Newsletter #35
Liberal failures | Relational activism | Cross fertilisation
Hi everyone,
We hope you’re finding ways to care for yourself and your communities in this dark moment. ❤️🩹
We’re looking forward to seeing some of you next Thursday, when we’ll hold some space to reflect on the implications of the US election.
In the meantime please find some insightful reflections, defiant glimmers and practical guidance below.
Shared in solidarity
Session
Collective Intelligence: US Election Implications
Nov 21st | 13:00-14:30 GMT | Online
Exploring the questions:
What are the learnings for you from the result of the US election?
What does this mean for your work, including theories of change, long-term strategy – what do you stop, pivot, and continue?
What do we need to do more of together?
This won’t be a public session; it won’t be recorded or documented.
Shares
Key: 📝 Article | 🎙️ Podcast | 🎬 Film | ⚙️ Tool | 📋 Report
Liberal Failures Demand a Realignment: Building a Left That Delivers
Shanelle Matthews (US)
“People are tired of being asked to settle for the same broken promises and status quo. How many times do we have to say it?… This is a pivotal time to consider a new economic order that prioritises economic equality, social programs, and taxing the damn rich… Our call to action is considering how we tell a salient story about a new economic order… Organising against the systems that oppress us every day, electing revolutionary leaders from within our communities, and tearing down the structures of capitalism, fascism, and colonialism… Our strength lies in our recognition of the interconnectedness of our struggles. The narrative we build must advance revolutionary values, dismantle hegemonic power, and disrupt the systems... This is the moment to reimagine a future beyond the oppressive systems that have held us captive.”
#narrativestrategy #deepnarrative #tactics
Trump’s America: The Fulcrum of a Global ‘Network War’ on Democracy
Nafeez Ahmed; Byline Times
“Donald Trump’s victory is an inflection point – not merely for the future of American democracy, but for the future of the West, and the planet. The driving forces behind his re-election must be properly understood…there is a more alarming, overarching – and insidious – factor at play: a network of billionaires, think tanks and lobbying groups that believe, as does the Russian Government, that democracy must be destroyed… The liberal paradigm which has governed the growth of industrial civilisation is now increasingly embattled – and in many ways irrelevant… Either the status quo is defended and we end up moving inexorably into that rut, which ends with collapse; or we move forward to rebuild and redesign our societies in line with economic, energy, and ecological reality.” Also see.
#narrativestrategy #deepnarrative #tactics #insight
WTF
Emily Atkin (Heated), Rachel Donald; Planet: Critical
A discussion of the next Trump administration’s likely impact on climate change and global climate action. For example, repealing Biden’s renewables tax credits would reduce US clean energy provision by the equivalent of “something like 600 Hoover dams”. Atkin also explains the odd relationship between Big Coal, Elon Musk, Crypto and AI; in brief: drive up energy demand via rapid unregulated AI and Crypto development, to accumulate even more personal wealth. In response there is a call for Biden to declare a Climate Emergency now and release remaining IRA funds, “because once you give the money away, it’s hard to take it away.”
#issuenarrative #tactics
🎙️ Listen here
What Do We Do Now?
Alex Evans; The Good Apocalypse Guide
Four suggestions from the founder of UK-based Larger Us: “1. Don’t see ‘we’ as the left; 2. Empower young men; 3. Embrace relational activism; 4. Build power everywhere.” For the third, Evans says “two places we could start are with tackling loneliness, and bridging divides…loneliness can make us more self-centred, less empathetic, and more vulnerable to extremism - and hence that it’s something totalitarian regimes actively want”. And for the fourth: “a big part of what drives the process is stories. Stories that bring communities together, that keep us going as we come to terms with how much won’t go ‘back to normal’, and that over time help us to make sense of where we are, where we’re trying to get to, how to get there - and underneath it all, who we are… When we’re ready, there’s work to do.”
#narrativestrategy #tactics
Antidote
Rubber Republic, various
“All over the world ordinary people are coming together to do extraordinary things - to create better futures for themselves, their communities and the environment we all share.” Antidote is an effort to gather and share some these stories, which don’t usually make the news. “Stories that: 1. Address a basic essential monthly need for most people — food, housing, energy, transport, or community engagement; 2. Are accessible enough for most of us to participate in, ambitious enough to spread and create systemic change, and part of a network and movement that actually create the future the majority of people want to live in; 3. Increase connection between people and their basic needs, so they can better see and understand how to provide for their needs in ways that are good for them, good for the world, and good for other communities.”
#stories #tactics
🎬 See here
All Will Rise – An Inappropriately Joyous Game About Fighting For the Planet
Joost Vervoort and the All Rise team; Anticiplay
“We’re clashing Phoenix Wright, Disco Elysium and narrative deck building with the ecological crisis — to help fund real court cases… with a game about taking big corporates and others responsible for destroying the planet to court. The game is designed to be a much needed infusion of wild joy, curiosity and playfulness in a world where it can be very hard to fight the fight against climate change and ecological crisis. A lively current of electric energy in a time where ecological and climate depression and anxiety are rampant. We hope to inspire laughter alongside a sense of possibility and empowerment in players while taking the maddening political realities of environmental inaction head on. We hope to inspire people to look at what can be done through curious, creative eyes.”
#narrativestrategy #tactics
📝 See here
10 Ways To Be Prepared and Grounded Now That Trump Has Won
Daniel Hunter; Waging Nonviolence (US)
“Fear breeds distance. We have to consciously break that distance. In Chile they organized under the guise of affinity groups. This was, as its name suggests, people who shared some connections and trust. Finding just a few people who you trust to regularly act with and touch base with is central… Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do… In our country, pressuring elite power is reaching its end point. Power will need to emerge from folks no longer obeying the current unjust system. This tipping point of mass noncooperation will be messy. It means convincing a lot of people to take huge personal risks for a better option. Put simply: Use the political space and voice you have.” Also see, and.
