Newsletter #28
Beyond deliverism | Affective patterns | Authoritarian brains
Hi folks,
Congratulations to all those who were successful in their efforts to influence UK systems towards just, regenerative futures as part of the General Election – sending you much care and resolve as your work continues.
There’s a lot going on, so we’ll get straight into the shares this week.
Shared in solidarity
Shares
Key: 📝 Article | 📋 Report | 🎙️ Podcast | 🎬 Film
The Death Of Deliverism
Deepak Bhargava, Shahrzad Shams, Harry Hanbury; Democracy Journal (2023)
This has been doing the rounds lately, reportedly gracing the desks of many a newly-minted Labour MP. It challenges a “naive”, “transactional” vision of politics which fails to recognise or respond to widespread unhappiness across “landscapes of despair”, creating fertile ground for authoritarianism’s “emotional alchemy” which “overrides facts and material reality”. It presents an urgent rallying cry to “take social connection, isolation, and community much more seriously”; reinvigorate the “craft” and “mindset” of organising; and recognise that our task is not to “find the magic message or to deliver more popular policies”, but instead ”to offer a compelling, energizing, persuasive vision of the good life and to organize mass-based organizations through which people shape and live out those values in the here and now.”
#deepnarrative #tactics
Outgrowing Modernity Test Signals
Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures
An excerpt from the upcoming book: ‘Outgrowing Modernity: Navigating Complexity, Complicity and Collapse With Compassion and Accountability’, from a chapter titled: ‘Molecular colonialism: Affective Patterns of Identity and Relationship Building’. It explores how our “hierarchical worldview,” which “undermines our senses and sensibilities, blocking our sense of belonging to the wider metabolism of Earth and beyond” is crucially “not only based on cognitive biases but is also structured libidinally and neurophysiologically around affective and relational patterns grounded in separability, which are more difficult to interrupt than cognitive biases.” The chapter offers a map for understanding these “affective patterns” and how we might develop “relational intelligence, wisdom and maturity”.
#deepnarrative #tactics
How Can Philanthropy Fund Narrative Power at Scale?
Virginia Ruan; Funders Collaborative Hub
A write up of the session held at Philea, in which Isabel Crabtree-Condor (Oxfam Novib), Abi Knipe (Global Narrative Hive and Funders Initiative for Civil Society), Chiara K. Cattaneo (Elemental), and Mandy Van Deven (Both/And Solutions and Elemental) discussed what it will take for philanthropy to “effectively resource narrative strategies”. There were calls for “intersectional collaboration as a starting point, not an end goal”, taking the necessary time to come together “to build trust and meaningful relationships”; for philanthropy to “recognise its current power and its full potential in the narrative space by contributing resources to a vision of a collective future we all care about and nurturing this vision of the future in the present through concrete actions”, and “getting involved in learning and practice spaces…to identify and unravel the myths that dictate how our sector operates.”
#narrativestrategy #tactics
Voters Demand Change To The Status Quo
UCL Policy Lab, More In Common
“A final warning to Britain’s political mainstream that the way Britain works needs to change and that politicians need to show more respect for ordinary people...Two thirds of the public think the new Labour Government has a strong mandate to bring about that change - including more than six in ten of those who backed parties other than Labour…the unprecedented levels of political fragmentation and high abstentionism of July’s election were driven by growing cynicism towards politics and a sense of futility that the political mainstream simply can’t deliver for ordinary people.”
#insight
Why the Far Right is Winning in Europe
Yanis Varoufakis; NEF
An exploration of the simple, deceptive, and devastatingly effective narrative strategy employed by authoritarian / fascist power-seekers. Following a clear formula – 1. I will look after you (but only with “crumbs off the table of the rich”, and provided you stay quiet), 2. So let’s all unite against the other, 3. And make our country great again – the power of people is being systematically diminished by coordinated, fast-moving actors, and our own supposedly ‘progressive’ leaders are at best not effectively responding, and at worst fuelling far right fires. Includes a detailed critique of Labour’s manifesto, our energy system, and the socialist agenda. Also see.
#tactics #narrativestrategy
🎙️ Listen here
The Brain On Authoritarianism
Horizons Project, Beyond Conflict
“Created to support broad-based ‘united front’ organizing in response to the rising authoritarian threat in the US and globally. Better understanding the brain’s response to fear, toxic othering, and threats to social identity will help pro-democracy organizers to confront the authoritarian playbook and come together across difference to work more effectively towards a multi-racial, pluralistic, and inclusive democracy.” Also see.
