Michael Shellenberger is an unconventional political strategist and advocate whose work poses a fundamental challenge to progressives' traditional "complaint-based activism." (A delightfully apt phrase.) Co-founder of the New Apollo Alliance, a "coalition within the labor, environmental, business, urban, and faith communities in support of good jobs and energy independence," and founder of the Breakthrough Institute, a progressive advocacy shop/think tank, Shellenberger was recently interviewed by Marc Polonsky of The Sun on Why Liberals Need to Abandon Complaint-Based Activism (sorry, PDF only):
[Shellenberger] came to the conclusion that "complaint-based activism" was ultimately ineffective, and that single-issue progressive organizations and social movements had, in many cases, become special interests...
[Despite achieving tactical success in an earlier anti-sweatshop campaign that targeted Nike, Shellenberger now says,]..."All we had was a set of complaints and demands. We didn't have a positive vision for the future of the industry that would help Nike become a force for good in the world. The Nike campaign taught me the limits of protest politics...
[In discussions that led to the formation of the New Apollo Alliance, Shellenberger asked]..."What if we started looking at the car companies and the United Auto Workers not as opponents, but as potential allies? What would it be like if we made an alliance among businesses, unions, and environmentalists for a grand plan to end our dependence on oil and create millions of new jobs?"
I'm quite sure that Shellenberger and I would have plenty of political differences. (According to Polonsky's article, another Shellenberger venture has provided consulting services to Hugo Chavez, the Venezelan leader who's either a populist hero or a neo-totalitarian, depending on your worldview.) But I strongly support his vision of moving beyond the Us vs. Them paradigm and finding common ground among groups that have historically worked at cross purposes.
Hat tip to the indefatigable Michael Gilbert.