Hi everyone,
This week we have the recording and resources from our recent very instructive session on ‘wealth inequality.’ With oligarchy flourishing and extreme wealth threatening our collective future in new ways almost every day, this is an essential conversation to be having.
We’re also looking forward to our next Public Session, which will be hosted by Vanessa Andreotti, and will explore the work with AI she’s been doing with the Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures collective. Watch out for a link in a separate post soon.
In this moment, a lot of people are talking about the need to do things differently, including re-centering community organising as a change lever — this week’s shares reflect this trend.
Shared in solidarity
Session recording
Narrative & Wealth Inequality
Jean McLean, Jake Hayman, Sarah Kerr, Milly Shotter, Gary Stevenson
An urgent, compassionate and practical exploration of the ‘who gets the money’ problem, and how we might work on its systemic roots together as narrative practitioners. The speakers shared a wide range of insights from the frontline of content creation and the latest polling and research in this space. The conversation was rich and detailed, so we encourage a thorough watch to get the full picture, but when asked what ‘one thing’ we should be doing, the speakers suggested: center working class messengers; fund video content; talk about the consequences, risks, harms that extreme wealth creates; create pathways to explore these systemic issues by building relationships and assemblies, and creating content funnels and conversations; and observe the landscape as if for the first time, calling out what you see. Lots of useful links were shared during the session, see below.
⚙️ Links shared
Shares
Key: 📝 Article | 🎬 Film | 🧱 Infrastructure | ⚙️ Tool
Built For a Different War
Andre Banks; New World Report
As the word ‘advocacy’ is banned from academic papers in the US, Banks reflects on how “the old pathways to influence are broken” with an instructive critique of progressives’ failure in “the battle for the nation’s conscience and culture”, as it continues to play by “the old rules.” “The progressive movement continues to pour resources into outdated influence tactics – broadcast advertising, performance marketing, media relations teams, policy shops, and think tanks – while the right has spent decades methodically building a sprawling ecosystem of decentralised (but powerfully coordinated) narrative infrastructure… Many progressives still think their problem is messaging: crafting the perfect slogan, landing the right talking point, tweaking the framing to be more ‘persuasive.’ But the real challenge is distribution.” Banks offers three steps for developing the essential “strategies that move the majority of people, on the platforms where they actually spend their time”.
#narrativestrategy #tactics
Are You Building Something?
Marshall Ganz; SSRI
A straightforward argument that “lasting and meaningful change only happens when people come together for a shared purpose, when they deliberate together, and when they act together, even when the future seems unknowable and the road uncertain,” because “structural change is rooted in people, human beings, and the power we can create with each other when we find values we share, and our capacity to turn those values into sources of power.” Ganz emphasises how “organising is about enabling people to speak for themselves. It’s not a charity project. It’s a justice project,” and “it’s not enough to just have campaign after campaign” we have to be “building collective capacity…and you can’t do that without structure.” He sees that there has been “a whole lot of mobilising, but it didn’t turn into building infrastructure, into developing leadership. And unless you’re building at the same time you’re fighting, you wind up with nothing.”
#narrativestrategy #tactics
An Actual Plan to Beat Fascism
Anat Shenker-Osorio; The Ink
“An incredibly practical guide to what you need to do”. Reflecting the spreading sentiment that ‘we’re on our own now’, Shenker-Osorio encourages people to get beyond “writing to their congressman” and instead, focus on “creating social proof locally” with various practical ways of demonstrating “that lots of people in your community feel the way you feel”, for example with signs, hats, t-shirts, or “painting of a barn.” She also notes that the fundamental rupture has not happened for most people yet, and when it does, there will be “extraordinary possibility”, but “we have to stop thinking that tinkering at the edges of the old ways that we have done things is going to yield a new result.” The journey beyond autocracy is one of “resistance, refusal and ridicule”, and means building a “strong, active in-yer-face labour community”, because ultimately “the future is made out of the decisions we take collectively.” Also see.
#narrativestrategy #tactics
Don’t Be Fooled. They Lie as Easily as They Breathe
Ann Pettifor; System Change
On how Trump and Musk’s mission “to destroy the restraints of regulatory democracy on unfettered capitalism, wherever it may have taken root in the world,” and their “preference for unregulated markets deliberately detached from democratic institutions” makes one thing clear: “capitalism is hostile to democratic processes and institutions.” Understanding this helps us recognise how, “slowly and skilfully over the last decade, the billionaire class has worked to delegitimise the slow process by which America’s democracy has widened the net of inclusion and diversity,” by “dismantling the process of inclusion and diversity” with “the propaganda campaign labelled ‘the culture wars’ — in reality a war between capital and labour.” A lesson for us: stop “actively negating the ‘culture wars’ framing” and instead celebrate “the wider democratic advance.”
#insight #tactics #framing
Amygdala Hijack
Alex Evans; The Good Apocalypse Guide
We are being forced into a ‘breakdown loop’, of burnout and ‘compassion fatigue’, by powers seeking to exploit the self-interest and ‘othering’ that such states provoke. “Fight-flight-freeze is ground zero for the toxic state of our politics, and it’s very much an equal opportunity affliction. None of us is immune. Everyone everywhere is freaking out. And so it is that something that starts in our private thoughts ripples out into the world, and helps to create the chaotic reality that we’re all inhabiting.” Evans asks “whether it’s possible to reverse the polarity of the cycle — so that a vicious circle becomes a virtuous spiral, and a breakdown loop becomes a breakthrough loop” which reorients us towards a positive, cooperative, hopeful ‘tend-and-befriend’ state. Evans encourages us to join in the “absolutely crucial step” of figuring this out, by learning to “untrigger”, “hold fast” and “let go”.
