Newsletter #30
Patterns of disinformation | Politics of joy | Lines of flight
Hi everyone,
This week we’re looking ahead to our next Public Session from our team of expert Curators, which will happen at the end of September.
This will be the first of our second round, and we’ll be starting again with a session curated by Adam Corner of Climate Barometer. In the meantime you can catch up on the recordings from our first round here.
Also this week: a few reflections on the recent racist violence here in the UK, some thoughts on narrative strategy and where it’s worked, and a wide array of events and courses.
Shared in solidarity
Public Session
When Climate Communication Works (and When it Doesn’t)
Adam Corner with special guests TBC
Sep 26th | 13:00-14:30 BST | Online
Bringing together four specialists with unique takes on what makes for powerful, effective climate communication – and why – this conversation will explore lessons learned from campaigns, case studies of climate communication that have really landed, and examples that really haven’t. Chaired by Adam Corner, the panelists will rummage around in the climate comms back catalogue (which by now stretches over more than two decades), and shine a light on the most exciting and challenging campaigns around right now. Are we learning from our mistakes? What’s the next frontier for campaigns to navigate in terms of communication and public engagement? What aren't we getting right yet?
Shares
Key: 📝 Article | 🎬 Film | 🎙️ Podcast | 📋 Report | ⚙️ Tool
How To Talk About The Riots
Claire Brown; Larger Us
“What do you say when someone makes it clear they think the violence, racism and Islamophobia we’re seeing on our streets might be justified?” Brown offers Five practical tips for how to disrupt dangerous narratives during “real…hard…scary…but important” conversations. “I managed to catch myself before I went on a huge rant that would have no doubt completely alienated her. If you want to introduce someone to an alternative point of view, ramming it down their throat is the worst way to go about it. When was the last time you changed your mind about something because someone relentlessly berated or shamed you?” Also hear Imran Ahmed’s reflections.
#narrativestrategy #messaging #tactics
Exposing the Real UK Race Riot Instigators
Nafeez Ahmed; Byline Times
“This investigation suggests that the riots were enabled by a pattern of disinformation promoted by far-right influencers with ties to many of the same people involved in the violent insurrection on Capitol Hill four years ago, using tech platforms owned by some of Trump’s most ardent supporters – including Elon Musk and Peter Thiel… Robinson’s connections with Byrne and Messerschmidt, and the amplification of his false claims via key technology platforms controlled by Trump donors, suggest that Britain’s far-right riots were orchestrated by an international far-right network. To acknowledge legitimate concerns around the riots, this reality – and the grave threat it poses to British national security and community cohesion – should be at the top of the list.” Also see.
#insight #tactics
We Need a National Effort to Rebuild After Riots
Polly Curtis, Su Moore, Halima Begum; The Guardian
“The government should launch a ‘build back stronger’ inquiry on the ways that it can further enable society-wide partnership to collaboratively rebuild communities. Importantly, this shouldn’t just draw from the great and the good, but include the citizens who have shown such leadership. It should make recommendations on the ways in which we can learn from the past few days. Crises can bring people and institutions together in ways that before felt unimaginable. We saw it during Covid. But then they dissipate. We shouldn’t let that happen this time around.”
#tactics
Why Kamala Harris’ New Politics of Joy Is the Best Way to Fight Fascism
Anat Shenker-Osorio; Rolling Stone
On the Harris campaign’s recent ‘vibe-shift’, which has “embraced the politics of joy. Not in ignorance of the foe she faces, who is hell bent on taking our freedoms, harming our families, and imperiling our futures. But in full awareness of what it takes to defeat him”, recognising that “elections are made out of grand narratives — storylines that make clear precisely what harms the antagonists have in store and imbue the protagonists — by which I mean the voters — with the agency to select the future they would like. And while this does not come up in issue polling, most people would like that future to be a good time.” Also see.
#narrativestrategy #framing #tactics
The Importance of Cultural Values for Meaningful Change
Common Cause Foundation
“This short animation tells the story of the importance of our cultural values and their role in meaningful, durable systemic change. Join us on a journey that demonstrates the need to shift our mainstream cultural values to intrinsic values such as care, equality, creativity and togetherness in order to step up to meet the multiple social and environmental crises we are navigating.”
#narrativestrategy #deepnarrative
The Transformative Capacity of Narrative and Cultural Strategy
Mandy Van Deven, Angeles Solis, Nyoka Acevedo; The Gia Reader
“The trio explores the transformative capacity of narrative and cultural strategy, drawing from Mandy's insights in her GIA Reader piece, ‘Cultivating the Conditions: Philanthropy’s Role in Fortifying the Infrastructure for Narrative Power.’ This conversation aims to enhance funders' understanding and support for practices that empower organizers to build narrative and cultural power, fostering meaningful and durable transformation. Tune in for a deep dive into youth organizing, relational organizing, and innovative philanthropic practices.” Includes examples of real world narrative work in action.
#narrativestrategy
🎙️ Listen here
Strategy 2025-2028
Power Of Pop Fund
“The Power of Pop Fund is a pooled fund bringing together co-funders who are interested in learning, taking bold funding approaches, and bolstering the pop culture for social justice field in the UK. Transforming societal narratives around justice is a radical and ambitious endeavour. No organisation, company or community can achieve this single handedly. A transformed society will require experimentation and collaboration. It is going to require hopeful and convincing messaging that brings the public along with us. Adopting a pooled fund structure demonstrates collaboration as practice and allows for extensive shared learning and abundant thought leadership across multiple sectors and partners.” Overview here.
