Accountability starts with us
June 28, 2023
I usually write about the history of organizers in the nonviolent tradition, such as Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Cesar Chavez, and Dorothy Day. These stories from the past serve to inspire, but in this (slightly longer than usual) post, I’ve decided to write more about how to apply their lessons to the present day. Specifically, the next 30-day Gandhi challenge starting July 1.
There is a link to the free registration at the end; if you know anyone else interested in assembling a movement for nonviolent social change, please share this post.
These challenges serve multiple purposes. First and foremost, they are about personal self-improvement; and we’re always capable of being better and doing better. Putting our goals in writing makes us more likely to succeed at them. Establishing them as group activities also encourages accountability, like having a partner to go to the gym with regularly.
The core challenge is 30 days of sobriety plus two 24-hour fasts, with regular and rotating challenges that can be added on. Extra fasting, walking, and meatless diets are the standing options; July’s rotating challenges are cold showers and daily writing, and there’s an extra space on the registration form for any other goal someone wants to set for themselves during the 30 days.
The fast on the 15th of each month is a fast for peace, which establishes a shared experience around a common goal. The difficulty of abstaining from intoxicants for 30 days depends on an individual’s own relationship with them. I was a heavy drinker for many years, and while sobriety is my regular routine these days, I appreciate the opportunity to share experiences with others who’ve dealt with it, past or present.
I also appreciate the opportunity to challenge myself and step outside my comfort zone. Cold showers are not my favorite activity! But doing them for a month here and there makes me more resilient, anti-fragile. In July, there will be a series of posts about Gandhi’s time with the British army in 1906; he wrote about the virtues of living roughly as a way to strengthen oneself.
Self-improvement challenges are just one piece of a larger puzzle. I’ve written elsewhere about how they are part of a Gandhian constructive program, one designed to steer social, cultural, electoral, and legislative reforms in the United States through the American Union of swing voters. The fast for peace serves as a hub for these pieces, building a shared intention to cooperate.
The intention is important. Giving up individual vices is a worthy goal, but it’s possible to exchange them for others, resulting in a net negative. For example, the Proud Boys are known today as an alt-right white supremacist group, but at their founding, giving up porn and masturbation was a requirement. (This is also one of the rotating optional challenges.)
Through the constructive program, that extra time and energy can steer the culture in a positive direction. For members of the American Union, completion of the 30 day challenge qualifies individuals to take on the role of organizer. This helps establish national standards (like franchisees) that keep the movement grounded in nonviolence. Organizers accept responsibility for growing the union of swing voters, building the necessary political leverage to unstick the gears of the legislative machinery in Congress.
Because of the gridlock in Washington, the final piece of the program is establishing a people’s legislative assembly in 2024 to crowdsource the legislative package that will encompass the collective demands for the American Union. Organizers from each Congressional district will be selected by the members to serve in the assembly. Eligibility to be a delegate rests on regular completion of these challenges and a vow of sobriety during sessions of the assembly.
I’ll be presenting an overview of the program and the 2024 election campaign on Zoom on June 29 at 7:30 pm ET. For those interested in becoming organizers in the nonviolent revolution, there will be a half-hour information session afterward, at 8:30 pm, in the same Zoom room. Register for the event at this link.
The political system is broken in the United States; frustrated people often complain how hard it is to hold politicians accountable, and there’s some truth to that.
But let’s try holding ourselves accountable first, 30 days at a time. We can be the change we want to see in the world. Register for July’s 30-day Gandhi challenge today.
For today’s discussion question, what’s something you couldn’t go without for a month?