#tactics
The Psychology of Collapse
Jessica Wildfire; Sentinel Intelligence
A fascinating study of how “we’re wired to ignore the apocalypse.” Includes a look at the difficulty in countering ‘reactance’ (perceived threats to personal freedom), especially in highly individualised cultures; cultures which also make it difficult to care long-term when your brain literally sees your future self as a different person. We also learn that it’s not just Trump who has a principle of ‘never admitting you’re wrong’ — many of us do, thanks to ‘information disconfirmation’ and ‘selective perception’. We also tend to “express hostility or even aggression toward anyone who challenges the dominant structures,” shooting messengers thanks to ‘spontaneous trait transference’, where our brains conflate the threat with the person warning us about it. We’re also happy with lies provided we benefit from them, and think “it’s not cool to overreact”.
#insight
Feeling the Risk We’re In: an Invitation to Collaborate
Alex Lockwood, Clare Farrell, David Bent; Absurd Intelligence
Responding to an insufficient popular response to the risks we face in these times, “we’re sharing this invitation to defibrillate our collective imagination. And because the problem is not about an information deficit but a great stuckness, we believe creative responses have a better chance of intervening well in policy, industry and culture.” Their guiding star “is for people to experience the emotional realisation of the true level of risk we’re in, while feeling equipped to act,” with the ambition of “replacing the values of consumption and production with care and freedom”. This is a proactive, practical attempt to develop systems and structures, and equip people to “make a difference”, kicking off with six parallel strands of work at the end of March, to which we’re all invited.
#narrativestrategy #tactics
🧱 See here
Breaking the Ouroboros and Ushering in New Possibilities
Ruth Taylor; Culture Soup
An exploration of what it will really take to change. “What we have tried before and what we continue to centre, has not worked – cannot work – and so we need to transmogrify our efforts to be what is required in these days of pain and horror; to break the ouroboros and welcome in new possibilities.” Taylor reflects on how the change sector adopts the narrow logic of ‘one thing at a time’, applying it “to the complex and inherently interconnected nature of the crises we face, unintentionally creating an environment of competition…and missing the truth found in the convergence.” She suggests that the “common success metrics and data-proven strategies found in the campaigning of today could very much be a poisoned chalice, undercutting our efforts in the long term.” So “we need to create together different work which intentionally and explicitly has, as its focus, the need to respond to the crisis of values and the deep separation between human beings and nature,” and ultimately, “we must slow down”.
#deepnarrative #tactics
Icebergs of the Heart
Hajar Tazi; LinkedIn
An invitation to join in with designing a mapping tool for the foundations of better futures, which includes deep ‘ontological and mythological’ foundational shifts, e.g. from the ‘separation myth’ to a ‘relational ontology’, and from ‘linear time’ to ‘cycical and spiralic deep time’. “I have seen many, many ‘diagnosis’ icebergs before, but never one attempting to represent the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible… so I made these. It’s still – and will remain – a work in progress, so your insights are welcome with open arms and heart! What resonates? What’s missing? How do we birth this future together? Or is it already being birthed — by us and through us? What communities do we know already embody these worldviews? How can we learn from them?”
#deepnarrative #tactics
⚙️ See here, files here
Events & Jobs
Key: 🗓️ Event | 💼 Job
Creating the Conditions for Place-Based Community-Led Regeneration
The Really Regenerative Centre CIC
Mar 25th | 12.00-14:00 GMT | Online
“An opportunity for us to share the findings of the 4 month study commissioned by Joseph Rowntree Foundation into the enabling conditions for Place-Based Community-Led Regeneration to flourish and the means by which JRF – and other philanthropic organisations - could better support that flourishing. A change for the regenerative and philanthropic field to explore how to work collectively with those ideas.”
Director of Communications Accelerator
Climate and Clean Energy Equity Fund
Remote (USA)
“The Director leads the Equity Fund’s work to advance power building and equitable climate solutions by developing communications strategies that support community organising, civic engagement, and issue and policy campaigns to advance climate equity. The position works closely with Strategic Partnerships, the Policy Accelerator and Grants and Powerbuilding teams to coordinate and align strategies that build power and strengthen impact toward the Equity Fund’s mission and goals.”
Call for Stories
Meeting At The Margins
“Meeting at the Margins is a space where stories spark change. We amplify voices pushed to the edges, turning lived experiences into bridges of understanding. Because peace begins with belonging, and every story has the power to reshape the world. Our vision is a world where every story shapes peace. Our mission is to connect and elevate marginalised voices to foster change through storytelling, education, and advocacy. We accept stories in various formats and lengths. Creativity is beautiful, and your story always remains yours. You'll maintain your rights while choosing how you want it shared, whether that's on our website, social media, or in our quarterly magazine.”
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.)
"We thought as environmentalists that what was needed was to just present the facts and the numbers and the data and then everyone would have to listen to us and it would all change, and we're living in the ruins of the failure of that." – Dougald Hine
“We see what we believe, rather than what we see.” – Alan Watts
"The most revolutionary thing you can do is proclaim loudly what you see happening." – Rosa Luxemborg
“The more we pull together toward a common future, the less it matters what pushed us apart in the past.” – Johnnetta B. Cole
“Joy is strategic, because joy inspires momentum.” – Pattie Gonia
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