#narrativestrategy #messaging #tactics
📋 Report
⚙️ Framework
In The Zones (of Narrative Change Work)
Brett Davidson; IRIS
“The question I am posing is whether an explicit recognition of the zones of narrative change work might enable us to activate each zone more consciously. Can we minimize contradiction and boost mutual support for greater and more lasting impact?” Different efforts operate with different time horizons: some more immediate, others more long-term. This presents a risk that different efforts’ “respective ends and means may be in conflict with one another,” a conflict we may have to “accept and figure out how to live with”, or perhaps “figure out how to do our respective work in a way that – if it can’t immediately support the work of the other zones – at least doesn’t counter it.” Ideally, “a recognition of the distinctions between various zones of narrative work might help us better explore synergies, so that work in each zone actively and intentionally reinforces that in the others.”
#narrativestrategy #deepnarrative
The Patterns Of Narrative
David Snowden; The Cynefin
“When I tell a story, I am in a complex and entangled dance with many other similar story threads; it is not a stand-alone process, and it is, to use some technical language, enacted rather than deliberated… A ‘narrative’ is not just a pattern but an agencement, a constantly evolving ‘entity’ that may stabilise for periods but destabilise in abrupt phrase shifts with little or no warning. It’s not a static or engineered thing. It’s influenced as much, if not more, by your actions than your words and the enactment of any meaning by those around you… You need to understand the current narrative patterns in which you live, the degree to which they have territorialised the domain, the lines of flight which would allow for the possibility of change and, ideally, a mechanism to deterritorialise the domain so that new patterns can emerge.”
#narrativestrategy
Events, Courses & Jobs
Key: 🗓️ Event | 🎓 Course | 💼 Job
Climate Policy Creative Fellowship
Strategic Climate Risks Initiative, UCL Climate Action Unit, Fast Familiar
Deadline: Aug 24th, 17:00 | Runs: Nov 20th - Jan 22nd, London
“The Climate Policy Creative Fellowship is an experimental programme supporting storytellers to develop skills to help policymakers. This interdisciplinary collaboration will explore how more compelling narratives could enable policymakers to take better decisions on climate change and communicate them to the public… for creative storytellers e.g., working in theatre, poetry, prose, film, television, podcasts, games, creative agencies, social purpose campaigning organisations.”
Black Feminist Politics Series: What’s going on in Europe? A Black feminist analysis
Black Feminist Fund
Sep 11th, 16:00 BST | Online
“Fascist forces have won an unprecedented number of seats in the European parliament and are gaining ground in national elections and in shaping European policy and public discourse. Kicking off the Black Feminist Politics Series, this conversation shares a contextual analysis of the European context from a Black feminist standpoint… (and) will highlight the obstacles Black feminist movements face during this politically unstable context, their strategies, tactics, and efforts to resist, and their wins in fighting oppression.”
Narrative Connections
NEON, Comms Hub
Sep 11-25th | Online
“A series of online sessions featuring a conversation between an international and a UK based organiser about messaging and campaigning on shared issues. We want this series to create more pathways for sharing knowledge and building relationships internationally. Each speaker will talk about their campaign strategy, focusing on the frames and messages they used to mobilise people. They will explore tactics, challenges and wins.”
Nature Solo
Becoming Crew
Oct 4-6th | Near Bath, UK
“Bring your deepest questions, longings and intentions to the greatest teacher of them all; our Earth. Join us for a guided, on-land nature solo weekend; a rite of passage for times of great transformation. 2 nights on-land, followed by an integration process online.”
Training for people to speak on TV and radio
NEON, Spokesperson Network
Deadline: Sep 10th, 08:00 | Runs: Oct 15-17th
“We’re looking for people who are working on issues that push for big progressive change in society and who would like to use the media to talk about the things they are working on. The programme works by training, coaching and providing TV and radio booking support for spokespeople. The aim is to substantially boost the number of progressive, diverse voices in this space, to challenge pervasive narratives and boost coverage of underrepresented issues… We are particularly excited to hear from people with identities who have been traditionally under-represented in broadcast media.”
Post Growth Business 101
Post Growth Guide
“Teaches you to escape 16 misleading assumptions and make better decisions for going beyond 'less or no harm'… The content of this course is what companies pay us thousands of dollars to educate them on. It covers: 1) Why green growth fails to deliver results fast enough and sufficiently; 2) How the inequality and ecological crises are connected; 3) Cases of companies that get sustainability right and wrong; 4) How to start implementing post growth thinking in a business.” (Currently 50% off)
🎓 Buy here
Quotes
(This selection of quotes is intended as a resource, in the hope that they may be useful for your own communications.)
“Humour is the first step to break taboos and fears. Making people laugh about dangerous stuff like dictatorship, repression, censorship is a first weapon against those fears… without beating fear you can not make any change.” – Sami Gharbia
“A people’s art is the genesis of their freedom.” – Claudia Jones
“Narrative work is far more than words alone and far more than the probabilistic techniques of algorithms.” – David Snowden
“I know I am preaching to the choir. A damn big and beautiful choir. But practice is over, people, the choir needs to sing.” – Tim Walz
“And the speaking will get easier and easier…And you will lose some friends and lovers, and realise you don’t miss them. And new ones will find you and cherish you…And at last you’ll know with surpassing certainty that only one thing is more frightening than speaking your truth. And that is not speaking.” – Audre Lorde
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