GROWING OUR NUMBERS – HOW YOU CAN HELP

What does it mean to “join” or “sign up” for Indivisible? 

You don’t get a membership card.  We are a movement, more than an “organization.”  There are no dues, and you don’t get to vote for officers.  There are no "membership benefits," beyond information and the sense of being a part of something (and that is important).

But we do think and talk in terms of “growing our membership,” and need your help with that.

Here in the Indianapolis metro area, “Indivisible” went dormant during the Biden administration, existing mostly as a Facebook Group with 2300 “members” (there’s that word again).  Starting after last November’s election, a handful of us started meeting on Zoom to begin reviving the local organization and creating events in which people could participate. 

Since the first of the year, 2000 additional people have joined the Facebook page, and since we launched a website and weekly e-newsletter we have added 2800 subscribers there (obviously, there is a lot of overlap).  Seeing those numbers grow has been rewarding, but that needs to be just the tip of the iceberg.

Saving our democracy depends on it.

What should “our numbers” be?   

You’re probably familiar with the magical “3.5%” number, based on the research of Harvard scholar Erica Chenoweth – essentially, that since 1900, non-violent resistance has been twice as successful as violent revolution in achieving regime change, and that no movement that engaged 3.5% of the population has failed.  (If you’re not familiar, read this: The '3.5% rule': How a small minority can change the world.

There are just under two million people in the 8-county metro Indy area; 3.5% of that number would be 70,000.  Is that our goal?  Not necessarily.  Not everyone who becomes “engaged” in the resistance is going to sign up for OUR newsletter.  There are many other groups doing good work, and we try to cross-promote each other.

On the other hand, 70,000 may not be enough.  Most of the data in Chenoweth’s research is drawn from movements, from Portugal to The Philippines, where people rose up against an established, complacent or cowed or calcified status quo.  Today we are challenging a regime that was swept into power by ill-informed people with fresh revolutionary fervor of their own.  It might take more than 3.5% to win this battle of wills. 

But the numbers are there.  412,000 of the 1.4 million eligible voters in the 8-county area voted for Kamala Harris last fall (and some of the half million who didn’t bother to vote might be regretting that choice).   We should consider each of them potential supporters.

And, to be frank – five thousand people demonstrating on the Statehouse lawn is important and energizing, and encourages people to do more.  But it isn’t likely to cow the Republican legislators who don’t expect to face the voters in a free and fair election again.   Tens of thousands of us, locally, and tens of millions nationally … showing up in person, writing, calling; supporting the vulnerable neighbors who are the first targets of MAGA’s attacks with our voices and our donations … that might start to move the needle.

And if tens of thousands of us locally and tens of millions of us nationally start changing our buying habits – that might be what causes corporate America to start contacting their bought-and-paid for Republican Members of Congress and saying, “All right, enough, let’s get rid of this clown show.”

So this is where you come in.  If you have found an Indivisible event or webinar or newsletter helpful, please tell your friends about it.  Send them this link Sign Up | Indivisible Central, and/or invite them to request to join our private Facebook page here Indivisible Central Indiana | Facebook 

There is no reason we can’t all start doing this right now.  But if we really want to make progress, what we need is to get a team working on this with a systemized strategy that sets goals, monitors progress, evaluates what is working and what isn’t, and follows up. 

We can also start building engagement through localized small-group meetings – town by town in surrounding counties, township by township in Indianapolis, even neighborhood by neighborhood.  It is hard to have small group meetings and invite people from across eight counties.  But six weeks ago in Franklin, 47 people were invited to a ‘learn more about Indivisible’ meeting, and 31 of them showed up.  Since then they have gathered for two ‘sign-making’ parties, organized carpools to rallies in Indianapolis, and collaborated with other groups to create two separate demonstrations within Johnson County in the past two weeks.

That is a model that can play out again in living rooms and patios, and side rooms in restaurants, and library meeting rooms, and park shelters across central Indiana.  We just need people equipped and prepared to promote and implement them. 

If you are interested in getting to work on an action team to help build our numbers, email us at info@indivisiblecentralindiana.org.  We can meet by Zoom, we can meet in small clusters in person, we can make it work for our personal schedules. 

Trump’s first 100 days were designed to shock and awe, to disorient and demoralize us.  Let’s show him that what he’s really done is awakened a sleeping giant.

Ron Newlin

for the Indivisible Central Indiana Team