoing communicative creation and to par- take in this rhetorical formation.

While the Zapatistas are a prime predecessor of twenty-first century radicalism, they are not alone. Other groups, movements and actions pave the way for our future politics: Ya Basta! Many of us have walked to- ward this future — a future where we will create unforeseen worlds and materialize uncharted realities.

We will achieve the unachievable and we will create the unimaginable. This will become our commu- nication; this will become our rhetoric; this will become our revolu- tionary change. Preview Chapter One takes up this revolutionary call by situating rhetoric as a communicative labor. Rhetoric is no doubt an ongoing and ever- present process, but good rhetoric is labor intensive. It takes time, thought and energy.

Simply put, our radicalism suffers from a rhetorical crisis. But all is not lost. As this book argues, we can improve our rhetoric and move beyond this crisis. This mending process begins with a con- ceptual overview of rhetoric for radicals.

The chapter provides three different but related definitions of rhetoric, situates rhetoric at the center of social change, connects rhetorical practice to activism and organizing and asks us to approach our activism through the lens of rhetoric. Political campaigns, social movements, direct actions, demonstrations, rallies and parades of resistance are rhe- torical constructions.

But Chapter One goes deeper and agues that all human realities are rhetorically constructed. Such a framework de- picts the world as a pliable process and our activism as a communica- tive labor for recreating realities. This insight is founda- tional to rhetoric for radicals. Chapter Two is a hands-on chapter, providing plenty of guide- lines and suggestions for developing your rhetorical skills. It begins by addressing the two most basic skills: public speaking and writing. These skills, while not what everyone wants or needs, easily trans- fer to other activist-related issues, e.

In each case we need to develop a clear message that can be effectively communicated to other people. This chapter tackles that concern head-on. The chapter also provides instructions for creating a rhetorical package, which includes a message, audience, strategy, goal and situation. The chapter then addresses different rhetorical approaches, like persuasion, argumentation, storytelling and invita- tional rhetoric. Understanding how to use these approaches is im- portant, but we must also develop our rhetorical knowledge.

This involves using current events, history and self-knowledge to your rhetorical advantage. Chapter Two provides a solid starting point for improving your communication skills, your rhetorical skills and your rhetorical knowledge. Main- stream media, political strategists and advertising and marketing agencies understand this all too well. Activists need to take heed and consciously consider the wording of every slogan, sentence and de- mand. Language, thus understood, becomes a tool for radical social change.

Deploying the right language can mean the difference be- tween success and failure. Chapter Four expands the scope of rhetoric by addressing body rhetoric. At the very least, body rhetoric involves the look, feel and style of your physical gestures, the messages of your nonverbal com- munication and the meanings and effects of your bodily actions.

And just as you can improve your verbal rhetoric, you can also improve your body rhetoric. Since your body is the site of your everyday liv- ing, you can cultivate it into a site of radical activity and rhetorical engagement. The chapter provides examples of and guidelines for improving these forms of rhetoric. Chapter Five, the last chapter, summarizes and extends the purpose of the entire book: it provides guidelines for building twenty-first century radical rhetoric.

The chapter begins with ten observations of contemporary activist rhetoric. Understanding our current actions helps pave the way for future actions.

We discuss some examples of network rhetoric and then ways to improve as well as move beyond this rhetorical form. The chapter ends by proposing a new approach to radical thought and action. This approach, called neo-radicalism, sets forth a new ori- entation toward activism that is based on the immaterial and com- municative labors of the twenty-first century.

Neo-radicalism is a rhetorically-centered activism that encapsulates the nature and pur- pose of Rhetoric for Radicals. Before closing this preface, I want to lay my motivations on the table. I could easily sit here and write how I am simply trying to make a small contribution, how I am just trying to do my part and how I hope this book will make a tiny ripple in public affairs. All this is true, but only to a degree. Do I think that will actually happen? Do I think that this book will start a revolution?

Occupying intersections does not necessarily stop a war. Lying down in front of bulldozers does not necessarily stop apartheid. And shutting down the World Trade Organization does not necessarily stop corporate globaliza- tion. But we commit these actions anyway because the uncertainty of their outcomes is better than the certainty of nothing. I am no dif- ferent. I am trying to change the world and I am doing it through the uncertainties of writing a book.

At times I will give suggestions. At times I will make critiques. At times I will say things that you com- pletely disagree with. Okay, fine.

Then, together, we can move toward a revolution. We can have provocative debates about changing the system. We can talk about past revolutions and their implications for today. And we can dream and romanticize our radicalism. But some real questions soon slap us in the face. Is revolution actually possible today? Is revolution possible within the United States of America? Is it even sensible to talk about the possibility of revolution?

Are we just crazy? Are we out of touch with the times and conditions? The answers to these questions depend on what we mean by revolution. A physical, mili- tant or violent revolution seems foolish. We could not amass enough people with enough violent technology to overthrow the current or- der. The US power structure is armed to the teeth with deadly force.

A couple of Apache helicopters could wipe out entire towns within minutes. We are thus confronted by another impasse, or at least seemingly so. We need a different path to revolution. I believe that rhetorical labor fulfills that need. Rhetoric is not the be-all and end-all for social change and Rhetoric for Radicals is not a blueprint for revolution.