#narrativestrategy #tactics
Post-election Community Gathering Guide
Worth Fighting For (US)
“This guide offers a structure for how to hold a space for yourself and fellow activists to process, strengthen community, and begin to ready ourselves for the future. We always knew we would still have work to do after election day, no matter the outcome. Now it’s time to take a beat and integrate with each other so we can be ready for what’s next. You may feel this moment calls for something different, or you may want to be part of larger public responses. Please know this is meant as one option, and you can choose what fits you and your community best.” Also see.
#tactics
⚙️ See here
The State of American Culture ‘23-’24
FrameWorks (US)
A (pre-election) overview of “seven key findings about the state of American culture in 2024, as well as a preview of the important questions we’ll be investigating over the course of our next year of research.” The findings include: “Americans are deeply dissatisfied with the state of our country and think things should change—but aren’t sure what that change should look like”; “Individualistic and reactionary thinking is gaining traction among younger people”; and “Mindsets around gender are in flux—and lie at the center of a volatile site of contestation in American culture.” The report suggests that clustered mindsets might be disrupted via single “linchpin” mindsets, which ”cue and buttress other mindsets”, offering a useful focus for change and resistance efforts with limited resources.
#insight
Events, Courses, Jobs
Key: 🗓️ Event | 🎓 Course | 💼 Job
Climate Consciousness Summit
Pocket Project, Desmog
15th-21st November | Online
“Join a unique experience that intertwines the climate and healing movements, and find meaningful ways to connect and contribute, and deepen the cross-fertilisation. Reconnect to embodiment, earth and emerging future for a new climate consciousness. Hear directly from voices at the UN Climate Conference COP29 and marginalised voices on the frontlines of the climate crisis. Overcome your sense of separation and understand how you can contribute.”
Story Fellow – AKO Storytelling Institute
StoryArcs
Deadline: Nov 18th
“Join forces with the AKO Storytelling Institute (AKOSI) to explore how storytellers are creating real world change through collaboration. Impact storytelling is a developing ecosystem that includes the arts, campaigning and media – all aiming to achieve social change through stories. AKOSI has found that although these sectors are all working hard to create social impact, they often don’t work together. The goal is to highlight where cross-sector collaborations are happening and the effective processes that are enabling different sectors to work together, ultimately fostering a deeper understanding among practitioners, stakeholders, and audiences of how these siloed areas can come together.”
Cutting the Tightrope: The Divorce of Politics from Art
Various artists; Arcola Theatre
Nov 26th – Dec 7th | London
“We are living through a moment of horror. Brutality abroad in Palestine and the Global South is justified or ignored by our own government, while new police powers suppress protest at home. Globally far-right movements are growing and so too are Defence budgets. There is much to talk about. Even the Arts Council started warning that ‘political statements’ made by individuals linked to an organisation can cause ‘reputational risk’, breaching funding agreements. Some are silenced; some are unwilling to speak. This updated production – with two brand new commissions – returns to the Arcola after a sell out rapid response earlier this year.”
🗓️ Tickets here
Working Courageously into an Unknowable Future
Joy Green (School of System Change, Diaspora Futures Collective)
Dec 3rd, 10th, 17th | 10:00-12:30 GMT | Online | £220
“An approach to systemic work that takes deep interconnectedness seriously. This is a course for changemakers engaged in system work in these strange, extraordinary, frustrating, terrifying, baffling and potent times, integrating the experiential with basic and effective systemic frameworks. You do not need any prior knowledge of systems thinking or futures work (although if you do have some, it should prove complementary and give you a different angle into it). Joy was previously the Principal Futurist at Forum for the Future, and has seventeen years experience of applying foresight and system change methodologies across a wide range of sectors and organisations. She also has seventeen years of focused meditation practice, and this course is one the fruits of integrating these inner and outer modes of practice.”
Vital Signs: Another World is Possible
London Science Gallery
Nov 13th – May 17th | London
“To thrive, we need to build stronger alliances with each other, and with all other species. Vital Signs brings together artists, designers and researchers to explore these relationships and how the health of the natural world – from our waterways to our atmosphere and the ocean floor – is intimately connected to our own health and wellbeing. Revealing unique perspectives on our surrounding environments through creative, sensory works and multiple voices, this exhibition reinforces the fact that humans are fundamentally a part of nature rather than apart from it. Vital Signs shares the ways people are shaping liveable and hopeful futures, here in London and around the world. It confronts environmental injustices and asks us to consider: what changes could we make if we understand that the planet’s health is an extension of our own?”
🗓️ Info here
Quotes
This selection of quotes is intended as a resource, in the hope that they may be useful for your own communications. See a full list of all the previous quotes.
“Our movements themselves have to be healing or there's no point to them.” – Cara Page
“The future is the outcome of relationships we weave in the present. To make the future different, we must weave relationships differently in the present, rather than focusing on idealisations of the future that perpetuate the relational fractures of the present.” – Chief Ninawa Huni Kui
“We’re living in two worlds simultaneously: one the fall of Rome and the other a new Renaissance. We need to be both death doulas and birth doulas, helping die peacefully the systems that need to die and helping give birth to a whole different kind of world.” – Marianne Williamson
"‘Everything's fine,’ isn't a unifying narrative. It won't work. It didn’t.” – Jessica Wildfire
“Better a cruel truth than a comfortable delusion.” – Edward Abbey
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