A Perfect Storm
I’ll be blunt – this is going to be a difficult year for the RFC. The storm clouds are gathering. Authoritarian forces are now actively attempting to resuscitate COINTELPRO tactics, bring “evidence” generated by torture into court and apply draconian post-9/11 laws to progressive activists. New demands for our support are coming from a dizzying array of sources. These include the San Francisco 8 case I described in my last report, the “Green Scare” cases in the Pacific Northwest in which environmental activists face long prison terms after being convicted of property damage crimes that the government calls terrorism, and the recently convened grand jury to investigate - yet again - the Puerto Rican Independence movement. The imprisonment of anti-war activists, jailing of military resisters and mounting attacks on immigrants are all part of this repressive offensive. Little wonder that in the last two years we’ve awarded $825,000.
Let me put that last number in perspective. We’ve been making grants for seventeen years, but in the last two years we’ve awarded more than all the funds we gave away during our first ten combined!
I fervently hope that we can maintain this pace, and we take heart because we know that you are just as dedicated to our mission as we are. But we face a daunting challenge. The giant sucking sound progressive non-profits are hearing is the Presidential election campaign vacuuming up every spare dollar. It isn’t just the presidency, there’s a blizzard of Congressional races, state and local contests and ballot initiatives. It happens every four years, but this time around the desperation of so many progressive people to quench disastrous right-wing wild fires will further deplete all reservoirs of funds.
Add the recession to the mix and we’re in for a perfect storm of negative circumstances. Each day brings mounting losses. When people are facing foreclosure, worrying about health insurance and paying gargantuan heating bills, they are less able to contribute. At the same time the RFC’s operating costs are rising dramatically.
I don’t wish to alarm you with dire predictions. The RFC is positioned to weather this storm. It has not caught us by surprise. We intend to meet this challenge and will redouble our efforts to raise sufficient resources to award an additional $400,000 in 2008. I thank every one of you, not only for your support in this trying time, but for all your efforts to bring about a more just and humane world – a new world in which activists are no longer targeted and their children no longer require our aid.