Education, scholarship and our movement

I recently attended the Poverty Initiative’s Poverty Scholars Strategic Dialog series in NYC.  This most recent gathering was the fifth in a series that included 3 other weekend conferences and a week-long Leadership School.  Representatives from poor people’s organizations from around the country attend these gatherings, and there we share experiences, strategies, and methodologies from our organizing to build a movement to end poverty, led by poor people.

When I go to these dialogs, I end up feeling nourished and replenished in a way that can be hard to find elsewhere.  I am encouraged by the excellent people there; I am intellectually stimulated by the ideas and experiences that are shared, and I’m more and more committed to developing this movement.  Something that struck me this weekend was how seriously the Poverty Scholars program takes the work of study and scholarship, and how valuable that commitment is. 

It can be challenging to carry out the intellectual work that we need in order to build our movement.  In our society, scholarly work is often mocked and devalued, with people who do this work being portrayed as nerds, pinheads, etc.  We’re often told it’s better to act than to think.  Even within circles of people who are working to make a better world, the urgent pressures that come from organizing in situations where people are suffering can make study or scholarly work seem like a lesser priority, or even a luxury that we can’t afford.  And in our society, poor and working people are often incorrectly told that they’re not smart enough to do this work, and our unjust educational system makes decent education inaccessible to millions of us. 

In the face of all these challenges, the Poverty Scholars Program (PSP) is offering something immensely valuable, something that I haven’t seen anywhere else.  If our movement can’t generate a comprehensive, in–depth analysis of what’s happening in our world, and effective strategies to change these conditions, we simply can’t win.  The PSP is creating a space where that analysis and strategy can be developed, and where people can really learn from each other at a high level.  It is generating a really complex and innovative analysis of current events, particularly around the economic crisis, that really can’t be found anywhere else.   It is respecting all of our intelligence and giving venues for that intelligence to shine.  And it is showing the world that powerful scholarship, intellectual work, and political strategy can come from poor people and from a poor people’s movement. 

I feel really lucky to be part of this experience, and to contribute to it.  It shows me again and again how intelligent and creative the people being thrown away by this society really are, and that’s a really hopeful thing.   It’s a pleasure to be in an environment where our minds and our intelligence are valued and stimulated, and can be unleashed toward building the movement for a better world.