Hi everyone,
Our hearts are with all those suffering immediate terror and violence in the wake of Trump’s turbulent return to office.
As ‘liberation' is appropriated in service of oligarchy, deadly fuels are painted ‘golden’, and bishops preaching mercy are dismissed as ‘nasty’, we are inspired and humbled by those who are coming together to resist the new ‘CEO of America’.
Which seems to be the common advice: as in any storm stick together, hold on tight to the things you love, prepare for darkness and dance in the rain when you can.
—
This week we’re sharing another reminder for our session on ‘Hood Futures’ next week, which feels very timely. And in case you didn’t see, we published our own article this week exploring ‘deep narrative’ work: what it means, and we might do it together.
Shared in solidarity
Public Session
Hood Futures
Infrastructuring as Narrative Reclamation, Service and Self-determination
Jan 30th | 12:00-13:30 GMT | Online
Amahra Spence will be in conversation with Nabil Al-Kinani of Hood Futurist Association.
They will explore the connections between infrastructure and narrative. This vital element of narrative power is often overlooked in traditional communications work.
The discussion will be grounded in the manifesto 'Privatise the Mandem' and its follow up text 'To Free the Ends' and will speculate on a Hood Commons. Thinking about infrastructures that centre narratives, land and resources as tools for community self-determination and sovereignty, they will explore how a robust analysis of class and spatial politics can have practical implications for regenerative hood futures.
Shares
Key: 📝 Article | 🎬 Film | 🧱 Infrastructure
From Fixers to Builders
Trabian Shorters; SSIR
“How do we get people of all political identities to willingly support social progress without compromising anyone’s values?” With a ‘New Narrative Form’ that “speaks the language of allies we’ve ignored,” and moves from the “narrative identity of being fixers of a broken world, to the next narrative of being builders of a better one.” To do this, we must “begin our thoughts and proposals with aspirational rather than problem statements.” Does it work? Apparently: “campaigns that have used next narrative approaches have already raised billions for progressive causes; engaged millions of people from across the political spectrum in institutional, legal, and historic progress; increased hope; and decreased stigma. Nothing theoretical about it.”
#narrativestrategy
Rethinking Success in Regenerative Culture
Steffi Bednarek; Centre for Climate Psychology
“Many of us are subtly (or not so subtly) influenced by a heroic, almost narcissistic paradigm that suggests our initiatives should succeed if they are worthy enough, if we work hard enough, or if the conditions are just right. But ecosystems don’t function like that. In a forest, not all acorns sprout. Of those that do, only a fraction survive long enough to become saplings, let alone mature oaks. The rest are broken down, becoming the compost that nourishes the soil, feeds the fungi, and supports the thriving of others… The metaphor of the acorn teaches us that life is cyclical, not linear. An acorn’s purpose is not solely to grow into a tree but to play its role in a complex, interconnected web of life. Sometimes, that role is to grow. Sometimes, it is to nourish. Both are vital… As we step into this new paradigm, we recognise that our true legacy lies not in what we achieve individually but in what we nurture collectively.”
#framing #deepnarrative
The Lies We Tell Ourselves
Sam Pressler; Connective Tissue
A reflection on “three of the most pernicious lies we tell ourselves about democracy, civic life, and community… Solidarity without proximity, civic renewal without economic renewal, and democracy without participation.” Pressler argues that “a genuine commitment to solidarity (in any form) requires a genuine commitment to proximity and mutuality”; that “our capacity for participation and membership is downstream of our capacity to exercise agency, and our capacity to exercise agency is downstream of our political, socio-cultural, and economic structures”; and that “professionalising” democracy, risks signalling “that these activities are only for some people and not for everyone else,” instead: “do the long-haul work of blurring the line between insiders and outsiders.”
#tactics
Are We a Racist Society? The Majority of Us Say No – But Science Begs to Differ
Keon West; The Guardian (extract from The Science of Racism)
The debate around racism is confusing, “it’s hard to know what to believe…it’s hard to know which sources are reporting facts and which are just spouting opinions.” We have “arguments in abundance,” but what the debate ignores is that “there are decades worth of clear, factual, rigorous, quantitative scientific research out there that reveal empirical truths about racism: from its effects on friendships, relationships, healthcare and the criminal justice system to the financial cost of selling items online while Black.” If we are to acknowledge this scientific consensus, we have to drop narratives of ‘unconscious bias’ that merely “protect our own perceptions of innocence, reducing our concerns about the bias we claim to be addressing and ensuring that nobody is ever held accountable for it,” and leave behind “silly” beliefs in the possibility of ‘colour-blindness’, because “a ‘more colour-blind society’ is, scientifically, a more racist one.”
