EJ advocates lack the power base to win without fusing movements

Evidence

Movement fusion is a necessary ingredient for the long-term success of the Environmental Justice Movement because, put simply, environmental justice advocates do not have a large enough power base to win the larger struggle for justice on their own. But this fusion is transformative, not only for its possibilities of generating the power necessary to win policy debates but because cross-fertilization brings new ideas, such as pollution prevention and more democratic decision-making processes, to the fore. — Luke W. Cole and Sheila R. Foster, From the Ground Up, 723 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

The idea of politics I’m suggesting here assumes a different kind of leadership. It insists on the capacities and responsibilities of everyday, ordinary black people and urges them to reach for a higher self even in opportunity deserts. Those deserts are fertile ground to be politically creative. They are the places in which we can think, reflect, and act anew. They provide opportunities to expand the very idea of who matters in the context of struggle with others and let us see ourselves as our own saviors. Ferguson showed us that. — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black, 624 (#contradicts, via linked claim)

The court found specifically that “the opportunity to make public comment without the power to apply political pressure on the decision makers does not constitute a situation where people who are affected have a real voice in the decision.” Unfortunately, a Michigan Appeals Court soon reversed the Circuit Court’s decision. — Luke W. Cole and Sheila R. Foster, From the Ground Up, 567 (#qualifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Environmental problems manifest larger structural problems, so EJ must fuse movements; EJ activism shifts from facility opposition to contesting decision-making legitimacy; EJ groups succeed by building power outside formal decision-making structures (+6 more)

Related

• EJ advocates lack sufficient power to win justice struggles alone (similarity 0.89)
• Movements grow powerful by fusing with other movements on shared agendas (similarity 0.80)
• EJ activism shifts from facility opposition to contesting decision-making legitimacy (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• EJ advocates lack sufficient power to win justice struggles alone #corroborates (0.95) — Luke W. Cole and Sheila R. Foster, From the Ground Up, 723
• Comment without political power does not constitute a real decision-making voice #qualifies (0.78) — Luke W. Cole and Sheila R. Foster, From the Ground Up, 567
• Marginalized communities can politically organize themselves without elite leadership #contradicts (0.78) — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black, 624
• Movement followers provide strength but not its ideas. #expands (0.75) — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers, 34
• Evidence-based advocacy fails when the political configuration is unready for it #complicates (0.73) — , The Rod and the Child, 9030
• The left’s anti-elite movement energy never translated into political power #exemplifies (0.72) — Naomi Klein, Doppelganger, 404