Alumni Profiles Rush Rehm (Stanford faculty, former graduate student) Drama Department and Political Activist profile by JIll Shenker Rush Rehm is a tenured professor in the Drama Department of Stanford University. He was a graduate student at Stanford. What did you call your work (if not "community organizing")? "Some low-level form of political activism." I asked him why he considered it low-level, and he replied that it is low-level in comparison to what some other people do. Rush is always humble about the work he does. What was your first involvement with community organizing? His activism started in college, like many middle- and upper-class white "kids" who start their political involvement in college, if they are going to start at all. The Vietnam War pulled Rush into political activism. He was involved in the student strikes in the 1970s and his college was one of the many that was shut down. From there he joined a speakers bureau and traveled to different universities speaking out on the issue and informing students. He organized a strike at another college as well. During this period he also did some work registering voters in mostly African-American communities with the McGovern's' campaign. What have been your subsequent involvement? After college Rush moved overseas for seven years where he kept from being particularly politically active, mainly out of ignorance and respect for the people whose issues he did not know and, in some ways, could not relate to. When he returned to Stanford as a graduate student he got very involved in Central American issues, especially relating to the role of the United States in El Salvador and Nicaragua. He worked with a student group called, "Stanford Central American Action Network (SCAAN)." His work during this time, and for the most part throughout his life, has been issue based, mostly around foreign policy issues. After he graduated he went to teach at Emory College in Georgia, where he found a supportive environment for his political activism. He worked with politically active students and continued to organize around the atrocities occurring in Central America. When he became a professor at Stanford his political activism continued. He said he never avoided doing or saying anything because of concern about getting tenure. Since he has been here he has continued to work with students on issues surrounding Central America, but has also gotten significantly interested in East Timor. He tries to teach some courses that provide students with an overall framework in which to understand the problems and issues that exist. "I see them [the classes] as part of my contribution to organizing." Since college, he has traveled to Nicaragua, Cuba, and Chiapas to learn and work on the issues in these regions. He has also done civil disobedience in the U.S. in response to these issues on many occasions. What was your initial motivation? The Vietnam was really a spark. It was very difficult to avoid and pushed a lot of people to activism. The powers have since learned to make war easy to avoid. What Rush saw of the resistance of the Vietnamese to the U.S. bombardment was an extremely important motivating factor. There were, of course, some important people who inspired him. Noam Chomsky came and spoke at his college when he was 19, and though he didn't return to Chomsky's work until years later, the speech had a lasting effect. Chomsky has since become more of a model and inspiration to Rush. There were, of course, the folk singers of the day that inspired many, especially Bob Dylan (whose lyrics, at least, influenced Rush) and Joan Baez. The civil rights movement touched the hearts and minds of many individuals and the integrity of Martin Luther King, Jr. was an incredible example for Rush and others. Rush's interest in Central America was sparked by Charlie Clementz and the movies he made. The effect that these films had on him makes him sure that documentary film can be a powerful way to reach people. There were also a couple politician who, in a small way, motivated Rush (McGovern, and G. McCarthy), but since then these people have seized to be models for him, and he has little belief in the system they work in. The most consistent inspiration and motivator for Rush has been seeing the consistent work of local people, people he knows, who do the work all the time. What models were you following? Whose work informed the way you did organizing? "I've never been systematic and I've never really studied [Community Organizing]." "I wanted to do something that got information out to people in a dramatic way....I try to get people to know something they don't know and know it in a way that makes them want to do something about it." I He says, "I haven't really done the slow, hard work of organizing" because of lack of time and patience. What has sustained you in this work/commitment? The examples of others. "Going to the place where the people are suffering is such an inspiration." When he would come back form Nicaragua, Chiapas, Cuba, etc. he would not allow himself to get deactivated by depression. Seeing the people who are in dire situations who continue to fight in the face of incredible hardship put his own work in a context that doesn't allow him to give into depression. "The poverty and inequality screaming at you inspires you to shut up and work." Sometimes it's good to remember the fun of it, sometimes you can find fun in the struggle. "It's not necessarily about always being sober." "I continue to do activism because things outrage me." "I don't know how I could do activism if it didn't harness some of my anger, and there's a lot to be angry about." How did you theorize about your work? What were your theories in action, i.e. the theories that shaped or informed your organizing work? "I have no theory, an ought to." He has read very little theory of community organizing. But there are a few principles he has learned over the years and tries to work by: "Try to listen, especially in international campaigns, to the people who are involved in the struggle." He presumes this principle is transferable to local organizing. It is best to assume that people are rational and understand things. Chomsky is a huge proponent of this idea. Basically, Rush works with the assumption that people have a lot of knowledge they don't know they have, but they also have some knowledge they are conscience of that is not deeply held and can change. See each issue in relationship to others. Rush works within a framework that Chomsky articulates. But, seeing the interrelatedness of things is essential. Thinking in terms of isolated cases only serves the interests of power. Why did you choose organizing for your work? "Outrage Upset Disturbed Angry Fit to Kill Ready to Scream Ready to throw bricks through my T.V." "I find it the most rewarding when I can try t integrate the things I care about and my teaching. I value scholarship, but I think there's a way that universities are fiddling while Rome is burning. The University is producing fiddlers while Rome's burning. Or maybe the University is producing people with matches while Rome's burning." What barriers/ challenges have you faced and continue to face now? Time and sense of being overwhelmed. What concerns do you have about community organizing as it is now being practiced? "I don't believe more is better in general, but in the case of political activism, I think that is right." There simply isn't enough activism going on. People seem to have been tamed. " I assume people are rational, but there are whole institutions set up to not change and the only way to make them change is to confront them," and bother them. "every step cannot be covered in moral glory. "I'm not trying to understand where everyone's coming from. [I am] fed up and [I'm] not gonna take it anymore." Sometimes you have to be smart, confrontive, and use things. Sometimes local anger can be understandable. "Maybe the issue is to be angry, but not to get angry." "There's a lot of politic activism happening I'm not involved in." He hopes that we can all meet on some things and get to the root of what is causing so many of the injustices.