#insight #deepnarrative
Our World and its Postmodern Takeover
Rachel Donald; Planet: Critical
Donald argues that we have fallen into the gap “between material reality and language”. She suggests that “postmodernism, in its alleged bid to deconstruct material narratives, paved the way to reify concepts, thrusting us all into a world of words where definitions are less important than what we feel about them.” This has. lead to “a fight to define words”, during which “the Right has taken advantage of our willingness to abandon materiality to gain power, creating myths full of lies around men like Trump and Musk, and dismissing scientific certainties as if they are mere opinions.” She argues that “going forward, the fight cannot just be linguistic. It has to be material, relationship-building and grounded… It has to be a fight which goes beyond individual identity and “my truth” subjectivities, and towards cohesion, community, and a plurality which weaves together many worlds… We need to find ourselves in groups, and then find how those groups fit with one another. Until we do that, we are kites in the wind, lost without the ties that bind us.” Also see new effort Planet: Coordinate.
#tactics
What Does Elon Musk Want?
Gary Stevenson; Gary’s Economics
A recent study finds that disinformation about refugees is rife, seemingly the result of reactionary attempts to falsely pin our economic woes on migrants, rather than inequality. Former top-trader turned inequality-campaigner Stevenson makes the case that this creates a problem for reactionaries: if anti-immigration parties actually deliver on their promises, then we won’t have any immigrants to point at and blame. As our conditions continue to worsen, despite lower immigration, we may then turn on the reactionaries. Which means the reactionary parties and their backers have to somehow demonise immigration, whilst actually increasing it. The Conservatives tried this in the UK, and they lost power. How will this play out elsewhere, and what can we do about it? Stevenson encourages his audience, who seem to be trapped in a zero sum winner-takes-all mindset, to recognise that “you need to change the rules of the game and that means working together.”
#tactics #messaging #insight
What Can We Do?
Grace Blakeley
In the first post of a new newsletter “about how to fight individualism and build collective power”, Blakeley laments that “the pandemic did not, as Indian novelist Arundhati Roy hoped, provide a ‘portal’ to a new world – it allowed imperialist states and big tech companies to consolidate control over our lives, while increasing support for far-right extremists.” She reflects on how “the idea that we have to fight to survive seems to have become commonplace”, and that by being encouraged to believe that “we are entirely on our own, and that interdependence and cooperation are signs of weakness”, hope is denied. But she sees a “contagious” sense of “collective empowerment” emerging among communities like Blaenau Ffestiniog in Wales, who are resisting this imposed zero-sum individualism to transform their communities. Blakeley goes on to realise that transformation “was only going to come from people trusting each other, supporting each other, and learning to work together.”
#tactics #stories
Join the Citizen Collective
The Citizen Collective
An invitation to join “a community of people leading and learning for a Citizen Future”. The idea is “to create a space for all of us who are trying to do this work, so we can learn from one another as we do it: sharing inspiration, asking questions, telling stories, and building community. It's free to join, and everyone's welcome.” Registration provides access to: “1. Fortnightly Community Check-in/networking calls; 2. Citizen Spotlight calls (fortnightly); 3. Citizen Workshop calls - the chance for anyone to pose a challenge or ask for help as the community meets to compare notes and share experiences (monthly); 4. The Citizen Collective Discord - the online community space with threads for sharing inspiration and questions and the opportunity to start or join discussion forums on any topic related to the work of building a Citizen's Future.” For more info see here.
#tactics
Mini-Assemblies
Action Network
“Ready to shift the narrative? It’s time to stop panicking about the world’s problems and start changing how we approach them. Join us in creating a global movement built on love, listening, and collective action. Mini-assemblies are the gateway to a new kind of politics – one that’s not about power struggles, but about understanding, empathy, and real change. These assemblies are simple, informal gatherings where we listen to one another, discuss what's not working in our world, and work together to demand the change we deserve. With just a few hours of your time, you’ll be part of a powerful ripple effect that can spread across the world. Whether online or in person, in small groups or large, these mini-assemblies are your chance to make an impact, connect with like-minded people, and build momentum for the society we know we need… It’s time to listen, act, and create a world where love comes first. Let’s do this.”