But rhetoric is a necessary component and this book can help us move in that direction. With that in mind, I say to every- one: Radical rhetors of the world, unite! Why Rhetoric for Radicals? Twenty-first century activism advocates for a single world composed of many realities. Swarms of people, identi- ties, orientations, wants and needs are linked by desires for social jus- tice and more meaningful ways of being in the world.

Our political actions are grounded in our experiences of hunger, discrimination, unemployment, bombing, occupation, brutality and empire. Diverse movements rise up in opposition to these conditions and we insist that another world is not only possible but absolutely necessary. We improvise, strategize and experiment as we organize local and global resistances, rebellions, revolutions and liberations.

But there is an unintended re- sidual effect: our twenty-first century radicalism suffers from a rhe- torical crisis. We continuously work, act and communicate for better real- ities, and we undoubtedly succeed in many of our efforts.

But the general population lacks a widespread sense of the urgent need for. This is standard for most radi- cal projects and most sociopolitical eras. But each project is unique and each era is different. We must look at our own situation and evaluate the efficacy of our efforts. For instance, our ideas, words and arguments, while widely circulated among our own communities, are often absent from the wider sphere of public talk.

Our activism and organizing, while helpful in altering micro- relations and alleviating immediate situations, seem to fall upon too many deaf ears and too many blind eyes. And our political philosophies and ideologies, while thought-provoking and heartfelt, struggle for wider exposure, acceptance and mobilizing force. This gap is a rhetorical issue needing attention and re- dress. If we are to change the world, we must remedy this situation.

That remedy can begin by rigorously attending to the communica- tive aspects of our twenty-first century radicalism. To change the world has thus meant to change the conditions in which we live. Our world — the very thing we are trying to change — in- volves more than material conditions, which are only a small part of our project. The world also involves our experience of those condi- tions.

That experience is influenced, if not quasi-determined, by our languages, perceptions, stories, discourses, ideologies, psychologies, social relations and worldviews. In other words, we must consider both the material conditions and the immaterial rhetoric that sur- rounds those conditions. Activists always consider rhetoric to some degree.

We continually argue over the look and design of demon- strations and direct actions; the wording of manifestos and speeches; and the usefulness of ideologies, philosophies and analyses. This is mistaken and debilitating. Undervaluing the rhet- oric of our efforts hinders our communication with, and our political efficacy within, the wider public arena. We are due for a paradigmatic shift that equally considers both the material and immaterial.

Let me be as clear as possible here. I am not asking us to reject or ignore our material concerns. We need to eat, be clothed, procure safe and affordable housing, receive quality healthcare, have access to reliable transportation, attain environmental sustainability, etc.

We need to fight and overturn dictatorships, military regimes, capital- ist infrastructures and gargantuan bureaucratic factories that phys- ically house and produce modern day inequalities. These material concerns correlate with the wants and needs of our living, breath- ing bodies.

Take revolution, for example. A true revolution involves more than replacing governmental, economic, or political systems. Socialism within the United States would not necessarily eradicate racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, homophobia, etc. Changing the system is good, but it does not nec- essarily mean new and better realities.

True revolutions occur when people begin to see and understand themselves, each other and their world in radically different ways. Revolution occurs when people un- dergo a rhetorical shift that breaks with the past and creates a new framework for different actions, ideas and social relations.

Such rev- olutionary shifts can occur on an individual basis, but are most pow- erful on a mass level. Hundreds, thousands, and hopefully millions of people undergoing revolutionary shifts in their rhetorical orien- tations sets the conditions for the possibility of profound and long- lasting social change.

They are also creating new lan- guages, discourses, lifestyles, relations and ways of being and acting. That is to say, they are undergoing rhetorical shifts.

Attending to and facilitating such shifts is the concern of radical rhetoricians and the domain of rhetoric for radicals. This rhetorical call to action overlaps with some of the popu- lar language coming from contemporary network and affective theo- rists and activists: We must fashion ourselves into the cognitariats and immaterial laborers of the general intellect. That is, we must be- come radical rhetoricians who engage and alter the perceptions and languages of contemporary living.

In brief, the cognitariat is a com- bination of cognitive worker and proletariat. And the general intellect refers to the collective intelligence or so- cial knowledge of a society at a given historical period. These terms emerged over the last twenty to thirty years, beginning with such Italian theorists as Antonio Negri, Paolo Virno, Maurizio Lazzarato, Franco Berardi and others.

These ideas have been expanded, migrat- ing throughout a cross-continental vernacular of networks and af- fectivity. If this is true, then resolving our rhetorical crisis is absolutely important.

I believe that our rhetorical crisis coexists with, and is uninten- tionally influenced by, our evolving anti-authoritarianism. The majority are not. This book is one step toward ending global deforestation and climate change. Additionally, New Sodety purchases carbon offsets based on an annual audit, operating with a carbon-neutral footprint. For ftirther information, or to browse our ftdl list of boofa and purchase securely, visit our website at: www. By Emily Winderman.

Argumentation Across the Disciplines By P.