Organizing working-class renters across Western New York usually just happens directly from my desk out in Tonawanda. Recognizing the reality of my own physical capacity means I don't actually stand on porches in the rain to build structural leverage. I build localized beachheads in places like the Masten and Ellicott districts using video chats and text messages instead. Massive corporate portfolios operate with near-total impunity because they bank on the isolation of individual tenants to prevent any coordinated pushback so we refuse to play along with that extractive game.
And putting Intersectional Pacifist Social Anarchism (IPSA) into practice means we teach neighbors how to build defensive infrastructure instead of waiting for municipal politicians to suddenly care. Through The Rising Tide Fellowship we educate the community on a cooperative strategy we call The Squeeze where people learn to legally set up pocket escrows. You literally just withhold your rent in a separate savings account and don't touch it until critical repairs get finished. Hitting an absentee property owner right in their balance sheet shifts the power dynamic directly back to the block. Total daily grind.
But lasting transformation requires serious patience. Grassroots labor involves having those slow difficult conversations with neighbors over an app to break down the barriers that keep everyone vulnerable to exploitation. We just keep stacking those bricks. A rising tide lifts all boats when we invest directly in each other.
Let's build something beautiful.
Eddie Tatu Harris (Edward Todd Harris III)
Circle Steward, The Rising Tide Fellowship
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