#tactics
Courses & Events
Key: 🎓 Course | 🗓️ Event
Regenerative Futures Summit
Sister Seasons x Girls Club Collective
Jan 31 | 09:00 PT, 17:00 GMT | Online
“A collaborative futures visioning and skill-building gathering designed to rebuild hope that our visions are possible, led by your friends at Sister Seasons + Girls Club Collective. You’ll go from feeling overwhelmed by the prospect of carrying on in 2025 to feeling inspired by what we’re creating together, equipped with new futures thinking and systems change tools to help you in your day-to-day work, and clear on the role you want to play in stewarding our shared regeneration.”
Narrative Power Summit 2025
Reframe x RadComms
Deadline: Feb 2 | Runs: May 7-10 | New Orleans and Online
“NPS offers social justice communicators and movement workers an opportunity to connect and strengthen relationships, spark collaboration, generate new ideas, and engage in political and ideological learning. We look forward to welcoming a global community of narrative strategists, organizers, culture workers, and more to our summit in 2025. A virtual track is also available. This space prioritizes voices, expertise, and experience of Black, Indigenous, Latinx, AAPI, transgender, gender non-conforming, nonbinary, intersex (TGNCIi), queer, disabled, immigrant, cash poor, and others excluded from traditional establishment nonprofit spaces. We are especially interested in welcoming communicators who serve grassroots organizations, coalitions, networks, and other formations.”
🗓️ Apply here
Our Common Future: 2025 Summit
Multicultural Leadership Initiative
Sydney: Feb 23-24 | Melbourne: Feb 27-28
“Our Common Future is a two day national event held in both Sydney and Melbourne. We will explore, strategise and co-create a new kind of common future that centres multicultural people at the heart of social, economic and environmental policy. First Nations, Pasifika, People of Colour and CALD (culturally and linguistically diverse) people across Australia are invited to attend. Travel, accommodation and financial support is available. Speakers, workshops and panels will be announced shortly.”
Grief Ritual Training for the Climate Aware
Centre for Climate Psychology
Runs: Mar 22 – May 24 | Online | Registrations open soon
“This training emerges from over twenty-five years of experimentation in the territory of ritual process. It is an immersive experience focused on the direct application of ritual to the various conditions our communities face due to climate change and the polycrisis. While our focus is on grief rituals, the core elements of this training extend to a wide range of circumstances. In a time of cultural and environmental trauma, we must revision practices of communal recalibration. Rituals have long served as the means by which villages re-regulate themselves following traumatic encounters. Recalling the unforgotten wisdom that resides at the core of our psychic lives is essential to navigating the turbulent waters of these times.”
Do With: Making the Movement Happen
The King’s Fund
Mar 26 | 10:00-12:00 GMT | Online
“If you’ve been inspired by the Do With vision and want to work with others to shift the public sector away from its current ‘do to’ mindset and practices towards a ‘do with’ approach, please join us. The event is free and open to anyone working in or with the public sector who wants to move towards a more humane, democratic and impactful way of working. Do With is not a new organisation or formal campaign. Instead, it hopes to be a grassroots movement for change led by the people who are part of it. As such, the event will be a space for attendees to share ideas on how they would like to deliver change and to connect people together who want to work on specific ideas. Those ideas could operate within public sector teams and organisations or within communities or both; and could operate at local, regional or national level. It is up to you and all those inspired by the Do With vision to take it forward.”
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.)
“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass; it’s about learning to dance in the rain.” – Vivian Green
“Sometimes, the most regenerative act is to let go: to allow an initiative to stagnate or fade away, recognising its contribution as part of the larger cycle.” – Steffi Bednarek
“Those who wish to help communities to survive had better understand that a merely political freedom means little within a totalitarian economy.” – Wendell Berry
“If a factory is torn down but the rationality which produced it is left standing, then that rationality will simply produce another factory. If a revolution destroys a government, but the systematic patterns of thought that produced that government are left intact, then those patterns will repeat themselves...There’s so much talk about the system. And so little understanding.” – Robert Pirsig
“Distancing people from systems also distances people from their power. We accept dominant narratives if the stories they tell and challenges they present seem insurmountable...There’s another way to talk about systems: tell proactive stories about people changing systems.” – Rinku Sen
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