Build Without Broadcasting

Jul 17, 2025 12:00 AM

The concept of "Build Without Broadcasting" represents a fundamental tension in social change work between the necessity of organizing collective power and the imperative to protect participants from retaliation or suppression. This approach recognizes that effective social transformation often requires careful cultivation of community strength while maintaining operational security, particularly when confronting entrenched power structures that may respond with violence or repression.

Historical Parallels in Resistance Movements

Underground Networks and Antifascist Resistance

The most striking historical parallel to "build without broadcasting" emerges from the antifascist resistance movements of World War II. Austrian refugee Oscar Pollak, writing in 1942, described how "underground work is quite different" from its romanticized portrayal, emphasizing that it involved "terribly slow and wary" organizing that was "painstaking drudgery on the edge of prison and death"5. This resistance operated under extreme constraints where "fascist regimes brutally suppressed public displays of defiance such as protest marches, critical publications and civil disobedience, so resistance was forced to retreat into the private sphere"5. Organizers adopted aliases, worked cover jobs, communicated in code, and maintained the appearance of ordinary lives while building networks capable of significant action5.

The Underground Railroad provides another compelling historical example of this principle in action. As noted in resistance literature, this network helped provide "asylum or escape for persecuted people" through carefully constructed underground organizations that protected both the organizers and those they served6. The success of the Underground Railroad depended entirely on its ability to build extensive networks of safe houses and committed participants while maintaining absolute secrecy about operations and participants.

Civil Rights Movement and Community Organizing

The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s demonstrates how "build without broadcasting" operated in a different context. While the movement became famous for its public demonstrations, much of its foundational work occurred through careful community organizing that built relationships and power before going public7. The movement's success depended on years of patient organizing in communities, creating networks of trust and commitment that could withstand violent retaliation when they eventually took public action8.

The Amazon Labor Union provides a contemporary example of this principle. Chris Smalls began with a simple table outside an Amazon warehouse, engaging in one-on-one conversations with workers to build relationships and understand their concerns8. This grassroots approach focused on building authentic connections and collective understanding before attempting any public action, demonstrating how effective organizing often requires extensive relationship-building that occurs below the public radar.

Theoretical Frameworks for Understanding "Build Without Broadcasting"

Gramsci's Counter-Hegemony and the War of Position

Antonio Gramsci's concept of building counter-hegemony provides a theoretical framework for understanding why building without broadcasting is essential to social change. Gramsci distinguished between the "war of position" (the slow process of building cultural and ideological influence) and the "war of maneuver" (direct confrontation with the state)9. The "build without broadcasting" approach aligns with Gramsci's war of position, recognizing that lasting social change requires developing alternative consciousness and organizational capacity within communities before engaging in direct confrontation with existing power structures.

This approach acknowledges that hegemonic power operates not just through force but through cultural and ideological influence. Building counter-hegemonic consciousness requires creating spaces where people can develop critical understanding and collective identity away from the dominant culture's surveillance and influence. Broadcasting too early can expose these fragile alternative formations to suppression before they have developed sufficient strength to withstand opposition.

Security Culture and Operational Security

The concept of "security culture" in organizing provides another theoretical lens for understanding this approach. Security culture recognizes that social change work often involves challenging powerful interests that may respond with surveillance, infiltration, or violence6. This framework emphasizes the importance of protecting participants, information, and organizational capacity through careful attention to operational security.

Security culture requires organizers to think systematically about what information needs to be shared, with whom, and under what circumstances. It involves creating organizational structures that can continue functioning even if some members are compromised or arrested. This approach recognizes that the safety of participants and the long-term viability of the movement may depend on maintaining discretion about plans, participants, and capabilities until the organization has sufficient strength to withstand opposition.

Network Theory and Community Engagement

Building Relationships Before Broadcasting

Network organizing theory, as applied by organizations like Lawrence CommunityWorks, emphasizes that effective organizing requires building dense networks of relationships before attempting public action10. This approach recognizes that "chronic disengagement" is a fundamental challenge in many communities, and that simply broadcasting messages or organizing public events without first building relationships and trust will likely fail10.

The network approach focuses on connecting people to each other and to opportunities for engagement "in a way that feels safe, fun and productive"10. This requires extensive one-on-one relationship building, small group conversations, and the creation of multiple entry points for participation. Only after these networks are established and trust is developed can the organization effectively engage in public action.

Prefigurative Politics and Creating Alternative Spaces

The concept of prefigurative politics—creating the change you want to see in the world—provides another theoretical framework for understanding "build without broadcasting." This approach recognizes that social change is not just about achieving specific policy outcomes but about developing new forms of social organization and consciousness11. Creating alternative spaces where people can experience more democratic, equitable, and just relationships is itself a form of social change work.

Building without broadcasting allows organizers to create these prefigurative spaces without immediate exposure to hostile external forces. Communities can experiment with new forms of decision-making, mutual aid, and collective action in relatively protected environments. These experiments can then serve as models and inspiration for broader social change efforts.

Contemporary Applications and Challenges

Digital Age Considerations

The digital age presents new challenges and opportunities for "build without broadcasting" approaches. Social media platforms can facilitate rapid communication and organizing, but they also create new vulnerabilities to surveillance and disruption12. Contemporary organizers must navigate the tension between using digital tools to build networks and maintaining the security and privacy necessary for effective organizing.

The concept of "digital dissidents" illustrates how technology can be used to challenge power structures while maintaining operational security12. However, these same technologies can also be used by opposing forces to monitor, infiltrate, or disrupt organizing efforts. This requires sophisticated understanding of digital security and careful consideration of which organizing activities should occur online versus offline.

Building Diverse Coalitions

Contemporary social change work increasingly requires building coalitions across different communities and issues9. The "build without broadcasting" approach provides a framework for developing these coalitions by emphasizing relationship-building and trust development before attempting public action. This allows different groups to understand each other's perspectives, develop shared analysis, and create sustainable partnerships.

The concept of "co-resistance" demonstrates how different groups can support each other's organizing efforts while maintaining their own security and autonomy9. This approach recognizes that effective social change often requires coordination between multiple organizations and communities, but that this coordination must be built on strong relationships and shared understanding rather than simply broadcasting calls for unity.

Conclusion

The principle of "build without broadcasting" reflects a sophisticated understanding of how social change actually occurs. Historical examples from the Underground Railroad to contemporary labor organizing demonstrate that effective organizing requires extensive relationship-building, network development, and capacity building before engaging in public action. This approach recognizes that lasting social change requires developing alternative consciousness and organizational forms within communities, often under conditions where premature exposure could lead to suppression or retaliation.

The theoretical frameworks of counter-hegemony, security culture, and network organizing provide tools for understanding why this approach is necessary and how it can be implemented effectively. These frameworks emphasize that social change is not simply about achieving specific policy outcomes but about building the collective capacity for communities to exercise power and create more just and equitable social arrangements.

Contemporary organizers must navigate new challenges presented by digital technologies and increasingly sophisticated opposition, but the fundamental principles of building relationships, developing trust, and creating protected spaces for collective development remain essential. The "build without broadcasting" approach provides a framework for balancing the need to organize collective power with the imperative to protect participants and maintain the long-term viability of social change movements.

Historical Parallels and Theoretical Frameworks in Social Change Work