#tactics #deepnarrative
🎬 See here
Adventures in Democracy
Audrey Tang, Jon Alexander; The Conduit
“In much of the world, democracy is at a low ebb, with autocrats, authoritarians, and outright fascists on a seemingly inexorable rise. Could the UK be different, despite the lack of a sense of excitement or transformation around the General Election campaign? Could this be a place where the democratic tide turns, and rises? What would it take to make that happen? There is a blueprint. In the face of the intense geopolitical pressure and deep disinformation, Taiwan has in the last decade become a beacon of hope for how democracy might be built on a foundation that enables pluralism and broad human flourishing, rather than stagnation and polarisation. Audrey Tang has been a key figure in the story throughout, working first from outside government and later as a Minister. Often, the narrative puts technology and democracy at loggerheads but through her work, Audrey has shown that they can be powerful allies.”
#tactics #narrativestrategy
🎬 See here
Capitalism
Scene On Radio, Duke University, Imperative21
“Invites listeners, from the curious to the skeptical, on a long-form journey to move beyond one-sided stories and explore the origins and expressions of capitalism to better imagine a range of possible futures. The series is the new season of the award-winning Scene on Radio podcast, already downloaded over 10 million times, hosted by investigative journalist John Biewen with co-host, acclaimed business journalist Ellen McGirt, produced by Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University and in partnership with Imperative21.”
#deepnarrative
🎙️ Hear here
Money Talks: Tax
Black Sands Communications
New research on public attitudes towards tax from a survey of more than 10,500 people across 7 countries (the US, UK, France, Germany, Brazil, Kenya and South Africa). The team behind the research also created a new formula for how to communicate for impact, to win public support for tax and unlock money for action on climate and development. Watch the recording of the launch event; explore the Money Talks: Tax key insights and recommendations; explore the new interactive data dashboard for the research; see an overview of their insights and recommendations.
#insight #messaging #tactics
📋 See here
Courses, Jobs, Events
Key: 🎓 Course | 💼 Job | 🗓️ Event
Coaching Pod
Act Build Change | Online, 3 months, Sept-Dec | Deadline: 4th Aug
“This work reaffirms our commitment to make the methods of organising and collective care accessible to everyone who wants to end injustice in their lives and to build better worlds for all of us. Our goal is to continue supporting community organisers in their leadership development, providing them with the resources and networks they need to navigate the complexities of their social justice work, and how they can use coaching as a tool to support this mission. If you or someone in your network would benefit from journeying with a group of organising peers every fortnight, we are accepting expressions of interest and we encourage you to apply via the application form.”
Senior Community Organiser
Act Build Change | Online / National | Deadline: 15th Aug
“Lead in designing and delivering our transformative organising training and coaching to an excellent standard. You will ensure we are building new partnerships, growing our membership and recruiting new leaders to our community. You will support teams and collectives on the ground to shape their strategy and win local and national victories across the country. You will work closely with the team to ensure our training and events are well attended, of quality and that we continue to work closely with communities experiencing oppression.”
Collective Care Trainer
Act Build Change
“There is a significant demand for our work and we are working hard to grow in a sustainable way, ensuring the quality of our work is never compromised by the quantity of requests. We need someone exceptional to play a key role in designing, delivering and developing our collective care programmes and community organising training to an excellent standard. You will work closely with the Head of Collective Care, fellow Collective Care Trainer, Director and wider team to develop and manage our care training programmes with a trauma informed and anti-racist approach; primarily for those working in the migration sector and to dismantle the hostile environment.”
Illuminating Spiritual Innovation: A Global Webinar
Sacred Design Lab | 5th Sept | 4-5:30 BST | Online
“Underpinning the crises of our world is a crisis of spirit. To turn the tide toward flourishing, we need spiritual innovation. Join us as we launch our new report, Illuminating Spiritual Innovation, and learn about the innovators from Tokyo to Nairobi who are addressing the spiritual longings of our day. This Zoom webinar will bring together a global network of practitioners, scholars, organizational leaders, and others interested in understanding and supporting the burgeoning landscape of spiritual innovation.”
Quotes
(This selection of quotes is intended as a resource, in the hope that they may be useful for your own communications.)
“Democracy is a problem that capital is always trying to solve.” – George Monbiot
“Hegemony is defined as the predominant and pervasive influence of one state, religion, region, class, or group… A hegemonic society functions not just to establish a homogeneous way of thinking, but also to try to make any alternative disappear… One might say hegemony is ‘the language of conquest.’“ – Paul Kivel
“Our ability to dream of something different, to name longing, to articulate a vision and commit to it, directly correlates to the likelihood that we will experience it, that it will be realized." – Prentis Hemphill
“We're in the world, not against it. It doesn't work to try to stand outside things and run them, that way. It just doesn't work, it goes against life. There is a way but you have to follow it. The world is, no matter how we think it ought to be. You have to be with it. You have to let it be.” ― Ursula K. Le Guin
"There are no environmental problems, there are only environmental symptoms of human problems.” – Robert Gilman
Thanks for joining us, see you here again in two weeks.
A reminder that if you have something that you’d love to see in these newsletters, or work you’d like to share in the community sessions, or if you have any feedback, please reach out at inter-narratives@greenfunders.org
Very best,
Paddy & Ella