“To each action, there is an equal and opposite reaction”
– Sir Isaac Newton’s Third Law of Motion
You’ve just had your first meeting. Turnout was very good, spirit was high, and it looks as if your organization has a good plan. Naturally, your opposition will now just roll over and die, right?
Wrong! Isaac Newton’s law is only partly correct when applied to organizing: The opposition’s reaction can be overwhelming and unpredictable. When you develop both long-term strategies and short-term tactics for your group, you must try to calculate how the other side will react. Otherwise, you leave yourself open to being “blind-sided.”
Remember this general point: the men and women who represent government or industry and on whom you are pressing your case have probably thought about action/reaction too. In fact, if you are dealing with, for example, a company’s “Community Relations” representative, you can bet that they have received extensive training studying your psychology and your reactions. That individual’s job is to get the most for the company while giving in as little as possible to you. They often think they’ve seen it all; after all, they’ve probably done similar things in other communities – and they really believe you are all probably just a bunch of hysterical amateurs. As long as you keep reminding yourselves of the “rep’s” attitude, you can turn this smugness to your advantage.
With that in mind, here are some typical “reactions” you’re likely to meet:
- Raising side issues
You want to talk about ground contamination. They respond by complaining about government regulations. The best “side issues” for them to get into are things that you know and they know they have no control over.
Your response: stay on point.
- Agreeing to something easy
Typically, they will look to give you something easy, like a promise that “we’ll take that under consideration,” or set up a study or advisory committee to look into it, or a promise to give you some information.
Demand action or a definite, conditional promise (i.e. “We’ll do ‘X’ if you can get so-and-so to do ‘Y’”).
- Divide and conquer
As you may already have discovered, any citizen who decides to challenge people in authority is labeled a “radical.” They may try to call you or your group “socialist,” “woke,” or whatever; they know that this causes splits in the group.
Other “divide and conquer” tactics include offering one faction a concession to entice them to “sell out.” They may also set out several inadequate choices and tell you, “You decide who should get the benefit of the limited resources we have to deal with this problem,” or they may match two citizens’ groups against each other, saying that one community will get the dump and it’s “up to you to choose.”
Watch out for attempts to split your group by pitting one neighborhood against another, one race against the other, or one income group against the other. The best way to avoid “divide and conquer” tactics is to discuss very openly in advance and to be united, while being aware of differences between individuals and groups.
- Symbolic satisfaction
Public officials know how to smile, nod, and use body language and words to give the impression of agreement, when in reality they have no intention of conceding. People can then leave thinking they’ve accomplished something, until, in later discussion of the overall picture, they realize they got nothing.
Get agreements in writing on the spot so that everyone knows exactly what has been accomplished.
- No money
How many times have you heard, “Sorry we just don’t have the money to deal with your very worthy problem.” As Cesar Chavez said, “Don’t tell us what you can’t do; tell us what you can do.”
To tackle this one, analyze the budget and prepare alternatives in advance.
- There’s something wrong with you
In this category there are a hundred little put-downs and insults that they will use to try and shake your confidence, split the group, and justify turning you down. Some examples are:
- “You don’t have all the information we have” (and if you did, either you’d agree with us or, if you didn’t agree, you just didn’t understand it).
- “You’re unreasonable and therefore we can’t continue this discussion. Come back when you’ve calmed down” (which means, when you’re ready to give in).
- “You’re too emotional. How dare you raise your voice or have any feeling for the issue that brought you here” (targets don’t like to talk to people who have a genuine personal stake in the issue).
- “Who does your organization really represent?” (The routine slap in the face. “You’re nothing but a bunch of radical crazies”).
- If we do this for you, we’ll have to do it for everybody
Maybe so but so what? In this case, ask who else has requested it or who else needs it.
- I’m only one vote, or I can’t make this decision alone
This may be true, but again, so what? Here you can ask, “Then what will you do?” or “Who is your superior?”
- We need more information
Sometimes this is a simple stall. Your opponent is most successful with this excuse when he or she not only gets you to believe it, but also gets you to go running around collecting more information.
Things You Can Do To Deal With “Reaction”
Discuss action/reaction among leaders in particular and with the membership as a whole if possible.
Carefully plan any encounter (meeting, action, etc.) you have with officials from the other side. If you’re planning a general meeting, invite the guest to show up one hour after the meeting starts so that everyone in your group can be clear about what the organization wants. If the guest shows up early, (as they often do, deliberately) don’t let him/her in until the appointed time.
Role play and practice the meeting or negotiation. This can be especially effective if either someone in your group knows the guest or if this is not the first time you’ve met.
Have a clear list of what you want.
Post a list of the things you want on large paper so everyone can see.
Summarize what was accomplished at the end of the meeting.